KACE Product Support

I have been unable to get this to work, with three different Linux .iso files, but thought I'd document what I've done in case someone can benefit and/or see where things need to be done differently. Our K2 is the only PXE/tftp (I'm unclear on the terminology) server we have in my organization, so it seems logical that the K2 is where I'd want to set up other boot environments. Surely it's possible? Others seem to have had at least some success.

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title: Boot an .ISO from the K2000 
author: Kent West, based on posts from Nico Kammel and others
abstract: The following is pandoc/retext markdown formatting, easily converted to .PDF, .HTML, and the like. The double-backslashes however must be escaped by doubling, so keep that in mind when reading the plain-text version.
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# Booting a Linux .iso From the KACE K2000 SDA

## Prerequisites: 
1. A Windows 10 PC with the K2000 Media Manager. To get it: 
 1.1 Web-browse to your K2000 appliance 
 1.2 Go to Library < Overview > Source Media > Download Media Manager 
 1.3 Install the downloaded Media Manager 

2. The same Windows 10 PC also needs the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) 
 2.1 Search the web (duckduckgo, google, etc) for "windows adk" 
 2.2. Make sure you download from Microsoft.com, not some scam site 
 2.3 Install the ADK; the installer's defaults worked fine for me 
 2.4 Starting with the 1809 version of the ADK, you may also need to download and install the Windows PE add-on. This is definitely true if you try to use the alternative to this process, using the KBEManipulator (as it won't start without the PE add-on). 

3. A Windows installation .iso. The .iso KBE you end up with starts out as a Windows KBE, so you need this Windows installer .iso to create a "dummy" KACE Boot Environment (KBE), 

4. Your desired bootable installation .iso (such as a Debian netinstall .iso, which I've been unable to get to work, so you might want to start with a small .iso, like Tiny Core Linux's 221MB CorePlus-current.iso; nope, still doesnt' work, not does the TCL's 13MB version - in other words, this process doesn't seem to work)  .

5. 7-zip, which can be found here: http://7-zip.org 
 
## How to:
1. Using the Media Manager you installed above, create a new KBE 
 1.1 Fill in SDA Hostname, the password to log into the hostname's samba share (set in the K2 > Settings > General Settings > SDA Samba Share Password) 
 1.2 Create SDA Boot Environment tab 
 1.3 Give it a name (like "DebianNetInstaller") 
 1.4 Other options as desired. 
  1.4.1 If it's not going to be Windows, you don't need Powershell or .NET. 
  1.4.2 Nowadays, you probably want 64-bit. 
 1.5. Start Upload. A successul job will result in a pop-up window saying "Boot environment Build and Upload Completed". 
 1.6 Once uploaded, you should be able to find your newly-created KBE in your K2, under Deployments > Boot Environments. 
 1.7 It might be a good idea to test this Windows KBE. Boot your client PC and see if you have a working KBE. If so... 

2. Export your new KBE via Settings > Package Management > Export 
 2.1 It's likely to take a little while; watch the Status column; you may need to hit the refresh icon occasionally. 
 2.2 Once exported, you can find it at \\\\[your k2's hostname]\restore; use the Explorer file manager to map the share as a drive letter. After the export is completed, the "Latest Package Name" column will have a new .pkg file listed for your KBE; you'll need to make note of this file name. 
 2.3. You'll need to connect to the K2's restore share as "admin" and with the password you used above. 
 2.4 The exported KBE will be named according to what the name is in the Settings > Package Management > Export window (the filename you noted above). 
 2.5 You'll see two files with this root name, an .XML and a .PKG. Copy both of them to your Desktop.

 3. Making sure to remember the name of the KBR you've created, delete it using the K2's web interface (Deployments > Boot Environments > select KBE > Choose Action > Delete) and (optionally) the source media (Library > Source Media).

 4. Open the exported .PKG with 7-zip (don't unzip, only open it!) 

 5. Drill down in the ...\PAYLOAD\files folder. There you should find an iso. This is called kbe_amd64.iso in case of a 64Bit KBE. Delete it but remember the name! 

 6. Rename your bootable iso into the same name like the original iso. (Show file extensions in Explorer so you don't name it .iso.iso) 

7. Copy it into the payload folder 

8. Close 7-zip to save the changes (updating it in the archive) 

9. Import the modified KBE to the K2000 
 9.1 Settings > Package Management > Import > Choose Action > Upload Package for Import 
 9.2 Then select the Boot Environment you just uploaded 
 9.3 Choose Action > Import 
 9.4 This should result in both a new KBE showing up in the Deployments > Boot Environments list and in the Library > Source Media list and a new Boot Environment item in the Settings > Package Management > Import Packages Import List.

10. Smoke test it. (FYI, my attempt with the Debian netinstaller .iso (and later, two other .iso files) failed. I'm unsure why.)