Windows Server 2008 – WDS gives PXE-E32:TFTP open timeout error when clients boot

I’ve ran in to the mentioned issue yesterday, our WDS stopped working just out of the blue. To make it more convenient , only few days after i experimented with PxeLinux one the WDS…

After some googleing it turns out that culprit is the DNS server role located on the same box. Apparently DNS server is randomly allocating ports (2500 of them) in the range of 49152-65535 which can overlap with WDS range, which by default operates from 64001 to 65000.

On Server 2008 R2, the simple solution is to change dword value of “UdpPortPolicy” to 0 – located in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\WDSServer\Parameters.
Which will make WDS server check if the port is already in use before trying to use it.

There is no “UdpPortPolicy” parameter on Windows Server 2008, so the solution would be to broaden the port range of WDS server. You could do it through Server manager, under network properties of WDS server, or by command prompt
wdsutil /set-Server /Transport /StartPort:50000 /EndPort:65000

Microsoft KB article for more info: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/977512

17 comments on “Windows Server 2008 – WDS gives PXE-E32:TFTP open timeout error when clients boot”

I have set the UdpPortPolicy on the server, restarted, but still getting the same error. Is there something else that might be preventing this from working?

Try setting both UdpPortPolicy and widening WDS port range to respond from. That should definitely work, if that doesn’t help it must be some other issue.

You could also use netstat to check what ports are being used by DNS service and WDS.

I have set the UdpPortPolicy on the server, restarted wds services to resolve error.

Had the same timout error and i ve been google like crazy. Finally, the 4th day, setting “UdpPortPolicy” to 0 was the solution for me.
All else changes made in past days reverted to default WDS except for port 67 listening because of linux dhcp server.
Thanx a million! Was going mad about it.

Had this problem on one of the servers at work, tried this and worked like a charm, cannot thank you enough 😉

You are welcome 🙂

Hi….Thank you Sooooooo much….I tried this and ” It Works”………………..Thanks a lot…i face this problem suddenly after so many times use PXE boot…and i am thinking that after updating my Symantec Antivirus security update i face this problem it might b bcoz of Antivirus updation….Anyveys Thanks you so much

This worked for me as well. Thank you for putting the solution online.

Worked perfectly. We owe you some beer.

worked perfectly changing the value to 0 and restarting the service. Thanks for the help.

Thanks, that was exactly the problem.

Hi Zarko,

This is kishor, i had faced the same kindo issue, really hatsof for your solution, it works for me.

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Hi Zarko,

Thanks a ton.. it works for me..thanx again…

BIngo!!! Thanks you saved me 2-3 hours of hair pulling.

This post is the best thing that happened to me today. Thank you so, so much for typing this out and sharing it!

Thanks…it’s working for me

John on June 13, 2013 at 23:31 said:

I have set the UdpPortPolicy on the server, restarted, but still getting the same error. Is there something else that might be preventing this from working?

Zarko on June 13, 2013 at 23:48 said:

Try setting both UdpPortPolicy and widening WDS port range to respond from. That should definitely work, if that doesn’t help it must be some other issue.

You could also use netstat to check what ports are being used by DNS service and WDS.

riaz on September 24, 2013 at 08:18 said:

I have set the UdpPortPolicy on the server, restarted wds services to resolve error.

CKoyote on December 3, 2013 at 11:07 said:

Had the same timout error and i ve been google like crazy. Finally, the 4th day, setting “UdpPortPolicy” to 0 was the solution for me.
All else changes made in past days reverted to default WDS except for port 67 listening because of linux dhcp server.
Thanx a million! Was going mad about it.

admin@work on March 5, 2014 at 09:29 said:

Had this problem on one of the servers at work, tried this and worked like a charm, cannot thank you enough 😉

Zarko on March 5, 2014 at 11:16 said:

You are welcome 🙂

Hemang Vyas on March 8, 2014 at 09:27 said:

Hi….Thank you Sooooooo much….I tried this and ” It Works”………………..Thanks a lot…i face this problem suddenly after so many times use PXE boot…and i am thinking that after updating my Symantec Antivirus security update i face this problem it might b bcoz of Antivirus updation….Anyveys Thanks you so much

Fishonabike on March 16, 2014 at 06:52 said:

This worked for me as well. Thank you for putting the solution online.

Walter White on March 21, 2014 at 16:02 said:

Worked perfectly. We owe you some beer.

Michael on April 28, 2014 at 15:23 said:

worked perfectly changing the value to 0 and restarting the service. Thanks for the help.

Doug Blask on September 25, 2014 at 16:13 said:

Thanks, that was exactly the problem.

Roshik on October 14, 2014 at 14:13 said:

Hi Zarko,

This is kishor, i had faced the same kindo issue, really hatsof for your solution, it works for me.

Pingback: How To Fix Error 65535 Windows 7 Errors - Windows Vista, Windows 7 & 8
Rakesh Rathi on December 2, 2014 at 07:59 said:

Hi Zarko,

Thanks a ton.. it works for me..thanx again…

TP on February 13, 2015 at 03:55 said:

BIngo!!! Thanks you saved me 2-3 hours of hair pulling.

Miguel on August 25, 2015 at 11:45 said:

This post is the best thing that happened to me today. Thank you so, so much for typing this out and sharing it!

Giridhar on July 21, 2016 at 08:25 said:

Thanks…it’s working for me

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