Following the link http://www.faqs.org/docs/Linux-mini/NFS-Root.html for understanding. Finding out needed things. - Ethernet (10 or 100Mbit) (CONFIG_NET_ETHERNET) is needed - Correct Ethernet driver (assuming that live-CD will have these things by default ) - CONFIG_NFS_FS is needed for NFS support (FUSE will be needed in case of )