The Windows PE image contains bootstrap information that will contact the Specops Deployment Server, and start the actual installation. The computer will load the Windows PE image into memory, and boot. Depending on the configuration, WDS can select to download a Windows PE boot image over Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFPT). If a match is found, the WDS server knows the computer that is booting is the same computer in AD. What happens on the WDS server when a PXE Client sends out a broadcast? An Active Directory (AD) search is performed, searching computers for the NetBootGUID attribute, and comparing against the sent UUID and MAC address.

WDS is in essence a PXE Server, so it handles all communication sent from the computer that is PXE booting. In Specops Deploy, Windows Deployment Services (WDS) is installed as part of the Specops Deployment Server. The entire PXE protocol is similar to how DHCP works when retrieving IP addresses – and DHCP actually needs to work for PXE to work to work as well. This will typically reach as far as a broadcast can go, i.e. When a computer initiates a PXE boot, it sends a network broadcast containing its Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) and the Media Access Control (MAC) address, together with a request for a PXE server. Computers installed with Specops Deploy should be configured to PXE boot as the first boot option in BIOS. Specops Deploy uses PXE booting to initiate Windows installations, replacing the contents of the hard drive. PXE can also be used to load Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE), from which a full operating system can be installed. PXE is a protocol that allows computers (PXE clients) to load an operating system from a remote server (PXE server). Pre-boot eXecution Environment (PXE) boot I will address prestaging, and how the MAC address, or UUID work when finding objects in AD. In this blog post, I will describe the core functionality in the PXE boot used by Specops Deploy. PXE boot, GUIDs, and MAC addresses in Specops Deploy and WDS

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