how do you PXE boot a Venue 8 or 11 Pro??

I am using the StarTech.com USB21000S2 adapter that we have successfully used on Latitude 10 and XPS 12 units in the past.  We are having the same problems. 

I was able to get an error message at one point that the unit was looking for ASIX AX88772A/B USB Dongle.  I have a call into Dell now.

I've tried both the Dell TXFF8 that all the documentation that Dell sent me says will add PXE support to the Venue's. Technically they keep sending me docs that apply to the Lat 10 but they say that the Venue 11 "shouldn't be any different". I've also tried a Lenovo branded USB Ethernet dongle that we are using to image some of our Lenovo Tablet 2's, but neither one works.

PLEASE keep me updated on your status. I tried calling Dell last night and sat on hold for a combined 96 minutes across 6 different transfers trying to get someone that understands PXE booting or at least knew what it was and would support the Venue tablets. No luck. I'm working with my account team to try and get an engineer on the phone who can explain this problem. If I hear back before you I'll definitely update this thread.

No official response from Dell, but I have ordered an USB Dongle with the Asix chipset and had it overnighted.  Will test ask soon as it walks in the door tomorrow.

Spoke with an engineer on the Venue line and he stated the following.

The TFXX8 is not supported on the Venue's for PXE. He said that he tested with a dongle that had the AX88772B ASIX chipset and it did work. He also said the dock for the Venue's has PXE support.

I'm going to get a dongle with the AX88772B chipset shipped here and also try and get a dock for the Venue added to our try and buy to confirm if the docks work.

@Jeremy, eagerly awaiting your results on testing with the dongle you just ordered.

Same issues here, we're using an old Latitude 10 dock, which is "supposed" to work, can't for the life of us  get it to PXE boot.

Also tried the MS Surface Pro 2 ethernet adapter, doesn't work.

I will say that the Surface pro 2 PXE booted with the USB to Ethernet adapter and UEFI NO problem. Still needed the USB Ethernet driver injected into WinPE image, but after that the builds went fine.

Shame, I had such high hopes for this Venue 11 in place of the Surface Pro 2's.

Will keep you all updated in my own trials.

Both. MDT uses WDS as its transport to actually get the image downstream to the workstation. After PXE your boot.wim is delivered via WDS which boots up and then hands over task sequences to MDT which takes care of the rest of the image.

USB flash boot is not an option. It's either network boot or bust. I purchased an Asus USB to ethernet dongle today with the AX887727B chipset inside it and it should be here Monday or Tuesday at the latest and I'll report back.

@OfficeChris, many things that Dell said would work from the Lat 10 to the Venue line are not true. The dell branded USB dongle supposedly worked on the Lat 10 but does not work on the Venue. I would imagine the same holds true for the dock. Try getting a dock specific for the Venue line and see if you can PXE. I have word from the Dell engineer that they tested with a preproduction model of the Venue dock and he reported that it PXE booted just fine.

Are you using MDT or WDS?  You can use the existing USB dongle and boot from a MDT flash drive to image.   I have some instructions if that would help you. Our new dongles have been delayed in shipping due to weather.  Should have some Friday.  Dell shipped us 2 different ones to try, but they won't be here until Monday.

Sorry for the churn - I didn't see this thread earlier or would have responded.   For now, a couple notes on using PXE boot.   We have a team working on an imaging guide that will be made available very soon.

The PXE code that is in BIOS is specific to the ASIX AX88772B chipset.   For now, you'll need to use either the desktop (productivity) dock or a USB 2 to RJ-45 dongle with that chipset (here is an example:  http://microcontrollershop.com/product_info.php?products_id=5556)

The BIOS team is expected to add support for the USB 3 to RJ45 Dell dongle mentioned in this thread, but I don't yet have a date for that.   The dongle from the Latitude 10 is not currently supported and will not be recognized as a bootable device.

In order to PXE boot, the UEFI network stack must be enabled in BIOS settings. Otherwise, the system will not see the boot/pxe capabilities of the USB network dongle. 

Is this for the Venue Pro 8 and 11?

I was going to order the Asus one found here and give it a shot on the Venue Pro 8.  Will let everyone know if it works.

http://amzn.to/IJS4id

Using the ASIX AX88772B adapter we bought from Newegg.com we were able to PXE the unit.  We also had success using USB Drives with the MDT wim.

I ended up ordering 3 different ones that should be here tomorrow, will update you when I test them

Here are the 3

http://amzn.to/18qummK

http://amzn.to/18qur9Q

and 

http://amzn.to/18quuT1

Lets hope at least one or all of them work!

Will do - Feel free to send me a working copy of the guide :)

Thanks!

Please keep us posted - I'd like to add a list of known working dongles to our upcoming imaging guide.   Thanks!

@Ernie, I've ordered the exact same dongle and it will be here Monday. I have a Venue 11 Pro 5130 and will report back and confirm that it works.