Method and process for using common preinstallation environment for heterogeneous operating systems

Abstract

A system and method is disclosed for the uniform installation of one or more of a plurality of heterogeneous operating systems (operating systems) on a predetermined information handling system. A common preinstallation environment (CPE) is implemented, comprising a host preinstallation environment (HPE) and one or more native preinstallation environments (NPEs). If an NPE is not required for installation, an HPE comprising a common, bootable kernel generates a bootable operating system image that is installed on the target system. Otherwise, the HPE creates a deployment partition, where it implements the NPE and generates a metafile describing the hardware drivers supported by the NPE. The HPE then inventories the hardware components comprising the target system and compares the results to the metafile. If all required drivers are accessible, the target system boots to the NPE, which begins native installation of the chosen operating system. Otherwise, the HPE injects the missing drivers into the operating system image generated by the NPE and the resulting operating system image is then installed on the target system. If the HPE cannot inject drivers into the NPE, then a stage handler is implemented to relinquish installation control to the NPE which completes a native installation.