How to properly serve Windows 11 through iPXE / WinPE

Question

Hi,

I am trying to serve and install Windows 11 over iPXE / WinPE, however when I do so the installer always results in: "This PC can't run Windows 11" and provides the link to view the Windows 11 System Requirements.

When I burn the WinPE image and ISO to a USB directly, it installs locally just fine.

I am able to serve Windows Server 2022, 2019, HyperV, and Windows 10 without any issues whatsoever. This only occurs with Windows 11.

Example system info:

• Secure Boot is disabled but capable (have also tried with it enabled)
• TPM 2.0 enabled
• Have tried with and without a Quadro graphics card for the DX12 requirement
• Display is above the resolution requirement, and the resolution in the WinPE / Installer looks the same regardless if used locally via USB or from PXE.

The "technician PC" is using Windows 11, with the Windows 11 ADK + WinPE addon.

WinPE image is a fresh amd64 image.

The ISO/installer is freshly downloaded from Microsoft as of yesterday.

The only changes to the image is a simple loop added to startnet.cmd which connects to a samba share and launches the installer.

Startnet.cmd:

wpeinit

:loop
ping <ip address>
net use i: \\<ip address>\path\to\iso\directory /user:user password || goto loop
i:\setup.exe

iPXE config:

:win11
set os_root /path/to/iso
cpuid --ext 29 && set arch amd64
kernel http://${server_ip}/tools/wimboot
initrd http://${server_ip}/${os_root}/media/Boot/BCD	BCD
initrd http://${server_ip}/${os_root}/media/Boot/boot.sdi	boot.sdi
initrd -n boot.wim http://${server_ip}/${os_root}/media/sources/boot.wim	boot.wim
boot

Wimboot:
https://ipxe.org/wimboot

I'm not really sure where the problem lies. Windows 11 installs via USB just fine, and I am able to serve all other versions of Windows / Windows Server / HyperV without any issue with the same methods.

My method:

• Download a fresh Win11 ISO from Microsoft, mount it, and extract the contents
• Move the extracted iso to the samba share
• Create a new winpe image via MDT
• Mount the winpe image
• Edit Startnet.cmd to add the script
• Unmount the winpe image and commit the changes
• Place WinPE into the samba share
• Add the ipxe configuration mentioned above to serve it over ipxe

Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.

I have followed the guides found here with no luck:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/oem-deployment-of-windows-desktop-editions?view=windows-11
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/oem-deployment-of-windows-desktop-editions-get-tools?view=windows-11
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/get-started/adk-install

Answer 1

Hi,

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Q&A forum.

Please check the following options:

1,Verify that the BIOS settings are compatible with Windows 11. It may be helpful to check if any other BIOS settings are affecting the installation process.

2,Check if the iPXE server is working correctly and if the WinPE image is correct and the startnet.cmd script is working as expected.

3,If possible, consider using different tools to serve and install WinPE, such as SCCM or WDS.

Thanks for your time. Have a nice day!

Best regards,

Simon

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