Re: [PATCH installer] assistant: add support for splitting ISO into (i)PXE-compatible files

Alwin Antreich
2026-02-18T19:31:03Z

Hi Christoph,

just some general comments. :)

February 4, 2026 at 1:09 PM, "Christoph Heiss" <c.heiss@proxmox.com mailto:c.heiss@proxmox.com?to=%22Christoph%20Heiss%22%20%3Cc.heiss%40proxmox.com%3E > wrote:

>
> Adds a new flag to the `prepare-iso` subcommand; `--pxe`.
>
> When specified, instead of just creating the usual
> auto-installation-capable ISO, additionally `vmlinuz` and `initrd.img`
> will be created, which can be used in combination with the ISO to
> PXE-boot our installer.
>
> The (generated) iPXE configuration gives a good overlook how these files
> must be used, especially what kernel commandline flags must be
> additionally given.
>
> Tl;dr is: The `vmlinuz` is directly booted and given the `initrd.img` as
> ramdisk, the ISO file must be overlaid as `/proxmox.iso`. This will
> cause init to mount & load the rest of the installer from there.
>
> The flag also takes an optional argument specifying the specific PXE
> bootloader to generate a configuration file for.
>
> Currently only iPXE is supported for configuration generation.
>
> Signed-off-by: Christoph Heiss <c.heiss@proxmox.com>
> ---
> FWIW, I'm also working on PXELINUX support, but that has a few quirks.
>
> Tested this with a TFTP server and default iPXE. I.e. copying
> `boot.ipxe`, `vmlinuz`, `initrd.img` and the `.iso` file to the TFTP
> server root, and then booting off it using the iPXE commandline using:
>
> $ dhcp
> $ chain --autofree tftp://<ip-of-tftp-server>/boot.ipxe
>
> In addition, tested this with OPNsense set up such that it automatically
> instructs iPXE to load `boot.ipxe` from the set TFTP server, completely
> automating an installation from booting the machine to being able to
> log into the finished system.
>
Frank and I have tested your patch and aside from what Hannes already wrote, it worked nicely. +1

I've tried additionally to PXE boot it with secure boot. It would be awesome if you could add a signed ipxe.efi.
Sadly I had to go with the shimx64.efi route (my test with the shim command didn't work :/ ).

I also love the idea of a netboot image that could bring down the memory usage and load time. Otherwise ipxe has sanboot, that might help on the ipxe front.

Thanks

Cheers,
Alwin