Windows Guide edits

Author: sus-admin

_posts/2025-04-14-Cobbler-v3.3.7-Windows-Deployment-Guide.md

@@ -20,9 +20,9 @@ Starting where the [Beginner's guide](/blog/2024/Cobbler-v3.3.6-Beginners-Guide/
 
 ### Caveats
 
-1. **IMPORTANT:** There was a frequent issue on PXE clients using VirtualBox UEFI firmware. For this reason, it is recommended to run both Cobbler server and PXE client as either bare metal systems or [VMWare Workstation/Fusion](https://blogs.vmware.com/workstation/2024/05/vmware-workstation-pro-now-available-free-for-personal-use.html) or [HyperV](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/virtualization/hyper-v/hyper-v-overview) VMs for UEFI installations.
+1. **IMPORTANT:** There was a frequent issue on PXE clients using VirtualBox EFI firmware. For this reason, it is recommended to run both Cobbler server and PXE client as either bare metal systems or [VMWare Workstation/Fusion](https://blogs.vmware.com/workstation/2024/05/vmware-workstation-pro-now-available-free-for-personal-use.html) or [HyperV](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/virtualization/hyper-v/hyper-v-overview) VMs for UEFI installations.
 
-    - You may experience different results depending on your Windows or VirtualBox version and settings; more info in the **Tips & Troubleshooting** section below
+    - You may experience different results depending on your hardware and Windows or VirtualBox versions and settings; more info in the **Tips & Troubleshooting** section below
 
 1. This guide assumes you have already acquired the Windows 10 and 11 64-bit ISO installation files by using the [Windows 10](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10) and [Windows 11](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11) Media Creation Tool
 
@@ -135,15 +135,15 @@ mount -o ro,loop ~/Downloads/Win10_22H2_English_x64.iso /mnt/Windows10
 cobbler import --name Win10 --path /mnt/Windows10
 ```
 
-**Optional:** *If* the PXE client will use legacy-BIOS firmware *(MBR partition scheme)* instead of UEFI, toggle `uefi` to `false` in the Cobbler Profile autoinstallation metadata:
+**Optional:** *If* the PXE client will use legacy-BIOS firmware instead of UEFI, toggle `uefi` to `false` in the Cobbler Profile autoinstallation metadata:
 
 ```shell
 cobbler profile edit --name Win10-x86_64 --autoinstall-meta 'uefi'='false' --in-place
 ```
 
 > More info in Cobbler's [official docs](https://cobbler.readthedocs.io/en/v3.3.7/user-guide/wingen.html).
 
-Finally, create a new Cobbler System to PXE boot and automatically install Windows 10 Pro, replacing the *"aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff"* with the MAC address of your PXE client, being sure not to use a duplicate MAC or IP addresse of any other Cobbler System, then sync up Cobbler.
+Finally, create a new Cobbler System to PXE boot and automatically install Windows 10 Pro, replacing the *"aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff"* with the MAC address of your PXE client, being sure not to use a duplicate MAC addresse of any other Cobbler System, then sync up Cobbler.
 
 ```shell
 cobbler system add --name Win10 --profile Win10-x86_64 --mac-address "aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff" --netboot-enabled true --enable-ipxe true
@@ -156,9 +156,7 @@ The **PXE Client** VM can now be powered on, and should automatically boot to PX
 
 ## Windows 11 PXE Deployment
 
-First use the following commands to edit the `startnet.template` file in order to bypass Windows 11 hardware requirements for the PXE client.
-
-- note that `unix2dos` will properly terminate the lines of text individually.
+**Optional:** *If* installing Windows 11 on unsupported hardware, use the following commands to edit the `startnet.template` file in order to bypass hardware requirements for the PXE client.
 
 ```shell
 CMD1=$(echo 'reg add HKLM\\SYSTEM\\Setup\\LabConfig /v BypassSecureBootCheck /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f' | unix2dos)
@@ -192,17 +190,15 @@ The **PXE Client** VM can now be powered on, and should automatically boot to PX
 
     - Cobbler has 3 main templates for Windows distro management, all located in `/etc/cobbler/windows` directory, instead of the usual `/var/lib/cobbler/templates` and `/var/lib/cobbler/scripts` directories
 
-        - `startnet.template`: archived/compressed into the WindPE Windows image (loaded from PXE) in order to start Windows `setup.exe` with the associated Answerfile
+        - `startnet.template`: Generates "startnet.cmd" which gets archived/compressed into the WinPE Windows image (loaded from PXE) in order to start `setup.exe` on the PXE client with the associated Answerfile
 
-        - `answerfile.template`: Answerfile with **profile** attributes to be retrieved over SMB for unattended installations.
+        - `answerfile.template`: Generates "autounattended.xml" answerfile with **profile** attributes to be retrieved over SMB by PXE clients for unattended installations.
 
-        - `post_ins_cmd.template`: Used in the Answerfile to retrieve the `autoinstall` file (post-install script) defined for the **profile**
+        - `post_ins_cmd.template`: Generates "post_install.cmd" which is used in the Answerfile to retrieve the `autoinstall` file (post-install script) defined for the **profile**
 
             - By default, the autoinstall file (post-install script) `/var/lib/cobbler/templates/win.ks` has no effect. 
 
-    - The above templates are generated based on the automatic installation metadata for **profiles** which define the parameters for the boot options, answerfile, and post-install script *(as well as toggle UEFI partitioning mode in answerfiles and change PXE clients to download boot files over TFTP instead of HTTP)*
-
-        - The `autoinstall-meta` parameters can be configured at the `cobbler system` (or `profile`) level and given unique names to generate different files for use by diffrent profiles or systems, but neither the `answerfile.template` or `post_inst_cmd.template` files are system-level aware, they only consist of **profile-level** settings.
+    - The `autoinstall-meta` parameters *(used to specify the boot files as well as above answerfile and post_install templates, as well as set firmware/partitioning mode and download method)* can be configured at the `cobbler system` (or `profile`) level and given unique names to generate different files for use by diffrent profiles or systems, but neither the `answerfile.template` or `post_inst_cmd.template` files are system-level aware, they only consist of **profile-level** settings.
 
     - There is no way to provide the Windows Answerfile in boot/kernel parameters like many linux distros
 
@@ -214,7 +210,7 @@ The **PXE Client** VM can now be powered on, and should automatically boot to PX
 
 1. **VirtualBox Issues**
 
-    - Specifially, the `ipxe-x86_64.efi` bootloader would fail to "initialize devices" and even though using the `ipxe-snponly-x86_64.efi` bootloader instead would load properly, the PXE client VM would *usually* just hang when downloading on of the WinPE files (i.e. `wimboot`, `boot.sdi`, `bootmgr.exe`, `bcd`, `winpe.wim`)
+    - Specifially, the `ipxe-x86_64.efi` bootloader would fail to "initialize devices" and even though using the `ipxe-snponly-x86_64.efi` bootloader would load properly, the PXE client VM would *usually* just hang when downloading one of the WinPE files (i.e. `wimboot`, `boot.sdi`, `bootmgr.exe`, `bcd`, `winpe.wim`)
 
         - Tried several troubleshooting steps and could not get a consistent fix:
 
@@ -226,11 +222,13 @@ The **PXE Client** VM can now be powered on, and should automatically boot to PX
 
             - Tried installing the appropriate VirtualBox Extensions for my version of VB.
 
-            - Disabled Memory Isolation in Windows Security on VirtualBox Host.
+            - Disabled Memory Isolation in Windows Security (and other security options) on VirtualBox Host.
 
             - Tried with and without "Virtual Machine Platform" and "Windows Hypervisor Platform" Windows Features installed/enabled.
+
+            - Tried compiling latest and previous versions of ipxe.efi (snp, intel, realtek, etc...) bootloader from source
 			
-            - Found no relevant entries/errors in VirtualBox VM logs and nothing abnormal in Cobbler server logs (HTTP, TFTP, DHCP).
+            - Found no relevant entries/errors in VirtualBox VM logs *(debug logs enabled)* or Windows Event Viewer and nothing abnormal in Cobbler server logs (HTTP, TFTP, DHCP).
 
     - A live Windows 10 installation can be easily converted from MBR (legacy-BIOS) to GPT (UEFI) via powershell commands, which can be used as a workaround for compatibility with VirtualBox UEFI firmware
 
@@ -243,7 +241,7 @@ The **PXE Client** VM can now be powered on, and should automatically boot to PX
 
         - After reading through the manpage (`man smb.conf`) and trying several different configurations the problem persisted
 
-        - Make the following edit to the `startnet.template` file to account for this occasional unresponsiveness/lag from the SMB server when booting into setup by first probing the SMB share until it responds.
+        - Make the following edit to the `startnet.template` file to account for this occasional unresponsiveness/lag from the SMB server by first enumerating the SMB share until it responds.
 
           ```shell
           CMD=$(echo 'dir \$distros_dir || GOTO wno20' | unix2dos)