Pxe Boot to Install Any Operating System the Quickest Way
If your (old) machine doesn’t have a CD ROM drive or does not boot from USB, PXE boot to re-install a new operating system is the best option if you do not want to buy any more hardware to solve the situation. In the past, setting up a PXE server was a hassle. The internet is littered with linux configurations on tftp server. But if all you want to do is to boot your machine and autoload the ISO, here’s the fastest way with minimal fuss.
- On a windows machine, download and install AOMEI Backupper Workstation (trial version is good).
- Download your installer ISO. Example, say your old machine is an i386 (ha!) and you want to install linux, here’s the location of an ubuntu mini.iso that works well. Note if your machine has 512MB or less of memory, you won’t be able to load large ISOs so I suggest you pick the mini.iso as they’re less than 100MB in size and will take you through the installation flawlessly.
- Open AOMEI Bakupper Workstation –> Tools –> Select your ISO –> Start Service
- On the destination machine connected via ethernet, start in PXE mode.
I’ve suffered a lot in the past to run PXE servers. This is the best and foolproof method yet!
Credit: How to Setup PXE Boot Server in Windows Easily and Securely (archive.ph)
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