Restoring old image to same hardware
We're using Acronis Backup 11.7 through Kaseya and have been creating images of the servers in our network. These images then get backed up to tape and removed from the repository.
I'm trying to restore an old image of a server from tape back onto the same hardware but am struggling with the Acronis products and actually getting them to work as I want.
I've used the Acronis Universal Restore Media Builder (as advised by Kaseya) to create a bootable UR environment but it appears the the UR utility only provides the ability to restore a generic image to the hardware. This is not what I want to do.
Using the same tool I've also created a bootable Acronis Backup environment with the idea of using this to restore the image but this fails to work correctly.
Can someone please tell me how to restore an image, stored on a network share, to the same hardware from boot?
I cannot use the Kaseya function as it cannot see the image due to the fact that it has since been removed from the Kaseya repository.
Thanks

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Hi Vasily, thanks for your quick response.
I get the Acronis Rescue Media window after I select to boot from the USB device. I'm presented with an option for Acronis Universal Restore (32-bit). When I select this, I'm faced with the Universal Restore screen and the only options available to me are for selecting an OS, the Automatic Driver Search and Mass Storage Drivers to Install Anyway. There are three buttons at the bottom of the screen for OK, Reboot and Turn Off.
Selecting OK begins the restore process.
This seems to be applying the generic OS selected in the previous screen and nowhere does it ask me to provide a location for an image to restore. Acronis instructions on how to use this tool are poor at best.
I'm using the UR as this was recommended by Kaseya. Can I restore the image from a third computer, for example, mine?
I've tried to complete this process on a VMware virtual machine so I can see what happens after the restore process completes but I keep getting an error saying there is a driver missing. I'm currently struggling to find this driver anywhere for free download...
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Hi Richard,
Thank you for the details - screen shots were most helpfu. The bootable media you have includes _only_ Universal Restore tool on it, so it's capable for fixing bootability (injecting drivers/patching OS boot loader), but it's not capable for actual image recovery. The image recovery can be done with standard Acronis Backup bootable media which is also created by the Media Builder. However I'm not sure what exactly Kaseya is providing as Media Builder (it might be some customized limited version).
Please also check forum private messages - I'll send you a link to proper .iso image for the bootable media.
Thank you.
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When I'm running the Bootable Media Builder, the first four screens I'm seeing are attached. On the fourth screen, I have tried selecting both 32-bit options and neither seem to be right.
I'm not sure how to use the ISO file you've provided as the Media Builder cannot 'see' this ISO file.
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Hi Richard,
The ISO link I've sent is the actual bootable media. You can write it to a CD or boot VM directly from it in order to test recovery - there is no need to use Media Builder.
If you want to create media directly on a flash drive/CD/DVD - only then you'll need Media Builder tool and on the latest screen shot (428783-139426.png) you should simply check Acronis Backup -> Acronis Backup (64-bit with UEFI support) item. When booting from media created this way, you'll see an option in the boot menu to run Acronis Backup and from there you'll be able to start the recovery. For step-by-step instructions you can also check "Recovery" section from https://kb.acronis.com/content/35681 article (after the "Preparation" step).
Thank you.
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Vasily,
Booting from the ISO you provided on a VM has worked and I was able to restore the image successfully, however, the VM will now not boot fully and becomes stuck in a loop.
" If you want to create media directly on a flash drive/CD/DVD - only then you'll need Media Builder tool and on the latest screen shot (428783-139426.png) you should simply check Acronis Backup -> Acronis Backup (64-bit with UEFI support) item. When booting from media created this way, you'll see an option in the boot menu to run Acronis Backup and from there you'll be able to start the recovery."
I have tried to use the Media Builder to create the bootable media but I have to select the 32-bit option as the system is not a UEFI system. If I use the 64-bit with UEFI support, when I boot I get a message saying "BOOTMGR is missing" and I have to reboot the system.
On using the 32-bit option, I can only select either the Universal Restore, which as we now know is of no use to achieve what I'm trying, or the Acronis Backup option. When I have seleced the Acronis Backup option and booted from this, there is another error message saying there is either a file missing or the system cannot load a file. Unfortunately I was not able to get a screenshot.
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Hi Richard,
After performing cross-platform recovery (which is Physical-to-VMware in your case) you'll need to apply Universal Restore after the recovery is done. In other words you should boot the recovered VM from your very 1st bootable media where Acronis Universal Restore is included as a separate tool (get to this screen). The required drivers for VMware platform should be already included into the bootable media so you won't be prompted for additional drivers as it happened before.
Thank you.
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I get the same error as before when I do this.
Selecting UR from the main screen or from the Tools menu.
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Hi Richard,
The device referred on the error message is VMware SATA AHCI controller - see http://pci-ids.ucw.cz/read/PC/15ad/07e0. The SATA HDD controllers are rarely used on VMware and the drivers for this type of controllers are not provided by default, so you'll need to download these drivers from VMware. An alternative method is to change the controller type where the virtual disk is attached to LSI SAS which is the recommended type for Windows 2008 guest OS. This can be done via vSphere client.
Thank you.
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I have just searched the VMware web portal for SATA AHCI controller software but can find nothing.
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Hi Richard,
According to your screen shot there is SATA controller present in the system:
You should remove this controller from the VM configuration or simply skip the prompt for this driver as the disks are not placed on this controller, so it should not affect the bootability of the system.
If there are still problems with the process, please contact our support team for assistance.
Thank you.
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In reply to Hi Richard,… by truwrikodrorow…

Hi Vasily,
Yes I noticed this controller too but it could not remove it. I found later it is the controller for CD/DVD drive 1 which is why it cannot be removed.
I solved the problem yesterday though. I added a second SATA controller to the config but did not connect any devices to it. When attempting to boot the VM, it no longer became stuck in the boot loop and loaded Windows successfully.
Thank you so much for your help and advice on this problem!
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