Press [F8] prompt does not show on the PXE booted client in Ghost Solution Suite
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Press [F8] prompt does not show on the PXE booted client in Ghost Solution Suite

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Article ID: 173465

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Updated On:

Products

Ghost Solution Suite

Issue/Introduction

'Press [F8]...' prompt does not show on the PXE booted client but menu works when F8 is pressed. In one case, prompt did appear normally when client was PXE booting with BIOS but not with UEFI.

The issue starts after boot menu items are added.

Environment

  • 3.X

Cause

The length of everything in the menu is limited to 255 characters. This includes all the menu items, some additional data for each plus the actual 'Press [F8]...' prompt string with the server name added with default configuration. It is also worth noting that the 'Press [F8]...' prompt string is in the end of the transferred data.

The length calculation is not exact as the additional data varies a bit and there are differences in how that menu is retrieved and processed on the client side, for example the BIOS/UEFI difference.

Resolution

  • The simplest way to test if this is the issue you are experiencing is to change the text of F8 prompt in the PXE Configuration Utility - Prompt textbox in the Boot Menu section - as well as unchecking the Append Server Name.
    • Note: Set the Prompt to something very short, just 1 will do for testing.
  • Alternatively, removing some boot menu items could be used as a test.
  • If the length of PXE boot menu data is determined to be the problem, the solution is to reduce the data that needs to be transferred. If possible, remove some menu items. If not, shorten the menu item names as well as the prompt string to reduce their lengths.