Patent ID: 7664834

Claim:
A method of managing an operating system over a network, wherein the network is configured to be connected to a boot server and to a client computer, the method comprising: retrieving an internet protocol address of the boot server for the client computer; determining whether the boot server is available via the network, wherein if the boot server is unavailable the client computer boots with a prior operating system image; transferring to the boot server a description of an operating system on the client computer, wherein the description includes a current operating system version; validating hardware credentials of the client computer; determining whether to perform a remote boot process; and after transferring to the boot server a description of an operating system on the client computer: moving an existing operating system directory on the client computer to a set-aside location; downloading an operating system directory image from the boot server; comparing cyclic redundancy check values of each file in the operating system directory with an existing file in the existing operating system directory; and generating a new operating system directory based on the comparing of the cyclic redundancy check values by updating the operating system directory for each file in which the cyclic redundancy check values in the operating system directory match with an existing file in the existing operating system directory and by obtaining a compressed module from the boot server for each file in which the cyclic redundancy check values in the operating system directory do not match with an existing file in the existing operating system directory.