All-drivers Etherboot floppy & how to install etherboot to a hard disk by Alexander Heinz

changes:
29-Jul-2005 - fixed broken download link
08-Jul-2005 - new version of the disk incl. Etherboot 5.4.0 and a patched version of ethersel.c32 by Jesse Sipprell so ethersel problems should be history.
31-Jan-2005 - new default: a multiple-drivers version of Etherboot because of ethersel.c32 problems
28-Jan-2005 - major update: the disk supports network booting
22-Sep-2004 - 1st version of this document

This floppy is able to boot your PC via the network without the need for a PXE or Etherboot Boot-ROM. It works with all PCI NICs supported by Etherboot. The floppy is also able to install Etherboot to a hard disk.

I use version 5.4.0 of Etherboot so PXE images should work. The tools ethersel.c32 (taken from Syslinux 3.08-pre5 and patched by Jesse Sipprell) or PCIScan v1.10 are used to auto-detect your NIC, so you do not have to know anything about it.

There is a boot menu with several options. I hope that most of the options are self-explanatory. You can choose between ethersel.c32 auto-detection of your NIC and loading an all-drivers version of Etherboot . Please let me know which option works for you and which does not. If you have further questions, do not hesitate to e-mail me (my address is located at the bottom of this page).

This floppy is based on FreeDos and Syslinux.

how to install etherboot to a hard disk

boot from the floppy and select INSTALL etherboot to hard disk / MODIFY this floppy. Then proceed with STEP 1.

• clears the partition table of your local hard drive
• creates a new 5 MB FAT partition
• installs a MBR
• reboots the PC

after the reboot select INSTALL etherboot to hard disk / MODIFY this floppy again and continue with STEP 2. You can choose to install all etherboot drivers or only the one for your NIC.

• formats the FAT partition created in STEP 1
• installs etherboot

download the floppy image

An image of the floppy disk is available at http://etherboot.anadex.de/eb_on_hd.ima
If you are using Linux run dd if=eb_on_hd.ima of=/dev/fd0 to extract the image to a floppy disk.
For any other Operating System go to http://www.fdos.org/ripcord/rawrite/ for instructions.

supported network cards