[syslinux] Two Windows 2k8 Server an booting via pxelinux

[H. Peter Anvin]

On 08/17/2010 07:33 AM, nevee wrote:
>   Hello list,
> I have a question concerning the possibility of booting one of two 
> Windows systems installed on two partitions.
> In case with one Windows system and one Linux system, I can chainload 
> grub or windows loader, and this is OK.
> But in case with two Windows systems, when I installed second system, 
> the installer added multi boot loader(I think it's called bootmgr),
> and then I can't choose the proper OS via syslinux config because 
> chainloading(append hd0 1, append hd0 2)
> is not working (I get the "ntldr is missing" error).
> When I try boot from mbr (hd0 0), multi boot loader shows up, and then I 
> can choose OS manually,
> but I really don't know how to choose it automatically(via pxelinux 
> config file).
> 
> I appreciate your help,
> -nevee

I haven't experimented with Win2k8, but if it is like Win7, then the
boot manager is installed on a separate partition, and if both of your
installations are using the same boot manager, then there isn't much
that can be done from Syslinux, for obvious reasons.  This appears to be
a deliberate decision by Microsoft.

One thing you *can* do with at least older versions of Windwos plus a
recent enough Syslinux is to copy NTLDR to the Syslinux install medium
(in your case, the network drive) and boot, for example:

chain.c32 hd0 2 ntldr=ntldr

You may need 4.03-pre1 for this... there are some updates in the beta.

	-hpa