Diskless Windows 10 PC Setup Procedure

 https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/26705-diskless-windows-10-pc-setup-procedure/

 

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/26705-diskless-windows-10-pc-setup-procedure/
 Diskless Windows 10 PC Setup Procedure By scan80269,

Gigabit Ethernet NIC with PXE boot support

Gigabit Ethernet NIC, with driver for Windows Server  

DHCP server static IPs

Contents of iscsi.ipxe (text) file: #!ipxe

sanboot iscsi:<server IP>::::iqn.1991-05.com.microsoft:<server name>-win10-target boot

Share iSCSIVirtualDisks folder with rear/write permission for client username

Create TFTProot folder

Put ipxe-undionly.kpxe and iscsi.ipxe files in C:\TFTProot

Download and set up Tiny PXE Server (Tiny PXE Server - reboot.pro)

Enable iSCSI Service


Client Connect network via gigabit Ethernet NIC and cable

Attach local storage (HDD/SSD)

Install Windows 10 OS into hard disk

- Copy OS install files into FAT32 formatted USB flash drive to use for OS installation

Install NIC driver and other device drivers (graphics, audio, etc.) as needed

Ensure client can properly browse on Internet

 Launch iSCSI Initiator

- Type "iscsicpl" <Enter> at the Command Prompt window and answer Yes to the prompt

- This will configure Win10 to auto launch the iSCSI initiator service at OS startup

Launch Registry Editor (regedit.exe) to set boot flag for LAN driver

Locate the LAN driver service name under HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services

Example: for motherboards featuring Intel I217V/LM, I218V/LM, I219V/LM LAN the driver service name is: e1dexpress

Click on the driver service name, locate the Start key (REG_DWORD), double-click it and change its value to 0

- Repeat this Start key value change to 0 in HKLM\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services and HKLM\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Services

Close Registry Editor

Download and run Disk2VHD.exe (from Microsoft Sysinternals: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/ee656415.aspx)

- Ensure "Use Vhdx" and "Use Volume Shadow Copy" checkboxes are checked

- In "VHD File Name" box, enter "\\<Server IP>\<share name>\Win10.VHDX (e.g. \\192.168.0.100\c\Win10.VHDX)

- Run Disk2VHD to create VHDX file on server

 
Server:

Set up iSCSI target LUN

Use "existing VHDX"

Add MAC address of client to iSCSI initiator list

 

 

Client:

 Launch "iSCSI Initiator"

 On "Discovery" tab, click "Discover Portal" and enter IP address or DNS name of server

 on "Targets" tab, ensure a target appears on "Discovered targets" list

 target name should look like: iqn.1991-05.com.microsoft:<server name>-Win10-target

 Shut down Windows and detach hard disk from client

 Power up client and it should proceed to PXE boot

- PXE boots to iPXE from server, then chains to iSCSI target LUN to start Windows 10 boot

 

 

 

Notes:

A. This procedure sets up a fixed size VHDX on the server. An alternative is to create a new dynamic VHDX (of desired max size) on the server, mount it locally (using iSCSI Initiator running on the server), connect the client disk to the server via USB-to-SATA adapter, then partition copy the client disk to the mounted VHDX. This preserves the dynamic nature of the VHDX file and helps conserve disk space on the server.