Acronis OS Selector is NOT logical .....................

Same problem here! (only difference is I have two Win7 partitions (MAIN for business and GAMES for, well..).

I never got to test OSS in the Beta so I was hoping this long-standing bug would have been fixed.

I will attempt to break down the problems I have encountered into subparts so that anyone willing to help will have an easier time of doing so.

Pardon my shout, but ATTENTION MUDCRAB:

The only method of correcting the greyed-out option to change the "hidden" status for those of us who like our OS to always be "C:" no longer viable! Or am I missing something?

So MUDCRAB, if you can read this:

Specifically, we used to get around this problem by either:
1. using DD to hide both OS partitions, thus removing their "C" or "D" designation. Commit. Then Unhide each WITHOUT assigning a drive letter... all of this via the Rescue CD. At that point, OSS would see both OS'es and allow me to check/uncheck the "hide" option for each.

OR

2. (my preferred method), Mudcrab's solution to manually edit (via notepad, for example) the bootwiz config files to set the hide/unhide status as we like.

RE: METHOD 2--
The problem with Mudcrab's solution for DD 10 and below, is that DD 11 seems to have a 1kb bootwiz.oss file with no data to manipulate, along with a .bin file that is huge and, at least to me, uneditable.

Am I missing something, such as a new location that DD 11 uses for the .cfg file? Or is Method 2 no longer viable?

AND AS FOR METHOD 1--
DD 11 has no "hide" option anymore, requiring me to use "Change Partition Type" to change an 07-type NTFS partition to an 17-type Hidden NTFS partition. (Note, this invites disaster, because I accidentally clicked the wrong type on my first try and "commit"-ed a disastrous change of my 07 NTFS Main OS partition to a hidden FAT-type partition, a mistake I could not reverse... True Image was my friend that day). But otherwise, is this type of "type" changing safe? Is it equal to the DD10 "HIDE" option?

A lot of questions, I know... but if someone has the answers.... please chime in. I was sure MudCrab would have already posted a way to fix the greyed-out hidden checkbox bug by now, but I can't seem to find it here in the Acronis fora.

ONE LAST TANGENTIAL ISSUE:
the release notes for v216 of DD11 state that newly created NTFS partitions with DD11 default to providing user "EVERYONE" with "FULL" privileges to the entire partition. As such, I doubt I can just create a new partition with DD11 and have windows 7 work properly on that partition. The only workaround I see (for my OSS purposes) would be to create a base Win7 install and use ATI to back it up. Then install DD11 and OSS. Then, instead of creating a new NTFS partition, use ATI to create the second Win7 partition by RESTORE-ing the backed-up Win7 partition to unallocated space.
However, can this method be used to avoid the "greyed-out hidden option" bug in OSS?

Because this NTFS permissions known issue seems like such a major bug to me (HUGE), and should be easy to fix... I am expecting a DD11 update any day now. But none has arrived. Am I making a bigger deal about this than necessary? and if not, is a fix/workaround coming soon?

Thank you!
loox

loox,

I'll try to answer your questions.

---
The "grayed-out checkbox" bug is still there from OSS 10. Understand that OSS 11 is OSS 10 + Windows 7 detection. Very little in the way of changes/fixes were made. The easiest method of fixing this problem is to edit the BOOTWIZ.OSS file and remove the hidden="1" value from the booting partition for the OS. The BOOTWIZ.OSS file is still like it was -- a plain text XML file.

If the BOOTWIZ.OSS file seems different, you may be looking at the wrong file.

---
You can change the hidden status of the partition by changing the partition type. Just be very careful to change the correct partition and to set the correct value. This is the manual way of doing what hide/unhide does. It's just more risky because there's a higher chance of user error.

---
I wouldn't worry about the permissions. Windows should set what it needs when you install it. I think that DD is just setting the default to that so there aren't problems with users accessing files on the partitions. That being said, I prefer to have the Windows installer reformat the partition as part of the installation. The problem with DD NTFS formatting may have been fixed (I'm not sure), but I still feel that there's less chance of a problem if Windows does it.

Thanks, MudCrab...

I was hoping you'd say something like that. Perhaps something went wonko with my install and my bootwiz.oss file ended up empty. Learning that it shouldn't be empty means that I either have not found the proper file or the something went wrong in the creation of the file. THANK YOU! That's helps a lot!

My plan: as I have used ATI to go back to when I had DD10 working OK... will be to follow Acronis' instructions for DD11 install and OSS subsequent install exactly... with one minor change: I will install OSS to the last, logical, 150MB partition on my first disk created just for DDOSS. I made it a FAT32 partition and will custom install OSS to that partition and there it will stay!

This partition, however, is visible in Windows 7... I don't suppose I could find a way to hide it, too, so that I don' t have to deal with it residing in the "Computer" folder?

Just remove the drive letter assignment for the OSS partition if you don't want it visible in Windows.

I would like to thank MudCrab for ALL the work he has put into adding Windows 7 to OSS.

I will be leaving Acronis OSS behind with all the nasty/TOO Technical stuff it takes to make it work at all.

BootIT NG is a wonder compared to Acronis OSS 11. Acronis should take a HARD look at this product!

The lack of key features in DD 11 that were in DD 10 will force me into making another sad decision.

I have been a fan of Acronis for years and have recommended it to all who would listen ( even at work ),
HOWEVER those days seem to be over.

It is really sad to see such a fine company with such great products going down the tubes.

Unless and until I can see a GREAT change in attitude and PRODUCTS I will be an EX Acronis user.

Jerry

P.S. I would like to hear from other users that have found GOOD B&R programs...

Jerry Smith wrote:

I would like to thank MudCrab for ALL the work he has put into adding Windows 7 to OSS.P.S. I would like to hear from other users that have found GOOD B&R programs...

Been there, done that. I always return to Acronis. But that's just me.
I also get what some posters are saying re certain features implemented at the behest of us users. I am elated that, for example, OSS is back in the product. I was also one of the ones who wanted it now.

So on one hand we have a product that in all honestly is not ready for us. But on the other, we have Acronis scrambling to switch gears at the 11th hour to give us what we want. I decided I prefer the latter.

As for Mudcrab, thanks once again. I was indeed looking for bootwiz.OSS in the wrong place... Not surprising considering I botched the install of OSS and there was no file to be found.

Right now I have OSS installed and was able to edit the file per your usual method, numbered 2 in my earlier post. The result is two OS'es separate and each hidden from the other.

Woohoo!

Loox

So on one hand we have a product that in all honestly is not ready for us.

I would rather wait until it was ready ;-)

I hope they're going to fix some of the loose ends for us. There seem to be a few steps backwards.

- Not having OS selector on the boot CD is a major omission IMHO

- Not being able to call DD from OSS seems silly. That must be easy to do and was always there previously.

Not being able to call DD from OSS seems silly. That must be easy to do and was always there previously.

This requires the Safe Mode version of DD. Hopefully, Acronis will get the Safe Mode version released before long.

Hello all,

MudCrab, thanks you vary much for your valuable help.

I've forwarded the request to create a SafeMedia plug-in to the responsible department and most likely we'll upload it to the Customer's accounts on our website soon.

Please reply to this thread if you have any questions.

Thank you.

Will you reply here when it's available, or can Acronis email us when there are updates on the web site? That would be much easier then checking all the time.

Also - will there be OSS available on the boot CD? This is a pretty fundamental requirement.

Hello John,

I'll surely update this thread once I'll have any information from the developers. You can turn notifications about new comments in this thread below the posting windows.

And we'll surely include OS Selector activation/deactivation feature in the bootable CD since many Customers had requested that.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you.

Thanks for all of the comments here...I see this is not ready to run. OSS 11 will not see any CD drive for me. What worthless software.

Thanks for all of the comments here...I see this is not ready to run. OSS 11 will not see any CD drive for me. What worthless software.