ATI 2017 Will Not Start.

Swapping drives will not work because the backup job is tied to the original hardware ID of the disk the backup was created with and not the drive letter associated with it. If you plan to swap drives, you should have different backup jobs created for each physical drive you plan to store the backups on and you should make sure that those drives use a unique drive letter in Windows and a letter that Windows will not automatically change (for instance, if both are setup with D: but you plug them in at the same time, one would be come E or the next available automatically by Windows and then would remain that drive letter unelss you manually changed it back).

2017 slightly improved this behavior, but only if using the same drive and that drive is assigned a new letter by Windows. Still doesn't work if you use completely different hardware though as the backup jobs are based off of the original hardware id's of the hard drive (to avoid someone accidentally backing up the wrong data which could result in automatic cleanup and removal of the correct backup data or to prevent someone from accidentally creating backups on the wrong drive that uses the same drive letter).

http://www.acronis.com/en-us/support/updates/changes.html?p=38886

Other improvements:

The application now works correctly if a drive letter changes (available on Windows only).

Windows and Acronis rely on Microsoft VSS (a windows service) to run backups. If the VSS service fails to start or has issues (not an uncommon issue within the OSS) then VSS snapshots won't be possible.

One area that may trip up VSS is Microsoft system protection, something that many users have reported stops working or is disabled after certain Windows updates and especially Windows 10 in-place "up-grades". Go in and see if there are multiple instances of the C: drive listed there for some reason (a bug I've seen on several PC's that come through our shop). Often times, just disabling Windows system protection and deleting all system restore points, closing out and then enabling system protection on the C: drive again, may be the key to getting VSS and system snapshots running again.
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/system-restore-disabled-turn-on-system-re…

If that doesn't fix it, you should check your Windows services to make sure that VSS is enabled, running and set to "automatic" and then reboot and try Windows image again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FX-eGQZ_qb4

You can also try re-registering the VSS Dlls (http://www.careexchange.in/how-to-re-register-vss-volume-shadow-copy-se…) to see if that helps if the other 2 suggestions don't already.

I swapped the hard drive, one which was not associated with any backup, prior to creating a new backup, as I was creating a new daily backup to a new destination. It was not a conflict with any other backup previously created at all.

I have checked and re checked VSS and Windows Backup services, restarting them and assuring that they were set to automatic start and currently started. I also deleted all restore points; stopping and re initializing system restore on only the main "C" os drive.

Again, I attempted to start the ATI 2017 application and only got the report error dialog box. Then I checked Event Viewer and found NO associated events logged there associated with the erroneous occurrence.

Walter Holliday wrote:

I swapped the hard drive, one which was not associated with any backup, prior to creating a new backup, as I was creating a new daily backup to a new destination. It was not a conflict with any other backup previously created at all.

I'm not saying it' a conflict, I'm telling you it's not supported. Acronis expects the same drive to be plugged in that the backup was created with. If you changed drives since the backup was created, that is the problem. You must edit your backup task and re-pick the source and/or destination.

If you plan to keep switching drives, then you're better off making a different backup job for each external hard drive. Otherwise, every time you change the destination drive, your backup is going to fail again. By having a job for each different backup drive, that job will continue to run when that disk is plugged in.

I'm pretty sure that Windows backups have the same limitation. You would need to go in and reconfigure the backup and point it to the new drive as well (even if the folder path/structure and drive letter are the same).

If you posted some of your Acronis backup service.logs for review, it might help identify the issue as well. You can also download and use FTRPilot's logviewer app to make reading the Acronis logs a little more bearable: https://forum.acronis.com/forum/115626

I am being misUnderstood.

Look. Let's say I wish to create a "NEW BACKUP" using ATI 2017.
I click the ATI 2017 desktop shotrcut.
The application does not open.
ATI 2017 WILL NOT START AT ALL ......

Fresh install this morning....

Then, I wanted to create a daily backup of my system(incremental) BRAND NEW Backup with NEW Backup Definition....

This caused me to swap one of my USB drives as a target for the NEW UNDEFINED daily backup;
The previous hard drive was not used for any backup at all and not associated with any Acronis backup whatsoever..

ATI 2017 closed unexpectedly.

Thinking the software lost some kind of reference, I decided to reset everything by rebooting the machine. After rebooting, the ATI 2017 application would not start; only providing a opportunity to send a message to Acronis.

Walter, there was a known issue where ATIH 2017 wouldn't start but this was meant to have been fixed in build 5554. Do you know if you have this build version installed?

I would suggest trying a clean install after downloading the latest full build installer from your Acronis account.

The steps to do a clean install are:
1. Uninstall ATIH normally via the Control Panel.
2. Download & run the Acronis Cleanup Tool as Administrator - link below in my signature.
3. Restart the computer then install ATIH 2017 as Administrator again.

Please note that you will lose your backup tasks and history in doing the above and will need to recreate the backups / add any existing backups and reconfigure the settings.

That describes the situation much more clearly. Thank you.

I'd probably go with the cleanup tool and fresh install as well (https://forum.acronis.com/forum/126092#comment-391779). However, others have only had to let the database recreate itself too. If you really want to start fresh/clean, go straight for the cleanup.

If you want to try the database repair then do this instead:

01) Stop all Acronis services (control panel >>> administrative tools >>> right click services and "run as administrater")

02) Navigate to the following HIDDEN directory and rename the "Database" folder to "Database.old" or whatever you want:

C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Database

03) Start the Acronis services again.

04) Launch Acronis and then reconfigure the existing backup task (select the source and destination and verify options). Then save the changes and by running the backup.

The TI application unexpectedly crashed on your system.  A system report which contains technical details of the occurrance may reveal why but it will only help Acronis developers in determining what that is.  The applicaiton is by design suppose to open the Feedback message box which you got upon restart.  You can use that to report the issue to Acronis support.  If you choose not to report the problem then simply close the message by clicking the X in the top right corner and Treu Image will start immediately after.

I have ATI 2017 (5554) installed on three PC’s.  Two PC’s each have three external HD backups, as well as Acronis Cloud (how redundant).  On one PC, ATI will not open from the desktop icon or from the root exe file (this seems to have started after the last Win10 update).  It does open the Win10 dialogue asking to make changes, and after clicking on yes, the dialogue closes and the program does not open.  However, checking the external HD’s, ATI is performing the scheduled backups, as well as the ATI running icon appears in the lower tray.  So, the program is functioning to that extent.

I have done sfc /scannow, chkdsk /f, dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth, and Acronis Repair, and this has not resolved the problem.

If there is not another option, I can do a clean uninstall and reinstall, but my concern is that when I create new backup tasks to the external HD’s, and also the Cloud backup, will ATI recognize the existing Cloud backup and “link” to it without needing to perform an entirely new Cloud backup, or will I need to delete the Cloud backup (via web cloud account) and upload an entirely new backup to the Cloud account?  This process takes weeks, as we have only 1.9mbs upload speed and 250gb data.

Any assistance / answers would be appreciated.

usgroupie, as you have ATIH 2017 and a cloud subscription, you may be best advised to open a support ticket directly with Acronis for this problem on the single PC.  You have entitlement to free Acronis support with your 2017 product.

I'd check with Acronis techs as well - to be sure.  However, backups that are stored in the cloud should still be accessible after a new/fresh install and then you should be able to modify them by re-picking the source to "append' to what's already there.  "should being the key word though - I 'd conact technical support to verify first.  If things don't work as expected, they might be able to work some magic to make sure you don't have to backup completley again. 

I have backups in the cloud originally creeated with ATI 2015 - I have never inexplicably lost a cloud backup. Definitely time to contact Tech support.

Ian

Thank you all.  I did contact tech support and was told that I can uninstall and re-install the application and this would not conflict with the Cloud or external backups, they will still be there.  I knew the external HD backups will still be on the HD's although I would need to reconfigure settings (Tech - "The backup settings will be removed, however, the backup files will still be there and you would need to re-configure them.")

Regarding Cloud backup, tech cited, "When you uninstall and re-install the application, you would need to login with your E-mail address then the Cloud backups will be automatically recognized."

Tech also cited specific procedure for uninstall and reinstall:

1) Go to Control panel and create a restore point, please refer to the following link on how to create a restore point:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-in/instantanswers/e6bbddb0-9db4-4d88-9…

2) Uninstall the Acronis True Image , using the Microsoft fix it tool from the following link:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-in/help/17588/fix-problems-that-block-…

3) After the uninstallation, please reboot the Computer.

4) Now, install the Acronis True Image 2017.

I'll be doing this today and post if there are any problems.

Back to normal.  The procedure did work.  It recognized the external HD's.  Just needed to rename and reconfigure each one.  Also sees the Cloud and performed normal nightly backup.

Thanks for the feedback and results - glad to hear all is back to normal again.