PXE Boot Menu with Sub-menus

PXE Boot Menu with Sub-menus

By | | Comments 0 Comment

Last Updated on 2017-03-25 by Sture

Description

A simple GUI menu system with sub-menus is used for selecting between different tasks.

WWW: http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/index.php/Menu.

Files: https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/boot/syslinux/.

Syslinux 5 Changelog:http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/Syslinux_6_Changelog#Changes_in_6.03/Menu.

Requirements

The following application(s) must be installed, configured and running before tftp-hpa is installed:

Preparation for Installation

Start PuTTY on a Windows PC, Terminal on a Mac or similar terminal application on a Linux PC.

In this example Terminal on a Mac is used.

Open a remote SSH session to the server with:

Mac:~ user$ ssh user@192.168.1.4 [enter]
N.B.: Replace user@192.168.1.4 with User ID and IP Address on Your server! 
[user@server ~]$

Enable superuser privileges with:

[user@server ~]$ sudo -s [enter]
Password: <-- passwd [enter]
[root@server /usr/home/user]#

N.B.: Enter user password, not the root password!

Download

Download file syslinux-6.03.tar.xz, about 6.5M, with;;

[root@server /usr/home/user]# wget https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/boot/syslinux/syslinux-6.03.tar.xz --no-check-certificate [enter]
--2017-03-02 17:46:01--  https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/boot/syslinux/syslinux-6.03.tar.xz
Resolving www.kernel.org (www.kernel.org)... 199.204.44.194, 149.20.4.69, 198.145.20.140, ...
Connecting to www.kernel.org (www.kernel.org)|199.204.44.194|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 6855224 (6,5M) [application/x-xz]
Saving to: ‘syslinux-6.03.tar.xz’

syslinux-6.03.tar.xz                         100%[============================================================================================>]   6,54M   765KB/s    in 9,8s    

2017-03-02 17:46:12 (683 KB/s) - ‘syslinux-6.03.tar.xz’ saved [6855224/6855224]
[root@server /usr/home/user]#

Wait for download to be completed and than extract ~/syslinux-6.03.tar.xz with:

[root@server /usr/home/user]# tar -xf syslinux-6.03.tar.xz [enter]
[root@server /usr/home/user]#

Installation

For the lwIP embedded TCP/IP network stack copy file syslinux-6.03/bios/core/pxelinux.0 to /tftpboot/ with:

[root@server /usr/home/user]# cp syslinux-6.03/bios/core/pxelinux.0 /tftpboot/ [enter]
[root@server /usr/home/user]#

For the new lwIP embedded TCP/IP network stack copy file ~/syslinux-6.03/bios/core/lpxelinux.0 to /tftpboot/ with:

[root@server /usr/home/user]# cp syslinux-6.03/bios/core/lpxelinux.0 /tftpboot/ [enter]
[root@server /usr/home/user]#

For the legacy TCP/IP network stack copy file syslinux-6.03/bios/gpxe/gpxelinux.0 to /tftpboot/ with:

[root@server /usr/home/user]# cp syslinux-6.03/bios/gpxe/gpxelinux.0 /tftpboot/ [enter]
[root@server /usr/home/user]#

Copy file ~/syslinux-6.03/bios/com32/lib/libcom32.c32 to /tftpboot/ with:

[root@server /usr/home/user]# cp syslinux-6.03/bios/com32/lib/libcom32.c32 /tftpboot/ [enter]
[root@server /usr/home/user]#

Copy file ~/syslinux-6.03/bios/com32/libutil/libutil.c32 to /tftpboot/ with:

[root@server /usr/home/user]# cp syslinux-6.03/bios/com32/libutil/libutil.c32 /tftpboot/ [enter]
[root@server /usr/home/user]#

Copy file ~/syslinux-6.03/bios/com32/menu/menu.c32 to /tftpboot/ with:

[root@server /usr/home/user]# cp syslinux-6.03/bios/com32/menu/menu.c32 /tftpboot/ [enter]
[root@server /usr/home/user]#

Copy file ~/syslinux-6.03/bios/com32/menu/vesamenu.c32 to /tftpboot/ with:

[root@server /usr/home/user]# cp syslinux-6.03/bios/com32/menu/vesamenu.c32 /tftpboot/ [enter]
[root@server /usr/home/user]#

Copy file ~/syslinux-6.03/bios/com32/modules/linux.c32 to /tftpboot/ with:

[root@server /usr/home/user]# cp syslinux-6.03/bios/com32/modules/linux.c32 /tftpboot/ [enter]
[root@server /usr/home/user]#

Copy file ~/syslinux-6.03/bios/com32/elflink/ldlinux/ldlinux.c32 to /tftpboot/ with:

[root@server /usr/home/user]# cp syslinux-6.03/bios/com32/elflink/ldlinux/ldlinux.c32 /tftpboot/ [enter]
[root@server /usr/home/user]#

Copy file ~/syslinux-6.03/bios/com32/modules/reboot.c32 to /tftpboot/ with:

[root@server /usr/home/user]# cp syslinux-6.03/bios/com32/modules/reboot.c32 /tftpboot/ [enter]
[root@server /usr/home/user]#

Copy file ~/syslinux-6.03/bios/com32/chain/chain.c32 to /tftpboot/ with:

[root@server /usr/home/user]# cp syslinux-6.03/bios/com32/chain/chain.c32 /tftpboot/ [enter]
[root@server /usr/home/user]#

Copy file ~/syslinux-6.03/sample/syslinux_splash.jpg to /tftpboot/ with:

[root@server /usr/home/user]# cp syslinux-6.03/sample/syslinux_splash.jpg /tftpboot/ [enter]
[root@server /usr/home/user]#

Copy file ~/syslinux-6.03/bios/memdisk/memdisk to /tftpboot/ with:

[root@server /usr/home/user]# cp syslinux-6.03/bios/memdisk/memdisk /tftpboot/ [enter]
[root@server /usr/home/user]#

Display files in directory /tftpboot with:

[root@server /usr/home/user]# ls -l /tftpboot/ [enter]
total 1343
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root  wheel   24560 Mar  2 18:48 chain.c32
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel  111334 Mar  2 18:44 gpxelinux.0
drwxr-xr-x  2 root  wheel       2 Mar  2 11:37 images
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root  wheel  122308 Mar  2 18:48 ldlinux.c32
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root  wheel  186500 Mar  2 18:44 libcom32.c32
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root  wheel   24148 Mar  2 18:44 libutil.c32
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root  wheel    4660 Mar  2 18:44 linux.c32
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   91550 Mar  2 18:43 lpxelinux.0
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   26140 Mar  2 18:49 memdisk
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root  wheel   26596 Mar  2 18:44 menu.c32
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   46909 Mar  2 18:41 pxelinux.0
drwxr-xr-x  2 root  wheel       2 Mar  2 11:37 pxelinux.cfg
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root  wheel    1376 Mar  2 18:48 reboot.c32
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   56299 Mar  2 18:49 syslinux_splash.jpg
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root  wheel   27104 Mar  2 18:44 vesamenu.c32
[root@server /usr/home/user]#

Delete the extracted folder and the downloaded .xz file with;

[root@server /usr/home/user]# rm -R syslinux-6.03; rm syslinux-6.03.tar.xz [enter]
[root@server /usr/home/user]#

Configuration

Critical Tasks Password

openssl passwd command can be used to compute the MD5-based hash of password used in the PXE Boot Menus.

[root@server /usr/home/user]# openssl passwd -1 passwd
$1$./xB0ZYM$EaUHney4jC51AtxBjdln2/
[root@server /usr/home/user]#

PXE Boot Main Menu

The PXE Boot Main Menu is defined in file /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default.

Create this file with:

[root@server /usr/home/user]# ee /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default

…and add the following text:

DEFAULT vesamenu.c32
PROMT 0
NOESCAPE 1
TIMEOUT 300
TOTALTIMEOUT 450

MENU WIDTH 78
MENU MARGIN 1
MENU ROWS 20
MENU TIMEOUTROW 25
MENU HELPMSGROW 26

MENU BACKGROUND syslinux_splash.jpg

MENU MASTER PASSWD $1$./xB0ZYM$EaUHney4jC51AtxBjdln2/
MENU PASSPROMT Enter Password

MENU TITLE PXE Boot Main Menu - server.example.net

MENU COLOR BORDER 0 #ffffffff #ee000000 std
MENU COLOR TITLE 0 #ffffffff #ee000000 std
MENU COLOR SEL 0 #ff00ff00 #ff000000 std
MENU COLOR UNSEL 0 #ffffffff #ee000000 std
MENU COLOR PWDHEADER 0 #ff000000 #99ffffff rev
MENU COLOR PWDBORDER 0 #ff000000 #99ffffff rev
MENU COLOR PWDENTRY 0 #ff000000 #99ffffff rev
MENU COLOR HOTKEY 0 #ff00ff00 #ee000000 std
MENU COLOR HOTSEL 0 #ffffffff #85000000 std

LABEL blank
MENU LABEL

LABEL hd
MENU LABEL ^H)  Boot to Local Hard Disk
LOCALBOOT 0x80

LABEL floppy
MENU LABEL ^F)  Boot to Local Floppy Disk
LOCALBOOT 0x00

LABEL cr
MENU LABEL ^R)  Coold Reboot
COM32 reboot.c32

LABEL wr
MENU LABEL ^W)  Warm Reboot
COM32 reboot.c32
APPEND -w

LABEL next
MENU LABEL ^N)  Skip PXE Boot (Boot Next Device)
MENU DEFAULT
LOCALBOOT -1

N.B.: Remember to change MENU MASTER PASSWD and MENU TITLE PXE!

PXE Boot Sub-Menus – Top Part

PXE Boot Sub-Menus top part is defined in file tftpboot/top.cfg:

Create this file with:

[root@server /usr/home/user]# ee /tftpboot/top.cfg

…and add the following text:

DEFAULT vesamenu.c32
PROMT 0
NOESCAPE 1
TIMEOUT 300
TOTALTIMEOUT 450

MENU WIDTH 78
MENU MARGIN 1
MENU ROWS 20
MENU TIMEOUTROW 25
MENU HELPMSGROW 26

MENU BACKGROUND syslinux_splash.jpg

MENU MASTER PASSWD $1$./xB0ZYM$EaUHney4jC51AtxBjdln2/
MENU PASSPROMT Enter Password

MENU COLOR BORDER 0 #ffffffff #ee000000 std
MENU COLOR TITLE 0 #ffffffff #ee000000 std
MENU COLOR SEL 0 #ff00ff00 #ff000000 std
MENU COLOR UNSEL 0 #ffffffff #ee000000 std
MENU COLOR PWDHEADER 0 #ff000000 #99ffffff rev
MENU COLOR PWDBORDER 0 #ff000000 #99ffffff rev
MENU COLOR PWDENTRY 0 #ff000000 #99ffffff rev
MENU COLOR HOTKEY 0 #ff00ff00 #ee000000 std
MENU COLOR HOTSEL 0 #ffffffff #85000000 std

N.B.: Remember to change MENU MASTER PASSWD!

PXE Boot Sub-Menus – Bottom Part

PXE Boot Sub-Menus bottom part is defined in file tftpboot/bottom.cfg:

Create this file with:

[root@server /usr/home/user]# ee /tftpboot/bottom.cfg

…and add the following text:

LABEL blank
MENU LABEL

LABEL hd
MENU LABEL ^H)  Boot to Local Hard Disk
localboot 0x80

LABEL floppy
MENU LABEL ^F)  Boot to Local Floppy Disk
localboot 0x00

LABEL cr
MENU LABEL ^R)  Coold Reboot
COM32 reboot.c32

LABEL wr
MENU LABEL ^W)  Warm Reboot
COM32 reboot.c32
APPEND -w

LABEL  return
MENU LABEL ^R)  Return to PXE Boot Main Menu
MENU DEFAULT
KERNEL vesamenu.c32
APPEND ~

Change file modes

Change file modes for all files in directory /tftpboot with:

[root@server ~]# chmod -R 755 /tftpboot [enter]
[root@server /usr/home/user]#

The sub-menus in this example will be named tftpboot/f01.cfg, tftpboot/f02.cfg,… and any files used in the sub-menus will be stored in directory named tftpboot/f01, tftpboot/f02, …

Leave a Reply