Diskless Windows

Olaf van der Spek · **Joined:** Tue Oct 04, 2005 6:10 am **Posts:** 434

Is it possible to run Windows (7) on a diskless (no HDD/SDD) PC, via network boot?
Would be the ideal/cheap way to get rid of the HDD.

washu · **Posted:** Sat Nov 26, 2011 8:23 pm

It's quite possible, I've done it and it works fine. The networking back end is a bit involved so unless you know how to configure DHCP, PXE, TFTP and ISCSI (or AOE) then it might be too difficult. DHCP on a normal home consumer router is unlikely to cut it. Everything can be done on a Windows server, but a BSD or Linux server makes things easier.

If you want to give it a try start poking around here: http://etherboot.org/wiki/ They have some guides on configuring boot from SAN.

Olaf van der Spek · **Joined:** Tue Oct 04, 2005 6:10 am **Posts:** 434

What Windows did you install on the client?
http://etherboot.org/wiki/howtos only talks about Windows PE, not 7.

washu · **Posted:** Sun Nov 27, 2011 6:29 am

Olaf van der Spek wrote:

What Windows did you install on the client?
http://etherboot.org/wiki/howtos only talks about Windows PE, not 7.

Look under the boot from SAN section. I used full Win 7. I've also done XP.

leisetreter · **Joined:** Sat Dec 01, 2012 12:07 pm **Posts:** 1

Older topic, but might be still relevant to some...

I did tinker a while back (around 2010) with diskless Win7. In the end, I found it more trouble then it was worth to me. Meanwhile SSD became quite affordable (at least consumer-grade, MLC ones with capacities large enough to hold the OS and one's favorite game^Wapplication). So I got a compromise solution: a spinning-rust-less Windows installation, which boots off a SSD and a (much larger) remote 'drive' via iSCSI exported by a Linux server (and backed by spinning rust drives). The iSCSI 'drive' increases boot times quite noticeably (iSCSI initiator establishing connection to target?), but once connected, performance is good at ~100MB/s, i.e. about line rate on the available 1Gbps link, for large sequential access (client is a Phenom II monster, server is a feeble HP N40L sporting Ubuntu).

Olaf van der Spek · **Joined:** Tue Oct 04, 2005 6:10 am **Posts:** 434

I've got a 256 gbyte Samsung 830 SSD now.
Wouldn't it be simpler to use SMB instead of iSCSI to access the remote storage?

Fallen Kell · **Joined:** Sat Apr 02, 2005 7:50 pm **Posts:** 42

Olaf van der Spek wrote:

Wouldn't it be simpler to use SMB instead of iSCSI to access the remote storage?

SMB devices are not available for use as boot media. You need to use iSCSI as a result since they are recognized as a direct attached SCSI drive, even though they are coming over the network.

Olaf van der Spek · **Joined:** Tue Oct 04, 2005 6:10 am **Posts:** 434

I know, it's a response to leisetreter who used a SSD + iSCSI remote storage

Diskless Windows

Who is online