PXE Network Boot VirtualBox
You need host networking enabled to boot via the network. Check here for prerequisite configuration.
VirtualBox is capable of network boot, and is practically indistinguishable in configuration as compared to a real machine. To PXE boot a VirtualBox guest OS open the settings of a guest OS:
Click the system tab:
To enable PXE boot you have to configure the following section:
Then use the up and down arrows to set the priority of the network boot feature, as shown above.
You can create a guest OS that has no hard drive; there is no need for one. In such a configuration make network boot the first on the list. 
Since you intend to use PXE boot, you may consider setting up a LTSP server.
Tags: arrows, Boot, configuration, guest os, hard drive, host networking, network, network boot, priority, PXE, system tab, virtualbox
This entry was posted by nseidm1 on January 12, 2008 at 11:32 pm, and is filled under Boot, PXE, guest, network, virtualbox. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.
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September 26, 2008 - 1:06 am
HI, I also want to let VirtualBox boot from PXE, but in you article don’t tell me how to configure the network?
May 20, 2009 - 11:31 pm
What happend to your images for this article?
May 22, 2009 - 6:43 am
Reply to first comment. You need tap to access the real world networking.
May 22, 2009 - 6:44 am
Reply to second comment. I will repost the images soon. I fried my server and lost all images I had on this blog. My bad.
November 17, 2009 - 8:58 am
I will fix the images to this post tonight. My apologies.
December 5, 2009 - 1:04 pm
I’ll have these pictures back by tomorrow.
January 5, 2010 - 9:30 pm
Can you show how to configure network so that Virtual Box can boot from pxe and work with TFTP32 in Windows XP?
January 6, 2010 - 11:28 am
I updated the page a bit, check out the link in the first line.
March 25, 2010 - 10:08 pm
Hey, thanks for posting this!!! It was really simple to get working.
May 19, 2010 - 12:42 am
wish that networking link worked. ty
May 27, 2010 - 1:36 pm
What do you mean by you need “tap” to access? Is that a type of program?
May 29, 2010 - 3:31 pm
A tap is no longer needed in VirtualBox.
See: http://www.bgevolution.com/blog/virtualbox-bridge-and-tap-no-longer-needed-built-in/
June 30, 2010 - 10:36 pm
You can use Fog for PXE boot in conjunction with dhcp3-server on one Ubuntu system to boot the network deployment. I’m going to try to load a custom Windows XP installation in Virtual Box via PXE.