How PXE Boot Works

PXE Boot: The Conversation

Visualizing the PXE boot process as a text message exchange between devices.

Client

Help! I'm a new device on the network and I need an IP address. By the way, I'm a PXE Client (using Option 60), so I need boot instructions too!

DHCP Server

I see you. Here's IP 192.168.1.100. Your boot server is at 192.168.1.5 (Option 66), and you need file boot/x64/wdsmgfw.efi (Option 67).

Client

Thanks! Hey TFTP server (192.168.1.5), I'd like to request the Network Bootstrap Program (NBP) file please (boot/x64/wdsmgfw.efi).

TFTP Server

No problem. Here is your NBP file (boot/x64/wdsmgfw.efi). Once you run it, it will tell you what other configuration files you need to ask for.

Client

Alright, NBP executed. After fetching my configs and kernel, I'm booting into the pre-install environment. Now I'll connect to the image server (via HTTP/NFS) to download the full OS image. Mission complete!