Guide to Add Drivers to WinPE Recovery Media

What model drive are you using?

Most NVMe M.2 drives are supported by the Windows 8.1, 10 or 10.1 ADK's without needing to install any additional drivers. What ADK are you using.

Mustang - Can't thank you enough for this guide.  I have been trying for a month to get True Image 2016's rescue media to recognize my Synology Diskstation, I guess the Intel NIC in my Asus Z170-A motherboard is too new to be included in either the Acronis or the WinPE media.  With your very detailed indtructions I was able to add the driver to WinPE and can now establish an ftp connection - problem solved.  Thank you VERY much!!!

Thank you very much. Glad to hear it worked for you.

@Mustang,

I have updated again my Post#30 with an updated french version of my Guide because Acronis has released another new Update 2 (build 6569) which obsoletes the previous one (build 6559) released few days ago.

With Update 2 (build 6569) the Acronis Add-on is embedded in the product and the user should NEVER  downloaded "add-on" file from his Acronis Account.

Currently there is a bug from Acronis Web to offer to the user the "Add-on" file on his Acronis Account. This is very confusing.

I have reported this to Acronis to fix this web issue.

I just want to add my thanks to Mustang for a wonderfully precise and useful solution to the "Acronis 2016 can't-see-my-drive problem." A few days ago I realized that Acronis WinPE media could no longer see the dynamic drive on which I store all my system image generations. Following Mustang's procedure for installing drivers on a USB stick completely resolve the problem.

Well done indeed!

Thnx everybody.  I am managing 7 PCs at our home and I don't have time to mess with all this.  After using ATI for many, many years, I am switching to AOMEI.  If it works, why should I ever come back?  Acronis really dropped the ball imo.  I'll try to remember to report back.  I surely will if AOMEI doesn't work!

Daniel - what 7 pc's are you using that the default Acronis media is not working?  Are you using ATIH 2016 v6569 - driver support with it detects all PCIE NVME drives, eMMC flash hard drives, latest NIC's etc and lateset NICs.  The ones that usually get people are custom RAID drivers which usually aren't found even in WinPE.  However, if you build WinPE with Windows 10ADK - default driver support is also very good, but usually doesn't have custom RAID drivers either.

Use the backup software that works best for you and makes your backups easiest to take and recover from.  If you're using 2016 v6569 though, there should be very instances where the default media won't work on a sytem at this point in time.

FYI.. AOMEI, Macrium, etc. all use WinPE.  Acronis uses Linux by default, but WinPE can also be made, you just have to download the Windows ADK first.  AOEMI and Macrium actually download the ADK and use that to build the media. I have been asking Acronis to do the same (auto download the ADK) and am hoping they include it in 2017, but don't know if they can or will.  We will see. 

I've used ATI on many, many PCs for at least 10 years, quite a bit longer than that I think (but I definitely still have TI files that old).  I cannot tell you the number of times TI has saved my arse, and others as well.  And this is the first time that no solution I've tried will restore a particular PC (top-of-the-line Dell XPS 15 9550 - of course no restore disks, no Windows disks included, making imaging essential).  Neither the Linux nor the BART PE version will see the Dell XPS 15 9550 PCIe M2 drive.  It's a Toshiba SDD.  I spent a few days trying to include drivers, etc., and it was a waste of time.  Both Dell and Acronis really dropped the ball on this one.  I mean, it's one of the most well-known PCs on the planet, this is their flagship laptop.  No Windows disks, no restore disks, natch.  Dell's only backup solution is a data file backup - no image.  They want you to re-install Windows and programs using restore disks instead (that aren't provided).  And Acronis wants me to spend countless more hours hacking the registry (yeah, the tech did suggest it), adding other drivers, reporting to them all the details, etc.  For a top-of-the-line Dell they have no solution?  Acronis, an industry leader?  I think soon they'll be asking the customers to do their coding for them too.

The sad part is, AOMEI Backupper Standard, the free version, had no trouble whatsoever, and there was no need to load the drivers either.  I note that the Linux version of AOMEI also did not see the drive, only the BART PE version works.  But it works flawlessly.  I think that shows that our money spent on the Acronis software (and it's a lot, and the licensing scheme is worthy of an industry-leading, reliable solution) surely does result in lots of slick promotions, tight authorization protocols, dumbed-down, powerless GUIs, obnoxious pitches to sign up for cloud services, and other things that waste my time and diminish the value of the software to me, not add to it, while their competitors produce a superior product that has none of these drawbacks, works better and more reliably, and is free.

Acronis has lost my business after over a decade.  Yeah, I think they've dropped the ball and yeah, it is sad.  But life goes on!  And thankfully, so does the laptop, which I can at least send my daughter off to college with knowing that I can restore the image.  Life is good.  RIP Acronis.

I have a Dell XPS 15 9550 UHD with the latest BIOS 1.20  (with only UEFI boots allowed). I was using the WINPE build as documented above until the latest release of TI 6569 claimed it would support the M.2 disks so I tried the new Rescue Media build on a standard Sandisk USB3.0 drive and it worked......eventually.

My first attempts at booting from the USB drive (using the F12 alternate boot procedure) were using just the battery with no AC power connected and while it found the USB drive it didn't appear to be doing anything. Then, by pure luck, I connected my AC charger and started the USB boot process again. This time (because the screen was brighter) I noticed very very tiny text at the top left of my UHD screen. I could just make out that there were three options with the first being to start Acronis so I pressed my 1 key and hey presto Acronis came to life and I had complete access to my M.2 drive.

While Acronis claims to have full UHD support with its new 6569 release, it obviously did not inlcude the initial boot process as the miniscule text is incredibly hard to see AND you need to have your AC power connected or you will miss it completely.

I hope this helps others with XPS15's and I am relieved that I finally have a stock standard TI installation protecting my fantastic new XPS15. 

Having been an Acronis user since the very beginning, I have to say this has been a less than average effort on their part. Let's hope that somebody in the Acronis development team actually tests the new rescue media on a UHD PC so all of this can be fixed before the next release.

crhendo,

A new build just came out today - v6571.  Says it support high definition displays.  Try it out and let us know if it has made any difference. 

http://www.acronis.com/en-us/support/updates/changes.html?p=37994

I am thinking that it will not though, but if it does, that would be great.  If it does not help, please also submit feedback directly though the app so that it gets registered with Acronis development directly.  

@Mustang,

I have updated again my Post#30 with an updated french version of my Guide using now Acronis 2016 Update 2 (build 6571).

A complete screen copy of all the command lines is provided as an example with injection of 3 drivers. I used also Rufus v2.9 tool to build the USB media bootable.

@Mustang

Hi, I have Dell XPS 13 with NVMe PM951 and storage controller "Intel Chipset SATA RAID Controller". I have added drivers: iaStorA.sys and iaStorF.sys which were listed in Oem2.inf file. But it is still not working. After booting from USB I can see in ATI 2016 only USB drive.

 Any ideas?

 BTW. How to check which version of ADK I use? Windows 10 pro x64

You should find two inf files that list iaStorA.sys and iaStorF.sys. Both inf files are needed to make the driver work. In the driver I downloaded from Asus, there are iaAHCIC.inf and iaStorAC.inf.

Hi, it is not working :(

I have found: iastorav.inf, iastorv.inf, mshdc.inf, oem2.inf and oem4.inf in all this inf files were listed sys files that had in names iastor* or *ahci*. So I added to boot.wmi files:

- atapi.sys

- ataport.sys

- iaStorA.sys

- iaStoraAV.sys

- iaStorF.sys

- iaStorV.sys

- intelide.sys

- pciide.sys

- pciidex.sys

- storahci.sys

I did it by two ways, first all 'sys' files were taken from folder Windows/system32 and next from Windows/WinSxS, finally the same result: the USB Stick is my only drive.

What did I wrong?

Kwadrat,

You can check your ADK version via control panel add/remove programs or programs and features (depending on your OS) - see screenshot.

What version of Acronis are you using?  If using 2016, regardless of your OS, you can use the most current version of Windows ADK (see the link below in this post) and that should give you driver support out of the box.

The 951's are OEM only drives so you won't find drivers for them readily available on Samsung's site.  If you can create Windows 10 PE, you should be good in most cases, but the storage controller is the other problem at times.  I don't have any XPS sytems, but Acronis 2016 v6559 - 6571 and Windows 10 ADK created WinPE are working with all of our Latitutdes and Precisions, that are current and using 951's so I think you'd be OK  with this combination. 

If not, the easiest method I have found was to download the latest Dell WinPE packs 

Windows 10:  http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/enterprise-client/w/wiki/11530…

Windows 8.1/8/7:  http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/enterprise-client/w/wiki/5029.w…

Once your PE is created with Acronis, extract those .cab files with 7zip or something like that.  Then update the .wim file by using DISM commands to inject those drivers in the WinPE and you will defiinitely be good to go:

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh825070.aspx

Hi,

big thanks Bobbo, it is working now.

For the records: I use the newest Acronis and the newest ADK, WinPE created by Acronis in my environmental does not work.

Even Windows 10 Boot DVD – doesn’t see my drive.

I downloaded from Dell this WinPE pack and put all storage drivers to .wim file created by Acronis – it helpes.

Awesome, glad to hear it!  Yeah, even Microsoft can't get all of the new hardware drivers in by default. Sometimes you just have to add the drivers afterwards and WinPE is the best (really only) option to do that now.  I love those Dell Driver packs and they are usually updated very soon after new Network or storage devices are integrated into new Dell models. 

HP has similar driver packs too and so do Surface Pro's.  

Hi,

I have updated my Post#30 with a new Guide updated for ACRONIS 2017 Build 3070 and W10 x64 v1607 and ADK W10 v1607.

Hi guys,

Was wondering how would you remove lets say the standard NVME driver from the wim file? Such that if I add a 3rd party 

nvme driver would it even get loaded at all considering probably the microsoft one is already loaded??

Thanks

@david moheban

On my side to customize my USB ACRONIS 2017 NG WinPE boot media 64-bits I use this excellent (free version) tool: NTLite v1.2.0.14861 64-bits.

So, you can add your favorite NVMe manufacturer driver into the image. (personally I have addes Intel NVMe driver v1.8.0.1011 and Samsung NVMe driver v2.1.0.1611).

No need to try to remove the native MS NVMe W10 64-bits.

Regards

100PIER wrote:

@david moheban

On my side to customize my USB ACRONIS 2017 NG WinPE boot media 64-bits I use this excellent (free version) tool: NTLite v1.2.0.14861 64-bits.

So, you can add your favorite NVMe manufacturer driver into the image. (personally I have addes Intel NVMe driver v1.8.0.1011 and Samsung NVMe driver v2.1.0.1611).

No need to try to remove the native MS NVMe W10 64-bits.

Regards

@100PIER,

Can you please go into a little more detail? I have used NTLite before but for customizing Windows install ISO's.

Are you saying it will work the same on the Acronis Win-PE ISO file? Then I suppose I would have to use

a burning tool like rufus? I'm trying to included the Open Fabrics NVME driver in there. I have found better

benchmarks though in all honesty would get bottlenecked by the usb bus but why not add it in there..

Thanks

BTW Seen you around the Net. Thanks.

@david moheban,

Great if you already are familiar with NTLite tool.

You have to build directly a 'standard' WinPE boot media with Acronis 2017 NG Boot Media builder on a USB Flash drive.

No need to use the .iso/rufus method.

I summarize the NTLite scenario:

+Add-> Select "Microsoft Windows PE.."-> Load-> Components-> Drivers-> Storage Controllers-> Drivers-> +Add-> Folder with multiple drivers-> Select the drivers you want to add-> Apply-> PROCESS-> Save Changes & unload the image-> Exit

Nota: don't miss to "unload" the image manually if you don't have done any add/remove driver(s).

Here are some screenshots (only for the beginning of the scenario)

I'm not sure if I forgot to press the unload but I got a solid blue screen with no text when i copied my modified Wim file back to the usb. Restoring the original of course restored the usb key to a functional state. So I guess I'll try it again and make sure I click unload..

Edit: I had to configure NTLite to allow me to select or deselect hardware restricted drivers. Which I did upon the 'stornvme.sys' file.

Thank you for the help,

David 

@David moheban

May be a wrong manipulation somewhere ?

The modded image saving seems automatically done on the usb done by default.

So, what do you mean "..I copied.." ?

Can you detail the scenario you have done, at what step do you get a BSOD ?

Do you use the right NTLite version ?

What NVMe driver do you want add ?

Well I copied with boot.wim from the 'Sources' folder on the usb key to the 'Temp' folder on the main hard drive,

used NTlite to delete the extra NVME driver from microsoft, and exited NTlite after pressing 'Process'. From

there copied the boot.wim back to the sources folder, rebooted, got stuck on the Gigabyte boot logo, and

then the screen turned blue (just a solid blue color with no writing on the screen). Going to try again

and let you know what happens,

Thanks

@david moheban

I don't understand why you have done and why such complicate manipulations.

This is what I do and is working fine.
1) On my PC W10 + ADK I have created via ACRONIS Media Builder Tool a standard Acronis 2017 WinPE bootable USB key, (USB2 4GB key), and let it plugged in.

2) Then I invoke NTLite tool to inject the new driver. I use the default settings. (see screenshot)

If you want absolutely remove the default MS driver you can do also by untag it as described in these new attached screenshots.

I let NTLite tool do the process automatically, no need manual files move such as you have done .. ?

David, alternatively, you can use the tool described in post: 127281: MVP Tool - CUSTOM ATI WINPE BUILDER and just add your additional NVMe device driver using the Advanced version of the script.  You shouldn't need to remove the default Microsoft driver as if your extra driver is a better match than the generic driver, it should be used in the media and loaded automatically.

Steve Smith wrote:

David, alternatively, you can use the tool described in post: 127281: MVP Tool - CUSTOM ATI WINPE BUILDER and just add your additional NVMe device driver using the Advanced version of the script.  You shouldn't need to remove the default Microsoft driver as if your extra driver is a better match than the generic driver, it should be used in the media and loaded automatically.

Thanks will check it out. Thing is this driver is unsigned by a 3rd party and even in Windows turning on Test Mode windows will automatically load its default driver at next reboot so I thought it be best to delete the MS version. Anyhow will experiment and try it out. 

Thanks

The MVP tool forces injection of unsigned drivers you include, automatically.  You can do also do that with dism adk commands or a tool like dismgui if you already have premade WinPE you want to customize with your own drivers.

i can't think of any good reason to remove the default drivers though. There's really no advantage to injecting third party nvme drivers here either. The Windows 10 adk has nvme support already and all you need to accomplish here is getting your drive to be recognized, which will already be possible with the adk driver in win 10 pe. You're not going to see some vast improvement in your nvme drive under WinPE, just for adding the nvme Samsung nvme or whatever drivers you're including here. What unsigned nvme drivers would you be including anyway? Intels and Samsung a are both signed. Most drives work fine with the Microsoft drivers and , if you want something else, grab the intel drivers. 

I found these nvme OpenFabrics drivers that i benchmarked on my system and found the writes to be significantly faster than the microsoft drivers. In most cases I get it that restoring from usb is going to bottleneck whatever advantage you might have anyhow. Its a case of if you could i would here to make it so..

Thanks

Thank you very very very much

Augustin,

You're welcome.

Here are the instructions you have to do create a bootable dvd with added drivers for win10 64-bit:

1.) Create a WIM file through recovery media option (not usb), to do this you need to install the windows deployment tools, but TI will guide you there in the rescue media builder wizard
2.) Follow instructions from first post in this thread to add drivers to the created vim file (important, rename it to "boot.wim")
3.) Keep the console from first post open (deployment tools console)
4.) in that console issue this command "copype amd64 C:\WinPE_amd64" to create a local WinPE environment
5.) copy your wim file with added drivers to C:\WINPE_amd64\media\sources (there's should be already an existing one, overwrite with yours)
6.) create a ISO file with your wim file by issueing this command in the deployment console "MakeWinPEMedia /ISO C:\WinPE_amd64 C:\WinPE_amd64\WinPE_amd64.iso"
7.) burn iso with your preferred CD Burning Tool as bootable iso

Done. I hope this helps some people out there as there are very little guides for win10. Most are for win 7 or 8.1 but the WinPE structure has changed since then. The above reflects windows 10 structure. I hope I did not miss a step.

Probably you could also first create a bootable USB WinPE stick and take the WinPE envinronment from there, but it's safer to create it with above instructions to be sure you created a full WinPE environment

Marc,

Thanks for your post. You will get the exact same result by starting with a USB recovery media and adding the drivers to boot.wim from the source folder of the USB drive. I wanted to keep the instuctions as simple as possible in the first post.

You can also do the same thing by building a recovery ISO file. Then open the ISO with an ISO program like UltraISO and extract boot.wim from the sources folder. After adding the drivers, insert the modified boot.wim back into the ISO with UltraISO and save the changes.

Any of these ways will give the same result.

@Mustang,

The simpler way I use is to start from the basic standard WinPE USB bootable key provided via Acronis Media Builder and then use NTLite tool to add/remove any storage drivers you want.

You avoid any boot.wim file extraction, manipulation, etc..  No need to know the internal structure of your USB drive.

The tool does that automatically and manipulate globally your image and finally optimize it as well.

What you need is to prepare a folder 'reference' where you  have stored all your up-to-date  'pure' storage drivers (subfolders with their .inf).

The "Drivers" with 'Multiple folders' function selection is quite easy.

100PIER

Thank you. That's a very nice way to do it.

Hi,

Wanted to play around with the WinPE USB stick now as well, so I inserted a newly bought 16GB stick and tried to create a USB stick in TI 2017 and at first it starts, mounts the wim image etc. but then at the end it fails telling me that it could not create the product files? But creating a pure WIM or burn it directly to disc works. Can I manually create the USB by copying the contents of the disc onto it or is there something special to make it bootable? And does anybody know why I'm getting this error? Is this a bug in latest TI 2017?

Thanks

Marc,

Your new USB stick should be a MBR structure, FAT32 formatted. Usually I use a 4GB USB2 key.

With USB3 key you get some problems such as you describe.

Marc,

Try doing a full format of the USB drive as FAT32 before building the Acronis media. That has been reported to work in other posts.

Mustang, I registered for the forum specifically to thank you for taking the time to put this information together.  I've spent a lot of the past two weeks trying to nail down the process for a restore on several Dell Latitude E7470 laptops, and was defeated by the boot media failing to recognize the onboard chipset and internal SSD.  By following your directions I was able to create a working boot media and complete the restores.  Your helpful work is in stark contrast to Acronis support, which is some of the most useless and arrogant I have ever encountered in 20+ years of IT development.

You're welcome.

You may want to try our new MVP WinPE builder. https://forum.acronis.com/forum/127281 Use the advanced version. It has the Intel IRST drivers built in to make it easy. Those are the most likely drivers needed by the Dell laptops. The newer one use a single NVMe M.2 drive set to RAID mode for increased performance. Even though they use a single drive they're set to RAID mode, so they need RAID drivers. 

Very good, I'll check that out now.

Hello, I also have XPS 15 9550 with a 4K UHD screen.  Although I use the WinPE-based bootable media, the display screen is almost illegible.  If you have figured out how, can you kindly share with me?  Thanks in advance!

Hello, I also have XPS 15 9550 with a 4K UHD screen.  Although I use the WinPE-based bootable media, the display screen is almost illegible.  If you have figured out how, can you kindly share with me?  Thanks in advance!

Mustang! You did great effort to write almost all detail which anyone want to have about the Acronis drivers or drivers Winpe recovery media. I have same issue but when i applied your mentioned procedure then i got the solution. Thanks for this help.