Just need the user to mash F12 during boot and select the recovery environment, possibly input WiFi credentials if not wired
In theory that sounds great, now just do it 1000+ times while your phone is ringing off the hook and you’re working with some of the most tech illiterate people in your org.
corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 5 months ago
You’re fucking killing it. Stay awesome.
Also gist this up pls. Thanks.
Max_P@lemmy.max-p.me 5 months ago
I wish it was more shareable, but it’s also not as magic as it sounds.
Fundamentally it’s just a Linux install with some heavy customizations so that it does one thing only: boot Linux, and just enough prompts to get it online so that the VPN works, and download the root image into RAM that it boots into so I can SSH into the box, and then a bunch of Linux tools for me to use so I can reimage from there, or run a QEMU with the physical disk passed through so I can VNC into an install even if it BSOD.
It’s a Linux UKI (combined kernel+initramfs into a simple EFI file the firmware can boot directly without a bootloader), but you can just as easily get away with a hidden Debian install or whatever. Can even be a second Windows install if that’s your thing. The reason I went this particular route is I don’t have to update it since it downloads it on the fly, much like the Mac recovery. And it runs entirely in RAM afrerwards so I can safely do whatever is needed with the disk.
flop_leash_973@lemmy.world 5 months ago
I dream of working somewhere where this kind of effort is appreciated enough to motivate me to put in the effort of actually doing it.
Max_P@lemmy.max-p.me 5 months ago
I wish too, it’s only deployed for family and family businesses because I’m a couple thousand miles away from them. I cobbled this together for the explicit purpose of being able to reinstall Windows remotely. It works wonderfully though!
My real job is DevOps and 100% Linux, and most of the cloud servers are disposable and can be simply be rebuilt at the push of a button in some dashboard.
Empricorn@feddit.nl 5 months ago
Yeah, that sounds even more magic! I hope you’re appreciated…
AlbinoPython@lemmy.world 5 months ago
“It’s not as magic as it sounds”, he says as my eyes gloss over on the first sentence.
HoornseBakfiets@feddit.nl 5 months ago
I wonder what your reasoning was for rolling your own compared to just using something like OpenSuse’s MicroOS