Error loading my BCD when trying to PXE boot to Windows PE

Question

I'm trying to set up an ubuntu server with pxelinux, so I can boot Windows PE using PXE. On the client machine, I can see that pxelinux itself works, but the next screen is this:

---

Here is what I did:

Step 1: Installed tftpd-hpa and dhcp3 on the server. The server is a fresh ubuntu server x86 virtual machine. Static IP is 192.168.26.0. Samba server is installed.

dhcpd.conf contains

subnet 192.168.26.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
  range 192.168.26.10 192.168.26.40;
  filename "pxelinux.0";
  next-server 192.168.26.0;
}

I have verified that TFTP and DHCP work.

Step 2: Downloaded pxelinux.0 from the ubuntu repository. Put it in the tftpboot directory and created pxelinux.cfg/default with these contents:

DEFAULT winpe

PROMPT 0
TIMEOUT 300

MENU TITLE PXE

LABEL winpe
MENU LABEL Windows PE
    KERNEL Boot/pxeboot.0

I've tried using Wdsnbp.0 (-> Wdsnbp.com), instead of pxeboot.0 (-> pxeboot.com) made no difference.

I want to make a real menu with ubuntu options later.

Step 3: Downloaded and installed the Windows Automated Installation Kit for Windows 7 and installed it on a fresh Windows 7 x64 vm.

I followed these instructions in the WAIK.chm file that comes with the download. Short version:

Copying Files and stuff:

copype.cmd x86 c:\winpe_x86

I want to provide an x86 winpe image.

imagex /mountrw C:\winre_x86\winpe.wim 1 C:\winpe_x86\mount

net use y: \\192.168.26.0\TFTPRoot
y:
md Boot

cd \temp\Windows\Boot\PXE
copy c:\winpe_x86\mount\Windows\Boot\PXE\*.* y:\Boot
copy c:\Program Files\WAIK\Tools\PETools\x86\boot\boot.sdi y:\Boot

Imagex /unmount C:\winpe_x86\mount
copy c:\winpe_x86\winpe.wim y:\Boot\boot.wim

BCDEdit usage:

Bcdedit -createstore c:\BCD

Bcdedit -store c:\BCD -create {ramdiskoptions} /d “Ramdisk options” 
Bcdedit -store c:\BCD -set {ramdiskoptions} ramdisksdidevice  boot
Bcdedit -store c:\BCD -set {ramdiskoptions} ramdisksdipath  \boot\boot.sdi

Bcdedit -store c:\BCD -create /d “MyWinPE Boot Image” /application osloader

guid1 is the guid returned from the previous command.

Bcdedit -store c:\BCD -set {guid1} systemroot \Windows
Bcdedit -store c:\BCD -set {guid1} detecthal Yes
Bcdedit -store c:\BCD -set {guid1} winpe Yes
Bcdedit -store c:\BCD -set {guid1} osdevice ramdisk=[boot]\Boot\boot.wim,{ramdiskoptions}
Bcdedit -store c:\BCD -set {guid1} device ramdisk=[boot]\Boot\boot.wim,{ramdiskoptions}

Bcdedit -store c:\BCD -create {bootmgr} /d “Windows BootManager”  /inherit {dbgsettings} 
Bcdedit -store c:\BCD -set {bootmgr} timeout 30 
Bcdedit -store c:\BCD -displayorder {guid1}

copy c:\BCD \\server\TFTPRoot\Boot

BCDEdit reported each operation as successful. The BCD file is capitalized.

Step 4: I created some symbolic links (advice from this German source):

ln -s Boot boot
ln -s Boot/bootmgr.exe bootmgr.exe
ln -s Boot/pxeboot.n12 Boot/pxeboot.0

Unfortunately that source deals with Windows Vista and Windows PE 2.0, whereas I'm using Windows 7 and Windows PE 3.0, but those links can't harm I guess. Using pxeboot.com instead of pxeboot.n12 does not fix the problem. The only difference is that you have to press F12 to boot. A sign that the system works at least on a basic level (i.e. it can at least load pxeboot.n12 and bootmgr.exe).

I also added this remap-rule to /etc/tftp_remap.conf to avoid problems with path separators:

rg \\ /

I'm out of ideas. I recreated the BCD several times. I also tried using the BCD that you can find in the WAIK folders, no success. Googling this error unfortunately only yielded irrelevant information to me (i.e. how to repair this problem with existing Windows installations).

Solution

It turned out to be a rather embarrasing mistake.

Inside /etc/default/tftp.conf, I used the wrong syntax to point to the /etc/tft_remap.conf file. The correct file contents are these:

TFTP_USERNAME="tftp"
TFTP_DIRECTORY="/var/lib/tftpboot"
TFTP_ADDRESS="0.0.0.0:69"

TFTP_OPTIONS="--secure -l -v -m /etc/tftp-remap.conf"