Imaging Boot Disk Creator (ZIMGBOOT.EXE)

Use the Imaging Boot Disk Creator at a Windows workstation to create or update imaging boot diskettes, so you can boot computers to perform imaging tasks. Also use this utility to create a PXE boot disk to be used with a computer that cannot be PXE enabled.

IMPORTANT:  You can update imaging diskettes only in the sense that the same physical diskettes can be reused. When updating the second and third diskettes or the optional language diskette, you must reformat the diskette before updating it. The first diskette can be reused without reformatting.

ZIMGBOOT.EXE is located in the ZENWORKS\IMAGING folder in your ZfD installation (on the imaging server).


Starting the Imaging Boot Disk Creator

To start the boot disk creator as a standalone utility (from Windows), double-click the ZIMGBOOT.EXE file. There are no command line parameters. To start the utility from ConsoleOne, click Tools > ZENworks Utilities > Imaging > Create or Modify Boot Diskette.

HINT:  If the Imaging Boot Disk Creator fills up too much of your screen, change your screen resolution to a setting greater than 800 X 600.

For the overall process to create imaging boot diskettes, see Creating Imaging Boot Diskettes in Workstation Imaging in Getting Started. When creating the diskettes, you can configure various aspects of the imaging bootup process, including:

For details on these and other configuration options, see the online help in the utility. The configuration settings you make in the utility are saved to the SETTINGS.TXT file on the third imaging diskette. You can edit this file after creating the diskettes if needed. For details on the format of this file, see Imaging Bootup Parameters (SETTINGS.TXT) .

If you need to create imaging diskettes to boot with a non-English keyboard but the language you need isn't listed in the utility, see Imaging Bootup Languages (ZIMGLANG.INI) .


Using ZIMGBOOT.EXE to Add Linux Drivers

Use the Add Linux Drivers function to specify the Linux drivers you want to place on the third boot diskette (if space allows) or on an additional Linux drivers diskette.

Using this function, you can search for and add the network path to Linux driver files that you have created or downloaded. The dialog box helps you to build a drivers list and categorize it by driver type (SCSI, Block, Network, PCMCIA, and Miscellaneous). You can also remove unwanted drivers from the list. This master list of driver files can be added to a diskette that you can specify later.

The Add Linux Drivers function also lets you specify the drivers you want to load by default. You do this by selecting the name of a driver on the master list and then clicking the Load button. This moves the driver name to the default load list, where you can change the load order of the default drivers and further specify their individual loading parameters.

When your load list is ready, you can use a function in ZIMGBOOT.EXE to copy the additional Linux drivers to a diskette. All of the driver files are stored in different subdirectories of the \DRIVERS directory on the diskette:

These drivers can also be added to a bootable CD. For more information, see Preparing a Bootable CD in Preparing an Imaging Boot Device or Method in Setting Up Workstations for Imaging in ZENworks for Desktops 3.2 Deployment Guide.


Obtaining Linux Drivers

To obtain a Linux driver for your particular hardware, you should visit the Web site of the hardware vendor and check for a download site.

There are also some other Web sites where you can obtain drivers:

You can also get additional Linux drivers at the Novell® ZENworks Cool Solutions Web Community.

To learn more about drivers, including the loading parameters you need to specify, see the Linux Documentation Project and visit the following HOWTO sites:



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