Windows – PXE-E16: No offer received with Surface Laptop 3 Only

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I have a MDT (Microsoft Deployment Toolkit) server that I deploy OSes to our various workstations from. We use WDS (Windows Deployment Services) to handle the PXE boot part, since MDT does not have this built in. This seems to work fine for every device we have, except the Surface Laptop 3, which is new.

We have Surface Pro 4s, Surface Book 1 and 2, Surface Laptop 1 and 2 and these devices all boot fine. I'm assuming it is something different about the Surface Laptop 3, but can't find anything for the life of me.

I found some info about changing some WDS options such as standalone mode, but I don't even see that as an option in WDS. Also thinking that is not the issue since it works fine with every other device but this one.

Has anyone gotten PXE boot to work successfully with a Surface Laptop 3?

Edit: I just thought about firmware updates missing and possibly this was addressed in a BIOS update. There was one for this machine, but installing that didn't help.

Best Answer

I had the same issue and I was struggling with this issue, found the document. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/ethernet-adapters-and-surface-device-deployment

It says "Booting from the network (PXE boot) is only supported when you use an Ethernet adapter or docking station from Microsoft. To boot from the network, the chipset in the Ethernet adapter or dock must be detected and configured as a boot device in the firmware of the Surface device. Microsoft Ethernet adapters, such as the Surface Ethernet Adapter and the Surface Dock use a chipset that is compatible with the Surface firmware."

Yes, I tried it with an Ethernet adapter from Microsoft and finally it worked fine. :)

Related Solutions

Building a PXE/WDS infrastructure with both Windows Server 2008 and Linux PXE Server

Yes
Yes
- For MS DHCP Server, open the DHCP MMC, under the relevant scope create a reservation with the apporpriate IP and MAC address, then assign the options under that reservation.
- For ISC-DHCPd, create a host reservation section under the Scope definitions similar to:
```
subnet 192.168.0.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
    range 192.168.0.10 192.168.0.50;
    other options might be here...

    host pxeclient {
        harware ethernet 02:01:03:04:05:06
        next-server pxe.server.example.com
        filename "option 67"
    }
}
```

For the WDS server option 066 (next-server) should be the IP of the WDS server; and option 067 (filename) should be "boot\x86\wdsnbp.com". You'll have to figure out the settings for the PXE server, but it should be pretty similar (and already setup and running as I understand the Question).

If your PXE boot *nix clients have NFS roots the option for that is option root-path "nfsserver.example.com:/path/to/rootfs"

MDT 2012 and PXE BOOT

Your WDS server does not need to be your DHCP server also. The TechNet article ‘Managing Network Boot Programs’ shows the DHCP options you need to set (as TheFiddlerWins said in his comment), 066 and 067 will direct network booting to look at your WDS server.

You will still do all of your imaging work in MDT, but MDT uses the WDS server to network boot to the Lite Touch boot images that MDT creates. Those boot images will look to your deployment share for images and drivers. So once you have WDS setup and working, you will only need to access WDS to replace the Lite Touch boot images if you make changes such as adding storage or network drivers to those boot images, or changes to the bootstrap.ini.

Hope this helps,

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Building a PXE/WDS infrastructure with both Windows Server 2008 and Linux PXE Server

MDT 2012 and PXE BOOT

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