Guide to building a 64 bit UEFI Secure Boot WinPE 5.0 CD or USB Flash Drive running TI 2015 and Universal Restore with DD12

Thanks Mustang for the hint ... Are we talking about the MS ahci driver aka storahci.sys ? (Un?)Fortunately I did rebuild my W8.1 from scratch on the new hardware .. and for those considering the swap to the Haswell platform : if you have an SSD with a SandForce 12xx controller, expect to be into deep misery ! ;-)

Michael,

I've had bad reports even when changing to English language.

Thank you, thank you Paul!

The ISO works great! Reads USB 3.0 external drives OK. A bit tricky to build the disk. But with the instruction and comments on this forum I got there. The step six instructions contained in C:\MustangPEBuilder_2_ADK_64_LaunchBar\Plugins\DD12\ReadMe.txt were not easy to understand. It would help to see a snapshot of the complete final file structure so we know what it should look like when we get it right. And when instructed to unzip a file and put it somewhere, I was not always certain how the file structure should look after following the instruction. In any case, thanks for this help. Enabled restore of ATIH 2015 backups of Win 7 Ultimate C: on external WD 3Tb USB 3.0 drive. The ATIH restore disk would not read the USB 3.0 drive. And now I finally have a disk that will overcome most problems with checking out PC disk failures.

Well, after all the messing up and losing time over inconsistent situations in trying to port the existing config to new HW, I had to do a fresh install of W 8.1 on the new Z97 board + cpu ... tough call ! ;-)

Hey guys, I'm having some issues with this tutorial, I followed it to the letter, and the disk starts to load and it looks as though it's loaded the desktop and about to pop open it's menu/desktop and my system just automatically reboots itself, do you have any suggestions?

Hi Mark,

Sounds like an Acronis driver issue. You can prove it by removing all Acronis plugins from plugins.ini. Let me know if it boots.

Hi Mark,

Due to your great knowledge on this topic, I hope you can answer these questions for me that I could not get from Acronis support:

I a trying to create a boot CD using AcronisTrueImage2015_6525 without UEFI secure boot since I have a BIOS password on all
of my computers.

Does the AIK for Windows 8.1 downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=39982 conflict with the Visual C++ Re-Distributives? I have extremely large Visual Studio system on my computer, and do not wish to
re-install them, as indicated in a previous reply to this message.

I also can not find a good reference on how to put the drivers on the bootable CD/DVD.

The above link is for Windows 8.1. Is this for Windows 7 also?

Thanks so much ,

Jody

The CD made will boot either UEFI of BIOS/Legacy. As far as I know, it should not conflict with the Visual C++ Re-Distributables.

You add drivers using the AddDrivers.ini file in the MustangPE folder. If you create a Drivers folder in your C: drive, you can put a subfolder under that folder for each driver you want to add. Then edit AddDrivers.ini as follows:

[Driver Paths]
driver1=

[Driver Folders]
folder1=C:\Drivers

Hi Mustang,

I was told today by Acronis Tech Support that the following procedure would allow a successful creation of a boot CD/DVD/Flash that
could access a USB3 drive containing a Windows 7, 8.1 Acronis backup. According the Acronis Tech Support, there is no need to
download and install the ADK for either windows 7 or 8.1. I would be interested in what you think of this process. I will let you know if it works.

Download Acronis True Image 2015 custom build from following link:
>
>
>
> 2) Double click on downloaded file and select "Repair", it will update the
> custom build.
>
> 3) Post completion create bootable media on CD/DVD. This bootable media
> can be used on windows 7 OS and windows 8.1 OS.

Thanks for your quick response to my previous question.

Jody

I dont get the point of the problem I use TI 2015 6525 and my stock Acronis Linux based bootable USB Stick / DVD is able to use USB 3 devices.
Still interesting that they have got a much newer build (6574) on FTP . Is there a changelog available for that?! In addition the 6525 is still reported as most recent version when running the update check.

The biggest issue is the glaring incompatibility of having 2 UEFI Acronis applications on just one USB device / DVD like ATI 2015 and the latest Disk Director 12, as the bootable media creator has never seen any compatibility update for ATI 2015! A shameful diplay again!

Jody,

Acronis has announced that there will be at least one more release of TI 2015 called Update 2. The time line is not available. They have previously released an ISO file for the Linux recovery media (build 6567) that was available to download on request. That ISO was released to fix the USB 3.0 problem. I would assume build 6574 contains the same fix. It will be interesting to see if build 6574 is released as Update 2 or if another build number is used.

I installed build 6574 on top of build 6525. The only option was to "Upgrade" not "Repair." It seemed to work well. Running the program in Windows now shows build number 6574. Creating a new Linux based CD also shows build number 6574. I don't have any problem USB 3.0 drives to test, so I can't say if it works or not.

Karl,

It's been reported that most, if not all, of the USB 3.0 problem drives have been Seagate drives.

Thanks, glad to know it's only for some drives and not a general issue. Fits to a pun I have about Seagate:

"Seagate oder sie geht nicht."

Just a note: I have supplied a few users with drives mounted in USB 3.0 enclosures whom were experiencing recognition issues with the 6567 build of the recovery media and they have reported success in resolving their problem.

Anyone tried this on Windows 10? I got a successful boot 1st try, but the menu was missing DD and TI, (my error I'm sure). I think I have corrected this, but cannot get rid of the original ISO file. Creating a new build does not overwrite it and there seems to be no way to delete the file. It says cannot delete the file cause it is in use by system. I have closed the building window and tried the dism /Cleanup mount-Points, no joy. Any suggestions?

Wendy,

This is working in Windows 10. You need to be logged in using an account with administrative rights. You need to use the Windows 8.1 ADK. The preview version of the Windows 10 ADK will not work.

You probably have already done this, but make sure the ini files in the TI and DD plugin folders are pointing to the correct folders.

If you can't delete the ISO file after a system reboot, boot into WinPE and delete it using the A43 file manager utility. Also make sure C:\winpe_amd64 does not exist before starting the build. If you can't delete the folder, use WinPE to delete it.

Mustang,
Thanks, I was stumped. I guess I'll find out in another 8 hours. Can't reboot now, waiting on the last 1/3 of a 24+ hour download. The paths were correct, but I found a double file structure in DD and TI and corrected it which I believe caused the error, I put the double structure back and now all looks good at the pause. I think.

sorry for this post and for my english.......
i've a problem whith psw acronics agent user ; lost the psw .
have you solutions ?
tnks to all

NEVER MIND, went thru every thing looking for a typo and found a stray quotation mark. All is well and working!

I have a working USB WinPE boot. But DD12 does not show in the Programs menu, checking the X drive with A43 DD12 is under the menu but only contains 2 empty folders; the report folder and the WinPE folder. There is no systeminfo.exe or anything but the 2 empty folders. I have unzipped the common files DD WinPE64 files to every location I can imagine and changed the path to each location that makes sense with no joy. Everything else works fine. Btw I am on Windows 10 preview build 10162. Booting on a USB 3 drive. Any suggestions?

Look at the file named DD12.ini in the DD plugin folder. Edit it with notepad. Set the path to the location where you have unzipped the DD files.

I am really struggling here. I have previously created a bootable UEFI USB 3.0 stick with TI2015 build 6525 and it works no problem. As there is a later build available, 6613, i thought I would create another USB with the later build on. Simples. Obviously I have installed the later version on my PC!

I cannot get it to write to the USB stick at all. I get the warning that file on K: (the correct USB location) but then when it completes, the ISO is in the ISO folder of your LaunchBar program on C: drive and the USB stick is untouched.

I do not get any warning messages with the exception of 'Files are going to be overwritten in thr USB drive', which is normal.

Any ideas please?

Is this the same USB stick you successfully used previously? The USB stick must be seen as a removable drive and can not be larger than 32 GB.

Can you burn the ISO to CD and boot it to verify TI 2015 build 6613 is running?

It is not the same stick but it is the same size and manufacturer, SanDisk UltraUSB 3.0 16GB. But I have tried other USB sticks too, and different USB ports on my PC, both USB 3.0 and 2.0

I have booted from the ISO burnt to a CD, but it was not UEFI and neither would TI2015 run. I got the following message: Trueimage.exe, 'The application was unable to start correctly (0x0000005)'.

I have gone over my steps and started from scratch twice, with the same result.

EDIT: I have now re-done the Mustang set-up process again, for the third time and although I still cannot save to a USB stick, I can burn the Mustang TI2015 ISO to CD. Although it still is NOT UEFI, it will run TI2015 no issues.

So. now I proved it kinda works. But two questions, why can I not save to a USB stick and secondly why won't it create a UEFI version anyway?

I must be doing something wrong, but for the life of me, I don't know what!

It has to be UEFI bootable. It is a 64 bit WinPE. As such it can be booted as both UEFI and Legacy/BIOS. You should boot as UEFI so True Image 2015 restores your GPT disks as GPT.

I don't know why you can't get the USB stick to work. You could try a third party solution such as Rufus or RMPrepUSB to burn the ISO to USB.

Thanks for your advice.

My system is set to boot UEFI already and does so normally. I can even use my original Mustang TI2015 (build 6525) to boot in UEFI mode without issue.
So you can see why I am perplexed.

I will try RUFUS. I agree it must be something with my set-up. I will try further.

Thanks again.

Deleted

I have the same problem. I updated to build 6613 from 6525. It asks if I wish to overwrite the USB stick, I respond YES and it ends immediately with no error indications. Unlike Wallace, I used the same USB stick I had used previously. The USB stick is unchanged, it still has the old version, which still works. I am running Windows 8.1 Professional 64 bit. Any suggestions?

I didn't have any problem after upgrading to build 6613. All I can suggest is that the problem may have been caused by a recent Windows update. I've identified two past updates (KB 3000850 and KB 3045999) that caused problems. I have been blocking all Windows updates for the last month. I'm just totally fed up with all the time they consume and the problems they cause.

Well, I'm embarrassed to say that my USB create problem was because the drive letter changed and I failed to notice. It does create the USB successfully now that I changed the drive letter. My apologies.
However, I noticed that the TI2015 build in the Windows PE is still 6525. After updating to build 6613, I simply reran MustanPE. Do I have to re-install all the Windows PE components again?

You need to download and install the Media Add-On from the Free Plugin tab on your Acronis account for TI 2015. Then you need to unzip WinPE.zip from C:\Program Files (x86)\Acronis\TrueImageHome\BartPE and use the files to replace the files you previously put in the MustangPE plugins\TI2015 folder.

An update:

I discovered that Acronis were a bit slow in updating the Media Add-on in my account's download folder. It seems that even though I downloaded and installed build 6613 of TI2015, the Media Add-on was still build 6525.

Having downloaded all again I will attempt to redo the process once more.

I have, however, upgraded my PC to Windows 10 Pro since.

Fingers crossed and I will update here with the result.

Thanks

Well, I am stumped.

Re-ran the whole process again. I selected the drive letter of the USB drive I wish to use, L: in this case. I have left some data on the USB pen drive deliberately. When I run the creation program, I get a warning that all data on the USB pen drive will be deleted, I click OK and the process continues.

I then get a confirmation message telling me the ISO file has been written to C: drive. I check the contents of my USB pen drive and find it is empty. This, to me proved, that I have the correct drive letter selected for the image creation as it has formatted the pen drive. BUT IT DOES NOT WRITE ANYTHING TO IT.

What is happening? I have tried several pen drives, USB 2.0 and 3.0. I will not use the existing pen drive containing my previous build (6625) as I do not want to burn any bridges.

Any ideas as I am stumped.

I did as you suggested, downloaded Media add-ons, installed and copied over the plugins, still getting build 6525 instead of 6613.

Edward,

Look at C:\MustangPEBuilder_ADK_64_LaunchBar\Plugins\TI2015\Files64\TrueImage.exe. Hover the mouse over the file and tell me what file version you see. You're should get whatever version you see there.

Also check C:\MustangPEBuilder_ADK_64_LaunchBar\ISO\winpe_amd64.iso to make sure the date created agrees with the date you most recently ran MustanPE. If it is a prior date, that would mean you didn't get a new iso created.

Hi,

Do you think your configuration will work over a PXE server ?

Thanks in advance

MustangPE is based on a standard Microsoft WinPE the same as is used by the Acronis WinPE. If you can't boot the Acronis WinPE, MustangPE will not work either.

This link may help you http://www.howtogeek.com/162070/it-geek-how-to-network-boot-pxe-the-win… . MustangPE has the option to copy out the boot.wim file during the build process. You will need it for this method.

Is it necessary to always update the Mustang rescue media after an Acronis update?

Nils, only if you want the media to have the latest version of True Image. If the old version is working for you, you don't need to update the media.

Thank you, Paul.

Sorry I took so long, had other things to do. I checked the TI plugin as suggested, it shows a create date of 11/27/2014. The hover info is File ver. 18.0.0.6525. not sure what to do next. Thanks.

Ed,

You need to delete the Files and Files64 folders from C:\MustangPEBuilder_ADK_64_LaunchBar\Plugins\TI2015.

Now go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Acronis\TrueImageHome\BartPE\WinPE.zip and copy the Files and Files64 folders to the C:\MustangPEBuilder_2_ADK_64_LaunchBar\Plugins\TI2015 folder. Then run MustangPE again.

Mustang,

Will there be a plugin for TI2016?

Jan,

I'm not going to publish a TI 2016 plugin.

You can use the TI 2015 plugin if you make a simple modification:

1. Supply the 2016 WinPE files in the 2015 plugin.

2. Rename the folder Microsoft.VC120.CRT under Files64\Drivers to Microsoft.VC80.CRT.

3. Rename the three files in that folder by changing the 120 in the names to 80.

4. When you build MustangPE go to the Advanced Options page and check the box to pause the build.

5. When the build pauses, go to C:\winpe_amd64\mount\Program Files\Acronis\TrueImageHome and rename the same three files changing the 80 in the names back to 120. Then continue the build.

When you boot and run TI 2015 you will get TI 2016 to run.

Paul,

Thanks for your reply. Now I can run ATI2016 build 5576 from my stick

Mustang,

I followed the steps that were listed in the first post and downloaded all the files to create a bootable USB. I am able to get your program to run but I am not able to get it to produce an iso file. It will generate the winpe_x86 directory and the the sub directories and after closing your program the directories still exist. I have tried deleting the directories as you stated in one of the later posts but that did not work. I have tried to write the file to both a USB and to an iso file.

Operating sys: Win7 Pro
True Image 2015 Version 18.0.0.6613

Any help would be appreciated

Sherman

I have a Surface Pro 4 running the latest bulld of Win 10.  I followed all the instructions in your first post using the Windows 10 ADK, AcronisUB plugin, and TI2015 plugin.  Since I don't have DD12 I didn't use that plugin.  Created a USB flash drive, and it refuses to boot on the SP4.  I did go into firmware, and dragged the USB storage option to first in boot order.  The Surface logo flashes on and off a couple times, then it just boots into Windows.  I also tried the two button Vol Down/Power On method for booting from external USB  with the same results.  A USB recovery drive created in Windows does boot properly.  USB created using the Acronis 2015 Media Creation Tool does not work either.  Haven't tried Acronis Universal Boot tool (it's my wife's pc, and she is traveling with it.)

I would really appreciate any ideas you might have.

Hi Mustang,

First, I wanted to thank you for the detailed instruction because I was able to create and run the WinPE 5.1 with all of the tools mentioned. I actually created the WinPE 5.1 with the True Image 2016, Universal Boot and Disk Director 12.

Second, I'm running the WinPE on a XPS 9350 with Quad HD successfully.  However, the menus are cutting off.  Do you know what could have cause this?

Thanks.

Jon

Hi Jon,

That does look strange. Have you tried changing the screen resolution in MustangPE?

Hi,

I have tried with 1600x1200 but the result is still the same.

I have another question, does Universal Boot work within winpe 5.1?  When I lauched the application, i'm getting an error "Cannot connect to localhost".  I've gone through your post twice and didn't find anything about this error.  Am I missing something?

Jon

I think I know what you've done. Did you use the Universal Restore files for TI 2016? If you did, that will produce the error you are getting. You need to use the files for the TI 2015 version of Universal Restore.  

I'm a long time user of TI since version 9. I just recently took advantge of the an offer to upgrade from TI 2014 to 2016 plus an extra license for another computer. I was dissapppointed to find out that I can't buld a 32bit Winpe using the free plugin that Acronis supplies. Only 64bit is supported. I don't have any 64bit machines and don't plan on having one any time soon. I see its possible to build a 32 bit Universal Restore disk which I did.

I have a WinPe disk from TI 2014 but don't know if it will be fully compatible with TI 2016 files. This is definitlely a major issue with TI 2016 and has me considering a refund and persuing another application for my backup needs.

Is there any possible way to build a 32bit WINPE recovery disk in TI 2016. I realize this is the 2015 thread but it discusses in great detail how to build a 64bit Winpe using Mustang's PEbuIlder. If there is a way I am willing to be a guinea pig.