2.6 Customizing the PBA Login Screen

The Pre-Boot Authentication login screen appears each time the device starts. The default background image for the login screen looks like the following:

The background image is a single file, pba_bkgd_image.png. If desired, you can replace the default image with your own custom image. Refer to the next three sections for more information.

IMPORTANT:If you want to customize the background image, you should do so before applying a Disk Encryption policy with Pre-Boot Authentication to devices. When the PBA is initialized, the PBA Linux partition is created and the background image is added to it. The only way to replace the background image after it is in the Linux partition is to remove the ZENworks PBA and reinstall it; this requires you deactivate the PBA in the Disk Encryption policy, update the policy on the device so that the PBA is removed, and then reactivate the PBA in the policy and reapply the policy to the device.

2.6.1 Creating a Custom Background Image File

A custom background image must meet the following two requirements:

  • Filename: pba_bkgd_image.png

  • Size: 800 pixels wide by 600 pixels high (800x600)

If you want to customize the default pba_bkgd_image.png rather than create a new file, complete the following steps to retrieve a copy of the default image file:

  1. On a managed device that has ZENworks Full Disk Encryption enabled (no policy needs to be applied), locate the fsebrand.bin file:

    C:\Program Files (x86)\Novell\ZENworks\FDE\fsebrand.bin

  2. Make a copy of the fsebrand.bin file and rename it to fsebrand.zip.

  3. Extract the contents of the zip file to a location outside of the c:\windows\nac\sbs directory.

    The contents are extracted to an fsebrand folder. The pba_bkgd_image.png file is located in that folder.

2.6.2 Adding the Custom Background Image File to the FSEBRAND.BIN File

After you create the custom background image file you want to use with the PBA login screen, you need to add the custom file to the fsebrand.bin file.

  1. Extract the fsebrand.bin file to a temporary folder. If you already did this in order to get a copy of the pba_bkgd_image.png file (see Creating a Custom Background Image File), you can use that set of extracted files. Otherwise, complete the following steps to extract the fsebrand.bin file:

    1. On a managed device that has ZENworks Full Disk Encryption enabled (no policy needs to be applied), locate the fsebrand.bin file:

      C:\Program Files (x86)\Novell\ZENworks\FDE\fsebrand.bin

    2. Make a copy of the fsebrand.bin file and rename it to fsebrand.zip.

    3. Extract the contents of the zip file to a folder to a location outside of the C:\Program Files (x86)\Novell\ZENworks\FDE directory.

      The contents are extracted to an fsebrand folder.

  2. In the fsebrand folder, replace the default pba_bkgd_image.png file with your custom pba_bkgd_image.png file.

  3. In the fsebrand folder, select all of the files and subfolders, right-click the selected files and folders, then select Send To Compressed (zipped) Folder.

    Do not select the fsebrand folder itself, only its contents. Including the fsebrand folder nests the files too deep in the structure.

  4. Rename the zip file to fsebrand.bin.

2.6.3 Distributing the Rebranded FSEBRAND.BIN File to Devices

After you add your custom background image file to the fsebrand.bin file (see Adding the Custom Background Image File to the FSEBRAND.BIN File), you need to distribute the fsebrand.bin file to devices that have ZENworks Full Disk Encryption enabled.

  1. On a managed device, copy the fsebrand.bin file to the following directory:

    C:\Program Files (x86)\Novell\ZENworks\FDE

    If you have many devices for which you need to do this, you can use ZENworks Configuration Management to distribute the file as a Windows bundle to the devices. For information about creating a Windows bundle that copies a file to a device, see Creating Bundles in the ZENworks Software Distribution Reference.

  2. Apply a Disk Encryption policy to the device.

    After the policy is applied and the PBA login screen appears, your custom background image is displayed.

    IMPORTANT:If you want to apply the custom background image to a device that already has ZENworks Pre-Boot Authentication installed, you must uninstall and reinstall the PBA. The background image is added to the PBA Linux partition (from the fsebrand.bin file) when the PBA is installed and cannot be changed after installation.

    To uninstall and reinstall the PBA, modify the Disk Encryption policy to deactivate the PBA, then republish the policy to the device to remove the PBA. After the PBA is removed, make sure the rebranded fsebrand.bin file is in the C:\Program Files (x86)\Novell\ZENworks\FDE directory, then reactivate the PBA in the policy and reapply the policy to the device.

2.6.4 Upgrading to a new ZENworks version

When upgrading to a new version of ZENworks, a new fsebrand.bin file is created, and the background image for the PBA login screen reverts to the default system image. Maintaining a customized PBA login screen during upgrade is currently not supported. To customize the login screen after upgrade, follow the same procedure used in the initial customization. See Customizing the PBA Login Screen.

NOTE:Do not copy the fsebrand.bin file from the older version and replace the fsebrand.bin file in the upgraded version of ZENworks. This file has functions that are specific to the current installed version, and replacing the file could cause issues after the upgrade.