Go Away, F12! (or how to disable F12 at bootime to boot into WinPE)

Warning
This blog post is included for archival purposes and may contain outdated information. While it provides historical insights, we strongly recommend that you double-check the details before relying on any of the information outlined here.

While looking for a way to fully automate the installation of wim image file to a server, we immediately stumbled upon a small problem.   When doing a PXE boot, the boot rom imaged asked for the F12 key to be pressed.  If the key was not pressed, the machine booted normally into Windows.

I then found a link that explains the following from a RIS installation:

“…To enable a fully automated RIS-based installation, it is necessary to substitute the Startrom.n12 boot file for the default Startrom.com boot file…”

Further reading revealed this vital piece of information:

To configure all clients serviced by a RIS server with an automated installation, rename the startup boot files as follows:

  • Change Startrom.com to Startrom.bak
  • Change Startrom.n12 to Startrom.com

These files are located in the following directory location on your RIS server:

RemoteInstallOSChooseri386

There are certain differences between the RIS and WDS installations, but nothing big.   First off, the location of the files for boot time (given that it is a 32-bit box is the following):

\WDS_Server_NamereminstBootx86

There you will not find Startom.com and Startrom.n12, but rather pxeboot.com and pxeboot.n12.

If you rename pxeboot.n12 to pxeboot.com, your machine will PXE boot and will NOT ask for F12 key press.

About Author

Christian Saborio

Christian is a seasoned computer engineer with a rich career spanning collaborations with industry leaders such as Artinsoft (now Mobilize.net), Microsoft, HP, and Intel. As a technical evangelist and trainer, Christian honed his expertise in Costa Rica and Seattle, delivering impactful solutions and sharing his knowledge.

Now based in Sydney, Australia, Christian channels his passion into web development, leading a talented team to tackle diverse projects with innovation and precision. His commitment to crafting exceptional digital experiences reflects his deep-rooted enthusiasm for technology and problem-solving.

Comments

  1. csaborio says:

    Yet another way to do this is to use wdsutil from WAIK. By using WAIK, you can specify the boot program. You could carry change the boot program to pxeboot.n12, wait a predetermined amount of time, and then change it to abortpxe.com to abort the loop.

  2. Chuck Nailen says:

    That does work great, but the only problem is the next time the client reboots, you go right back to the PXE boot. How do you avoid this endless looping of the PXE boot?

Comments are closed

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