Error: Exec format error
(Error code 2e0080)
Possible sources
This error originated from one of the following locations within the iPXE source code:
General advice
- Try using the latest version of iPXE. Your problem may have already been fixed.
- Try building iPXE with the debug option
DEBUG=image - You can contact the iPXE developers and other iPXE users.
- Refresh this page after 24 hours. This page is actively monitored, and further information may be added soon.
Additional notes
(Please edit this page to include any of your own useful hints and tips for fixing this error.)
This error usually indicates an unrecognised image format or, less commonly, a corrupted image.
Things to try:
- Check that your build of iPXE supports the type of image you are trying to boot. You can see the list of supported image types in the iPXE start-up banner; for example:
iPXE 1.0.0+ -- Open Source Network Boot Firmware -- http://ipxe.org Features: HTTP iSCSI DNS TFTP AoE VLAN bzImage COMBOOT ELF MBOOT PXE PXEXTshows that bzImage, COMBOOT, ELF, Multiboot, and PXE images are supported in this build of iPXE.
- If you are running a UEFI version of iPXE then only EFI binaries can be loaded. PXE binaries such as
pxelinux.0andmemdiskuse legacy BIOS calls and can never work on UEFI.- If you are trying to load a Linux kernel (or other EFI binary) then you can use iPXE to load it directly; there is no need to load
pxelinux.0first. - If you are trying to load a Linux kernel, make sure it is built with
CONFIG_EFI_STUBenabled. Most distribution kernels will already be built withCONFIG_EFI_STUBenabled. - If you are trying to display a pxelinux menu then you may want to investigate iPXE's native menuing capabilities.
- Check that the image you are trying to boot has not been corrupted in any way.
- You can use the
imgstatcommand to check that the filesize is correct and that the file has been detected as the correct type.
- If you are trying to boot an iPXE script, check that the “
#!ipxe” signature is present at the beginning of the script.- If you have edited the script on a Windows machine, check that the script was saved using ASCII (or UTF-8) rather than UTF-16 encoding, and that your Windows editor has not inserted a byte order mark (BOM) at the start of the file.
