Image mounting still broken (or re-broken) in 2017?

Update:

I did a live chat with support today. The agent tried some things, reviewed logs, etc. Ultimtely asked me to uninstall and re-install the product. I did so and the problem remains. Unfortunately I think this is a bug.

Does this work for anybody else?

Image mounting for TI2017 is working fine in Windows 10.

I think the support agent was on the right track. How did he have you uninstall TI2017? If you did it with Windows Programs and Features, it may not have uninstalled properly. Try it again using the Acronis Cleanup Utility https://kb.acronis.com/content/48668 The 2016 utility shoud work with TI2017.

Then reinstall TI2017 and try to mount again.

Mounting works fine for me too.  If you uninstalled without running the cleantool, there may be leftovers somewhere causing an issue.  Running the cleantool and starting completely fresh usually gets people on track.  Below are my recommendations for running the cleanup tool:  

HOWEVER, there is also a tibmounter patch available that you can try first (which it sounds like you did, but did you grab the one that is version 2637 or the earlier one - did you reboot after applying too?):  http://forum.acronis.com/forum/116874?page=1#comment-374879.  I have it installed with 2017 and no issues mounting, although I was able to mount just fine before it too.

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Full Acronis cleanup Steps 

**Note that performing a full cleanup will remove all Acronis settings, schedules, etc. Your old backup files can still be used for recovery with the offline bootable recovery media or they can be added back into the Acronis Windows GUI again.  However, if you add them back to the Acronis windows GUI, you will need to reconfigure backup schedules and settings.  Additionally, if you start with new backup tasks and have old backup files, you should create any "new" backup task with unique backup names.**

0) Download the taskscheduler application and run the taskzap command to nuke the existing scheduled tasks. I'm adding this now just in case.  

1) Remove the existing Acronis application through Control Panel >>> Programs and Features (or Add/Remove Programs on earlier versions of Windows).

2) Download the cleanup tool (it works for 2017) 

3) Right click the cleanup tool executable and "run as administrator" (Do this even if you're already logged on as an administrtor, to ensure the highest privileges when you run it).  Follow procedures listed in the KB article linked in the cleanup tool (you can usually skip the registry checks, I never check them.)

4) After cleanup, check for leftover directories using Windows File Explorer (some of these are hidden folders so enable "show hidden files, folders and drives" and delete them if they exist:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Acronis

C:\Program Files (x86)\Common\Acronis     

C:\Program Files\Acronis     

C:\Program Files\Common\Acronis     

C:\ProgramData\Acronis  

%userprofile%\appdata\local\VirtualStore\ProgramData\Acronis

5) Reboot (not shutdown - if using Windows 10, fastboot may be enabled and you need to reboot to trigger a full shutdown instead of hibernation.)

6) Download the full ATIH 2017 installer from your account and verify the checksum of the file to make sure it matches.

7) Temporarily disable Anti virus programs (this may not be necessary, but if you're here already, it's not going to hurt with the process and may help)

8) Right click the installer and "run as administrator" even if logged in as an admin

Hopefully it installs correctly and all is well again. 

Thank you all for the quick, helpful, and detailed responses. Really appreciate the assistance.

For some reason, the support agent specifically asked me NOT to use the cleanup tool (I asked). Not sure why and I had run out of time so didn't press the matter.

Anyway, all that said, I re-applied the patch you'd linked to and rebooted. Not sure why it didn't work last time, but this time it took and I'm now able to mount images again.

Thanks again for the help!

Best,

Philip

Hey, you got it working and that's what is most important.  You sure it was the same version you used both times and that you rebooted first last time?  guess it really doesn't matter now, but keep in mind that any future upgrades, if the issue returns, you may have to re-apply the patch again. 

The cleanup tool should work just fine.  I imagine that you should first remove the application from control panel and then run the cleanup tool after that.  In 2017, there are 2 new services for mobile devices, that did not exist in 2016.  if you run the cleanup tool without removing from control panel first, it may leave those mobile device services on the system as a result.  

Thanks Bobbo. The uninstall order you describe makes sense. Will keep this in mind if something else comes up that requires it. Hopefully we're golden from here on out. I've used ATI over the years but been away for about 5 years. In general, I've found the imaging setup and especially the partition restoration to be bullet proof and easy to use, but the client interface has always had its quirks. Mounting images and running CHKDSK is one way I get some extra piece of mind so it's good to have this functionality in place.

Thanks for all you and others do for the community.

Best,
Philip

I am having a very similar problem with ATI 2016 and ATI 2017.  I created a partition backup on a Windows XP machine and verified it after creation.  The backup and verification was successful.  The backup was recorded on a USB hard disk.  I plugged the USB drive into a Windows 10 Pro Anniversary version machine (different machine) and attempted to double click the .tib file to explore the backup.  The task fails immediately saying that the archive is corrupt or is in use or I don't have enough permissions to perform the operation (please see attached JPG image).  Any of the backups that I created on the Windows 10 machine work just fine and I can examine the archives that are in my backup location.  I moved the USB drive to another Windows 10 machine that has ATI 2016 installed on it.  The same thing happens.  If I verify the backup on either Windows 10 machine (ATI 2016 and ATI 2017) it performs the verification just fine and says that the archive is valid.  I made another backup using a different USB Hard Disk on the off chance that something was corrupt in the file and it does exactly the same thing.  Can someone help me out with a solution?  I performed a ATI system report which I have also attached.  I made several attempts to mount the tib file on (-12-2016).

Unfortunately, I don't see any service.log files in your system report so no help there. 

copy the .tib file to your local machine and see if you get the same error.  It may be a permission error on the .tib file based upon the account and access of the thumb drive that was used to create the .tib file from the other machine.  Copying it to the local machine should set the permissions on the file to whatever they are on the machine (based upon the location you copy it to).

If it works on the local system, but not from the flash drive, you may need to re-ACL the permissions of the flash drive by taking ownership of the root files of the flash drive and then adding the necessary accounts and giving them full access (all from the Windows 10 machine). 

Bobbo_3C0X1,

When I copy the individual TIB files from the USB drive to the hard disk on the windows 10 machines then I am able to double click the files and open and explore the archive.  When I examine the file permissions on the copied TIB files on the Windows 10 box I see where the administrator and users on the windows 10 box has read/write permissions for the file.  When I check the permissions on the file on the USB drive I see that I do not have read permissions for the files.  Shouldn't True Image have provided an option to set the read/write permissions so that anyone could examine the files? 

Since I have the backup split at 4GBs per .tib file there are a considerable number of individual .tib files on the USB hard drive.  Do you know if there is an easy way to change ownership permissions using wildcards so that you can globally change all files?  Also do you know if something has changed with the Windows 10 operating system to enforce permission restrictions that wasn't present in earlier versions of windows.  I am asking because I have never encountered this problem before on Windows 7, Windows Vista, or Windows XP boxes and I have done this hundreds of times in the past.

Thank you for replying.

Virgil

Virgil, with permissions, you should be able to select the top level or root of the USB drive and then when you change the permissions select to cascade those permissions to all sub-folders and items held at that level.

Alternatively, if you copy all the files from the USB drive then reformat it from your account and copy the files back again, that should effect the same permissions.

Rob, for reference, in the System Report zip file, the logs are held in the All Users account folders - if you unzip the system report and just point the Log File Viewer app to the top folder, it will find all the logs in the sub-folders fine.

The logs simply show:

task_name=I7-950 Sandisk 480GB Backup (9-12-16)

Create Backup Archive From: Disk 2 To file: 
E:\My Backups\I7-950 Sandisk SSD (7-22-2016)\I7-950 Sandisk 480GB Backup (9-12-16).tib 
Compression: Normal 
File Split: 22.75 GB 

The following backups have been successfully created:
E:\My Backups\I7-950 Sandisk SSD (7-22-2016)\I7-950 Sandisk 480GB Backup (9-12-16)_full_b1_s1_v1.tib
E:\My Backups\I7-950 Sandisk SSD (7-22-2016)\I7-950 Sandisk 480GB Backup (9-12-16)_full_b1_s1_v2.tib
E:\My Backups\I7-950 Sandisk SSD (7-22-2016)\I7-950 Sandisk 480GB Backup (9-12-16)_full_b1_s1_v3.tib

There are no messages to suggest any permissions issues when creating / writing the backup image files.

Steve,

What is interesting is that the owner of the file on the USB Hard Disk was listed as System.  Once I change the Owner of the file to myself I was able to mount it without any problems.  Originally, I formated both of the USB Hard Disks on my Windows 10 machine so I have to assume that at that time I was the owner of the root directory and all subsequent files on the drive.  From time to time when I plug in various flash drives and USB Hard Disks the Windows operating system complains about the drives and runs a quick check of the drive and repairs any issues before mounting the device.  I am guessing now that when that happens Windows changes the owner of the drive to System.

Virgil

Update:

Unfortunately I'm back to being unable to mount images. I can mount the full backup image right after a reboot, but other than that neither subsequent mount attempts nor any attempt to mount incremental images works for me.

Might be unrelated, but I've also noticed that browsing incremental images is a pain. The system asks me to manually locate the base image (item number 1) and then sometimes says that object is empty. Other times it works after manually locating the base. It could be that the mounter is having the same issue but isn't prompting for the base image.

In any event, mounting and browsing is flaky for me. I updated my support case. Not really confidence inspiring.

Philip.

The problem is Windows changing the permissions of the USB, or more probably, the permissions being used to orgiginally create the USB drive. 

I'm assuming your computers are in a "workgroup" and not a domain.  As a result, each computer in a workgroup, essentially uses their own accounts and permissions.  In most cases, people will use the exact same username and password for each local account on the computers in their workgroup. As a result, in MOST cases, it will appear that the accounts are the same between each computer, but that's not actually true.  This can be an issue especially for portable drives in which the permissions (mostly ownership) is created from an account on one machine, but seen by the other comptuer as being a different account.

I would suggest that 

1): make sure you do have the exact same user account and password on both computers (which you probably do);

2) Right click on the root of the thumb drive and check if there is a security tab - is there?  

3) If there is, then go to ADVANCED >>> ownership.  If you are on teh original comptuer that setup the USB drive, you should see the computer name under "from this computer"... if not, you may see an unknown computer.  Make sure the lcoation is the lcoal computer.  Set "administrators" as the owner and replicate the change to all folders below it.   Close out and go back in and make sure that administrators, your specific admin account, all users, and everyone have full permissions to the thumb drive.  The all users and everyone will help ensure that any computer the thumb drive is plugged into should have the same access to any files and/or folders placed in folders on the drive.  It makes the drive less secure as any computer it plugs into should be able to access the files, but this is what you're looking for.

This really is a Windows permission issue and not an Acronis backup creation issue.

I don't think my issue is ownership related. I did change the ownership of the drive in question to see if it helped, but my issue persists.

The fact that I can mount the base but not any incrementals leads me to believe that this is something related to ATI, either the mounter or the way backups are being created or the way they're referencing each other.

Worst case, the incrementals are bad in some way. Unfortunately, other than attempting a restore, I'm not sure how to prove that one way or the other. They do pass validation, but who knows whether that actually means they're restorable.