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Groups > linux.debian.maint.boot > #74458

UEFI HTTP boot support in the Installer

Cross-posted to 2 groups.

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Hello Installer and Kernel teams.

It is now possible to boot d-i using UEFI HTTP boot. No need to copy the
ISO to a USB stick or configure DHCP and PXE or similar netboot setups,
just specify the ISO URL in your firmware configuration.

For Tianocore the procedure is as follows:

 Device Manager -> Network Device List -> (choose device) ->
 HTTP Boot Configuration -> Boot URI -> (add ISO URL)

Save and go back to the main menu, then:

 Boot Manager -> UEFI HTTP

A few caveats:

- Notice the missing "s" in "UEFI HTTP boot". Only plain HTTP is
  supported, not HTTPS.
- HTTP redirects, either 301 or 302, are also not supported. This means
  that [1] does not work, whereas [2] does.
- Not a lot of UEFI implementations support this yet. Tianocore does,
  and I've heard modern Dell, Lenovo and HP systems do too.

The missing pieces to get this working were:

- Adding pmem modules to the installer initrd [3] (Kernel 6.12.13-1)
- Recognizing pmem devices in list-devices-linux [4] (debian-installer-utils 1.152)

Thanks to ukleinek, carnil, and Sledge for reviewing and merging the
patches.

  ema

[1] http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/daily-builds/daily/arch-latest/amd64/iso-cd/debian-testing-amd64-netinst.iso
[2] http://chuangtzu.ftp.acc.umu.se/cdimage/daily-builds/daily/arch-latest/amd64/iso-cd/debian-testing-amd64-netinst.iso
[3] https://salsa.debian.org/kernel-team/linux/-/merge_requests/1167
[4] https://salsa.debian.org/installer-team/debian-installer-utils/-/merge_requests/14

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Thread

UEFI HTTP boot support in the Installer Emanuele Rocca <ema@debian.org> - 2025-02-12 09:50 +0100
  Re: UEFI HTTP boot support in the Installer Steve McIntyre <steve@einval.com> - 2025-02-13 00:10 +0100
  Re: UEFI HTTP boot support in the Installer Computer Enthusiastic <computer.enthusiastic@gmail.com> - 2025-06-07 12:10 +0200
    Re: UEFI HTTP boot support in the Installer "Andrew M.A. Cater" <amacater@einval.com> - 2025-06-08 17:10 +0200

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