Configuring the Remote Boot Service Using Remote Boot Manager (Windows Embedded Standard 2009)

Article
09/26/2012

4/23/2012

The Remote Boot manager is a tool that edits the policy list parameter information stored in \Windows Embedded\Remote Boot Service\Rbsprov.ini for the Remote Boot service and the registry. This allows you to quickly set up the Remote Boot service and configure it according to your specifications.

The following table shows the policy list parameters you can edit in the Device Policy List table in the Remote Boot manager tool.

Note

The Client MAC address parameter information is required. All other parameter fields may be left empty and will inherit the default settings specified in the Default Settings group box.

Policy list parameter	Description
Client MAC Address	Contains the MAC address of the PXE client computer corresponding to the policy list entry.
Description	Contains a description of the device being configured.
Action	Specifies what action to take when the PXE client computer is discovered on the network. If set to Ignore, the Remote Boot server will ignore the specified MAC address even if the Use default settings to boot unspecified clients option has been selected.
Boot Server	Specifies the IP address of the server that contains the boot image. If set to 0.0.0.0, the Remote Boot server will obtain boot files from the host server.
Boot Program	Specifies the bootstrap program used to start the PXE client computer. The following list shows the available options in the Boot Program field: Startrom.com enables attended remote image booting. This requires the user to press the F12 key to initialize the Remote Boot service. Startrom.n12 enables unattended remote image booting. This does not require the user to press the F12 key to initialize the Remote Boot service. Reboot.com is used for testing purposes and causes the client computer to reboot. Abortpxe.com aborts a boot attempt of the PXE client computer. The client computer then proceeds to boot from the next available boot device.
Boot Image	Specifies the name of the Windows Embedded Standard image that is to be copied to the PXE device. If this field is left empty, the image name must be supplied using one of the following options: Specify the image name in the Boot Parameters field, for example, `/rdpath=net(0)\myimage.sdi`. Create a Boot.ini file and place it in the boot images folder. If you use a manually created Boot.ini file and also use an .sld file, you must include the option `/rdimageoffset=4096` or your image execution will fail.
Boot Parameters	Specifies additional boot parameters. For example, to debug a network bootable device using the kernel debugger, you may include the boot parameters /debug `/debugport=com1 /baudrate=57600`. Note: Not all boot parameters are supported, such as F8 functionality.

The following table shows the default parameters you can edit in the Default Settings group box.

Default parameter	Description
Default Boot Server	Specifies the IP address of the server containing your boot file information. If this field is set to 0.0.0.0, the Remote Boot client will download the boot program and image from the server that hosts the Remote Boot service.
Default Boot Program	Specifies the boot program to be used if one is not entered in the Boot Program field of the Device Policy List. The maximum length for a file name is 13 characters.
Default Boot Image	Specifies the default boot image.
Default Boot Parameters	Specifies the default boot parameters.

The following table shows the global parameters you can edit in the Global Settings area.

Global parameter	Description
Response time	Specifies the delay time between the reception of DHCP packets from a client computer and the processing of the packet information. For more information, see Remote Boot Response Time.
Use default settings to boot unspecified clients	Specifies whether the Remote Boot service should respond to all PXE client computers on a subnet or only respond to PXE client computers whose MAC addresses are specified in the Client MAC Address field. Note: Remote Boot service will not respond to clients with Action set to ignore.
Use DHCP port (67)?	Specifies whether the DHCP and PXE services are located on the same server. Select this option only if the DHCP and PXE services are not on the same server.

Response time

Specifies the delay time between the reception of DHCP packets from a client computer and the processing of the packet information.

For more information, see Remote Boot Response Time.

Use default settings to boot unspecified clients

Specifies whether the Remote Boot service should respond to all PXE client computers on a subnet or only respond to PXE client computers whose MAC addresses are specified in the Client MAC Address field.

Note:

Remote Boot service will not respond to clients with Action set to ignore.

Use DHCP port (67)?

Specifies whether the DHCP and PXE services are located on the same server. Select this option only if the DHCP and PXE services are not on the same server.

Note

Changes to the global parameters for the Remote Boot server will not take effect until you choose Save in the Remote Boot manager window. Restarting the Remote Boot service is required only if the Use DHCP port (67) setting is changed.

Microsoft recommends that you use the Remote Boot manager and do not edit the Rbsprov.ini file directly. However, in some situations it may be beneficial to edit the file manually using a text editor, such as when you have a large number of client computers. Rbsprov.ini can also be manipulated using custom software.

Each line of text in Rbsprov.ini is terminated with a new line character and corresponds with a policy list line item. Parameters within each line should be separated by a space character. Any changes made to the Rbsprov.ini file are automatically detected by the Remote Boot service. The following table shows the parameters found in a typical policy list entry.

Parameter	Description
00-50-8B-CA-67-A2	Specifies the PXE client address.
* enable - or - * disable	Enables or disables the Remote Boot service for a specific client device.
name="Front Office Cash Register"	Contains the description field for the device.
imagename="my-disk.sdi"	Indicates the name of the image file to be used.
bootprog="startrom.n12"	Indicates the name of the boot program file to be used.
bootserver="1.2.3.4"	Specifies the TCP/IP address of the boot server.
bootparams="/debug /debugport=com1 /baudrate=57600"	Specifies additional boot parameters.

If you have edited an Rbsprov.ini file and then open it with Remote Boot manager, you may encounter some of the following problems:

Records with invalid MAC addresses are not displayed.
Text fields that are greater than the prescribed limit are truncated as in the following table to their maximum length.

The following table shows the maximum character length for each field.

Field	Maximum length
Boot Program	13 characters
Image	100 characters
Boot Parameters	100 characters
Description	50 characters

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Configuring the Remote Boot Service Using Remote Boot Manager (Windows Embedded Standard 2009)

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