is it possible

[kiel367]

i usually have a few pc's round from friends for formats, or virus checks, now i was just wondering, is it possible to set up my pc/network so i can install operating systems over it? as iv seen the boot from lan option, which im assuming thats what its for?

 

[moss]

Yes its possible, however it takes a fair bit of setting up.
A free method is to use:
http://ping.windowsdream.com/winner.html
Installing from USB is quite a handy.

Booting from LAN can be used for a few things. I have an imaging server, ISO booting and other useful utils on my PXE boot at work.

 

[TNGL]

I'd say get VMWare, install Server 2008, install WDS, add your Windows Image there, and then PXE boot the clients over the LAN and get them to install it from the WDS Server. You can also create your own custom images, so you could get them to use the image with settings already configured for them e.g.