PXE boot DFE Lenovo laptops

[mrstrong]

Has anyone managed to PXE boot these laptops from DFE:

 

Lenovo 300e 2nd Gen Notebook - Type 81M9

 

can't see anything in bios, boot mode is uefi only (no legacy option)

tried switching secure boot off / plugging in usb ethernet adapter

 

If no PXE how do you image them ?

[Oaktech]

There is no PXE.

 

You have to create a task sequence media for either SCCM or MDT and boot off a stick and use a USB ethernet adapter.

 

FN+F2 to enter bios

Reset to setup mode or it won't boot off anything but the preinstalled OS, reset,

FN+F12 to enter boot menu, boot off USB stick.

 

Worth noting that the touchpad doesn't work in either the stock SCCM windows PE or in MDT LiteTouch. You can either DISM the drivers into the image or navigate with keyboard. You could also use a USB hub and an external mouse but I'm suspicious about the USB throughput with a hub.

[Chclark]

ours pxe fine with rankie usb ethernet adapters. very flaky though one minute will build a device plug the next in and it just keeps rebooting the device while loading build page.

 

i had to FN +f12 to pxe

[mrstrong]

thanks for that, one step closer,

trying to generate offline media in mdt (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/deploy-windows-mdt/deploy-a-windows-10-image-using-mdt#use-offline-media-to-deploy-windows10)

generated an iso and burnt to usb with rufus,

it now boots but fails at first hurdle asking "specify which deployment share to use"

doesn't like X:\deploy and in here is only Scripts and tools, e.g. no control etc

maybe rufus has messed things up,

will try manually copying files and split wim diskpart active etc like it says in above link

[Oaktech]

thanks for that, one step closer,

trying to generate offline media in mdt (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/deploy-windows-mdt/deploy-a-windows-10-image-using-mdt#use-offline-media-to-deploy-windows10)

generated an iso and burnt to usb with rufus,

it now boots but fails at first hurdle asking "specify which deployment share to use"

doesn't like X:\deploy and in here is only Scripts and tools, e.g. no control etc

maybe rufus has messed things up,

will try manually copying files and split wim diskpart active etc like it says in above link

 

needs the server deployment share FQDN I think not a drive designation. My MDT is building them just fine.

[mrstrong]

grrr now my usb stick is not recognized by windows.

@Oaktech How do you create your bootable usb's ?

 

If I understand correctly, you are not using "offline media" but booting into windows pe then plugging in a usb ethernet adapter

and then manually starting the deployment task sequence, e.g. run a script from deployment server (which one) from cmd prompt ?

[Jay241]

I've just finished imaging our Lenovos with PXE boot.

We've got some of the Uni USB adapters off Amazon as they are reliable and PXE compatible, https://amzn.to/3L8trvs

 

We just grabbed the SCCM Driver pack off of Lenovos website and slapped it on our WDS/MDT server and it worked fine with our normal Task Sequence. But yes as @Oaktech said, the trackpad doesnt work in our MDT LiteTouch but that wasnt the end of the world for us.

 

Is there any error/reason its not working with WDS/MDT/SCCM?

[Disease]

We have using a USB Ethernet adaptor

[mrstrong]

I think Oaktec is correct, there appears to be no pxe boot option (at least for the model we have: 81M9)

 

So as i understand it I have two options, either do an MDT offline install completely from a usb, or boot into

windows PE, plug in a usb ethernet adapter then manually start the deployment somehow ?

 

edit: maybe if i copy boot image from wds onto a usb and make that bootable it would work ?

Edited February 4, 2022 by mrstrong

[Jay241]

I think Oaktec is correct, there appears to be no pxe boot option (at least for the model we have: 81M9)

 

How odd. I've got 24 81M9 Lenovo 300e 2nd Gen Laptops. PXE boot has worked perfectly fine like i said with the USB Nics that i have used.

I've imaged all 24 within 2 days with no issues what so ever.

 

Possibly copying the boot image might work but i must admit, i have never tried that.

[Boredguy]

As long as the Network Driver Stack is enabled in the UEFI Bios, it should pick up a suitable USB NIC and boot.

Certainly some of the GeoBooks needed it enabled to get the StarTech USB NIC to detect, and the UNI USB NIC's generally work with all other brands happily as it's a reliable chipset.

 

The touchpad not working might just need the drivers adding to MDT and the deployment image regenerated and updated in WDS so that the WinPE instance can access it

[mrstrong]

well after faffing about with a winpe usb and trying to start the deployment manually via

net use * \\deploymentshare (which worked ok but when I run litetouch.vbs get error "no such interface supported")

I found another usb ethernet adapter that does pxe boot!

 

The one that wouldn't pxe was a Startech. Although after booting from a winpe usb the Startech worked fine

(just not picked up at F12 boot)

[georgeescott]

Worth noting that the touchpad doesn't work in either the stock SCCM windows PE or in MDT LiteTouch.

 

Just for anyone else coming across this post like me, you can add the 'Intel® Serial IO I2C Host Controller' driver which is part of the 'Intel Serial IO Driver' download to your ConfigMgr Boot Image (or MDT Boot Image) and the touchpad then works in the Task Sequence.

[Oaktech]

Just to add to this - we did eventually find a USB network adapter that would PXE boot - the option doesn't even show until a capable adapter is connected. It took us a looooot of different adapters from around the trust until we found one from Fujitsu that would PXE. @georgeescott is also correct you can slipstream the drivers in, but we never bothered, I like a good tab key interface!

[dmj]

iPXE may be useful here, it is a PXE firmware that you can flash onto an existing ROM or boot via USB

https://ipxe.org/