PXE Cannot Find DHCP

[topher83]

Hi

 

Just installed WDS and configured it on server1, DHCP is configured on server2,

 

When I boot to PXE it cannot find DHCP, Ive tried enabling option60 and option66 but this hasnt sorted.

 

Im aware that its easiset when the WDS is on the same server as the DHCP (Found this out AFTER installing wds) however im not sure how to get PXE to see DHCP and get an IP address

 

Thanks

[Diello]

You'll need to set 66 to the IP of your WDS box, and 67 to the file PXE should boot (probably boot\x86\wdsnbp.com )

 

However, if PXE isn't even getting an IP address, it sounds like you've got a prob with your DHCP. BootROM definately enabled on your NIC? You using an onboard or separate NIC?

[MrLudwig]

Probably not the same cause, but a little while ago I experienced the same thing. After much head scratching and fiddling it turned out to be an uptight Netgear switch.

 

For some reason that I'm still puzzled about, both PXE and Ghost clients would fail with DHCP errors when connected to this one switch. As soon as I changed them to a different switch, everything sprang back into life.

 

As I said, probably not the same cause for you, but you never know, it might be worth a try.

[Chris_Jones]

If you have spanning Tree enabled this can prevent PXE booting, because the time it takes to sort the spanning tree is greater than the timeout on the pxe.

 

We had to use the fast link option on our netgears where we are using pxe booting.

[Jose]

I had a similiar type of problem today,

if you have wds and dhcp on separate servers then you have to tell your switch managment software to forward the udp packets to both servers.

Taken form MS site.

 

"If DHCP is installed on a server that is located in a different subnet, you will need to do one of the following:

 

• (Recommended) Configure your IP Helper tables. All DHCP broadcasts by client computers on UDP port 67 should be forwarded directly to both the DHCP server and the Windows Deployment Services PXE server. Also, all traffic on UDP port 4011 from the client computers to the Windows Deployment Services PXE server should be routed appropriately (these requests direct traffic, not broadcasts, to the server).

 

• Add DHCP options 66 and 67. Option 66 should be set to the Windows Deployment Services server, and option 67 should be set to boot\x86\wdsnbp.com. For more information, see the Managing Network Boot Programs topic."

 

The other option is to create a new dhcp server on your WDS server and only enable the service when you need it.