Yet another inability to create bootable media
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Acronis Forum: Searched to death and no effective resolution found.
Hi All
I can't create bootable media (iso, thumb drive, etc.) without an error. I have a purchased license. The error message I keep getting is:
"Unable to create bootable media."
"Unable to mount the source .wim file."
"Learn more in Knowledge Base" click--> "There is no information about this error available now."
Why is there no KB info on this apparently common issue? From one other similar post, the answer was to Restore Windows to Factory - not an option for 90% of us. I had 1 boot partition, and 1 recovery partition. I removed the recovery partition and expanded the boot partition, but got the same result.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Hi Steve,
First off, let me say that even though I'm new, I can see and appreciate all you do to help everyone on this forum.
I'm a software developer and have been in IT for 30 years, and I'm getting very frustrated with this product.
In answer to your questions:
OS: Windows 10, upgraded from Windows 7
ATI Version: ATI 2020 #30480
Options I've used (Downloaded and installed both Windows ADK and PE kit)
Simple: Failed
(Advanced > WinPE-based media > Windows 10)
ISO: Failed
WIM: Failed
DVD: Failed
USB DRive: Failed
With Recovery Partition: Failed
Without Recovery Partition: Failed
The Linux option worked, but seriously? This .wim file seems to be the nexus for people who have issues in this area.
I can't believe that Acronis' final fix is to have windows users counter-intuitively use the Linux option. Paradoxically, even though the Linux option worked, I really can't in good consciousness this a "solution".
Thanks again, and I'm sorry for coming off rude, but Acronis really needs to re-think their entire Recovery Media approach (don't get me started on all the confusion with the Universal Restore Thing).
Paul, thank you for the answers to my earlier questions.
Just for background here, the Linux version of the ATI rescue media is legacy and was the default media from ATI 2017 all the way back to the earliest versions, and for many users it just works!
ATI 2018 began the move to using Windows PE media where Acronis started taking the necessary PE files from the Windows Recovery Environment to save users from having to download and install around 5-6GB of Windows ADK & PE Kits.
Enough of the history lesson....
My next request here is to ask you to create an Acronis System Report which will capture all the logs involved with media creation plus other relevant system information. This typically is too large to upload directly to the forums due to the 3MB size limit, therefore I will need you to send me a link to where I can download it via a cloud service such as Dropbox, Google Drive etc. You can do this via the 'Send message' link under my name in the forums (or from clicking on my profile name) which will come privately to me.
There is one other option to suggest as I don't see any mention of it so far, that is to use the MVP Custom PE Builder script to create the media, which will create its own log showing any errors encountered during the build process. Link to this is in my signature.
It's rather unusual to have all the WinPE options fail with the Acronis Media builder. Please try to build WinPE/RE recovery media using the MVP Tool https://forum.acronis.com/forum/acronis-true-image-2019-forum/mvp-tool-custom-ati-winpe-builder
The Acronis Media Builder is not used by the MVP Tool, so problems with it can be ruled out. If the MVP Tool fails, we can dig into the issue further to find the cause.
Ok, so here's the scoop. After messing around with this all weekend, I was finally able to create boot rescue disks using the "MVP Custom PE Builder". Though this is something that *should* have worked, in app, without resorting to out-of-app script files.(This app is not very graceful in handling non-perfect situations.)
Great, right?
Not so fast.
When I went to do a test restore on a spare hard drive using the recovery disk, and a backup I had just created using ATI in Windows 10 (which Verified just fine), I get something about "can't find Volume 1".
Seriously, does anyone test this junk? If I wrote something like this at my firm, and a Partner had the same experience I've just had, I, along with our QA guy and my manager, would all be out of a job.
With more information about your recovery attempt we might be able to help. Keep in mind that we MVP's are a community of users who volunteer our time to help others with problems.
So you booted recovery media after fiddling with things all weekend, you created a backup and attempted to restore it to a spare disk. Some questions we would have are:
- Where did you store this backup? Ext. disk, int. disk, NAS
- Where you able to locate the backup location? I suspect you were but somewhere in the process you got the error you speak of, correct?
- The backup you created, is it a single disk? Is it an Entire PC? If Entire PC, how many disks are installed in the PC being backed up?
Answers to these can give us a place to start. The more information we have the help we can be.
Paul, I tried to access the system report link you posted earlier but get 'Access denied' for which I did submit a request for access but have had no response to my gmail account (ss.pa....)
We do need to have more detailed information in order to help here as Bob (Enchantech) has stated above, as your experience is not typical of how other users find things, including ourselves in the MVP community.
One late thought, what size of USB media have you been using when creating the rescue media? Microsoft impose limits allowing a max size of 32GB for bootable USB media and Acronis have a minimum size requirement of 2GB.
One other question, when you see the 'can't find volume 1' error, are you restoring from the original location where you stored the backup files without making any changes to those files, i.e. not removed or deleted any files? The new .tibx files are inter-dependent on all the other files in the backup chain, including the 12kb metadata file when present, so all files should be present for a recovery.
Enchantech wrote:With more information about your recovery attempt we might be able to help. Keep in mind that we MVP's are a community of users who volunteer our time to help others with problems.
So you booted recovery media after fiddling with things all weekend, you created a backup and attempted to restore it to a spare disk. Some questions we would have are:
- Where did you store this backup? Ext. disk, int. disk, NAS
- Where you able to locate the backup location? I suspect you were but somewhere in the process you got the error you speak of, correct?
- The backup you created, is it a single disk? Is it an Entire PC? If Entire PC, how many disks are installed in the PC being backed up?
Answers to these can give us a place to start. The more information we have the help we can be.
Hi Enchantech,
1. The backup was stored in a NAS I purchased for this purpose.
2. Using the boot media, I've able to successfully access the network drive without issue.
3. I created the backup to be an image of the boot drive. (I backup data drives separately and manually without Acronis)
Steve Smith wrote:Paul, I tried to access the system report link you posted earlier but get 'Access denied' for which I did submit a request for access but have had no response to my gmail account (ss.pa....)
We do need to have more detailed information in order to help here as Bob (Enchantech) has stated above, as your experience is not typical of how other users find things, including ourselves in the MVP community.
One late thought, what size of USB media have you been using when creating the rescue media? Microsoft impose limits allowing a max size of 32GB for bootable USB media and Acronis have a minimum size requirement of 2GB.
One other question, when you see the 'can't find volume 1' error, are you restoring from the original location where you stored the backup files without making any changes to those files, i.e. not removed or deleted any files? The new .tibx files are inter-dependent on all the other files in the backup chain, including the 12kb metadata file when present, so all files should be present for a recovery.
Hi Steve,
I went ahead and updated the permissions on that GDrive report, but I've already gone 2 steps forward and 1 step back since that file was generated :)
As for the thumb drive, I'm using a 32G drive, on which I was finally able to create Rescue media and boot from (DVDs work as well now).
Finally, I've done so much testing, moving around, and in some cases renaming, I've lost track. So if any of that has messed with the "chain", how can I delete/reset everything and start over from scratch with a singular, Full Backup?Thanks again and I know you guys do a great job for the community and very much appreciate it.
Paul,
I would suggest creating a new backup task from scratch. Point it at a new folder on the NAS. Once configured run the task. When finished, attempt to recover the new backup created using the recovery media. If you get the error again make note of what step you are doing in the recovery. That should help us narrow down the problem.
Frankly, I think doing the above will bring success. As Steve pointed out the dependency of backup files with the new tibx format can cause issues like you report if any files have been moved or deleted outside of the Windows installed application.
Paul, looking at the Media Builder log from your system report covering from 8/9 to 12/9 I see the same error messages being posted.
08/09/2020 01:12:30:186 PM Error 0x180021: Unable to mount the source .wim file.
error 0xfff0: Access is denied.
08/09/2020 01:13:11:875 PM Error 0x180021: Unable to mount the source .wim file.
error 0xfff0: The specified image in the specified wim is already mounted for read/write access
08/09/2020 01:20:55:577 PM Error 0x180021: Unable to mount the source .wim file.
error 0xfff0: The user *** to mount to a directory that is not empty. This is not supported.
There are various known causes for some of the above errors:
Redirected %TEMP% or %TMP% locations - doesn't look to apply for your PC.
Media Builder not being run as Administrator.
The majority of the errors were for the second line, wim already mounted! You can check if this is the case by opening an Administrator level command prompt window and typing:
Dism /Get-MountedImageInfo
This will show if you have any mounted images, if so, then you can unmount this by using the further command:
Dism /Unmount-Image /MountDir:<path_to_mount_directory> {/Commit | /Discard} [/CheckIntegrity] [/Append]
See webpage: DISM Image Management Command Line Options for more information.
A Windows restart should also help with clearing up stale mounted images.
Enchantech wrote:Paul,
I would suggest creating a new backup task from scratch. Point it at a new folder on the NAS. Once configured run the task. When finished, attempt to recover the new backup created using the recovery media. If you get the error again make note of what step you are doing in the recovery. That should help us narrow down the problem.
Frankly, I think doing the above will bring success. As Steve pointed out the dependency of backup files with the new tibx format can cause issues like you report if any files have been moved or deleted outside of the Windows installed application.
I have created a whole new Full Backup on my NAS, in a completely different directory.
When I boot into Rescue and try to Restore, I get the same result "unable to find vol 1".
In the name of Full Disclosure, I DO get some message about "network share may need credentials", but the NAS creds I included when making the Rescue media work fine, as I am able to Browse right to it, so I've been ignoring it.
Oddly, I didn't get the "unable to find vol 1" error when I tried to Restore an older Acronis 11 backup (I've been an Acronis customer for years - since Acronis 6 I believe). It's been one thing after another, so I'm getting to my wit's end. :(
Steve Smith wrote:Paul, looking at the Media Builder log from your system report covering from 8/9 to 12/9 I see the same error messages being posted.
08/09/2020 01:12:30:186 PM Error 0x180021: Unable to mount the source .wim file.
error 0xfff0: Access is denied.08/09/2020 01:13:11:875 PM Error 0x180021: Unable to mount the source .wim file.
error 0xfff0: The specified image in the specified wim is already mounted for read/write access08/09/2020 01:20:55:577 PM Error 0x180021: Unable to mount the source .wim file.
error 0xfff0: The user *** to mount to a directory that is not empty. This is not supported.There are various known causes for some of the above errors:
Redirected %TEMP% or %TMP% locations - doesn't look to apply for your PC.
Media Builder not being run as Administrator.
The majority of the errors were for the second line, wim already mounted! You can check if this is the case by opening an Administrator level command prompt window and typing:
Dism /Get-MountedImageInfoThis will show if you have any mounted images, if so, then you can unmount this by using the further command:
Dism /Unmount-Image /MountDir:<path_to_mount_directory> {/Commit | /Discard} [/CheckIntegrity] [/Append]See webpage: DISM Image Management Command Line Options for more information.
A Windows restart should also help with clearing up stale mounted images.
*****
I'm running ATI as Admin.
I've rebooted the PC many many times during the course of this diagnosis, so that's not it.
Before I ran today, Get-MountedImageInfo showed nothing, after a failed attempt to make Rescue media, I get:
Mount Dir : C:\Users\Paul\AppData\Local\Temp\MntWIM
Image File : C:\Users\Paul\AppData\Local\Temp\tmp_winpe.wim
Image Index : 1
Mounted Read/Write : Yes
Status : Invalid
Your Dism command seems to contain a lot of optional command line switches that I have no idea how to answer since I don't use this utility. Taking a wild guess and running by choosing "/Discard" I get:
C:\WINDOWS\system32>Dism /Unmount-Image /MountDir:C:\Users\Paul\AppData\Local\Temp\MntWIM {/Commit | /Discard} [/CheckIntegrity] [/Append]
'/Discard}' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.C:\WINDOWS\system32>Dism /Unmount-Image /MountDir:C:\Users\Paul\AppData\Local\Temp\MntWIM /Discard [/CheckIntegrity] [/Append]
Error: 87
DISM doesn't recognize the command-line option "[/CheckIntegrity]".
For more information, refer to the help by running DISM.exe /?.
To sum up, I have 2 issues:
#1 Creating a Rescue disk from within the ATI app. (The ATI PE Builder workaround works though), and
#2 Restoring a backup without getting the "can't find vol 1" error (far more serious).
Paul,
Can you tell me if the "network share may need credentials" error has an error code of 1312?
Is your backup location that of a mapped drive? If yes, is your network path as follows:
net use Z: \\IP_address or computer_name\share_name user:username\password?
If yes try net use Z: \\IP_address or computer_name\share_name /user:username\password.
Paul Nascimento wrote:I'm running ATI as Admin.I've rebooted the PC many many times during the course of this diagnosis, so that's not it.
Before I ran today, Get-MountedImageInfo showed nothing, after a failed attempt to make Rescue media, I get:
Mount Dir : C:\Users\Paul\AppData\Local\Temp\MntWIM
Image File : C:\Users\Paul\AppData\Local\Temp\tmp_winpe.wim
Image Index : 1
Mounted Read/Write : Yes
Status : InvalidYour Dism command seems to contain a lot of optional command line switches that I have no idea how to answer since I don't use this utility. Taking a wild guess and running by choosing "/Discard" I get:
C:\WINDOWS\system32>Dism /Unmount-Image /MountDir:C:\Users\Paul\AppData\Local\Temp\MntWIM {/Commit | /Discard} [/CheckIntegrity] [/Append]
'/Discard}' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.C:\WINDOWS\system32>Dism /Unmount-Image /MountDir:C:\Users\Paul\AppData\Local\Temp\MntWIM /Discard [/CheckIntegrity] [/Append]
Error: 87
DISM doesn't recognize the command-line option "[/CheckIntegrity]".
For more information, refer to the help by running DISM.exe /?.To sum up, I have 2 issues:
#1 Creating a Rescue disk from within the ATI app. (The ATI PE Builder workaround works though), and
#2 Restoring a backup without getting the "can't find vol 1" error (far more serious).
Paul, sorry but when you see command options enclosed in [square brackets], this just indicates that these are optional so the only options you needed to use was:
Dism /Unmount-Image /MountDir:C:\Users\Paul\AppData\Local\Temp\MntWIM /Discard
As your initial command shows the mounted image as being Invalid, then you can clean this by just using a simpler command:
Dism /Cleanup-Wim
This works on all invalid images. However, the concern here is to why the mounted .wim file is deemed to be invalid! This is an area where Paul may be better able to offer help as I cannot claim to be an expert when it comes to using dism etc. The fact that the MVP PE builder works Ok, tells its own story here!
For the 'can't find vol 1' issue, can you clarify this for me, just so we are on the same page!
Is this being given when booted from the WinPE rescue media?
If yes, then what files are present in the destination location where you are restoring from and where is that destination location?
Further, does this same issue occur if you create backups to a local external backup drive then try to restore from the same?
For the mount issue:
1. Look at your temp folder (C:\Users\Paul\AppData\Local\Temp) and see if there is a mount folder such as MntWim. If you see one, see if you can delete any files in it. Also see if you can delete the folder. If you have trouble deleting, it means the image wasn't fully dismounted.
2. To fully dismount all images issue the following from an admin. level command window:
dism /Cleanup-MountPoints
If that succeeds, go back to temp and delete the mount folder if it was present. This should give you a clean start.
3. Now issue the following from an admin. command window:
dism reagentc /info (Show us the output.)
This will tell you if the Windows Recovery Environment is Enabled or Disabled. If it's disabled, the build from WinRE option won't work from the MVP Tool. The build from an installed ADK will work. What option did you use with the MVP Tool?
It's hard to tell why the Acronis Media Builder won't work with the Simple option. When you select the Simple option, Acronis will try to build from the Windows Recovery Environment on the computer. They use a somewhat bad procedure in that they will search the computer for a winpe.wim file to use. There can be more than one winpe.wim present. If there are more than one Recovery partitions (because of Windows version upgrades), they will use the first one they find. That may not be the one the system is using. The MVP Tool will read the output from a reagentc /info command and use the proper winre.wim when the build from WinRE option is selected. The Acronis Media Builder also has an Advanced option. Using that and selecting build from an ADK will use the same ADK wim file as the MVP Tool will use.
You can see why it's difficult to guess what's going wrong with the Acronis Media Builder when we don't know exactly what you are trying and exactly what recovery partitions are present on your system. Are there more than one Windows systems present on your computer? The Acronis Media Builder will start searching by the lowest disk number and use the first winre.wim file found. If we can find what winpe.wim Acronis is trying to use with the Simple option, you can copy it out and manually mount it to tell if it is valid.
Sorry I can't be more specific to pinpoint the problem.
Steve and Mustang,
You guys are SAINTS, but this product is junk. I will be asking for a full refund, today.
I tried out a competing product. And you know what happened?
I created one of their Rescue Disks - and it worked the first time.
I created one of their Backups on my NAS - and it worked the first time.
I then restored the backup to a spare drive - and you guessed it, - it worked the first time.
I deleted the backup from Windows Explorer, and it worked fine, no "sync" errors, no false entries in their app, perfection.
This proves to me that it's *possible* for Acronis to create a finished product, it just chooses not to do so.
Instead of hiring more developers, it has relied on Community Volunteers and their free help.
Haven't you guys ever wondered why the hell you're so busy in this forum?
If Acronis put out a good product, there wouldn't be a NEED for you guys to be so awesome!
I'm ageing myself, but remember the Maytag Repairman?
Meanwhile, this thread is almost 20 posts long, and still no end in sight among the registry entries, obscure command-line incantations, and entire novels of procedures.
Anyway, thanks again Steve and Mustang.
As for Acronis, what a pity, I'd been with you guys since 2006.
P.S. For everyone else having issues, I hope you solve your issues with EASE here in the US.
I have been using acronis for years. I'm not an expert with this stuff. Acronis saved me several times and I am grateful.
Now, on my newer laptop running windows 10 and Acronis 2021 I am experiencing major problems. I posted on this one because I too cannot create a resume media even though I had created one in 2019 on this PC.
I tried to perform a file restore. That operation failed. Then I attempted a complete recovery using the app. That failed miserably. So then I tried using the rescue media that I originally created, that too failed.
I spent hours online with 2 reps trying to help me. They couldn't create a new bootable rescue media. They too had to default to Linux. But, my PC fails to boot on this media.
Sadly, if this isn't corrected, I will have to switch to something else .