C.4 Setting Up Preboot Services for ZENworks Third-Party Imaging

Preboot Services uses PXE to find out if there is imaging work specified for a device and to provide the device with the files necessary to boot to the third-party imaging environment.

Before you can use Preboot Services with automated Preboot bundles, you need to do the following:

  1. Install ZENworks Configuration Management on your Imaging Server.

    For more information on how to install ZENworks, see Windows Installation Workflow in the ZENworks Server Installation.

  2. Configure the third-party Imaging settings in ZENworks Control Center:

    1. Ensure that Microsoft Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) or Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (WADK) is installed on the device running ZENworks Control Center. Also, ensure that you upload the winpe.wim file from the default installed location.

      Add the location of the DISM folder in the WAIK/WADK installation to the Path Windows system environment variable.

      You can download WAIK or WADK from the Microsoft Download Center Web site.

    2. (Conditional) If you want to run ZENworks Control Center on a 64-bit device, append the WAIK_installation_path\Windows AIK\Tools\x86 to the Path Windows system environment variable.

    3. In ZENworks Control Center, click Configuration tab.

    4. In the Management Zone Settings panel, click Device Management > Preboot Services > the Third Party Imaging Settings panel.

      Prerequisites to upload a 32-bit or a 64-bit winpe.wim, imagex and ghost files:

      Supported Operating System

      WAIK installed Windows 7 (for x86 imaging only), and WADK installed Windows 8 x64, Windows 8.1 x64, and Windows 10 x64 devices.

      Supported browsers

      Internet Explorer 10 and above, latest version of Firefox and Google Chrome.

      Microsoft Edge is not supported.

      NOTE:Open the browser in the administrator mode or use it from the built-in administrator account.

    5. For 32 Bit Upload Settings:

      NOTE:32-bit UEFI devices need the 32-bit winpe.wim file from WADK to boot.

      Ensure that you install ZCC Helper before uploading the imaging file.

      IMPORTANT:When you are installing ZCC Helper for the first time on a Windows 8 or later device, while detecting ZCC Helper a browser-related pop-up is displayed, ignore the pop-up.

      Upload WinPE Base Distribution (Requires Windows AIK / Windows ADK): Click and allow the browser to launch ZCC Helper to initiate WIM Imaging.

      In the Upload WIM Imaging Files dialog box:

      1. Upload a 32-bit winpe.wim file:

        From WAIK: Browse to the Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\x86 folder under the installed directory, then select the winpe.wim file.

        From WADK: Browse to the Program Files\Windows Kits\<version>\Assessment and Deployment Kit\Windows Preinstallation Environment\x86\en-us folder under the installed directory, then select the winpe.wim file.

        Where <version> is a Windows Operating System version.

        NOTE:Re-uploading the winpe.wim file overwrites the previous instance of this file from the server.

      2. Click OK.

        This downloads the imaging files from the server to the device where you access ZENworks Control Center and rebuilds winpe.wim with imaging files and then uploads files from the device to the server. The availability of the uploaded files is displayed in the Status field.

      Upload ImageX Files to Support WIM Imaging (ImageX.exe):

      1. Click the icon to browse for and select the Microsoft Imaging engine (imagex.exe) on the device.

      2. After configuring the third-party imaging settings, click Apply.

      Click Status to view the content replication status across all Primary Server and Satellite Servers with the Imaging role in the zone.

      NOTE:If you are uploading both 32-bit and 64-bit ImageX files, ensure that you do so in different instances.

      Upload Ghost 11.5 or Higher Files to Support Ghost Imaging (Ghost32.exe):

      1. Click the icon to browse for and select the Symantec GHOST engine (ghost32.exe) on the device.

      2. After configuring the third-party imaging settings, click Apply.

      Click Status to view the content replication status across all Primary Servers and Satellites Servers with the Imaging role in the zone.

      IMPORTANT:Ensure that you start the Imaging operation only when the status is Available.

    6. For 64 Bit Upload Settings:

      Ensure that you install ZCC Helper before uploading the imaging file.

      Upload WinPE Base Distribution (Windows ADK): Click and allow the browser to launch ZCC Helper to initiate WIM imaging.

      In the Upload WIM Imaging Files dialog box:

      1. To upload a 64-bit winpe.wim file from WADK, browse to Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\<version>\Assessment and Deployment Kit\Windows Preinstallation Environment\amd64\en-us folder under the installed directory, then select the winpe.wim. file.

        Where <version> is a Windows Operating System version.

      2. Click OK.

        This downloads the imaging files from the server to the device where you access ZENworks Control Center and rebuilds winpe.wim with imaging files and then uploads files from the device to the server. The availability of the uploaded files is displayed in the Status field.

      Upload ImageX Files to Support WIM Imaging (ImageX.exe):

      1. Click to browse for and select the Microsoft Imaging engine (imagex.exe) on the device.

      2. After configuring the third-party imaging settings, click Apply.

      Click Status to view the content replication status across all Primary Servers and Satellites Servers with the Imaging role in the zone.

      NOTE:If you are uploading both 32-bit and 64-bit ImageX files, ensure that you do so in different instances.

      Upload Ghost 11.5 or Higher Files to Support Ghost Imaging (Ghost64.exe):

      1. Click the icon to browse for and select the Symantec GHOST engine (ghost64.exe) on the device.

      2. After configuring the third-party imaging settings, click Apply.

      Click Status to view content replication status across all Primary Servers and Satellites Servers with the Imaging role in the zone.

      IMPORTANT:Ensure that you start the Imaging operation only when the status is Available.

  3. Enable PXE on the device.

  4. Ensure that you have a standard DHCP server, either on your Imaging Server or on another network server.

ZENworks WADK Imaging works only on Windows 8 or later supported hardware

WADK has WINPE 4.0 which is based on Windows 8 kernel. So, you need to validate if your system hardware meets the ZENworks WADK Imaging requirements to perform Imaging operations.

To be able to perform Imaging operations, validate your system as follows:

  1. Download the coreinfo.exe file from Windows Sysinternals (Download and Usage information).

  2. Run the tool to determine if the system has support for NX, PAE, and SSE2.

  3. If your system is reported to support NX, PAE, and SSE2, you can use WADK to image the device. Else, use the compatible WIM mode based on WINPE 3.x.

    Booting a 32-bit device that does not have Windows 8 support does not work because the winpe.wim file from WADK fails to boot. In such a scenario, re-upload the winpe.wim file from WAIK for Third-Party Imaging to work.

Third-Party Imaging Based On Device Architecture

In some 64-bit processors like Intel Xeon, there are two boot modes - Enabled and Capable. In both modes SMBIOS indicates that the processor is a 64-bit processor. However, if the mode is set to Capable, the system works as a 32-bit processor, and the 64-bit WADK does not boot. To use ZENworks Imaging on these 64-bit processors, the 64-bit mode should be set to Enabled in BIOS for 64-bit WADK to boot correctly. For more information, see Section 7.5.9 Processor Characteristics in System Management BIOS (SMBIOS) Reference.

NOTE:For VMware Virtual Machines, only 32-bit WAIK or 32-bit WADK boot is applicable.

For more information, see TID 7013318.