Once the local PC wakes up, it starts up the network card and configures itself. Making use of PXE requires an appropriate server infrastructure. When a PXE client boots, it must do two things. First, it obtains an IP address from a DHCP server. Unfortunately, PXE calls for some options that may not work on all DHCP servers, so most software that supports PXE also includes a proxy DHCP service. This proxy service doesn't offer IP addresses directly but does allow DHCP operation.

After connecting to the DHCP server, the system locates a PXE boot server that will send it the appropriate files from which to boot. The DHCP server provides a boot file name, and the PC then downloads it from a Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) server.

Once PXE is enabled--anytime the PC boots up--an on-screen message appears, offering the user the choice of booting to PXE or continuing with the normal boot sequence from the local hard disk or optical media. PXE offers a menu of boot options that can include a variety of maintenance and diagnostic tools that do things like scan for viruses, check the integrity of hard drives, inventory installed software, update drivers or even install an entirely new operating system on the PC. All this can be done remotely and largely in an automated fashion, with little or no hands-on intervention required.