Updating Wyse Z90D7 Windows Terminal from USB stick

I recently found old decommissioned Wyse Z90D7 Windows Terminal. Old BIOS, messed up OS, etc. So exactly how do I update this thing without all those complex management systems and active Wyse support contract?


Turns out it's very simple. Just grab couple files from Wyse website and create bootable USB stick.

My unit has 2GB DDR3 RAM, dual-core AMD G-T56N 1,6GHz CPU and 4GB SATA Flash module. Graphics is integrated ATI Radeon HD6310 that shares memory with CPU. It's probably 1st generation Z90D7 since flash is smaller than what Z90D7 specs on Dell website state.

First we need to download latest firmware image and USB update tool from Wyse.
 - Dell Wyse WES7 WFR4 Common Image v9.04 B855 0855_CommonStructure.exe
 - Dell Wyse USB Firmware Tool (150MB) Wyse_USB_Firmware_Tool_v1.22.0.4.exe

If you have device with 8GB or larger flash you should probably use "BZB0_0858_8192.exe" or "0858_CommonStructure.exe" instead of "0855_CommonStructure.exe".

Unpack both downloads and run "Wyse USB Firmware Tool.exe" with elevated admin rights.
 - Select "Configure the USB key to Copy/Pull or to Update/Push firmware"
 - Select "Windows Embedded Standard 7" and "Update or Push firmware"
 - Check "OS Image", "BIOS" and "CMOS" boxes
 - Uncheck "Create data partition" and "Preserve data partition" boxes
 - Browse and select Z907.RSP
 - Select USB stick to use for install, it will be formatted

Power off Z90D7, connect USB stick to it, power on and hammer "P" button on keyboard to trigger boot menu. Select "USB HDD" from list. If you don't get boot menu it might be due "P" key being disabled in BIOS setup. Press DEL and go check setup, default password is "Fireport".

After bit of screen flickering you'll get "Critical operation in progress" screen. Keep waiting. After waiting enough press "y" and wait until all update steps are done. Eventually it'll reboot and reboot and reboot and reboot making you to wait even more. Finally when Windows 7 Embedded desktop appears and nothing happens anymore it's done.

And what you got? Or is it useful? No it's not. It's 2013 era Windows 7 install full of both OS and third party app (Flash, Citrix, etc) vulnerabities. Have fun trying to hunt fixes to all of those and keep device secure.



Comments

  1. Keep up the good work! You write as if in a conversation, which is easy to read. Plus, you have reinforced what I've discovered about these units, they have promise (I bought a D90D7 as well as a Z90D7) but are only useful for Puppy Linux and the like, which runs quite well. Actually, I'm doing them a bit of a disservice as I've had a PFSense router/firewall running on a basic model for months now and it has been no trouble whatsoever. There is no audio via the Display port by the way, although there is an option of auto,on,off when queried in xrandr which makes you wonder... I was thinking of running it as an OpenELEC backend, but maybe another time. I'm just about to install minimal Debian on the D90D7 and see how it copes with running motion (If a Pi can handle it then...) and a Piwigo photo album webserver. Thanks for the articles, they helped a lot and are very informative.

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  2. The link for USB tool is dead. I need it so much please

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    Replies
    1. Seconding this. If you have the file please provide a link. Wyse has dropped the files and the only fix is to use the old USB tool (which is proving to be difficult to find).

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  3. The updated link to the USB tool can be found at https://downloads.dell.com/wyse/USBFT/

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