Installing ZDM agent over ZCM agent breaks both

  • 3740643
  • 28-Sep-2007
  • 30-Apr-2012

Environment

Novell ZENworks 6.5 Desktop Management Support Pack 2 - ZDM6.5 SP2 Management Agent
Novell ZENworks 7 Desktop Management Support Pack 1 - ZDM7 SP1 Management Agent
Novell ZENworks 10 Configuration Management

Situation

If attempted, the ZDM agent will install over the ZCM agent. If the ZDM agent is then removed, ZCM does not function, it cannot be uninstalled, and it cannot be reinstalled.

Resolution

For ZDM7: Fixed in ZENworks 7 Desktop Management Service Pack 1 Interim Release 1, available at https://download.novell.com - this agent will check for the presence of the ZENWorks Configuration Management agent, and will not install if it is found.
As a workaround: check automated systems that attempt to install the ZDM agent if it is not present, such as the login script, and amend them to take account of the ZCM agent.

For ZCM 10: This is fixed in version 10.1 - see KB 7001200 "ZENworks 10 Configuration Management with SP1 (10.1)" which can be found at https://www.novell.com/support


As a workaround, create the registry value after uninstalling the ZDM agent
HKLM\Software\Novell\ZENworks,AgentInstallPath=C:\Program Files\Novell\ZENworks\

Additional Information

The ZDM agent installer was written before ZENworks Configuration Manager was released, and is unaware of it. The fix for ZDM7 is a new installer that will prevent the ZDM agent installing if it detects the ZCM agent. Older versions of ZDM will still be susceptible to this behaviour.