Fixing Zenworks Imaging so it will image Linux

Novell Zenworks Imaging (version 7) cannot image dual-boot Ubuntu Linux/Windows XP. A full-disk image of the dual-boot disk can be created and stored on the server. It can also be restored, but after restore, the clone will not boot, saying Non-system disk or disk error. Presumably, this is because the 32kB area just after the MBR, where GRUB stores its second stage, is not imaged by the software.

We resolved this by creating a script that can be fetched and executed by the Zenworks imaging software while that is still running. The script will re-run grub-install (hd0), thus restoring the boot chain. Because the Zenworks environment is running on a 32-bit kernel, while the system being restored is 64-bit, the script brings along its own 32-bit chroot environment to run the command in.