The following sections cover procedures to prepare workstations for imaging. The procedures that are applicable to you depend on your imaging deployment strategy. (See Imaging Deployment Strategies.)

• Preparing an Imaging Boot Device
• Installing the Imaging Agent to Safeguard Workstation Identity Data
• Registering Workstations for Auto-Imaging

Preparing an Imaging Boot Device

• Diskettes

  This is the easiest device to prepare. Two diskettes are required, three if you need to image computers that have non-English keyboards. The basic steps to create the diskettes are given in Creating Imaging Boot Diskettes in Preparing for Basic Imaging Operations in Getting Started.

  Once you have created the diskettes, you can customize them for the particular imaging tasks for which you will use them, such as one set of diskettes for connecting to a server that holds Windows 95 images, another set for connecting to a server that holds Windows NT images, and another set for installing ZfD imaging partitions. To customize the diskettes, edit the SETTINGS.TXT file on the second diskette as explained in Imaging Utilities and Options in Workstation Imaging in Administration.

• CD

  If you have CD-burning software, you can create a bootable CD for performing imaging operations. This is a bit harder than preparing diskettes, but you have more room to store any custom files that you might want to add, such as images and Linux device drivers. See Preparing a Bootable CD for instructions.

• Hard-disk partition

  If you want to set up a computer for unattended imaging operations, you must create a small ZfD imaging (Linux) partition on the hard disk. If you make the partition big enough, you can even store an image of the computer's hard disk, which can be useful if (for example) the computer becomes hopelessly misconfigured or corrupted.

  To create a ZfD imaging partition, you must first create imaging diskettes and boot the computer from them. Then, proceed with Step 4 of Enabling a Workstation for Unattended Imaging Operations in Testing Basic Imaging Operations in Getting Started.

The following sections contain additional information:

• Preparing a Bootable CD
• Booting with a Non-English Keyboard

Preparing a Bootable CD

1. In a temporary working area, create a SETTINGS.TXT file containing the settings you want for the imaging bootup process. For instructions, see Imaging Utilities and Options in Workstation Imaging in Administration.

2. In the temporary working area, create a drivers directory and add any Linux network drivers you will need. For instructions, see DEFAULTDRIVER in Imaging Bootup Parameters (SETTINGS.TXT) in Imaging Utilities and Options in Workstation Imaging in Administration.

3. In the temporary working area, add any ZfD image files you want to store on the CD.

4. Use your CD-burning software to burn the BOOTCD.ISO image onto the CD. This image is located in the ZENWORKS\IMAGING folder in your ZfD installation (on the imaging server).

5. Use your CD-burning software to add the contents of your temporary working area to the root of the CD, including the SETTINGS.TXT file, any Linux network drivers, and any ZfD image files.

   NOTE:  Adding these files makes the CD a multisession CD. To boot a workstation from such a CD, the CD drive must support multisession CDs. For example, in our testing, we successfully booted an HP* vectra VL, a Compaq* Prosignia, and a Dell* Optiplex, but some other workstations failed, including an IBM* PC 300PL, a Dell Dimension XPS T450, and an IBM clone with an Intel* motherboard.

6. Use your CD-burning software to finalize the CD.

For information on how to use the CD to perform disconnected imaging operations, see Setting Up Disconnected Imaging Operations.

If you will image computers that have non-English keyboards, the imaging boot device must include additional support for that language, in the form of a language diskette. (When booting a computer from the imaging device, you will be prompted for this diskette.) For information on preparing this diskette, see the online help in the Imaging Boot Disk Creator (ZIMGBOOT.EXE) utility.

If the Language/Country drop-down list in the Imaging Boot Disk Creator utility doesn't have the keyboard language you need, you can close the utility and reconfigure it to support the additional language. This assumes you can find Linux keyboard support files somewhere on the Web.

1. Get the Linux .GZ files that contain the keyboard mappings, fonts, and Unicode mappings for the language that you want to add.

2. From the folder containing the ZIMGBOOT.EXE file, browse to the BOOTDISK folder > copy the .GZ files for the new language to the following subfolders:

   • The keyboard map file goes in the KEYMAPS folder.
   • The font file goes in the CONSOLEFONTS folder.
   • The Unicode map file goes in the CONSOLETRANS folder.

3. Add a section to the ZIMGLANG.INI file using the format illustrated for German in Imaging Bootup Languages (ZIMGLANG.INI) in Imaging Utilities and Options in Workstation Imaging in Administration.

   1. For the bracketed section heading, specify the language or country name that you want shown in the Imaging Boot Disk Creator utility.

   2. On the KEYMAP, FONT, and ACM parameters, specify the names and locations (relative to the BOOTDISK folder) of the keyboard map, font, and Unicode map files, respectively.

4. Save your changes to the ZIMGLANG.INI file.

5. Restart the Imaging Boot Disk Creator utility and verify that the new language appears in the Language/Country drop-down list.

When you lay down a new base image on a Windows workstation, the workstation receives the same identification data as the computer from which the image was taken, including such settings as the IP address and Computer (NETBIOS) name. To work around this, you can install the ZfD Imaging Agent (ZISWIN.EXE) on the target workstation before reimaging it. This saves off the workstation's current identity settings to an area on the hard disk that's safe from reimaging. When the workstation reboots after being reimaged, the agent restores the original settings.

IMPORTANT:  The imaging agent does not save off or restore any Windows NT/2000 Domain information. If you change a workstation's domain and then restore an image, the workstation will receive whatever domain is embedded in the new image.

The table below lists the different ways you can install the imaging agent, along with the location of the installation instructions.

1. Register the workstation as a Workstation object in the NDS tree that contains the ZfD imaging server.

   For instructions on how to do this, see Automatic Workstation Import in Getting Started.

2. Set a flag in the Workstation object that triggers the imaging operation you want.

   For instructions on how to do this, see Triggering an Unattended Imaging Operation in Testing Basic Imaging Operations in Workstation Imaging in Getting Started.