[ipxe-devel] using iPXE in a VM

[Andrew Bobulsky]

On Tue, May 21, 2013 at 7:46 PM, Gruher, Joseph R <joseph.r.gruher at intel.com
> wrote:

>  Hello-****
>
> ** **
>
> I am trying to use iPXE with a VM in VMWare ESXi 5.1.  For the most part
> it seems to be working.  I created a VM with an emulated e1000 network
> adapter and an iPXE ROM.  I edited the VM to use the iPXE ROM for the
> network adapter BIOS.  When I start the VM iPXE comes up and I can enter
> the CLI.  I can configure an IP and successfully sanhook a target.  The
> next step I then want to do is exit iPXE and boot into an OS installer CD
> to install my guest OS on the VM.  However, after I run the “exit” command
> in iPXE, nothing happens, it does not continue to the next boot device.***
> *
>
> ** **
>
> I’ve done something similar on physical hardware and it works well,
> although in that case I’m booting iPXE from a USB key, rather than as the
> NIC ROM, but otherwise the process is the same and works.  ****
>
> ** **
>
> Even here on the VM, if I do not CTRL-B to the iPXE CLI and just let it
> execute the default iPXE behavior, it will bring up iPXE and look for PXE
> servers, and then fall through to the OS installer CD just fine, exactly as
> desired.  So my boot order seems to work.  It is only if I CTRL-B to the
> CLI and then try to exit that it hangs.  It just sits there after the exit
> command forever and never moves on in the VM BIOS boot order.****
>
> ** **
>
> Anyone else run into this problem?  Any thoughts on how I might get this
> to work?  Thanks!****
>
> ** **
>
> -Joe****
>
> ** **
>
> <snip>
>

Hello Joe,

This is a very frequent problem, and it has more solutions than I can
count.  The best one I've come up with to date is documented on the wiki,
but not yet linked from the main page.  Basically, BIOSes sometimes don't
work properly when iPXE hands control back to the BIOS to continue to boot
order.  My preferred solution is to just force the issue with GRUB4DOS; as
a side effect, it's a very compatible fix, even on machines that *do*
behave properly :)

Linky for you: http://ipxe.org/appnote/work_around_bios_halting_on_ipxe_exit

Best Regards,
Andrew Bobulsky
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