For some projects I netboot all my development systems (with PXE). It'd be great if Parallels could have a PXE Boot bios...
etherboot Instead of writing a pxeboot driver, maybe Parallels could integrate etherboot instead... http://www.etherboot.org/ (it's GPL, but I've seen it used in otherwise closed source products so if it's done right I'm guessing it could be made to work). - ask
This would be useful in my request too... Support for MS Remote Installation Services. So I would second this request...
I'd like to add that I'd like to see this feature as well. I'm a very happy parallels user but I could really use the ability to do pxe booting (especially from one VM to another) as a means of testing netboot environments before I spend a day setting up a whole lab.
Newest Etherboot iso can do PXE. You can get an ISO image of Etherboot with PXE support from rom-o-matic. It works with pxelinux, but seems to fail with FreeBSD pxeboot. Depending on what you want to boot it may be fine for you. I have used it with pxeliinux, memdisk and a DOS boot disk within Parallels. -Andrew
Andrew, which network driver did you use in the creation of your boot disc at rom-o-matic? BTW, this is a very cool site (rom-o-matic) thanks for the heads up.
Wanted to add my two cents to the request. It'd be most convenient for my development purposes if I could PXE boot (more so considering the problems I'm having getting the rom-o-matic stuff to boot FreeBSD). --Bill
I'd like to throw my hat into the ring as well as someone who'd like to see PXE support built into Parallels. Being able to install images from the network as well as use it as a testbed for production PXE booting labs/servers/etc. would be almost invaluable.
Thought I'd throw this out there for those interested. It's how I got Solaris 10 Jumpstarts to work on my Parallels installation, including using the ROM-o-matic image for PXE booting. https://confluence.utdallas.edu/confluence/display/~mgriego/2007/02/15/Jumpstarting+Parallels
Hm, I'm surprised that PXE boot is NOT supported right now. For me this is a key feature which is necessary to do the daily work and testing. In the past I used vmware within windows, but like to switch to mac and parallels. Are there any thoughts to implement PXE boot in the near future? Regards, Falk
I came across this post while searching, and managed to get PXE boot with Etherboot working, but there were a few details that might help others to do this. The network adapter type is "ns8390:rtl8029" (Realtek 8029). If you produce a floppy disk image, you have to expand it to 1.44Mb to be usable in Parallels. This is one way: cat eb-5.4.3-ns8390.zdsk /dev/zero | dd bs=1 count=1474560 of=eb-5.4.3-ns8390.fdd It helps to use bridged networking with a real DHCP server on the network, although I imagine it's also possible to kill Parallels DHCP, and run your own one with shared networking.
Agreed I'll give new life to this request. Using an ISO of my Win_PE image is silly. If we could use PXE like we do with everything else, and with Fusion (since it does it), that would make my life easier. Enterprise support as someone mentioned...yes, please.
Please BUMP BUMP BUMP Can we please get PXE support ? Rumors are old and dry now, we need some fresh answers ! PS. This could be the deciding factor between Parallels and VM fusion. At least let us know if you are still planning to introduce it. Also, if anyone has found a workaround way to PXE boot a Parallels VM, please post your methods and results !
Another bump. Having the ability to boot via PXE would be a great feature to have. I would love to see PXE boot added into Parallels.
This would be useful for people trying to do a Hosted OS solution or remote OS install. I'm sure it will become more of an issue as more desktops become virtualized via a hosted solution or an in house Virtual server.
pxe and remote install is implemented in Parallels Server, this feature is server ability not for Desktop, which is supposing to be personal software, Anyway formats for Parallels Desktop 4 and Parallels Server will be the same, so one can install on Parallels Server and just copy VM to to her/his Mac
I don't quite agree with that... many companies distribute their custom OS images to client PCs using PXE. PXE is quite often used to install desktop PCs (which is what Parallels Desktop is for), but almost never for installing servers (which is what Parallels Server is for).
I participated in the development of PXE support in Parallels Desktop/Server, Parallels Desktop will have the Intel PXE support.
