PXE boot of Proxmox 9&8 fails with iPXE error 0x2a818006

G

goony

New Member
Jun 18, 2026
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Environment:
  • Proxmox VE 9.2-1 (Debian Trixie)
  • iPXE 2.0.0+ (latest git, commit 36e8cc28c)
  • Legacy BIOS boot via undionly.kpxe
  • ISO prepared with proxmox-auto-install-assistant prepare-iso --pxe-loader ipxe
Problem:

When PXE booting the Proxmox 9.2 installer using the files generated by proxmox-auto-install-assistant, iPXE fails with:

Could not boot: Error 0x2a818006
and then a blinking underscore.


Code: 
lucas@movietime:~/amt-proxmox-proj/pxe/host-config/f0-de-f1-89-46-d0$ cat boot.ipxe
#!ipxe

dhcp

menu Welcome to Proxmox VE 9.2-1
item auto Install Proxmox VE (Automated)
item gui Install Proxmox VE (Graphical)
item tui Install Proxmox VE (Terminal UI)
item serial Install Proxmox VE (Terminal UI, Serial Console)
item debug Install Proxmox VE (Debug Mode)
item debugtui Install Proxmox VE (Terminal UI, Debug Mode)
item serialdebug Install Proxmox VE (Serial Console, Debug Mode)

choose --default auto --timeout 10000 target && goto ${target}

:auto
    echo Loading Proxmox VE Automated Installer ...
    kernel vmlinuz ramdisk_size=16777216 rw quiet initrd=initrd.img splash=silent proxmox-start-auto-installer
    goto load

:gui
    echo Loading Proxmox VE Graphical Installer ...
    kernel vmlinuz ramdisk_size=16777216 rw quiet initrd=initrd.img splash=silent
    goto load

:tui
    echo Loading Proxmox VE Terminal UI Installer ...
    kernel vmlinuz ramdisk_size=16777216 rw quiet initrd=initrd.img splash=silent proxmox-tui-mode vga=788
    goto load

:serial
    echo Loading Proxmox VE Terminal UI, Serial Console Installer ...
    kernel vmlinuz ramdisk_size=16777216 rw quiet initrd=initrd.img splash=silent proxmox-tui-mode console=ttyS0,115200
    goto load

:debug
    echo Loading Proxmox VE Debug Mode Installer ...
    kernel vmlinuz ramdisk_size=16777216 rw quiet initrd=initrd.img splash=verbose proxmox-debug vga=788
    goto load

:debugtui
    echo Loading Proxmox VE Terminal UI, Debug Mode Installer ...
    kernel vmlinuz ramdisk_size=16777216 rw quiet initrd=initrd.img splash=verbose proxmox-debug proxmox-tui-mode vga=788
    goto load

:serialdebug
    echo Loading Proxmox VE Serial Console, Debug Mode Installer ...
    kernel vmlinuz ramdisk_size=16777216 rw quiet initrd=initrd.img splash=verbose proxmox-debug proxmox-tui-mode console=ttyS0,115200
    goto load


:load
initrd initrd.img
initrd proxmox-ve_9.2-1-auto-from-http-url.iso proxmox.iso
boot

lucas@movietime:~/amt-proxmox-proj/pxe/host-config/f0-de-f1-89-46-d0$ file vmlinuz
vmlinuz: Linux kernel x86 boot executable, bzImage, version 7.0.2-6-pve (build@proxmox) #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC PMX 7.0.2-6 (2026-05-20T08:55Z), RO-rootFS, Normal VGA, setup size 512*39, syssize 0xf7420, jump 0x26c 0x8cd88ec0fc8cd239 instruction, protocol 2.15, from protected-mode code at offset 0x2cc 0xf3a855 bytes ZST compressed, relocatable, handover offset 0xf66c20, legacy 64-bit entry point, can be above 4G, 32-bit EFI handoff entry point, 64-bit EFI handoff entry point, EFI kexec boot support, xloadflags bit 5, max cmdline size 2047, init_size 0x3e61000

lucas@movietime:~/amt-proxmox-proj/pxe/host-config/f0-de-f1-89-46-d0$ file initrd.img
initrd.img: gzip compressed data, original size modulo 2^32 360445952 gzip compressed data, unknown method, extra field, from FAT filesystem (MS-DOS, OS/2, NT), original size modulo 2^32 360445952

lucas@movietime:~/amt-proxmox-proj/pxe/host-config/f0-de-f1-89-46-d0$ sudo docker logs pxe-http
[...]
10.3.3.100 - - [18/Jun/2026:10:51:50 +0000] "GET /boot/default.ipxe HTTP/1.1" 200 76 "-" "iPXE/2.0.0+ (g36e8c)"
10.3.3.100 - - [18/Jun/2026:10:51:50 +0000] "GET /host-config/f0-de-f1-89-46-d0/boot.ipxe HTTP/1.1" 200 1923 "-" "iPXE/2.0.0+ (g36e8c)"
10.3.3.100 - - [18/Jun/2026:10:51:54 +0000] "GET /host-config/f0-de-f1-89-46-d0/vmlinuz HTTP/1.1" 200 14191720 "-" "iPXE/2.0.0+ (g36e8c)"
10.3.3.100 - - [18/Jun/2026:10:51:54 +0000] "GET /host-config/f0-de-f1-89-46-d0/initrd.img HTTP/1.1" 200 62399816 "-" "iPXE/2.0.0+ (g36e8c)"
10.3.3.100 - - [18/Jun/2026:10:52:07 +0000] "GET /host-config/f0-de-f1-89-46-d0/proxmox-ve_8.4-1-auto-from-http-url.iso HTTP/1.1" 200 1491140608 "-" "iPXE/2.0.0+ (g36e8c)"
 
Last edited:
Hi @goony

thanks for posting in the forum!

goony said:
10.3.3.100 - - [18/Jun/2026:10:52:07 +0000] "GET /host-config/f0-de-f1-89-46-d0/proxmox-ve_8.4-1-auto-from-http-url.iso HTTP/1.1" 200 1491140608 "-" "iPXE/2.0.0+ (g36e8c)"
Click to expand...
In the last line of your pasted output there is a GET operation on a Proxmox VE 8.4.1 ISO

Did you maybe unintentionally copy a value over from a previous configuration?

Yours sincerely
Jonas
 
You are exactly right, here are the current logs. However I tested with Proxmox 8 and 9 and both failed.

Code: 
10.3.3.100 - - [18/Jun/2026:16:50:10 +0000] "GET /boot/default.ipxe HTTP/1.1" 200 76 "-" "iPXE/2.0.0+ (g36e8c)"
10.3.3.100 - - [18/Jun/2026:16:50:11 +0000] "GET /host-config/f0-de-f1-89-46-d0/boot.ipxe HTTP/1.1" 200 1909 "-" "iPXE/2.0.0+ (g36e8c)"
10.3.3.100 - - [18/Jun/2026:16:50:21 +0000] "GET /host-config/f0-de-f1-89-46-d0/vmlinuz HTTP/1.1" 200 16227432 "-" "iPXE/2.0.0+ (g36e8c)"
10.3.3.100 - - [18/Jun/2026:16:50:22 +0000] "GET /host-config/f0-de-f1-89-46-d0/initrd.img HTTP/1.1" 200 116128469 "-" "iPXE/2.0.0+ (g36e8c)"
10.3.3.100 - - [18/Jun/2026:16:50:36 +0000] "GET /host-config/f0-de-f1-89-46-d0/proxmox-ve_9.2-1-auto-from-http-url.iso HTTP/1.1" 200 1609629696 "-" "iPXE/2.0.0+ (g36e8c)"
 
Some more info I am trying to boot on an old X220 Thinkpad.

Also for comparison the debian config that worked:


Code: 
lucas@movietime:~/amt-proxmox-proj/pxe$ cat debian/menu.ipxe
#!ipxe

set base http://10.3.3.1/debian

kernel ${base}/linux auto=true priority=critical preseed/url=${base}/preseed.cfg \

initrd ${base}/initrd.gz
sleep 5
boot
lucas@movietime:~/amt-proxmox-proj/pxe$ file debian/linux
debian/linux: Linux kernel x86 boot executable, bzImage, version 6.1.0-42-amd64 (debian-kernel@lists.debian.org) #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Debian 6.1.159-1 (2025-12-30), RO-rootFS, Normal VGA, setup size 512*39, syssize 0x7ce20, jump 0x26c 0x8cd88ec0fc8cd239 instruction, protocol 2.15, from protected-mode code at offset 0x2cc 0x7b5264 bytes XZ compressed, relocatable, handover offset 0x7bee60, legacy 64-bit entry point, can be above 4G, 32-bit EFI handoff entry point, 64-bit EFI handoff entry point, EFI kexec boot support, xloadflags bit 5, max cmdline size 2047, init_size 0x3f97000
lucas@movietime:~/amt-proxmox-proj/pxe$ file debian/initrd.gz
debian/initrd.gz: gzip compressed data, max compression, from Unix, original size modulo 2^32 137306112 gzip compressed data, unknown method, has CRC, extra field, has comment, from FAT filesystem (MS-DOS, OS/2, NT), original size modulo 2^32 137306112

I don't want to go the workaround route of installing debian -> proxmox anymore.
 
Last edited:
Ah ok i see, thank you for clarifying!

As per the iPXE documentation [1] this error translates to "No buffer space available" and Broadcom also has an error article on this [2] which links this error code to insufficient memory.

How much RAM does your X220 have installed?
Per the Proxmox VE documentation [3] a minimum of 1 GB is needed but this doesn't include PXE installation.

[1] https://ipxe.org/err/2a8180
[2] https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/263275/ipxe-or-pxe-boot-fails-with-could-not-bo.html
[3] https://pve.proxmox.com/pve-docs/pve-admin-guide.html#install_minimal_requirements
 
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