I'm trying to run this script on my Synology NAS, which dont have CPIO.
And I get to here: 7z x "../proxmox.iso" >> initrd || exit 5

But that just extract the ISO file to where the initrd file is, so it's not added to the file.
So when I pxe boot, I just get an error that Proxmox installer is looking for proxmox.iso and then fails.

Can this be done in Windows ?

I can install proxmox 6.4 using the script of the previous version; but I cannot install proxmox 7.0 using this script，this cannot pop up the installation interface；can you help me，thanks！

The initrd file for v7.1 no longer appears to be compressed:
file --mime-type --brief /tmp/initrd.img application/octet-stream

We will need to handle this file type case in order to support v7.1

You have a typo in your iPXE where you're setting the variable serverip but calling ${webserver}.
An easy fix on my end, but I thought I would let you know.

set serverip http://192.168.1.1 //Modify this to match the ip address or domain of your webserver set kernel "${webserver}/proxmox/${pveversion}/linux26 ${opts} splash=verbose proxdebug" goto init :normal set kernel "${webserver}/proxmox/${pveversion}/linux26 ${opts} splash=silent" goto init :init initrd ${webserver}/proxmox/${pveversion}/initrd chain ${kernel}

On Centos7.9 'file' failed to recognize file type:

file --mime-type --brief initrd.img 
application/octet-stream

Maybe make the script assume zstd if it fails to detect?

I had a stab at a version which does not require root access, and actually not even mounting or repackaging at all. Using isoinfo we can directly extract the kernel and the initrd. As it turns out (via https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/243657) you can simply append another gzipped cpio archive to the original initrd.img and the kernel will happily read both archives and merge them together into the initramfs.

#!/bin/env bash

isoinfo -i proxmox.iso -R -x /boot/linux26 > linux26
isoinfo -i proxmox.iso -R -x /boot/initrd.img > initrd.img
echo 'proxmox.iso' | cpio -H newc -o | gzip --best >> initrd.img

Thanks for the pve-iso-2-pxe script, which worked fine.

The iPXE bootscript would not run without two modifications:

1. The script should set a "webserver" variable instead of "ipserver" since the script calls "${webserver}" later on.

set webserver http://192.168.1.1

2. The iPXE client loaded initrd OK but then returned file-not-found errors when trying to load linux26 with options. I think the syntax, with spaces, is an issue. My workaround was to change the "opts" value into the form of a PHP query, starting with a "?" and then delimiting each key/value pair with an "&" character:

set opts "?vga=791&video=vesafb:ywrap,mtrr&ramdisk_size=16777216&rw&quiet&initrd=initrd"
..
set kernel "${webserver}/proxmox/${pveversion}/linux26${opts}&splash=silent

Note the lack of spaces in the "set kernel" line.

Thanks again.

Hello,

booting ober tftp works really fine, but needs a lot of time. So HTTP/ftp would be better. But how does this work on UEFI PXE? With tftp it works like this:

menuentry 'Proxmox 6.2' --id proxmox62 {
  linuxefi /proxmox62/linux26 vga=791 video=vesafb:ywrap,mtrr ramdisk_size=2000000 linux ext4 maxroot=60 swapsize=16 splash=verbose
  initrdefi /proxmox62/initrd.iso.img
}

But with ftp for example it means "you must boot the kernel first". So i think my syntax is not correct.

menuentry 'Proxmox 6.2 Faster' --id proxmox62-ftp {
  linuxefi url=ftp://data.osit.cc/pxe-iso/proxmox/linux26 vga=791 video=vesafb:ywrap,mtrr ramdisk_size=2000000 linux ext4 maxroot=60 swapsize=16 splash=verbose
  initrdefi url=ftp://data.osit.cc/pxe-iso/proxmox/initrd.iso.img
}

for some strange reason, when im using the latest 5.2 iso,
it detected ipxe correctly,
shows menu correctly,
even starts the setup correctly,

but then the mouse and keyboard are locked, any dont work?

i cant seem to do ANYTHING on the server without having the unplug/plug power back in?

On Ubuntu 18.04, bash 4.4.20. With proxmox 6.4 iso (gzip)

It works if I replace:

$decompress || exit 4

with

eval $decompress || exit 4

Hi
So i love the idea of your script and look quite simple to create a local 'asset' on the hdd. I wonder, can this be possible to used different os also ? Like with Garuda Linux , that can be quite nice. like extract the live portion of the iso and generate the .ipxe file.
Thanks in advance

Hello!
Sorryf or my bad English!

I use Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS.
I have iso proxmox-ve_8.0-2.iso

When I run script that I see this error:

bash pve-iso-2-pxe.sh /home/workadm/2023-08-24_Proxmox/proxmox-ve_8.0-2.iso
pve-iso-2-pxe.sh: line 2: $'\r': command not found

#########################################################################################################
# Create PXE bootable Proxmox image including ISO                                                       #
#                                                                                                       #
# Author: mrballcb @ Proxmox Forum (06-12-2012)                                                         #
# Thread: http://forum.proxmox.com/threads/8484-Proxmox-installation-via-PXE-solution?p=55985#post55985 #
# Modified: morph027 @ Proxmox Forum (23-02-2015) to work with 3.4                                      #
#########################################################################################################

pve-iso-2-pxe.sh: line 14: $'\r': command not found
pve-iso-2-pxe.sh: line 25: syntax error near unexpected token `$'do\r''
've-iso-2-pxe.sh: line 25: `for ISO in *.iso; do

I tried the following, but getting a kernel panic not syncing VFS unable to mount root fs on unknown block 0,0

:proxmox-install
echo Starting Proxmox Install 6.2.1
set base-url http://172.16.120.52/install/iso/extractedinstall/proxmox-ve_6.2-1
kernel ${base-url}/linux26
initrd ${base-url}/initrd.iso.img
#imgargs linux26 initrd=initrd.iso.img vga=791 video=vesafb:ywrap,mtrr ramdisk_size=166777216 linux ext4 maxroot=4 swapsize=4 splash=verbose || shell
boot || shell
goto start

Any idea how to resolve this issue?

`:~/pve-iso-2-pxe$ bash -x pve-iso-2-pxe.sh ../proxmox_ve_7.0.iso

• cat

#########################################################################################################

Create PXE bootable Proxmox image including ISO

Author: mrballcb @ Proxmox Forum (06-12-2012)

Thread: http://forum.proxmox.com/threads/8484-Proxmox-installation-via-PXE-solution?p=55985#post55985

Modified: morph027 @ Proxmox Forum (23-02-2015) to work with 3.4

#########################################################################################################

• '[' '!' 1 -eq 1 ']'
  +++ readlink -f ../proxmox_ve_7.0.iso
  ++ dirname /home/gravyflex/proxmox_ve_7.0.iso
• BASEDIR=/home/gravyflex
• pushd /home/gravyflex
• '[' -L proxmox.iso ']'
• rm proxmox.iso
• for ISO in '*.iso'
• '[' proxmox_ve_7.0.iso = '*.iso' ']'
• '[' proxmox_ve_7.0.iso = proxmox.iso ']'
• echo 'Using proxmox_ve_7.0.iso...'
  Using proxmox_ve_7.0.iso...
• ln -s proxmox_ve_7.0.iso proxmox.iso
• '[' '!' -f proxmox.iso ']'
• '[' -d pxeboot ']'
• pushd pxeboot
• echo 'extracting kernel...'
  extracting kernel...
• isoinfo -i ../proxmox.iso -R -x /boot/linux26
• echo 'extracting initrd...'
  extracting initrd...
• isoinfo -i ../proxmox.iso -R -x /boot/initrd.img
  ++ file --mime-type --brief /tmp/initrd.img
• mimetype=application/octet-stream
• case "${mimetype##*/}" in
• echo 'unable to detect initrd compression method, exiting'
  unable to detect initrd compression method, exiting
• exit 1`

lsb_release -a No LSB modules are available. Distributor ID: Ubuntu Description: Ubuntu 16.04.7 LTS Release: 16.04 Codename: xenial

file --mime-type --brief /tmp/initrd.img application/octet-stream

Hi,

I downloaded proxmox-ve_8.1-1.iso and I extracted 'linux26' and 'initrd.img' from the installation ISO.

Then I converted the initrd.img into the initrd file, following the pve-iso-2-pxe.sh script:
$ zstd -d initrd.img > initrd
$ echo "proxmox-ve_8.1-1.iso" | cpio -L -H newc -o >> initrd

With that I have created a working PXE configuration entry like this:

label ProXmox
menu label ProXmox 8.1
kernel ProXmox/linux26
initrd ProXmox/initrd
append vga=791 video=vesafb:ywrap,mtrr ramdisk_size=16777216 rw quiet splash=verbose proxdebug

The 'linux26' and 'initrd' files are transferred by tftp from server to client.
The client PC shows the boot process on its monitor:

================================
Welcome to the Proxmox VE 8.1 installer
initial setup startup
mounting proc filesystem
mounting sys filesystem
boot commandline: BOOT_IMAGE=ProXmox/linux26 vga=791 video=vesafb:ywrap,mtrr ramdisk_size=16777216 rw quiet splash=verbose proxdebug initrd=ProXmox/initrd
loading drivers: nvdiafb pata_jmicron pata_acpi ahci mac_hid i2c_i801 ehci_pci acpi_cpufreq input_leds serio_raw psmouse pcspkr intel_cstate kvm_intel intel_powerclamp
[ 2.8097181] nvidafb: unknown NV_ARCH
searching for block device containing the ISO proxmox-ve-8.1-1
with ISO ID '1417249-89f2-11ee-9dc2-bf4a21bd54a0'
testing device '/dev/sr0' for ISO
testing device '/dev/sr0' for ISO
testing again in 1 seconds
testing device '/dev/sr0' for ISO
testing again in 2 seconds
testing device '/dev/sr0' for ISO
testing again in 3 seconds
testing device '/dev/sr0' for ISO
testing again in 4 seconds
testing device '/dev/sr0' for ISO
testing again in 5 seconds
testing device '/dev/sr0' for ISO
testing again in 6 seconds
testing device '/dev/sr0' for ISO
testing again in 7 seconds
testing device '/dev/sr0' for ISO
testing again in 8 seconds

[ERROR] no device with valid ISO found, please check your installation medium
unable to continue (type exit or CTRL-D to reboot)
~ #

Any ideas what is going wrong here?

Thank you!
-Stub.

Hi there,

somehow I'm getting the error message in the title when testing in virtualbox.
Is this expected?

I'm using an autoinstall iso that I have created using proxmox-auto-install-assistant because I want the machines to pxeboot and then get their config via an answer file from a URL they receive via DHCP option 250.

Hello,

yesterday i tested the new PVE 5.4 ISO. The script seems to be working, but if you boot, you came to a kernelpanic. Here is the output.

./pve-iso-2-pxe.sh: Zeile 21: pushd: proxmox-ve_5.4-1.iso: Ist kein Verzeichnis
Using proxmox-ve_5.4-1.iso...
Mounting iso image...
copying kernel...
copying initrd...
Unmounted iso, extracting contents of initrd...
gzip: skipping: ./initrd.orig.img does not have compressed suffix
Added iso, creating and compressing the new initrd...
./pve-iso-2-pxe.sh: Zeile 61: ../initrd.orig: Datei oder Verzeichnis nicht gefunden
/v-machines/home/iso-images/tmp-proxmox/pxeboot /v-machines/home/iso-images/tmp-proxmox
Cleaning up temp files...
rm: das Entfernen von './initrd.orig' ist nicht möglich: Datei oder Verzeichnis nicht gefunden
Done! Look in /v-machines/home/iso-images/tmp-proxmox/pxeboot for pxeboot files.
/v-machines/home/iso-images/tmp-proxmox

This is the content of the folder pxeboot:

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 642M Apr 16 23:26 initrd.iso.img
-r--r--r-- 1 root root  27M Apr 16 23:25 initrd.orig.img
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 8,1M Apr 16 23:25 linux26

Thanks 👍

Hi, I got a problem when I run the script.
zstd: /tmp/initrd.img: unsupported format
I can run this script on other PVE version, but not the PVE8.1.
I don't know why now, Can you help me？

Boots fine via bios but UEFI it seems to time out

default config:

label 4
menu label ^4) Install Proxmox
kernel pve612/linux26
append initrd=pve612/initrd.iso.img vga=791 video=vesafb:ywrap,mtrr ramdisk_size=166777216 linux ext4 maxroot=4
swapsize=4 splash=verbose

There's no feedback from tailf /var/log/messages and no updates on the UEFI boot screen, just restarts.

centos 8.2, whti GUI desktop. Have installed cpio file zstd gzip genisoimage.
I print mimetype, it is application/x-gzip

[ta@Serv ~]$ bash ./pve-iso-2-pxe.sh ./proxmox-ve_6.4-1.iso 
#########################################################################################################
# Create PXE bootable Proxmox image including ISO                                                       #
#                                                                                                       #
# Author: mrballcb @ Proxmox Forum (06-12-2012)                                                         #
# Thread: http://forum.proxmox.com/threads/8484-Proxmox-installation-via-PXE-solution?p=55985#post55985 #
# Modified: morph027 @ Proxmox Forum (23-02-2015) to work with 3.4                                      #
#########################################################################################################

Using proxmox-ve_6.4-1.iso...
extracting kernel...
extracting initrd...
mimetype:
application/x-gzip
unable to detect initrd compression method, exiting

My operating system is ubuntu 20.04 desktop
bash pve-iso-2-pxe.sh proxmox-ve_6.3-1.iso
Out Error
gzip: >img: No such file or directory
gzip: initrdimg: No such file or directory
I get Error when try proxmox-ve_7.0-1.iso ,too!
why?
Are there any operating system requirements?

When I run I get this error:

pve-iso-2-pxe.sh: line 21: pushd: proxmox-5.3-2.iso: Not a directory

Why is that first pushd there?

Hi,
I want to let you know that this script works on proxmox 6.1 too. I just installed using your script to convert iso.
Thanks

I used lpxeboot.0 with the following config:

menu label ^7) Proxmox 6.1
LINUX http://server/proxmox61/linux26
append initrd=http://server/proxmox61/initrd.iso.img vga=791 video=vesafb:ywrap,mtrr ramdisk_size=16777216 rw

Not sure if the script completes?

Using prox.iso...
extracting kernel...
extracting initrd...
/tmp/initrd.img     : 146541568 bytes
adding iso file ...

And then it never finishes..

running on wsl2 ubuntu 20.04

➜  pxeboot ll
total 1013M
-rwxrwxrwx 1 root root 1002M Jul  9 21:07 initrd
-rwxrwxrwx 1 root root   11M Jul  9 21:00 linux26

looks like iso is in initrd?

Hi, long story short, i need to boot ipxe from cdrom, after loading linux26 and initrd, i got a kernel panic, unable to mount root device, any idea how to fix this? booting from network without CD it work just fine, thanks!

When booting up PVE using the sample iPXE config in the README.md, this error pops up when PVE is booting:

Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)

This forum discussion has the solution. Basically, we just have to add initrd=initrd.iso.img to the kernel directive. I've tested this and it works.

#!ipxe
dhcp
set serverip 192.168.10.1
menu Please choose an operating system to boot
    item normal Install Proxmox
    item debug Install Proxmox (Debug Mode)
choose --default normal --timeout 5000 target && goto ${target}
:debug
    kernel http://${serverip}/linux26 vga=791 video=vesafb:ywrap,mtrr ramdisk_size=16777216 rw quiet splash=verbose proxdebug initrd=initrd.iso.img
    goto init
:normal
    kernel http://${serverip}/linux26 vga=791 video=vesafb:ywrap,mtrr ramdisk_size=16777216 rw quiet splash=silent initrd=initrd.iso.img
    goto init
:init
initrd http://${serverip}/initrd.iso.img
boot

Just wanted to report that I successfully installed PVE 5.3 over UEFI+iPXE. PVE 5.3's files were extracted using your script.

You can include PVE 5.3 in the README. Thanks!

Hi,
i used it to day for installing Proxmox 6.2.1 over pxe, script works really fine .. thanks for this, on my "old" HP Proliant ML115 G5 is just had to use the following PXE Entry:

label proxmox-install-hp
menu label Proxmox 6.2.1
kernel proxmox/linux26
append initrd=proxmox/initrd.iso.img vga=791 video=vesafb:ywrap,mtrr ramdisk_size=166777216 linux ext4 maxroot=4 swapsize=4 splash=verbose

because with the other entry you mentioned i got a kernel-panic ..

Hello,

I used pve-sio-2-pxe script and ipxe example to get proxmox booted using ipxe. That worked without issues. However, I notice that this removes the ability to automatically install proxmox with an answer file.

If I use my custom iso that I made as per proxmox instructions, using a USB the automated installation works. However, when I run the custom iso through the pve-iso-2-pxe.sh. I then copy the initrd and linux26, automation is no longer possible.

Command to create custom iso with answer :

proxmox-auto-install-assistant prepare-iso /path/to/source.iso --fetch-from http --url "https://10.0.0.100/get_answer/"

Docs : https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Automated_Installation (Answer Fetched via HTTP)

I found a thread : https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/auto-install-through-pxe.146270/

There is a suggestion that adding : proxmox-start-auto-installer to kernel cmdline might required. My ipxe script looks like

set opts ?vga=791&video=vesafb:ywrap,mtrr&ramdisk_size=16777216&rw&quiet&initrd=initrd
set kernel ${webserver}/linux26${opts}&splash=verbose&proxdebug
initrd ${webserver}/initrd
chain ${kernel}

I tried adding proxmox-start-auto-installer at the end of the set kernel line with &proxmox-start-auto-installer, however that did not work.

I am wondering if anyone has run into this issue or has any guidance on how to proceed.

Thank you.

/pve-iso-2-pxe.sh: sor: 42: isoinfo: not found

my command: bash pve-iso-2-pxe.sh /mnt/data/isos/proxmox-ve_6.4-1.iso

Hallo,

since 4.4. The convertprocess does not work correctly... i think. Because on boot with PXE with the files there is an kernelpanic. With 5.0 the same problem.

Can you debug the process to change the script for PVE5?

Bootlines:

LABEL Proxmox-50
    MENU LABEL Proxmox 5.0 PVE Environment
    TEXT HELP
         Installiert einen Virtualisierungshost mit Proxmox 5.0
    ENDTEXT
    LINUX proxmox50/linux26
    APPEND root=/dev/ram0 vga=791 ramdisk_size=777216 linux ext4 maxroot=25 swapsize=4 splash=verbose
    INITRD proxmox50/initrd.iso.img

Thanks a lot

Hi,

Quick question re the PXE installation. Have you managed to feed it a preseed file for a proper automatic installation? I wonder how much that is achievable, especially in getting all the right bits working properly (ZFS, bridges etc).

2019-08-01: successfully pxe-installed 6.0

This "bug" can now be closed.

Hello.
After creating the files and attempting to boot via PXE, the kernel panics.
Tried both Proxmox VE 6.4 and Proxmox VE 7.0

BIOS legacy (not UEFI), platform Supermicro X8DTU with X5670

PXE configuration in my python script:

:proxmox_6
echo Proxmox VE 6
echo Load kernel...
kernel {{ request.url_root }}images/proxmox/6/linux26
echo Load initrd...
initrd {{ request.url_root }}images/proxmox/6/initrd
imgargs linux26 vga=791 ramdisk_size=16777216 quiet splash=verbose proxdebug
echo Boot
boot || goto special
goto special

:proxmox_7
echo Proxmox VE 7
echo Load kernel...
kernel {{ request.url_root }}images/proxmox/7/linux26
echo Load initrd...
initrd {{ request.url_root }}images/proxmox/7/initrd
imgargs linux26 vga=791 ramdisk_size=16777216 quiet splash=verbose proxdebug
echo Boot
boot || goto special
goto special

In the attachment there is a screenshot of the problem:

The latest commit 176d4db (the one that added Proxmox 7.0 support) seems to break backwards compatibility on proxmox-ve_6.4-1.iso.

Using proxmox-ve_6.4-1.iso...
extracting kernel...
extracting initrd...
gzip: /tmp/initrd.img: unknown suffix -- ignored
gzip: initrd.gz: No such file or directory

Reverting back to commit f36b384 seems to work.

Erstens, vielen Dank für dieses Projekt.

I ran the master branch on debian 11 and the Proxmon 7.4 iso. then boot a server with the output files.

I assume this is really the proxmox /init script, but I thought I would post this here since this repo didn't work out of the box for me.

boot comandline: initrd=initrd ramdisk_size=16777216 rw quiet splash=verbose proxdebug console=tty1 console=ttyS1,115200 BOOT_IMAGE=linux26 BOOTIF=01-ac-1f-6b-ca-41-38  
loading drivers:  ahci nvme wmi acpi_pad ipmi_si ipmi_ssif mac_hid ioatdma intel_pch_thermal xhci_pci i2c_i801 pcspkr intel_cstate rapl aesni_intel ghash_clmulni_intel crc32_pclmul crct10dif_pclmul kvm_intel intel_powerclamp x86_pkg_temp_thermal isst_if_mbox_msr intel_rapl_common
modprobe: ERROR: could not insert 'isst_if_mbox_msr': Input/output error
found proxmox ISO image inside initrd image
Debugging mode (type 'exit' or press CTRL-D to continue startup)

My next steps: I am going read the images / init script (see if I see anything) and then mount the iso and create a cpio version to see if that helps