3.13 ZENworks WinPE Imaging

3.13.1 Limitations of Using ZENworks WinPE Imaging

Following are some of the limitations of using ZENworks WinPE imaging:

  • ZENworks image taken using WinPE and add-ons extracted from the image cannot be restored in Linux distro and vice versa.

  • Peer-to-peer multicasting cannot be performed between WinPE and Linux distro.

  • By default, PowerShell packages are not added in the WinPE. For more information, see Section 3.13.10, Adding the PowerShell Package to WinPE.

  • Ensure that all WinPE img command arguments are prefixed with a - (hyphen).

  • In the ZENworks 2017 Update 2 release, img -info, img -auto and img -dump commands are not supported.

3.13.2 Using WinPE Maintenance Mode Prompt to Make an Image Locally

Using the WinPE maintenance mode prompt, the following example explains the syntax and available parameters that you can use with the “make locally” (-makel) mode command:

img -make -local drive_letter\filename.zmg [-exclude=partition_number] [-include=partition_number]

You can abbreviate -make -local as: -m -local, -makel, or -ml.

You can also abbreviate -exclude as -x and -include as -I.

For more information, see:

Command Details

Table 3-5 Make Local Commands and Parameters

Parameter

Specifies

drive_letter\filename.zmg

The image file name, including the .zmg extension, and any drive letter, which has local file share or any mounted storage disk. However, the directories in the path must exist.

If the file already exists, an error occurs. You must use a different file name or delete the existing image file in order to use the same filename.

-comp=comp_level

comp_level is the amount of compression used when creating the image. Specify any number from 0-9. 0 means no compression. 1 is the same as Optimize for Speed and is used by default if the parameter is not specified. 6 is similar to Balanced. 9 is the same as Optimize for Space, which provides the slowest performance.

-exclude=partition_number or -x=partition_number and -include=partition_number or -I=partition_number

The partition number of a local partition to exclude from the image or include in the image. You can repeat this parameter as needed to exclude or include multiple partitions.

Available partitions can be displayed using img -p.

If you omit the exclude parameter, all partitions are included in the image except the one where the image is stored.

Examples

Table 3-6 Make Local Examples

Examples

Explanation

img -makel Q:\image.zmg

Takes an image of all partitions and saves it to Q:\(Drive mounted to share the folder path where the image needs to be stored)\image.zmg.

Where Q:\ can be a mounted network share or a removable disk.

3.13.3 Using the WinPE Maintenance Mode Prompt to Make an Image on a Proxy

Using WinPE maintenance mode prompt, the following example explains the syntax and available parameters that you can use with the “make to proxy” (-makep) mode command:

img -make -proxy added_filepath\filename.zmg -ip=IP_address [-comp=comp_level] [-exclude=partition_number] [-include=partition_number]

You can abbreviate -make -proxy as: -m -proxy, -makep, or -mp.

You can also abbreviate -exclude as -x and -include as -I.

To set the proxy address, run the set PROXYADDR=<SERVER_IP> command.

For more information, see:

Command Details

Table 3-7 Make Proxy Commands and Parameters

Parameter

Specifies

added_path\filename.zmg

The image file name, including a .zmg extension (which is case sensitive) and any added path. The Imaging engine automatically saves images to the default images directory on the Imaging Server:

Windows: %ZENWORKS_HOME%\work\content-repo\images\

Linux: /var/opt/novell/zenworks/content-repo/images/

If no folders are specified in the path (added_path), the image is created in this images directory.

A forward slash is not needed at the beginning of any added path.

You can create subdirectories under images for organizing your image files. However, any such subdirectories that you specify in the path must already exist when you use this command. ZENworks does not create the directories during imaging.

If the image file itself already exists, the Imaging Server won’t overwrite it unless you enable this behavior in ZENworks Control Center for the Imaging Server. To enable the behavior in ZENworks Control Center, click Configuration > Management Zone Settings > Device Management > Preboot Services > Device Imaging Work Assignment, select the Allow Preboot Services to overwrite existing files when uploading option.

-ip=IP_address

The IP address or DNS name of an imaging server. If you do not use this parameter, the value for PROXYADDR is used.

-comp=comp_level

comp_level is the amount of compression used when creating the image. Specify any number from 0-9. 0 means no compression. 1 is the same as Optimize for Speed and is used by default if you do not specify this parameter. 6 is similar to Balanced. 9 is the same as Optimize for Space, which provides the slowest performance.

-exclude=partition_number or -x=partition_number and -include=partition_number or -I=partition_number

The partition number of a local partition to exclude from the image or include in the image. You can repeat this parameter as needed to exclude or include multiple partitions.

Available partitions can be displayed using img -p or img -partition.

If you omit either parameter, all partitions are included in the image.

Example:

Table 3-8 Make Proxy Examples

Example

Explanation

img -makep subdir1\myimage.zmg

Takes an image of all partitions and saves the image to the Imaging Server.

3.13.4 Using the WinPE Maintenance Mode Prompt to Restore an Image Locally

Using the WinPE maintenance mode prompt, the following example explains the syntax and available parameters that you can use with the “restore from local” (-restorel) mode command:

img -restore -local drive_letter\filename.zmg [-s=file_set] [-ap=advanced_options]

You can abbreviate -restore -local as: -r -local, -restorel, or -rl.

For more information, see:

Command Details

Table 3-9 Restore Local Commands and Parameters

Parameter

Specifies

-restorel

The partition number (as displayed by img -p) of the local partition to retrieve the image from. It must be a primary partition. This partition is not changed by the imaging operation.

‑s=fileset

The number of the image file set to be restored. Valid values are 1 through 10. For information on creating file sets of an image, see Section 1.6.2, Creating, Installing, and Restoring Standard Images.

If you omit this parameter, file set 1 is used.

‑ap=partition:partition

A mapping between a partition in the image archive (apartition) and a target physical partition on the local machine (ppartition). Use this parameter to selectively restore a specific part of the image to a specific local partition.

IMPORTANT:If you use this parameter, none of the existing local partitions are removed, and only the target local partition is updated. The update process does not remove any existing files; however, any existing files of the same names are overwritten. If you want to remove all existing files from the target partition before updating it, first use the Partition Operations Mode to delete and recreate the partition. If you choose to restore the base image, you need to delete and recreate the target partition before restoring the image because your system might be left in an inconsistent state if the Selective Partition Image restoration fails.

For apartition, use the partition number displayed for the source partition in the Image Explorer (zmgexp) utility. For partition, use the partition number displayed by img -p or img -partition for the target partition. The target partition must be a partition of a supported file system. You can repeat this parameter as needed to request multiple selective restorations in a single operation. In doing so, you can apply multiple parts of the image to a single local partition, but you can’t apply the same part of an image to multiple local partitions in a single operation.

Examples

Table 3-10 Restore Local Examples

Example

Explanation

img -restorel Q:\myimage.zmg

Removes all existing local partitions, retrieves the image from Q:\myimage.zmg.

Where Q:\ can be a mounted network share or a removable disk.

3.13.5 Using the WinPE Maintenance Mode Prompt to Restore an Image from a Proxy

At the WinPE maintenance mode prompt, use the “restore from proxy” (-restorep) mode command to restore an image from a proxy.

  • To restore an image by specifying the image file path:

    img -restore -proxy added_filepath\filename.zmg -ip=IP_address [-s=set] [-ap=advanced_options]

You can abbreviate -restore -proxy as: -r -proxy, -restorep, or -rp.

To set the proxy address, run the set PROXYADDR=<SERVER_IP> command.

For more information, see:

Command Details

Table 3-11 Restore Proxy Mode Commands and Parameters

Parameter

Specifies

added_filepath\filename.zmg

The file name and added path of the image to retrieve, including the .zmg extension (case sensitive).

‑s=fileset

The number of the image file set to be restored. Valid values are 1 through 10. For information on creating file sets of an image, see Section 1.6.2, Creating, Installing, and Restoring Standard Images.

If you omit this parameter, file set 1 is used.

-ip=IP_address

The IP address or DNS name of an imaging server. If you do not use this parameter, the value for PROXYADDR is used.

‑ap=partition:partition

A mapping between a partition in the image archive (apartition) and a target physical partition on the local machine (ppartition). Use this parameter to selectively restore a specific part of the image to a specific local partition.

IMPORTANT:If you use this parameter, none of the existing local partitions are removed, and only the target local partition is updated. The update process does not remove any existing files or overwrite any existing files of the same names if they are newer. If you want to remove all existing files from the target partition before updating it, first use the Partition Operations Mode to delete and re-create the partition. If you choose to restore the base image, you need to delete and recreate the target partition before restoring the image because your system might be left in an inconsistent state if the Selective Partition Image restoration fails.

For apartition, use the partition number displayed for the source partition in the Image Explorer (zmgexp) utility. For ppartition, use the partition number displayed by img dump for the target partition. The target partition must be a partition of a supported file system. You can repeat this parameter as needed to request multiple selective restorations in a single operation. In doing so, you can apply multiple parts of the image to a single local partition, but you can’t apply the same part of an image to multiple local partitions in a single operation.

Examples

Table 3-12 Restore Proxy Mode Examples

Example

Explanation

img ‑restorep subdir1\myimage.zmg

Removes all existing local partitions, retrieves the image from subdir1\myimage.zmg on the Imaging Server, and restores the partitions and contents of that image on the available local writable devices (assuming there is sufficient local space).

NOTE:In ZENworks, you only need to provide the image file name (the .zmg file) because the images are stored in a fixed location. For example, if you saved the image file in the default location, enter:

img -rp myimagefile.zmg

Because you can organize your images under the \images directory by adding subdirectories, the additional path where you created the image file should be provided. For example:

img -rp \windows\vista\myimagefile.zmg

3.13.6 Using ZENworks Control Center for WinPE Auto Imaging

The following imaging tasks that are available in ZENworks Control Center for WinPE imaging:

Auto Take Image using WinPE

For more information, see Taking a Base Image of a Device.

Auto Restore Image using WinPE

For more information, see Configuring the ZENworks Image Bundle for Automatic Imaging.

3.13.7 Image-Safe Data Viewer and Editor (zisview and zisedit)

The Image-Safe Data Viewer and Editor features that are supported on the ZENworks Linux Imaging are now supported on the ZENworks WinPE Imaging as well.

For more information, see Section D.5, Image-Safe Data Viewer and Editor (zisview and zisedit).

3.13.8 Prerequisites for Taking and Restoring an Image Partition-wise Using WinPE

Let us consider an example of a system with default installation having 100MB boot partition and a system partition.

  1. If the system has 100MB partition (on Windows 7, or later), take an image of the 100 MB partition separately. To take an image of the 100 MB partition, run the following command:

    # img -mp <bootpartition>.zmg -I=1

    In the above command, -I =1 indicates that you include partition number 1, which is the 100 MB partition.

    You can use the following command to take image of all partitions on the system, where I indicated the partition number.

    # img -mp <windows_os_partition>.zmg -I=2

To restore the Windows images partition-wise, do the following:

  1. Delete all the partitions by using the img -pd command. For example:

    img -pd 1

    img -pd 2

    1 and 2 in the above commands correspond to the hard disk partition number.

  2. Create the partitions by using the img -pc command. For example:

    img -pc 1 -type=NTFS -size=100(for the 100 MB partition for Windows 7, or later).

    img -pc 2 -type=NTFS (to restore the C:\drive)

  3. Mark the partition 1 as Active by using the img -pa 1 command.

  4. Restore images partition-wise.

Partition wise restore for UEFI systems

To take an image partition wise:

  1. On the system with UEFI boot enabled, install the operating system and take the image partition wise using the following commands:

    1. img -mp <WRE>.zmg -I=1

    2. img -mp <ESP>.zmg -I=2

    3. img -mp <MRP>.zmg -I=3

    4. img -mp <windows_os_partition>.zmg -I=4

  2. Make a note of the size of each partition on the base system. The same values can be used during the restoration of the image.

To restore the image partition wise:

  1. Run the img -pc 1 -type=NTFS -size=<xxxxMB> -guid=PartitionType command to create a GPT partition on a device.

    The PartitionType attribute in the above command can take any of the following values:

    • MBD: Microsoft Basic Data Partition

    • MRP: Microsoft Reserved Partition

    • WRE: Windows Recovery Environment Partition

    • ESP: EFI System Partition

    This command will create a xxxx MB partition with GUID partition type, and initialize the partition with the NTFS file system.

    Ensure that the following conditions are met for a successful partition creation:

    • If the partition type is ESP, then the -type value in the command should be FAT32.

    • Size of MRP partitions depends on the size of the disk. For a disk size less than 16 GB, the MRP partition is 32 MB, and for a disk size more than 16 GB, the MRP partition is 128 MB.

      Example:

      img -pc 1 -type=NTFS -size=300 -guid=WRE
img -pc 2 -type=FAT32 -size=100 -guid=ESP
img -pc 3 -type=RAW -size=128 -guid=MRP
img -pc 4 -type=NTFS -size=40000 -guid=MBD

  2. Mark the following three partitions as active by using the img -pa <partition number> command:

    • Recovery: Windows Recovery Environment

    • System: EFI system partition

    • Reserved: Microsoft reserved partition

    • Primary: Windows partition (Microsoft basic data partition)

    For example, to make the first partition active, run the img -pa 1 command. For information about the three partitions, refer to the following image.

  3. Restore each partition using the advanced switches:

    • img -r -p <WRE>.zmg -ap=a1:p1

    • img -r -p <ESP>.zmg -ap=a1:p2

    • img -r -p <MRP>.zmg -ap=a1:p3

    • img -r -p <windows_os_partition>.zmg -ap=a1:p4

3.13.9 WinPE ISDTool

For more information on WinPE ISDTool, see Section 3.9, ISDTool.

3.13.10 Adding the PowerShell Package to WinPE

By default, PowerShell packages will not be included in WinPE. To add the PowerShell packages to winpe.wim, perform the following:

  1. Take a backup of the winpe.wim file available in the following location:

    Drive_letter:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\<version_number>\Assessment and Deployment Kit\Windows Preinstallation Environment\<architecture>\en-us

    Where <version_number> can be 8, 8.1 or 10 and <architecture> can be x86 or amd64

  2. Add following packages to winpe.wim and upload to ZCC third party settings from a WAIK or WADK device.

    • WinPE-NetFx.cab

    • WinPE-NetFx_en-us.cab

    • WinPE-PowerShell.cab

    • WinPE-PowerShell_en-us.cab

    For more information, see Section 3.13.11, Adding Drivers and Packages to an Existing WIM File

  3. Upload the winpe.wim file to ZCC using wimprocessor.exe.

NOTE:The WinPE ISO created using the above winpe.wim will include the PowerShell packages in the WinPE ISO files.

These packages are separate for 32-bit and 64-bit architectures.

The Packages are available in the following locations in devices on which WAIK or WADK is installed:

  • x86: C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\<version>\Assessment and Deployment Kit\Windows Preinstallation Environment\x86\WinPE_OCs

  • x86 en-us cab files: C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\<version>\Assessment and Deployment Kit\Windows Preinstallation Environment\x86\WinPE_OCs\en-us

  • x64: C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\<version>\Assessment and Deployment Kit\Windows Preinstallation Environment\amd64\WinPE_OCs

  • x64 en-us cab files: C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\<version>\Assessment and Deployment Kit\Windows Preinstallation Environment\amd64\WinPE_OCs\en-us

3.13.11 Adding Drivers and Packages to an Existing WIM File

To add drivers or packages to an existing WIM file, use addDrivers (Adding custom drivers) and addPackage (Adding custom packages) commands.

Adding Drivers: To add drivers to an existing WIM file, run the following command:

Wimprocessor.exe addDriver <wim FilePath> <Driver FilePath>

Example: wimprocessor.exe adddriver "D:\winpe.wim" "D:\smsc_x86\net9500-x86-n630f.inf"

Where D:\winpe.wim is the location of the WIM file and D:\smsc_x86\net9500-x86-n630f.inf is the location of the driver that should be added to the WIM file.

  • <wim FilePath>: The path of the WIM file for which drivers should be added.

  • <Driver FilePath>: The path of the driver files that should be added into the WIM file. The driver file should be in the INF file format.

Adding Packages: To add packages to an existing WIM file, run the following command:

wimprocessor.exe addPackage <wim FilePath> <Package FilePath>

Example: wimprocessor.exe addpackage "D:\winpe.wim" "D:\WinPE-NetFx.cab"

Where D:\winpe.wim is the location of the WIM file and D:\WinPE-NetFx.cab is the location of the package that should be added to the WIM file.

  • <wim FilePath>: The path of the WIM file for which packages should be added.

  • <Package FilePath>: The path of the package files that should be added into the WIM file. The package file should be in the CAB file format.

NOTE:If you need a WinPE ISO with custom drivers and packages, then use the addDriver and addPackage commands to add required drivers and packages, and then use makeISO command to create an ISO file.