Arch Linux Netboot

About Netboot

Netboot images are small (<1MB) images that can be used to download the latest Arch Linux release on the fly upon system boot. It is unnecessary to update the netboot image, the newest release will be available automatically.

Netboot uses customized iPXE builds. The Linux kernel, initramfs and squashfs files for the live system are downloaded from an Arch Linux mirror. The integrity of all downloaded files is verified with cryptographic signatures.

Requirements

To use netboot, the following requirements must be met:

Wired (ethernet) internet connection with DHCP autoconfiguration

Sufficient memory to store and run the live system

Download

BIOS

ipxe.lkrn (PGP signature) - Linux kernel-like image that can be started with any Linux bootloader

ipxe.pxe (PGP signature) - PXE image for chainloading from a PXE environment

UEFI

You can build your own iPXE images compatible with netboot. For details, check out the ipxe-netboot AUR package.

More information

For detailed usage instructions, check out the netboot wiki page.