PXE Everywhere uses a modified standalone WinPE image for booting clients – this is the same as a generic boot image that is loaded from either a USB device or a CD. When a boot image is created, Configuration Manager injects site specific information into it and also stores this data in its database. Each time boot media is created, an entry is also generated under Certificates\Boot Media in the ConfigMgr Admin Console and stored in the database. When the boot media is loaded, Configuration Manager loads the encrypted variable.dat file and attempts to connect to the site where the media was created.

There are three steps to configure a PXE Boot Image for Configuration Manager:

1. Create the PXE boot image.
2. Create a custom task Sequence to pre-cache the PXE boot image.
3. Deploy the custom task sequence.  More information can be found at Preparing and deploying the PXE Everywhere boot image.

Creating the PXE boot image

 A PXE boot image for use with PXE Everywhere is derived from an existing Configuration Manager boot image, but with some minor differences. Initially, you should have one or more boot images in Configuration Manager, as illustrated in the image below.
 

To locate the boot source image:

1. Select the Boot Images node.
2. Right-click the boot image and from the context menu, choose Properties.
3. In the Boot Image Properties dialog, select the Data Source tab.
4. You can find the path for the image in Image Path:
5. Copy the boot image to a new folder (so we can create a duplicate package). In our example, we copy the file to a new folder: \\CAS01\Sources\OSD\BootImages\PXELite\x64. PXE Everywhere requires that the boot image is called boot.wim, so ensure your copy has this name.
6. In the ConfigMgr Admin Console, right-click the Boot Images node and from the context menu, choose Add Boot Image.
7. In the Boot Image wizard, enter the UNC path to the copied boot image.

   

8. Click Next.
9. Add the name for the image, version and any comments.
   
10. Since you will have Nomad installed, enable Nomad to deliver the boot image to the PXE Everywhere local host.
    
11. Click Next on the following screens to complete the wizard.
12. Distribute the newly added PXE boot image to at least one distribution point.
13. Once the the boot image has reached the distribution point, download and extract the 1E UpdateBootImageGUI tool from (https://1eportal.force.com/articles/Software_Download/KB000001408) to prepare the newly created boot image for use with PXE Everywhere.
14. On the primary (or CAS server if the hierarchy has a CAS), execute the UpdateBootImageGUI.exe with a right-mouse click and from the context menu, choose Run as administrator.
    
    • In the SMS Provider Server field, enter the current server name then press the Tab key. Ensure that the proper site code appears on the Site Code box.
    • In the Boot Image ID field, use the drop-down arrow to select the PXE Everywhere Boot Image created in the previous steps
    • In the Distribution Points field, select a DP from the list where the boot image was copied to
    • In the Management Points field, select all management points
    • In the Certificate Expiry field, update the expiration date or leave it at the default (which is for 1 year/365 days)
    • Optionally, configure a PXEBoot Password and/or enter certificate information (if Configuration Manager is configured for HTTPS)
    When all fields have been updated, click Execute.
15. A popup appears with the command-line required to run the UpdateBootImage method - this has been copied to the clipboard (for pasting into a command prompt).
    
    We recommended you paste this into a Notepad document in the event that you need to make any adjustments.
16. Open an elevated command-prompt on the server where PXE Everywhere Central is installed and paste the command-line that was created in the previous step and execute.
17. After the process completes, redistribute the newly-added PXE boot image package using the Update Distribution Points menu item.