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ATIH – really works?

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I use Acronis for a couple of years, that is I just made backups, as (luckily) I never had an occasion to restore. Until now.

For a month or so Windows wasn't able to install new updates anymore. After wasting hours (actually days) with the support people, they came to the conclusion that for some (unknown) reason some Windows files were badly damaged and I have to proceed with a clean reinstall.

A clean install? Me, a proud user of Acronis TIH? They made me laugh.

Not for long.

At first I discovered that some backups were no more valid. Weird. Anyway, quite a few were still valid, and I restored the system from 3 moths ago, when Windows still downloaded and installed the updates smoothly.

It didn't help. Windows was still unable to install new updates.

Than I restored a backup from 1 year ago. It didn't help either. In the end I had to make a "clean install" of the operating system and reinstall the long list of heavy applications I cannot work without.

I didn't reinstall ATIH yet. I'm looking at it and cannot decide if it is worth the effort.

I shall be grateful if the Acronis IT people may help me understand how may this happen.

ATIH 2012, build 6154.

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I cannot know what caused your specific issue with Windows Update. I do know that Windows Update problems are common, and there are many solutions as there are many causes.

I also don't know what sort of backups you made, or how you restored.

I can state that ATI does work. I've save many systems after disasters, and reverted to earlier good states simply by restoring a full disk Backup with MBR and disk signature. It works.

Dear Tuttle, what is the point in answering with "I don't know how you did this and that". Always take into account that perhaps your partner knows no less than you and does not worse than you.

By the way, until some 10 years ago I formally instructed people on the use of Windows, so perhaps there is a chance I made the backups and the restore process correctly.

I appreciate your willingness to help, but what I wrote had happened. This is a specific problem, general sayings as "it works" are not constructive.

Poldy,

Sorry to here about your issues with Acronis.

If you again choose to use 2012, be sure to sign in to your account and download the latest build (7133) before installing.

James

Backup files can become corrupt for a variety of reasons (hardware issues, moving the images from one drive to another, accidently deleting a part of a backup set,etc.). The issue with the Windows update not working is unrelated to Acronis doing the restore. The only thing that comes to mind, is if you had upgraded your hard disk to a newer AF drive that uses different (larger) sector sizes than the older drives use. You didn't say anything about that, so I'm assuming you didn't. As far as I know, there are no known issues with Windows Update and Acronis products, other than the AF drive issue (which all backup products have issues with, if the user is not prepared ahead of time before a hard drive replacement becomes necessary.) The 2012 build 7133 is an update that provides some fixes for issues in the earlier builds. There are some posts in the forums here about Windows Update, Windows Search and other applications with problems after restoring to new AF drives from older standard sector size drives. The are solutions for those issues.

No luck.
I didn't touch the backups and/or their location. And I didn't modify the logical drives either.
I'll look for the posts in the forums about Windows Update and revert.

There are ways to repair Windows Update, although it can be time consuming as different root causes may require different solutions.

Thank you Tuttle.

Yes, there are ways, I knew a few and the support people tried quite hard with more intricate solutions I wasn't aware of. As I wrote, without success.

The matter is still how the system was restored, but the Windows Update files were not. This is not in my league.

I suspect that they were restored. Either there was an issue with Windows Update that you weren't yet aware of prior to that backup, or an issue occurred after restore.

Or, it could be that the restored state isn't compatible with the current Windows Update and so a problem becomes apparent only now. Windows Update recently changed its platform somewhat, requiring an update for Windows Update itself. Your backup state may have been taken prior to that change, so when you run Windows Update now it isn't compatible but you have some other issue that's preventing the new Windows Update from installing/updating.

I've never seen an Acronis restore break Windows Update, and I've done many of them. I've also not heard of it. But, web forums are full of users requesting help for failed Windows Update, so it's a common issue likely unrelated to Acronis.

I don't get it, tuttle.

I'm sure you know what you wrote about. But this confuses me.

I suppose that the new Windows Update platform is the first update that will be installed in any case, otherwise the "clean install" itself will not be able to update.

Yes, it should install when you run Windows Update after a clean install. I was responding to your questions about why Windows Update didn't work after you restored an old Acronis TI backup image, which appeared to be the purpose of your post.

O.K., but in this case (after restoring) wouldn't be the new Windows Update the first update to be installed?

Yes, I just said that it should.

If you're having problems with Windows Update now, it cannot be anything to do with Acronis, as you said you preformed a clean install of Windows.

No problems after the clean install.
The issue was how come that the Windows Update files allegedly were not restored by ATIH.

I've already answered that. This is most likely not a problem caused by Acronis.

Back to square one: if not caused by Acronis, i.e. if the Windows Update files were correctly restored, how to explain that the Windows Update didn't work?

I gave you some possible explanations. If you don't accept any of them, that's your choice.