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This is my guide to create a ZENworks 11.1 imaging boot USB Pen Drive. Not a lot of things are needed before you can use a USB Pen Drive instead of the original boot CD. You can then image as you normally do, run a script from the USB Pen Drive or even pull down an image from it.

If you need to be able to use large images, try this solution:
http://www.novell.com/communities/node/13605/zenwo...

Inspiration

To get where I ended, I went through this great solution and made my own modifications: http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/tools/18294.html

The items needed from this tool are the files located in the "Data" folder, I'll show this later.

And the ZENworks 7/11.1 docs.

Now let's get started.

What is needed?

First of all, this is what you need to get the job done:

• Zen71usb = from here http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/tools/18294.html (the download link is found here)
• HPUSBF = Free from: ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/products/servers/supportsoftware/ZIP/HPUSBF.exe but also included in the Zen71usb download.
• Syslinux = Free from: http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/boot/syslinux/ but also included in the Zen71usb download.
• ZENworks preboot files from your own environment or get the latest Imaging Driver Update from http://download.novell.com
• A PC installed with Windows XP /7.
  And/or
  A Linux machine
  (In my example I'm using laptops with Windows 7 and OpenSUSE 12.1.)

Got all the files? Then we're ready.

Warning, I can't guarantee this works on all USB pen drives. And do remember that under this process the drive will be cleaned, so backup any data you may have on it before starting.

All the files (on the Windows laptop) in this guide, are located in C:\USBIMAGE\

If you don't want to make it all by yourself, you can use the files attached:
You still need to go through Step One, and then copy the files to your USB Pen Drive.

Step one

Format and make the USB pen drive bootable.

1. Connect the USB to your computer
2. Open a command prompt and execute:
   C:\USBIMAGE\zen71usb\utils\HPUSBF.exe
   

   Click to view.

   Your USB pen drive is shown, note the ID's.

3. On the command prompt run this:
   C:\USBIMAGE\zen71usb\utils\HPUSBF.exe HD2 -FS:FAT -Q
   

   Click to view.

   Now your USB pen drive is ready

   Note: If you want to put large image files on your USB Pen Drive and restore it, you should format it with FAT32. If you don't want to use the HPUSBF.exe utility, you can also right click the USB Pen Drive and select "Format" and choose FAT32.

4. On the command prompt run this:
   C:\USBIMAGE\zen71usb\utils\syslinux.exe F:
   

   Click to view.

   If you check the pen drive there should be a file called ldlinux.sys (you need to be able to see hidden files)

   Your USB pen drive is now ready and bootable.

Step two

Copy the needed files to the USB pen drive.

1. First I've copied the bootcd.iso (from the driver update or my own PXE server) and extracted the files to C:\USBIMAGE\bootcd (using winrar)
2. Now, create a new folder on the US pen drive, named ZDM7
3. Copy the file, initrd, from C:\USBIMAGE\zen71usb\data\ to the new folder (ZDM7)
4. Copy all the files from C:\USBIMAGE\zen71usb\data\ to the root of your USB pen drive.
   
   

   Click to view.

   This is now the content of your USB drive

5. Copy the files, root and root.fonts from C:\USBIMAGE\bootcd\boot\i386 to F:\boot\i386
6. Copy the files, initrd and Linux from C:\USBIMAGE\bootcd\boot\i386\loader to the root of the USB pen drive. Overwrite the two existing files.
7. OPTIONAL, edit the syslinux.cfg (I use winvi). In some cases it's needed to change the syslinux.cfg file, so the USB pen drive is found during boot. I've used this at the end of every menu option:

   install=hd:/dev/sdb1 root=/dev/sdb1

Step three

Copy the needed files on to the Linux machine for further editing.

Switch to your Linux machine.

1. Log in as root
2. Go to the Home folder of root
3. Create a folder named "Work"
4. In the Work folder create 2 folders, one called ZDM7 and one called ZCM11
   If you'll like you can use these commands to create the folders:
   cd /root/ (make sure you're in the home folder of root)
   mkdir work
   cd /root/work/
   mkdir ZDM7
   mkdir ZCM11
5. In each of the two folders create a folder named "temp", just as shown above
6. Copy the file, initrd, from the USB pen drive you just created, to the ZCM11 folder
7. Copy the file, initrd (the original), from the ZDM7 folder on the USB pen drive, to the ZDM7 folder

   The files you need are now on the Linux machine.

Step four

Extract the original initrd file, from ZDM7.
We need the USBMOUNT.s file from this.

The other configuration changes I've copied from these files: zenworks.s and linuxrc.config.

1. Open a terminal
2. Make sure you are in the /root/work/ZDM7/ folder

   cd /root/work/ZDM7/

3. Rename initrd to initrd.gz

   mv initrd initrd.gz

4. Unzip the initrd.gz file

   gunzip initrd.gz

5. Extract the files inside initrd to the temp folder

   cd /root/work/ZDM7/temp/

   cpio –idumv < /root/work/ZDM7/initrd >/dev/null 2>%1

   Now do the same with the new initrd file, from the ZCM11 folder.

   The files are now extracted and we can make the needed changes in the files.

Step Five

Now we copy the USBMOUNT.s file and edit the Zenworks.s and linuxrc.config.

1. From the /root/work/ZDM7/temp/bin folder, copy the usbmount.s file and place it in the /ZCM11/temp/bin/ folder

   If you want to use the terminal:
   cp –r /root/work/ZDM7/temp/bin/usbmount.s /root/work/ZCM11/bin

2. Edit the zenworks.s file, so it has the usb boot settings. Open this file from both the ZDM7/bin/ and ZCM11/bin/ folders

   gedit /root/work/(ZDM7/ZCM11)/bin/zenworks.s

   From the ZDM7/bin/zenworks.s files copy all from
   "if [ $USBBOOT"a" = "YESa" ] ; then"
   To
   "#run before settings.txt" (this line shall not be included)

   Insert the text in the ZCM11/bin/zenworks.s file, and replace from
   "if [ $CDBOOT"cd" = "YEScd" ] ; then"
   To
   "#run before settings.txt" (this line shall not be replaced)

   Close and save the file

3. Edit the linuxrc.config file from /root/work/ZCM11/temp/

   gedit /root/work/ZCM11/temp/linuxrc.config

   Edit it so these lines are as listed here:

   NetSetup=dhcp,all
   ScsiBeforeUsb=0
   insecure=1

   Close and save the file

   Now all the files are edited and added.

Step six

Re-pack, zip and recreate the initrd file

1. Open a terminal
2. Go to the /root/work/ZCM11/temp folder

   cd /root/work/ZCM11/temp/

3. Re-pack the file

   find . | cpio –quiet –o –H newc > /root/work/ZCM11/initrd

4. Zip the new initrd file

   gzip –v9c initrd > initrd.gz

5. Rename the file

   mv initrd.gz initrd

6. Copy the new initrd file to the root of your USB Pen drive. (replace the old one)
7. Delete the ZDM7 folder on the USB pen drive

   All you need to do now is to check if it boots as wanted.

   You can then edit the settings.txt as wanted, just as if it was a boot from the CD.

Enjoy.

Additional settings

Changes I've made to the settings.txt file, that allows me to get a image from the USB Pen Drive.

First I've created a folder in the root of the USB Pen Drive, called "IMG".

Then I copied the image file to this folder. Here it's the file named "IMG-WIN7-D.zmg".

Open the settings.txt file from the USB Pen Drive and put this command to the end of the file.

export IMGCMD="img -restorel /mnt/usbhd/img/IMG-WIN7-D.zmg"

This will put the image on your device.

If you want to use a script, place your script in the "/addfiles/bin/" folder on the USB Pen Drive. My script is called "Prebootscript.s".

Open the settings.txt file from the USB Pen Drive and put this command to the end of the file.

export IMGCMD="/bin/Prebootscript.s"

This will start your preboot script.

Disclaimer: As with everything else at Cool Solutions, this content is definitely not supported by Novell (so don't even think of calling Support if you try something and it blows up).

It was contributed by a community member and is published "as is." It seems to have worked for at least one person, and might work for you. But please be sure to test, test, test before you do anything drastic with it.