How to hide PXE Boot Options on the F8 Menu

Description

When using LANDESK PXE it may be desired to remove some of the options listed on the PXE menus. There are also cases where too many options cause problems for some network cards. Whether removing them for convenience or to resolve and issue with the menu not showing up there are a number of ways to accomplish this. Three options are shown here:

• Manually Changing the PXE Representative    
• Customizing the PXE Deployment Script
• Deploying the PXE Rep with Modifications in a Transform File

Manually Changing the PXE Representative

The first option is to manually change the options onthe PXE Representative. On the PXE Representative, set the registry keys to 1 for the items that are to be disabled.

• HKLM\SOFTWARE\INTEL\PXE\ProxyDHCP\DisablePredefinedWinPE
• HKLM\SOFTWARE\INTEL\PXE\ProxyDHCP\DisablePredefinedDosPE
• HKLM\SOFTWARE\INTEL\PXE\ProxyDHCP\DisablePredefinedLinuxPE
• HKLM\SOFTWARE\INTEL\PXE\ProxyDHCP\DisablePredefinedProvisioningLinuxPE
• HKLM\SOFTWARE\INTEL\PXE\ProxyDHCP\ /v DisablePredefinedProvisioningWinPE

Note that on a 64-bit OS you will need to go to the 32 bit subsystem of the registry, which is found by adding Wow6432Node after Software as shown below.

• HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\INTEL\PXE\ProxyDHCP\DisablePredefinedWinPE
• HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\INTEL\PXE\ProxyDHCP\DisablePredefinedDosPE
• HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\INTEL\PXE\ProxyDHCP\DisablePredefinedLinuxPE
• HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\INTEL\PXE\ProxyDHCP\DisablePredefinedProvisioningLinuxPE
• HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\INTEL\PXE\ProxyDHCP\ /v DisablePredefinedProvisioningWinPE

Customizing the PXE Deployment Script

The second option is to use a custom PXE deployment script that calls a batch file to update the menu options. There is a custom script and associated batch file attached to this community article called UpdatePxeMenu.zip. The new script includes two additional lines that will download and execute the batch file. The batch file is commented and has details on how to disable each menu option within it. The DosPE option is set to disabled within the batch file. This new script allows the deployment of PXE reps with the configured options without having to modify the msi transform file as outlined below.

1. Download the UpdatePxeMenu.zip file
2. Extract the files
3. Place Pxe Representative Deployment w Menu Disable.ini in the \ManagementSuite\scripts directory. This will add an entry to the OS Deployment > OSD Scripts > All Other Scripts directory that can be used for PXE Representative deployment
4. Place UpdatePxeMenu.bat in the \ManagementSuite\landesk\files directory. This is the directory where the PXE Representative deployment script will access the file
5. Run the new script to deploy your PXE Representatives

Deploying the PXE Rep with Modifications in a Transform File

The third option available in 8.7 Service Pack 1 and later this can be done during the PXE Representative deployment by using a TRANSFORM file with OSDRep.msi. It is also necessary to create a new PXE Representative Deployment Script that uses the Transform File.

To create an MST do the following:

1. Install ORCA
2. Note: The Orca.msi can be found after installing the Windows Installer feature of the  Microsoft Platform SDK.
3. Open OSDRep.msi with Orca (OSDRep.msi can be found on the Core server at <drive>:\Program Files\LANDESK\ManagementSuite\LANDESK\files)
4. In Orca, click on Tranforms | New Transforms.
5. Click to highlight the Registry option on the left pane.
6. On the right pane, click the Name heading to sort by name.
7. Locate the following values.
   • DisablePredefinedWinPE
   • DisablePredefinedDosPE
   • DisablePredefinedLinuxPE
8. To disable the desired values, change the value from 0 to 1.
9. In Orca, click on Transforms | Generate Transform.
10. Save the Transform as name it OSDRepF8Options.mst. Save it in the same directory as OSDRep.msi.

Modify the PXE Representative Script

The PXE Representative Deployment Script must now be copied and the copy must be modified.

1. Make a copy of the "PXE Representative Deployment Script.ini" and name it "PXE Representative Deployment with MST to Disable F8 Options.ini".
2. Make the following changes:
   • Add a new line that downloads the OSDRepF8Options.mst.
   • Modify the installation line to add the TRANSFORMS property to the MSI switches. An example of the new line and the edited line are given below:

REMEXEC20=<qt/>%LDMS_CLIENT_DIR%\sdclient.exe<qt/> /f /o /p="http://%CUSTJOBHOSTIP%/landesk/files/OSDRepF8Options.mst"
REMEXEC21=<qt/>%LDMS_CLIENT_DIR%\sdclient.exe<qt/> /p="http://%CUSTJOBHOSTIP%/landesk/files/osdrep.msi" /msi /N /An /Ac /cmds=TRANSFORMS="""%LDMS_CLIENT_DIR%\sdmcache\OSDRepF8Options.mst"""

More information on PXE boot errors:

PXE Boot errors and descriptions.

How to trouble shoot LANDESK PXE:

Troubleshooting PXE boot (OSD)