Tip: Install OS via netboot.xyz without ISO support

ehab · December 2020

It can happen your vm provider has a broken iso mount or does not support it at all. You can install your OS using netboot.xyz the following way:

1- Have your vm already installed with one of the provided templates e.g: debian 9. ssh into your vm as root install the ipxe package:

# apt-get install ipxe
# update-grub

Get your ip, gateway from your vm info email, provider cp or on debian this way and store it as it will be needed later.

# cat /etc/network/interfaces
or
# ip r

# reboot

2- From your vnc or console, you should be able to see similar grub menu

after you press enter then quickly keep pressing CTRL+B ,or you can set to boot from CD only in you cp... then you should

enter your ip info you stored from the above step 1 like show in next image

if your vm supports ipv6 then it may try to configure it so you press enter like shown:

let it boot and should be good

I wrote this article when i got a HH vm and uploading iso is broken at time of this article.

References :
1- https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/190865/is-it-possible-to-add-some-pxe-network-boot-option-to-grub
2- http://www.panticz.de/Install-GRUB-iPXE-netboot

ehab · December 2020

@AnthonySmith @vyas @Ympker @Not_Oles @Mason

hopefully this will help all the HH iso lost souls.

Ympker · December 2020

Looking nice mate

ehab · December 2020

wish i knew how to do this since 3 years ago.

vyas · December 2020

@ehab said:
wish i knew how to do this since 3 years ago.

Don't we all ?
:-)
Nice and short How To btw

p.s

Upgraded to Debain Bullseye while moving from Debian 9, lack of coffee is my excuse

InceptionHosting · December 2020

@ehab said:
wish i knew how to do this since 3 years ago.

I wish I knew how to do this 3 days ago...

Not_Oles · December 2020

I like it! Congrats!

InceptionHosting · December 2020

Thanks for the guide @ehab

Chievo · December 2020

Thanks for the guide. It is illustrative and done easy step by step

mikho · December 2020

thanks alot!
This finally made it possible for me to install my OS on an old Dedicated server.

Follow up tip, if you have a IPMI or iLo that messes with you.
I installed Centos, selected the text-based installation and was then asked if I wanted a VNC server started instead of running the text-based installation.

Much faster and more stable then my "broken" IPMI.

aRNoLD · December 2020

Imgur

Unlucky, that's what I experience from Vultr.

System halt...

ehab · December 2020

@aRNoLD said:

did you try another booting another os?

aRNoLD · December 2020

@ehab said:

@aRNoLD said:

did you try another booting another os?

No, I copied from the thread. Debian OS is my fav and recently deployed. If Debian fails, users around the globe may encounter the same issue. Probably Vultr has sth. wrong.

valkyrie · January 2021

Arch won't work out it seems

cybertech · February 2021

is there a Centos version of this?

ehab · February 2021

@cybertech said:
is there a Centos version of this?

not sure, but you can add the kernel and update the grub yourself.

cybertech · March 2021

@ehab said:

@cybertech said:
is there a Centos version of this?

not sure, but you can add the kernel and update the grub yourself.

Thanks, used Debian 9 instead and followed this guide. Works pefect

aRNoLD · March 2021

@cybertech said:
is there a Centos version of this?

guess the following two lines could do the job ( and the third to finalize the boot menu). you may have to adjust the GRUB_TIMEOUT value, making it larger so the screen may stop for a while rather than splash away when you get into the VNC.

sudo wget https://boot.netboot.xyz/ipxe/netboot.xyz.lkrn -O /boot/netboot.xyz.lkrn

sudo sed -i '$a menuentry "Boot from http://netboot.xyz" {\n\ \ \ \ linux16 /boot/netboot.xyz.lkrn\n}' /etc/grub.d/40_custom

sudo grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg && sudo reboot

aRNoLD · March 2021

it looks CloudCone's VPS/KVM doesn't support this booting method. have updated grub and menu but when rebooting there's no ipxe item on the screen. guess theirs are not compatible.

ehab · March 2021

@aRNoLD said:

install debian
then

# apt-get install ipxe
# grub-reboot "Network boot (iPXE)"
# reboot

have vnc open and this should get into the ipxe boot, try it.

aRNoLD · March 2021

apt install ipxe produce the following output

Unpacking ipxe (1.0.0+git-20190125.36a4c85-1) ...
Setting up ipxe (1.0.0+git-20190125.36a4c85-1) ...
Searching for GRUB installation directory ... found: /boot/grub
Searching for default file ... found: /boot/grub/default
Testing for an existing GRUB menu.lst file ... found: /boot/grub/menu.lst
Searching for splash image ... none found, skipping ...
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-4.19.0-14-amd64
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-4.19.0-5-amd64
Updating /boot/grub/menu.lst ... done

the second line, grub-reboot "Network boot (iPXE)" produced the following

Searching for GRUB installation directory ... found: /boot/grub
Probing devices to guess BIOS drives. This may take a long time.

    GNU GRUB  version 0.97  (640K lower / 3072K upper memory)

       [ Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported.   For
         the   first   word,  TAB  lists  possible  command
         completions.  Anywhere else TAB lists the possible
         completions of a device/filename. ]
grub> savedefault --once --default=Network boot (iPXE)

Error 23: Error while parsing number
grub> quit

Do you want to reboot now? [y/N]

then from the splash screen, it said "Falling back to Grub Legacy" and then gave only four options of original OS/Debian booting, but without ipxe options.

guess CloudCone doesn't support ipxe booting?

ehab · March 2021

@aRNoLD is it a kvm? just asking since you grabbed all the text! how did you do that

aRNoLD · March 2021

@ehab said:
@aRNoLD is it a kvm? just asking since you grabbed all the text! how did you do that

https://imgur.com/a/AQf6272

Yes, the control panel shows its platform is KVM. That's one point that I feel weird.

the text is copied from SSH terminal.

ehab · March 2021

i have some credit with them, when i get time i will try to have me some fun.

valkyrie · March 2021

I noticed that some Live CDs or even network boot won't really boot at all and just stucks at the initramfs fallback terminal or even kernel panic
on static IP configuration, must be something, or probably they need DHCP to work

ehab · March 2021

@valkyrie said:

if the provider does not have DHCP you must manually add those in the boot menu command line "press e" or at the seed file. But if you get a kernel panic then either ram is not enough or you are an unlucky b* j/k

valkyrie · March 2021

@ehab said:

@valkyrie said:

if the provider does not have DHCP you must manually add those in the boot menu command line "press e" or at the seed file. But if you get a kernel panic then either ram is not enough or you are an unlucky b* j/k

Okay will def trying that later to see it works

aRNoLD · January 2022

@cybertech said:
is there a Centos version of this?

yum install ipxe-bootimgs

or maybe, it depends

yum install efibootmgr

but I am not sure how to run them, the specific commands.

from URL: https://rpmfind.net/linux/RPM/centos/7.9.2009/x86_64/Packages/ipxe-bootimgs-20180825-3.git133f4c.el7.noarch.html , and you'll see there are several files

/usr/share/doc/ipxe-bootimgs-20180825
/usr/share/doc/ipxe-bootimgs-20180825/COPYING
/usr/share/doc/ipxe-bootimgs-20180825/COPYING.GPLv2
/usr/share/doc/ipxe-bootimgs-20180825/USAGE
/usr/share/ipxe
/usr/share/ipxe/ipxe-snponly-x86_64.efi
/usr/share/ipxe/ipxe.dsk
/usr/share/ipxe/ipxe.efi
/usr/share/ipxe/ipxe.iso
/usr/share/ipxe/ipxe.lkrn
/usr/share/ipxe/ipxe.usb
/usr/share/ipxe/undionly.kpxe

AlwaysSkint · December 2022

Holy Necro!

xleet · December 2022

@AlwaysSkint said:
Holy Necro!

... but a very timely one for me! I am so happy it appeared! I have been working on this exact same problem all week.

-> Check out the netboot.xyz website. They have automated many of the steps described above. It is one of the "projects" that I have been working on for the past week.

GOALS:
My goal is to boot the Debian 11 installer in a KVM VPS (to install Debian), where the installer is booted over the internet from another of my VPSs. I can do it now, but with the installer booted from netboot.xyz's server, not my server.
Once I have that figured out, I want to integrate the solution with the dropbear ssh server, to see if there is a way to perform a Debian installation from my own trusted source without using the provider's VNC console. It is not clear that it can be done, but I want to see for myself.

WHAT WORKS FOR ME SO FAR:

I have already tested unlocking a whole-disk-encrypted KVM VPS through the dropbear ssh server. Tested on a local virtual machine testbed and a KVM VPS.
I have also tested booting a Debian installer over the internet using netboot.xyz's website and method. Also tested on a local virtual machine testbed and a KVM VPS. See the procedure, next.

WORKING PROCEDURE THAT I FOLLOWED - THIS WILL WORK FOR YOU TOO:
Go to this website:
https://netboot.xyz
Look at Docs -> Booting Methods -> Booting from Grub:
https://netboot.xyz/docs/booting/grub
NOTE: To make this procedure work on a KVM VPS, I had to use the provider's VNC console. My ultimate goal is to bypass the VNC console and do everything over SSH, but for now, it works.
STEPS:

Install a throwaway Debian on your target system. Nothing fancy, just enough to boot. (NOTE: Write down your target system's IP address, netmask, gateway, and DNS server configuration. You may need it later.)
Follow the steps in the "grub" link above. When you reboot, you will see a new menu item in grub: "*Bootable ISO Image: netbook.xyz"
Press the "m" key at the appropriate time to load the menu.
You may have to enter your system's IP address, netmask, gateway, and DNS settings manually. I tested that too, and it is easy.)
A new menu should appear from the netboot.xyz website. Choose Linux Network Installs (64-bit).
Choose the distro you want (for me: Debian), and follow the sub-menus, if any (e.g., Debian->Debian 11.0 (bullseye))->[type of install - Text, Graphical, etc.]
The installer runs and you're on your way.

NEXT STEPS:
I am lost in the weeds, trying to figure out how to create and configure my own version of the netboot.xyz.iso menu that appears in grub, but one that points to my own server instead of netboot.xyz. I would not mind eliminating options I do not need, too.

I built the netboot.xyz website (without changing any configuration files) on my server, following the Self Hosting (Ansible) instructions on the netboot.xyz website. The generic netboot.xyz website webpage appears on my server, but not yet customized with my settings.

So ... thanks for resurrecting this thread.

-> Any help or suggestions from others will be appreciated.

P.S. I understand the security aspects of this, but I still want to figure out how to make it work. Yes, I know that the VPS provider has ultimate power over my VPS and can do anything they want without detection. I get it. I hope this discussion stays on track about how to make this work. If you want to talk about the security aspects, please open a new thread.

P.P.S. The original "necro'd" comment that triggered this post has disappeared, but I would still appreciate the help from others. Any hints and ideas about how to bring my work to fruition would be appreciated.

xleet · December 2022

Bump. The weekend is past us, and maybe someone will notice this thread and show interest or take pity.

See my post above. Feel free to join in or send me a PM if you have experience (with netboot.xyz and iPXE in particular) and are willing to answer basic questions. Thanks!

Tip: Install OS via netboot.xyz without ISO support

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