Importing images

The Image Library Dashboard allows you to manage images by importing, pre-caching, deleting, and modifying the metadata of your existing images.

From the Image Library, you can upload the following images:
  • Windows images that have been previously captured with either the Capture dashboard or manually. (.wim), or images uploaded directly from installation media . You cannot import images from installation media (ISO) for Windows XP or Windows 2003 platforms.
  • Linux images that you have captured using task 201, or created from installation media (setup).
  • VMware ESXi images created from installation media.

You can also import images in RAD format. Unlike other images, RAD images cannot be deployed to targets through the binding menu. You cannot create Bare Metal profiles based on RAD images from the Image Library dashboard. From these images you create RAD profiles for deployments using Server Automation plans. For more information, see Bare Metal OS Provisioning using RAD Profiles.

For Windows images only, you can copy configuration settings from an existing image to a newly imported image, providing they are compatible. For example, if you have uploaded a new image for an Operating System update, you can associate to it any Bare Metal Profiles, driver bindings, and templates that were defined in an existing image of an earlier service pack of the same Operating System. See Copying configuration settings from a Windows reference image.

From the Image Library, you can deploy the images to selected targets, or create profiles to send to Bare Metal OS Deployment Servers for deployments on Windows and Linux targets.

The Origin column displays whether the image was captured (Capture) or imported from installation media (Setup). Linux and VMware images are identified by the extension .lim.

To import a new image, click Import Image. Use the icons on the right to either download or edit an existing image in the library.


Image Library

In the import image menu, select the type of image you want to import. You can import images captured from a Windows (.wim) or Linux (.lim) reference machine, a RAD format image, or images from installation media (ISO).

Important: Reimaging is not supported on WMware ESXi targets.

Importing images from installation media

ISO images can be imported in archive format (.iso) or from a folder or drive which contains the uncompressed ISO image files. If you are importing Windows images in ISO archive format (.iso), you must have previously downloaded and installed the 7-zip compression/decompression tool on the system where the Console is installed.

If the image you are importing is provided in more than one installation media file, for example in SLES-DVD1.iso and SLES-DVD2.iso, you must uncompress the files into a single folder, and specify that folder in the Import image popup.

Browse to locate the image file or folder on your computer and click Analyze.
Import Image choice
The analysis typically takes several minutes to complete. During this time, if you are importing an ISO image, the contents of the specified ISO file or folder are checked and the information retrieved from the image is displayed. In the Editions List, you can view the editions you can deploy. Check the information and click OK to begin importing the image, or Cancel to quit.
Import Image choice

Importing captured Windows images

You can import images that you have previously captured using the Capture dashboard or that you have captured manually. During the import of a captured .wim image file, the corresponding driver descriptor file (.driverinfo) and image descriptor file (.imageinfo ) that were created during the capture phase, must exist in the same path. If the driver descriptor file is missing, the import process automatically creates it. If the image descriptor file is missing, you are prompted to specify the required fields. For manually captured images, you must provide the required information:

importing a manually captured Windows image

Important: If you import a manually captured image containing multiple partitions, only the first partition found in the image (zero-indexed) is considered.

Importing captured Linux images

To import a Linux image that you have previously captured using task 201, click Import image, select Linux captured image (.lim) and specify the fully qualified path to the captured image. Click Analyze . When the analysis completes, the import process begins. Click OK.

Copying configuration settings from a Windows reference image

For Windows images, you can copy configuration settings such as Bare Metal Profiles, templates, and driver binding grids, from an existing image to another compatible image. The configuration settings are copied only if the following compatibility conditions are met:

  • Both images must:
    • be of the same Operating System
    • have the same architecture (32-bit or 64-bit)
    • have the same origin (both must be either captured images or created from installation media).
  • The image that inherits the settings must not already have configuration settings associated to it.

If one or more of the conditions above are not satisfied, an error message is issued.

From the Image Library dashboard, select the target image on which you want to copy the configuration settings and click Copy Settings from....

Choose the reference image from the list of compatible images. If the reference image has Bare Metal profiles associated to it, you can optionally specify a prefix, a suffix, or both for the profile names to be used when they are copied on the target image.
Copy image settings wizard
Note: If you have specified either a prefix, suffix, or both, and the resulting profile name exceeds 70 alphanumeric characters, the name is shortened to the maximum allowed length.

If the reference image has templates and driver bindings associated to it, these are also copied to the new image. You can change profile names in the new image. A summary panel displays all objects that are copied.

Important: If there are rules associated to the Bare Metal Profiles in the reference image, these rules are copied to the new image but they are disabled, so as to avoid conflicts with the old profiles. To reactivate them in the copied Bare Metal profiles, use Activate Rule. After the copy has completed, the reference image and configurations are not erased.
Note: In some cases, you might receive an error message even if the target image does not have any previously defined settings. For more information, see Copy image settings error on manual driver bindings.