Hi all, sorry for the word wall.

I am currently planning a deployment of Windows 8.1 Upgrade 1 on Toshiba Z10T's which I will be deploying using WDS, which is running on Windows Server 2012 R2.

The Toshiba Z10T device in question is quite handy as it can switching between legacy CSM BIOS and UEFI BIOS.

The devices are shipped out of the box with UEFI BIOS on, and obviously we would like to be able to just un-box & image them, however we have constant issues when trying to PXE boot devices with UEFI BIOS, and the only way I can get them to PXE boot is by switching over to legacy CSM BIOS.

From what I have read from other forums on the internet, UEFI & WDS don't get on that well - so what I was wondering is this-

We currently have SCCM 2012- I was wondering would we have more success booting to a UEFI BIOS if I used SCCM & MDT or will I still encounter the same issues?  Is it the PXE client in UEFI that is at fault?

Problems that we encounter when we use UEFI to PXE boot are- Drivers not there to get into to the boot image; if we can get them to image, devices will not join to the domain; devices will image but not install any drivers.

Thanks for reading this word wall.

PXE itself doesn't use/need any drivers at all - it's the post-boot (boot image), and the full OS (install image) which need the drivers.

PXE is totally contained within ROM, and that ROM will download the NBP (for non-UEFI this is typically wdsnbp.com)(for UEFI this is typically bootmgfw.efi).

In a ConfigMgr (or MDT) scenario, the NBP then downloads boot.sdi, boot.wim(WinPE) and then install.wim(Full OS).
Both boot.wim, and install.wim, need to have the correct network card drivers and also the correct storage controller drivers installed.
This is how Windows deployment via PXE works (it's most often the lack of the correct drivers, at the required stage/phase, which causes grief)

[background]
Although we have a small number of Z10Ta and Z10Tb devices in my organisation, we are still using the factory image on them, so I haven't spent the time to incorporate them into our ConfigMgr OSD (PXE) supported-list yet.

We are just starting our journey towards UEFI-boot. We are using MDT UFD bootable media for our lab and it's working fine for UEFI and Win8.1/64bit, on various devices (although not tried the Z10Ta/b). Am nearly finished moving that all into ConfigMgr, to then begin testing it all with PXE.

It is not 100% clear to me where you are blocked above.

Actually PXE *does* use drivers for uEFI machines, it's just that in *most* cases the driver is burned into the firmware at the factory. I have come across cases where large IT departments have requested PXE drivers for USB Network devices to be added to the firmware of specific uEFI machines. Additionally, check the machines for the latest uEFI firmware versions.

Also not that there is plenty of challenges with uEFI PXE from the server point of view. Make sure all of the correct boot files are getting installed. I have seen problems with older Windows Server 2008 R2 boxes, that didn't have the correct boot loader files. Be prepared to dive into the WDS logs to see if your clients are getting serviced properly.

Note that MDT and SCCM will sit on *top* of WDS, you might get lucky moving to a new server and reloading all PXE files from scratch.

It is not 100% clear to me where you are blocked above.

Actually PXE *does* use drivers for uEFI machines, it's just that in *most* cases the driver is burned into the firmware at the factory. I have come across cases where large IT departments have requested PXE drivers for USB Network devices to be added to the firmware of specific uEFI machines. Additionally, check the machines for the latest uEFI firmware versions.

Also not that there is plenty of challenges with uEFI PXE from the server point of view. Make sure all of the correct boot files are getting installed. I have seen problems with older Windows Server 2008 R2 boxes, that didn't have the correct boot loader files. Be prepared to dive into the WDS logs to see if your clients are getting serviced properly.

Note that MDT and SCCM will sit on *top* of WDS, you might get lucky moving to a new server and reloading all PXE files from scratch.