Network Installing Ubuntu Using a Windows box

This document describes how to install ubuntu through your network without having to use a linux box as a TFTP and DHCP server. This is a very easy method for a linux newb like me.

My scenario

I want to install ubuntu linux onto a computer that has no removable drives. This computer has a PXE booting capable BIOS.

If you have a floppy drive, you can make a floppy that will allow you to PXE boot but that article is somewhere else on this wiki.

What you will need

• A network with a windows computer
• A a network gateway to the internet (Cable/DSL Router)
• Tftpd32.exe (The windows TFTP/DHCP server program)
• The Ubuntu Netboot Image
• WinRAR to unzip the image (google for it)

All files necissary

[http://www.cameronbergh.com/breezynetboot.rar Breezy netboot kit (386)]

[http://www.cameronbergh.com/breezynetboot64.rar Breezy netboot kit (amd64)]

Individual files

[http://tftpd32.jounin.net/ tftpd32.exe Mirror 1]

[http://www.cameronbergh.com/ftp/tftpd32.zip tftpd32.exe Mirror 2]

[http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/breezy/main/installer-i386/current/images/netboot/netboot.tar.gz Breezy Netboot Image (i386)]

[http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/breezy/main/installer-amd64/current/images/netboot/netboot.tar.gz Breezy Netboot Image (amd64)]

[http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/hoary/main/installer-i386/current/images/netboot/netboot.tar.gz Hoary Netboot Image (i386)]

[http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/hoary/main/installer-amd64/current/images/netboot/netboot.tar.gz Hoary Netboot Image (amd64)]

This is how we do it (Breezy Style)

1. If you downloaded the RAR that i provided, skip to step 7.
2. On the windows box, make a folder called "cb"
3. Place Tftpd32.exe with its support files in "cb"
4. Extract the contents of netboot.tar.gz and place them in a folder called "netboot"

   • Note: Winrar may give you some errors that it couldnt create some symbolic links, just ignore it.

5. Put the netboot folder inside of the "cb" folder
6. Go To ../cb/netboot/ubuntu-installer/i386/ or ../cb/netboot/ubuntu-installer/amd64/ then copy "pxelinux.cfg", "linux", and "pxelinux.0". Now paste them in ../cb/netboot/
7. Run Tftpd32.exe and click the DHCP tab
   • in the default router box, put the address of your internet gateway (usually 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 for residential routers)
   • in the ip pool starting address box put your gateway's address + 1 to the last number (Example: 192.168.0.2)
   • Size of pool = i said about 10
   • if your network is something like 192.168.0.1 then your network mask should be 255.255.255.0
   • Set the Bootfile field to the location of the pxelinux.0 file (example "\netboot\pxelinux.0)
   • Set the WINS/DNS server address to the address of your main router (192.168.0.1)
   • Leave the domain name blank, unless you need to change it.
8. Hit the "Save" button and then click "settings"
9. on the settings menu Check the following and leave the others how they are.
   • PXE Compatability
   • translate unix file names
   • allow / as virtual root
10. click "ok", Now every machine on your network that requests a PXE boot rom should recieve the breezy installer! (please let me know if this works for you).

A few bugs: When picking a apt-get source, if you select the united states, the installer tries to connect to "http://.archive.ubuntu.com" instead of "http://archive.ubuntu.com", this results in a failure to connect. you can work around this by selecting the UK mirror and then selecting "archive.ubuntu.com" when prompted.

The AMD64 image for some reason installs the "edubuntu-desktop" package rather than the "ubuntu-desktop" package. My fix was to install breezy with a server install, and then install the ubuntu-desktop package via apt-get.

This is how we do it (Hoary Style)

1. On the windows box, make a folder called "cameronrules"
2. Place Tftpd32.exe in that folder
3. Extract the contents of netboot.tar.gz and place them in a folder called "netboot"

   • Note: Winrar may give you some errors that it couldnt create some symbolic links, just ignore it.

4. Put the netboot folder inside of the "cameronrules" folder
5. Go To cameronrules/netboot/ubuntu-installer/i386/ or cameronrules/netboot/ubuntu-installer/amd64/ and copy pxelinux.cfg folder
6. Go back to the netboot folder and Paste pxelinux.cfg folder
7. Run Tftpd32.exe and click the DHCP tab
   • in the default router box, put the address of your internet gateway (usually 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 for residential routers)
   • in the ip pool starting address box put your gateway's address + 1 to the last number (Example: 192.168.0.2)
   • Size of pool = i said about 10
   • If your network is something like 192.168.0.1 then your network mask should be 255.255.255.0
   • Set the Bootfile field to the address of the pxelinux.0 file (it should be "\netboot\pxelinux.0)
   • Set the WINS/DNS server address to the address of your main router (192.168.0.1)
   • Leave the domain name blank, unless you need to change it.
8. Hit the "Save" button and then click "settings"
9. on the settings menu Check the following and leave the others how they are.
   • PXE Compatability
   • translate unix file names
   • allow / as virtual root
10. click "ok" and tell your target computer to look on your network for a PXE boot rom.

if all went right, you should see some text fly by and then the ubuntu installer will load on your target computer. let me know if you have any problems.

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