PXE Booting with MCM

[David44]

I have been trying to set up Microsoft Configuration Manager for the past two days. I am getting stuck with PXE booting the client PCs.

They do PXE boot but then report "The Windows Boot Configuration Data (BCD) file from the PXE server does not contain a valid operating system entry. Ensure that the server has boot images installed for this architecture.” It shows that it is using the file "\Tmp\x64uefi{guid}.bcd". I check on the server (which is also our one and only distribution point) and the file "C:\RemoteInstall\Tmp\x64uefi{guid}.bcd" does exist.

I think the issue may be that on the server, in "C:\RemoteInstall\Boot\x64uefi" we only have one file (default.bcd). In "C:\RemoteInstall\Boot\x64" there are several files including default.bcd.

 

Could someone with PXE booting working on MCM confirm what they have in "C:\RemoteInstall\Boot\x64uefi"? Should we have multiple files?

Even better, if anyone has any idea what the issue might be. I have reinstalled WDS multiple times and I am aware of the issue where wdsmgfw.efi has to be manually copied in to "C:\RemoteInstall\Boot\x64"
 

[CrootUK]

Have you installed ADK and WinPE addon? https://www.prajwaldesai.com/update-windows-adk-sccm-server/

 

[David44]

I have, yes.

 

If I look in C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Assessment and Deployment Kit\Windows Preinstallation Environment I can see three directories. x86, arm64 and amd64. I have no x64uefi directory here, should there be one?

What do you have in C:\RemoteInstall\Boot\x64uefi?

Edited April 23, 2025 by David44

[CrootUK]

Top piece is correct, second piece just a default.bcd file.

 

Have you updated your boot image in mcm with tickbox ticked to use from ADK? have you selected the correct bootimage on Task sequence properties. 

[David44]

I uninstalled and reinstalled the ADK and Windows PE add-on this morning and updated the distribution point with the boot image, ticking the 'Reload this boot image with the current Windows PE version from the Windows ADK' option. I still get the same issue.

 

I haven't got a task sequence yet. This is a new install of MCM and I just want to boot to Windows PE at this stage. Frustratingly, something we can already easily do using WDS on another server.

I think the next thing I will try is to reinstall WDS on the MCM server, again.

[CrootUK]

I would add a windows wim file and build a basic TS and try again. PXE via mcm acts much differently to regular WDS. 

[David44]

Reinstalling WDS didn't resolve the issue.

 

If I open the WDS console on the MCM server, go to servers, the MCM server and then expand 'Boot Images' there is nothing in there. On a server with working WDS there are boot images listed there. Is this normal for MCM? Is that what you see?

 

If I can't PXE boot, the PC is not going to see the task sequence, is it?

 

[CrootUK]

Correct there will be nothing there. 
I have seen PXE boot not work without a TS being available. What you configure in MCM you wont see in WDS. 

Edited April 24, 2025 by CrootUK

[David44]

I have now created a Task Sequence. No idea if it's correct but it hasn't fixed the PXE issue anyway.

I read on this Microsoft documentation that "When you create an OS deployment that targets only x64 BIOS computers, both the x64 boot image and x86 boot image must be available on the distribution point."

Is this just an out of date document? Do you have an x86 boot image? If so, where do you obtain it from? My understanding is that the latest ADK doesn't have 32bit images any more.

[David44]

It seems that this error could be caused by hundreds of different things but if it helps anyone else in the future, in our case this was caused due to BITS not being installed correctly.