Preboot Execution Environment (PXE)

An industry-standard client-server interface that enables a server to boot an operating system (OS) over a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) network using Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). The PXE specification describes how the network adapter card and BIOS work together to provide basic networking capabilities for the primary bootstrap program, enabling it to perform a secondary bootstrap over the network, such as a TFTP load of an OS image. Thus, the primary bootstrap program, if coded to PXE standards, does not need knowledge of the system's networking hardware.