[syslinux] pxelinux and WDS server for Vista

[Dyks, Axel (XL)]

Ryan McLean wrote:
> Just a wee update, I have had a quick play about in WDS you need to have 
> it running in Mixed mode or legacy mode to be able to use the older RIS 
> images.

Hi,

do you think that it is possible to leave WDS in native mode and create
a special "boot image" for PXELINUX using the WDS command line tools?

(Re-)configuring WDS to legacy/mixed mode might not always be an option.

I must admit that I got _really_ _annnoyed_ after reading Microsoft's
Documentation on WDS. Once again M$ uses available standards (DHCP, PXE, TFTP, ...)
to build a proprietary product that refuses to cooperate with anything
but M$ products.
(See: http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsVista/en/library/9e197135-6711-4c20-bfad-fc80fc2151301033.mspx?mfr=true)

In native mode it seems that nothing but "Windows PE" can be booted and your
choice is restricted to a list of "Image Files" (max 13 entries in the menu)
that can either be
	
- a "Capture image"
  <quote>
    A capture image is a Windows PE 2.0 boot image that has been modified to launch
    an image capture utility instead of setup.
  </quote>

- a "Discover image"
  <quote>
    A discover image is a Windows PE 2.0 boot image that has been modified to force
    Setup.exe to launch in Windows Deployment Services mode and discover a valid server
   (it is generally used in non-PXE boot scenarios).
  </quote>

- an "Install image"
  <quote>
     An install image is the operating system image that you deploy to the client computer.
  </quote>

For having multiple PXE/TFTP servers on a network is not an easy thing to configure
-- if not impossible at all, because you'll need the DHCP server to point to the
   PXE or TFTP server at some point during the boot process --
this results in "kicking non-M$ products off the net".

Axel