Michael, what is the size of the archive that you are trying to restore to your new 60GB disk, as this seems a small size for a new drive here?  ATIH may not want to accept the selected drive because it cannot fit the size of data to be restored?

To simplify the process, if possible, don't do a partition recovery, but do a disk recovery instead, it will do everything else automatically.  

I can't see what's selected for the other partitions, but if that partition is selected already, it won't let you pick it again.  Really though, if you're recovering the same content, just pick the disk instead of paritions and you don't have to worry about this step. 

Also make sure that you're bootable recovery media is launched in the same way the OS was installed (boot to legacy mode if your OS was installed in legacy mode when the image was created or boot in UEFI mode if the OS was installed in UEFI mode when the image was created).  How you boot the recovery media will determine the partition layout and formatting of the restored image so if you are trying to recover a UEFI parition that is about to be created in MBR/Legacy mode, I don't think Acronis will allow it.

Thanks for the quick replies ...

Steve Smith: the .tib is 40.3G, but the source drive itself is 70.7G. You might be right. I'll try a bigger drive and see what happens. I may be a day or so until I post back as I have to physically re-arrange the partitions (it is divided for dual-boot, but I'll remove the alternate boot partition).

Bobbo_3C0X1: If that doesn't work I'll investigate your suggestions.

When I increased the size of the disk, it did report a successful restore. However, I cannot boot. I get the blue screen shown in the attached image. Question: I just used the normal recovery mode from the Acronis boot disk, but I restored to different hardware. Could that be the problem? I do have Universal Restore and I'll try that if you/someone thinks that's the problem here.

Michael, if you restored your backup image to a different computer system then you need to run the Acronis Universal Restore utility to prepare the restored OS to work on the new hardware.

If you have just restored the backup image to a different hard drive then AUR is not needed provided the drive is still in the same computer and connected in place of the working boot drive for that system, and that the backup image came from this same computer.

Ditto to Steve, but please check out this post too. Just because you can restore an image to another machine, doesn't mean it will work. There are usually other settings in the bios that need to be configured as well.

https://forum.acronis.com/forum/126826#comment-395298

OK, I next used Universal Restore for 64bit and UEFI support. The target is 64 bit, but not UEFI. Hopefully that's OK.

I didn't get far before getting the message "Cannot find device driver 'PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2829&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_02' for 'Windows 7'. Place the driver on removable media and click Retry. Otherwise, click Ignore and repeat the Acronis Universal Restore process at a later time, to add the missing driver."

Searching the web turned up little, but this forum had a post https://forum.acronis.com/forum/37133, which directed me to an Intel Download Center link and advised to get the file "f6flpy3289.zip". I got that and unzipped it to an accessible location and tried again. This time I got basically the same message with the addition of "... on removable media or in folder \\mail.hprs.local\Users\mark\drivers ..." This folder being the one I add on the Acronis "Automatic Driver Search ... Add folder" screen. Apparently, this download did not contain the correct driver.

I'll keep searching, but any advice on where I can find this driver?

One more thing ...

I've tried clicking on the FTP and SFTP server options on the "Folder for Search Selection" under 'Automatic driver search / Add folder' and I get nothing at all (see image). I do have both FTP and SFTP servers available. I thought I'd try one of these in case the "Network folders" is not working for some reason (permissions?) since that option never asked for any authentication.

Mike, as you are using Universal Restore, can you please confirm that you have done a normal restore of your backup image to the new hardware first, using the True Image before attempting to boot the AUR media?

Also, how different are the source and target systems involved here?

Steve Smith wrote:

Mike, as you are using Universal Restore, can you please confirm that you have done a normal restore of your backup image to the new hardware first, using the True Image before attempting to boot the AUR media?

Yes, as I reported in post #4. I found out the hard way that a normal restore has to be done first.

Also, how different are the source and target systems involved here?

The source is Window7, 64bit generic OEM computer. The taget is Windows 7 64bit VirtualBox.

AUR sees hosts on the network and I have various option for FTP, SFTP, NFS, Network Folders, etc. It does see some of the servers. Network Folders options ask for credential, but nothing I try credential-wise works. Not sure what it's looking for. I see nothing in the error logs on the targets. I used FTP just fine to restore the .tib file, but when I click on that option in AUR > Driver Selection, nothing happens. It doesn't give me the "Add FTP Server" option like the Recovery disk did.

I can get to the AUR shell, so perhaps there is something I could do there?

- Was the original OS installed as legacy or UEFI?
- Is your VM conifgured to boot legacy or UEFI?
- Was the Acronis recovery media booted in legacy or UEFI?
- Was the original OS installed with the SATA mode in the bios set as RAID or AHCI (needs to match in the VM bios as well)

If the original OS was legacy, then you need to make sure to boot the Acronis recovery media in legacy mode and you need to ensure that virtualbox is set to install and boot in legacy mode too.

If the original OS was UEFI, then you need to make sure to boot the Acronis recovery media in UEFI mode and need to ensure that virtualbox is set to install and boot in UEFI mode too.

Once your image is restored and you run universal restore, chances are you shouldn't need to add any drivers at all. If you do, do it with a local source (usb flash drive attached to the VM).

FYI, if/when you get it to boot, your original OEM license isn't going to license on the VM. OEM licenses are tied to the original hardware and will require you to contact Microsoft. If you're lucky, you can convince them to give you a new registration key, but once they realize it's a VM, you're probably out of luck.

Bobbo_3C0X1 wrote:

- Was the original OS installed as legacy or UEFI?

Legacy

- Is your VM conifgured to boot legacy or UEFI?

Legacy

- Was the Acronis recovery media booted in legacy or UEFI?

Legacy. The WIN7 OS does attempt to boot, see 'start' image. Selecting 'Start Windows Normally' gives me the blue screen shown in post 4. Selecting 'Launch Startup Repair' doesn't work, but it gives me the 'Windows is starting' message and tries (see image attemptingRepair). These indicate to me that the legacy vs. UEFI thing is correct.

- Was the original OS installed with the SATA mode in the bios set as RAID or AHCI (needs to match in the VM bios as well)

not RAID

If the original OS was legacy, then you need to make sure to boot the Acronis recovery media in legacy mode and you need to ensure that virtualbox is set to install and boot in legacy mode too.

If the original OS was UEFI, then you need to make sure to boot the Acronis recovery media in UEFI mode and need to ensure that virtualbox is set to install and boot in UEFI mode too.

Once your image is restored and you run universal restore, chances are you shouldn't need to add any drivers at all. If you do, do it with a local source (usb flash drive attached to the VM).

I'm trying to get the VM to see the local USB. Too bad the FTP mode and Network locations don't work.

FYI, if/when you get it to boot, your original OEM license isn't going to license on the VM. OEM licenses are tied to the original hardware and will require you to contact Microsoft. If you're lucky, you can convince them to give you a new registration key, but once they realize it's a VM, you're probably out of luck.

I've already done this with a new install, not an Acronis restore. Microsoft accepted the key on that one -- I didn't have to call. The idea is to move all the Windows licenses to VMs. According to others that have done it, it should be OK -- but we'll see once we get that far!

On a few different restore scenarios (not just with Acronis), I ended up with a non-bootable system too. I tried startup repair with no luck and also tried bcd commands with no luck. Came across this post:

https://www.cult-of-tech.net/2015/07/rebuilding-the-windows-system-rese…

and it worked! Ultimately, the trick is to mount the bootloader parition with a drive letter and then format it. Then do a startup repair - may take 2 or 3 times and let Windows completely rebuild it. Hopefully it works for you too.

Good luck with the licensing. I have not had much luck moving OEM licenses to VM's, but if you can, great.

Bobbo_3C0X1: Thanks for that link, but it didn't work. Specifically, the instructions were:

1. Boot the computer off the recovery CD
2. If it prompts you to fix a problem with the boot files, click no
3. Select your current Windows Install and select the top radio button “Use recovery tools that can help you fix problems starting Windows.”
4. Click Next and the second menu of options will be displayed
5. Click command prompt form the second menu
6. Verify that the recovery environment has mounted the system reserved partition as C:

    1. change to the “C” drive by typing “C:” at the command prompt
    2. type “dir /a" at the prompt
    3. verify that this the system reserved partition by noting the existance of the files “bootmgr” and “Bootsec.bak”, and the folders “Boot” and “System Volume Information”. There may also be a $Recycle.bin. In any event, you should NOT see a Windows, Program Files, or Users directories.

This last line says, "In any event, you should NOT see a Windows, Program Files, or Users directories." On my system both of these folders were present. I went ahead and followed the remaining instructions which were to format the C: drive. The link said, "You’ll see a report that the disk was formatted, it should say there’s about 100MB on the volume." In my case it formatted 123,765M. As anticipated, it wiped out everything.

Step 9 "Startup Repair", failed. When it rebooted it found no Windows installed. :(

So, I started from scratch; restored the .tib file, then ran Universal Restore. I found the supposed location of needed drivers from another forum which files were:  iaAHCIC.cat, iaStorAC.cat, iaAHCIC.inf, iaStorAC.inf, iaStorA.sys and iaStorF.sys. I put these in a directory accessible by AUR in the "Automatic driver search" option, and added the SATA RAID Controller driver using the Mass storage (see SATARAID attachment), then tried again. No go, see cannotFind attachment. I note that this driver is installed when Guest additions are added (see Guest Additions image), but of course I cannot install Guest Additions with a non-booting VM. The source computer for the backup is a vanilla 64bit Windows 7, 8GB memory,  with a 150G hard drive. Perhaps restoring from real to virtual with Acronis is not possible? Has anyone actually done it?

Yes, I've restored from real to virtual a few times now.  However, I use VMWare Workation too and not virtual box.  In VMware, you can select the bios type (UEFI or legacy and it needs to match the original OS). You can also pick if the SATA mode is AHCI or RAID (also needs to match).  I've been able to use Acronis for this purpose on a few occassions, but perhaps this is a virutal box issue - not sure.  Alternatively, VMWare Workstation also has an add-on to convert a physical system to a VM as well, but I still usually use the Acronis backup and restore method since I already have Acronis backups readily available. 

As for the instructions, repairing the bootloader is only one step if changing hardware.  Please double check to see if the C: drive may be different in your environment under the Windows recovery environment.  The goal is to locate the 100MB boot partition, mount it as a drive letter and format that drive letter.  If you fomat the drive that contains your program files, etc, (your main OS, then recovey won't do you any good) as the OS won't be there anymore.

As an example, when using diskpart and you type:

list volume

You should see a volume #X listed as Fat32, 100Mb and "system".  In your recovery environment, you should be able to do the same thing.  Mount that with a drive letter of some kind (might be C: by default, might be that you have to mount it as a different drive letter).  Then format that volume.  

Once formatted, then go back and do the startup repair (sometimes takes 2 or 3 tries as startup repair does different things when you're starting with a formatted parition).  Then try to boot the OS after the 3rd startup repair and let it do it's thing - it could take several minutes (or longer) to completley rebuild the bootmanager before the OS boots up (hopefully).

If it's still a driver compatibility issue (for instance if the original OS was AHCI and you're trying to restore to new hardware with a RAID controller), you'll have to find the proper drivers for it. What is the physical raid controller being used on the system where you're trying to restore the VM too?  If it's Intel's, the IRST raid driver should be the one.  However, if it's a specific controller for an add-on card or a non-intel RAID controller (let's say LSI for Dell or something like that), you'll have to find the correct driver from the manufacturer and make sure it's for the correct OS (the one for the OS being restored) and the correct architecture (32-bit or 64-bit).

Bobbo_3C0X1 : Thanks for your patience on this. I did the diskpart at the command prompt (after booting the Windows recovery CD. There appears to be no 100MB FAT32 partition. See image. In examining the Acronis backup settings, there does not appear to be anything other than the one C: drive partition (see 2nd image).

As to the driver, the original machine has a 150GB WDC ED1500ADFD-00NLR1 ATA drive plugged into a SATA slot on the motherboard. It is not configure as RAID. It should be able to use a generic driver. Yet AUR is asking for a driver: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2829&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_02, as shown in my cannotfind.jpg in a previous post. I was told the appropriate driver, from Intel, was that shown in my sataraid.jpg image in the same previous post, but AUR didn't find anything useful there though I both specified that folder and one to look in for drivers and I specified the last SATA chipset driver explicitly (although, I'm skeptical this is a chipset issue).

Are we out of ideas?

Can you post a screen shot (cell pic if need be), of what partitions are available in your original backup?  

It's working with a restore to a physical drive so either the MBR was not backed up and Acronis is able to rebuild it automatically for the physical drive, or, it is there, and it's not being recovered during the restore for some reason (possibly becuase Acronis doesn't like working .vhdx virtual drives, which I don't think is the case, or possibly because the recovery media is not booting in the proper mode - I'm not really sure since I can't see it as it happens.  

1) If I can see what paritions are on the original image and 2) what your Acronis boot menu looks like, it may help identify both of those.

Take a look at my screenshot of my restored image to my VM.  You should see something similar on the original computer.  The question, is why is not on your restored VM?

diskpart of the original computer attached. Volume 0 is the DVD, Volume 1 is the C drive, volume 2 is the attached USB drive. There is no FAT partition. The acronisbackupsource.jpg in my previous post shows what Acronis is picking up.

that seems to be the problem.  There should always be a system reserved partition of a bootable OS in legacy or UEFI.  It seems like Acronis is able to create it when restored to a physical machine, but perhaps not to your VM in this case.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/29504-bios-mode-see-if-windows-boo…

So, when you restore the image to a physical machine, make sure there is a 100Mb system reserved partition.  If there is, then image that machine and try to restore that to your VM instead. Perhaps that's the work-a-round for you in this case. 

PROBLEM FIXED!!! This site had the solution: https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Migrate_Windows. It says, in part,

"For reasons we don't understand, Windows memorizes which IDE/ATA controller it was installed on and fails to boot in case the controller changes. This is very annoying because you will run into this problem with basically all migrated images. The solution here is to perform several modifications to the Windows registry."

The site then provides a link to a MS Knowledgebase site for Windows 7: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/922976, which provides the following instructions:

Locate and then click one of the following registry subkeys:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\IastorV

In the pane on the right side, right-click Start in the Name column, and then click Modify.
In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK.

Then, I did a full Acronis drive backup. I restored that to the VBox virual machine and voila! It booted and worked, no problem!

Hopefully this can be of use to other Acronis users. It seems important enough (and simple enough) to include in some documentation somewhere.

THANKS!

Glad you got it working!  Just curious, but what does diskpart show for volumes on your disk now.  Do you see the MBR parition parition in disk management now too?

If both instancess of the OS (original and vm restored) were using AHCI, seems like this should not be an issue.  However, with any recovery, the SATA mode needs  to be set the same so it's seems like the VM set it to something else (just a guess).  In Windows 7, you can preapre the OS for a SATA mode change from within Windows before the next Windows boot.  You usually get a BSOD if you try switching the SATA mode without doing this first, but it essentially does what you did manually in the OS...

KB922976:Error message occurs after you change the SATA mode of the boot drive

The steps outlined by the VirtualBox Wiki are necessary when migrating from an IDE/ATA controller to an SATA controller because the difference in drivers for each controller.

Bobbo_3C0X1: current diskpart of restored VM attached. Still no hidden FAT partition. Apparently that is not necessary.

Enchantech:

The steps outlined by the VirtualBox Wiki are necessary when migrating from an IDE/ATA controller to an SATA controller because the difference in drivers for each controller.

Michael,

I see.  So then the image you used is from a Windows install on a MOBO that has/had a different storage controller than the one hosting the VM?  If yes then what happens when you make the registry change is that Windows not having "remembered" the controller as a result of that change now looks for a storage controller and once found loads the appropriate drivers for it.  I agree AUR should handle this, have no idea why it did not, cannot, or doesn't!

New problem, different Virtual Machine instance, but still a VM issue. Possibly should be a new topic, but since it's still VM related, I'll post here. This VM had Windows 7 installed from scratch from an Windows installation DVD; not from a previous Acronis backup.

The host OS is Linux. I have an external USB drive attached with a 500G ntfs partition. That partition is visible as a Shared Folder in the Windows VM (see Explorer image). It is drive F:, but appears to be presented as a network drive (\\vboxsrv). I would like to create an Acronis Secure Zone on this partition, but apparently that cannot be done if the drive is not truly "local", is that right?

Is there any way to create an ASZ on this drive? What if I created the ASZ directly from a physical Windows computer, then plugged the drive into the Linux host? Would Acronis scan for non-local ASZs? Or am I just out of luck with the external ASZ idea on a VM?

One more thing ... I've gone ahead and configured ATI to do a non-ASZ backup to this \\vboxsrv\Acronis drive. When I attempt to do the "Backup now", it asks for my "Windows Credentials". I've never seen this before, even with network backups on our "REAL" domain where I back up all workstations to a NAS. I've entered the Windows VM user's ID/PW, the administrator's credentials, the credentials of the Linux user whose VM this is, and the Linux root PW. Nothing is working. Yet, I can see this drive and all its files in Windows Explorer. What's up?

I cannot speak for the ASZ issue but I would suspect that the application design is for the local creation of the Secure Zone only.

Your other issue with the mapped drive authenticatgion failure is a known ongoing issue.  If you have the ability to change this space to a simple network share you can get around the issue.

Michael, the issue with creating the ASZ on your Linux attached USB drive would seem to be more of a Linux issue than an ASZ one.  I am able to create the ASZ with no issue on my WD 1TB My Book USB drive attached to my Windows 10 system and ATIH doesn't blink at it being on an external USB drive.

Steve Smith: Yes, I have a dozen WIN7 Workstations with external USB drives, all having ASZs. The problem here is that the VM does not see it as a local USB drive, but rather as a network drive (I suppose) at \\VBOXSRV\Acronis\. I don't think you can create a VM on a network drive, can you?

Enchantech: "If you have the ability to change this space to a simple network share you can get around the issue."

I have no choice as to how the VM presents external devices to the guest WIN7. The only mechanisms I have are Shared Folders (which I use to access local Linux directories), Optical Drives (both physical drive and .iso images), USB (which lets me connect to USB devices), and of course normal mapped drives.

I'll try using the USB mechanism next and see if that works.

I suppose, following Enchantech's idea, I could make the USB drive a Samba or NFS share (even though it's local) and go at it that way ... that's another thing I could try.

LATER ...

I tried specifying the backup target as various nfs and Samba shares both on various domain hosts and local host, including the local USB drive as an NFS export, and including the NAS server where all office workstations are Acronis backed up. None of these require credentials from non-VM accessing WIN7 machines, but all of these targets want credentials from Acronis on the VM. I can map all of these locations in Windows Explorer on the VM just fine without credentials being asked. No idea what Acronis is looking for or why. So, Enchantech's idea of changing this to a simple network share won't work.

btw - the 'Destination > Browse screen' lists "My NAS connections" as an option. I have an NAS, but nothing is listed here. What designates an NAS in Acronis' view?

Will try USB idea next.

EVEN LATER ...

I mapped the USB drive as a VM USB device (not shared folder, not network location) and it worked!! I was able to create an ASZ on that drive and it is backing up up as I write. Whew! What a dance!

Unfortunately, it appears I will not be able to back up to a network location with Acronis from this VM. That's too bad because I generally backup workstations to a local USB drive and to a network location, two separate backups. The backups on the network location get copied to offsite storage.

If somebody ever comes up with a solution for the "credentials" problem, I'd be VERY interested.

Well, at least you have USB working, that's a step in the right direction.

You can try the suggestion offered in the llink below for the network credentials issue, they might help:

https://kb.acronis.com/content/58004