AOMEI PXE Boot Free 1.5

Overview

Many system administrators, developers and other kinds of professionals are required to manage local networks, for several reasons. However, the computers in a network can occasionally encounter issues that could have a significant impact on the whole network; for this reason, the network administrator should fix them as soon as possible. One way to quickly fix computers which can no longer boot is by using AOMEI PXE Boot- a free tool that can get a system in a network running temporarily, so as to allow the user perform actions that could at least save crucial data, if restoring the original operating system is not applicable.

Installation

Installing AOMEI PXE Boot is quite straightforward and takes only a short amount of time, as the installer has very few steps without any kind of advanced settings (apart from the usual ones- shortcuts, etc.).

The program contains no viruses, trojans, adware, spyware, etc. and has no 3^rd-party advertised software either.

Supported operating systems are Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8/8.1 and 10 (both 32 and 64-bit versions).

Interface

Users who have used other AOMEI products in the past will easily get the hang of it, since its interface is similar in all of AOMEI’s applications. The program’s main interface is simple, with its main color being blue, and has a modern style with not many graphics.

Once you run the program you will be presented with the first step of using it. That is, choose what kind of image file you want to boot from; it can be either a custom image file located in your computer, or it can be AOMEI Windows PE or Linux System. If you want to boot from AOMEI Windows PE/Linux System, you have to download it first, and then place it to the program’s installation directory. An alternative method is to download and use AOMEI Backupper in order to create a Windows PE bootable file.

In the next step, the program will wait for a client computer in the network to connect, which can be done via its BIOS settings (by setting boot mode as “Network Boot”- read detailed instructions here).

Pros

It’s amazingly easy to use AOMEI PXE Boot. All you have to is run it on a master computer in the network, select an image file containing the OS you want to run in the client computer, and click “Start service”. Afterwards, you only have to get into the BIOS settings of the client computer, set its boot mode as “Network Boot”, and voila- AOMEI PXE Boot will run the selected image file in the client computer.

You have two options for the bootable image that you can choose to load; the first one is by using AOMEI Windows PE or Linux System, created by AOMEI Backupper for example. The other option is to use a custom one that you have downloaded/created on your own, which actually gives you a lot of freedom in case you don’t want to use AOMEI’s image files.

With AOMEI PXE Boot you don’t have to use a CD or USB Flash disk in order to boot into an image file; this is extremely useful when it’s not applicable to use external storage devices in the computer with the damaged OS.

Starting with version 1.5, AOMEI PXE Boot comes with an integrated DHCP server, support for bootable WIM images and UEFI boot mode when using a WIM image.

Cons

Not a Con per se, but know that the Free version is limited to 3 client-side PCs and does not support the Windows Server editions. The AOMEI PXE Boot Server edition, priced at $99 USD, has no limitations and also comes with free lifetime upgrades.

Alternatives

There aren’t any software with the exact same functionality, but Serva 32/64 (free) is a software that can be used to boot into network computers and servers.

Conclusion

AOMEI PXE Boot is an application with unique functionality that can be used by all kinds of users. It is definitely recommended as it can be used quickly and without much trouble.