Skip to main content

ATI Home (2016+2017) proper Rescue (linux+WinPe creation and Recovery use -comparing Legacy Bios vs UEFI Bios (x64 & x86) system

Thread needs solution

After receiving some feedback from one of the MVPs, it was recommended that I open a New Topic to request feedback to properly assure Backups that will properly restore and boot (this includes Win7, Win64, running both Legacy and /or UEFI capable Firmware.

Ad background. I've been using TI since Ver 8, so a long time.  As you'll read, this topic might dovetail nicely with the newly released 'MVP Project" ATIPEBUILDER.  Like many I have a bunch of PC's I support.  They range from 32bit w7 & 32 bit w10 machines (P8Z77 and some AMD home brews, thru an Asus Win10 x64 Z170, Dell i5-5558 W10 x64 laptop and an Intel NUC based 15-W10 x64.  All the x86 (P8Z77 & AMD) Do have an Asus "UEFI Bios, as do all the W10 x64 pcs.

====

BTW- ALL OF MY POINTS AND QUESTIONS REFER TO BACKUPS OF A COMPLETE DISK  (never just a partition nor file backup) containing ALL displayed partitions.

====

In earlier days, I just used the TI Linux based rescue media, but beginning with W7 x86 P8Z77 pcs (USB2 or 3) the Linux SW would often go out to lunch, leaving the External HDD blinking and the Mouse cursor frozen (PC locked).  Therefore starting with TI 2015 forward, I began using WinPE built with PE & the Win 8.1 ADK as it seemed to contain the USB3 drivers and I avoided having to separately inject them etc.

On the x86 Win 7 PCs eg Asus P8Z77) that did have a UEFI bios, it seemed if I enabled legacy support in the mobo bios (and CSR) the TI Rescue media worked just fine (at least WinPe)...never a crash, perfect restores. 

Then I started adding newer PCs with Win10 x64 and UEFI (and selectable UEFI) support.  I have a feeling I'm not alone here, but as I never use secure boot (which seemed to always have issues booting rescue media) the backups went well.  I'll use my Dell i5-5558 w10x64 as an example next.  Despite lots of manual reading, I seemed to be caught between UEFI Bios/Legacy-options and the ability to rescue boot media and end up with a proper recovery.  Picking the wrong combo and it might just pop up a message that the HDD was corrupt or similar. 

For reference, on my DEll (see above) the BIOS is setup as: (perhaps not totally factory stock, but it runs well):

Secure Boot: Disabled

Boot Sequence: Win BootMgr, UEFI HDD, UEFI DVD

Boot List Option: Only UEFI is checked off

Advanced boot options: Legacy Option Roms = ENABLED

Looking at Win x64 Disk Management the following partitions are the factory partitions (if this matters).  The HDD is 1 TB:

DISK0: 500MB Healthy (EFI)  /  DELLC: 910GB NTFS Healthy(Boot,Page etc)  / 852MB Healthy (Recovery)  / 11.97 Healthy (Recovery Part)

I create ALL TI 2016-6581 Rescue media (CD or USB) in a totally stock Acronis menu driven manner.

So to my questions...(and reasons for asking)  Please Apply the Dell LT in your (hopefully) responses:

1. In creating the WinPE media inside TI, it's a canned closed routine, but do the existing (underlying) Bios/Legacy or UEFI options effect the Rescue Media content, or: Is it just not so effected...at that moment in time....

2. Again, with the aforementioned DEll LT configuration set, when booting the WinPE Rescue media, I have to modify the boot order using the Dell F12 key at startup.  Then I must choose (for that media type) either LEGACY BOOT or UEFI boot.(BOTH ARE LISTED)  Both will boot, with a small differences"

- If Legacy (device) boot is choosen, the "blue windows" logo only appears 1-2 secs, replaced by a blk screen with a blinking cursor in upper Left screen...eventually the normal WinPE rescue environment appears...no rescue yet attempted..see below.

- If UEFI (device) boot is chosen, IMMEDIATELY a "Press any key to boot <media type) prompt appears...if the key IS pressed,the "blue windows logo" for a long time appears (after some time) then followed by a seemingly normal Rescue Screen.

Note: In both cases, the underlying CMD screen shows" X:\windows\system32>

Since this is a NEW laptop I don't want to risk an "imperfect Rescue Restore" so have not tried either of these approaches yet.  In fact I did tonight just order a spare laptop HDD, which I can swap into the laptop to actually test one or both of the above scenarios...not yet knowing what will or will not work.

I hope you can sense my pondering the permutations of PC specific Bios/UEFI options/ + which Rescue Option to select.  This also leaves the open question as to, which e.g. several winx64 PCS, can I maintain a single set of Rescue Media (for x64) for use on all w10x64 pcs, or do I need to maintain a set for each pc?

Again,  perhaps the new MVP ATI WinBuilder is (in basic form) that could address some of this? 

Lastly, Once I produce Rescue Boot media (as appropriate for a PCs hardware (x86 or x64) & maybe other factors, must I do this for each PC?...or can I make a single set for a specific ATI build which can be used with several PCs?

Thanks for your patience...I know the answer seems to not be so easy so I'll thank ALL of you in advance for any help & suggestions.... 

Bob

0 Users found this helpful

Bob, thanks for bringing this new topic to the forums.

In brief terms, the Acronis Rescue Media (standard or WinPE) should always be started in the same mode as used by the Windows OS on the system where you intend to use it for recovery, so if your Dell Windows boots using UEFI, so should the Rescue Media.  
To determine how Windows boots on a specific system, see webpage: Check if your PC uses UEFI or BIOS

If you go against this rule and boot the Rescue Media in Legacy mode on a UEFI system, then you should see a warning message to advise that the restored / recovered system will not be bootable.

See forum topic: 119666: Warning "After operation completion, operating systems will not boot from destination disk in the BIOS" where this issue has come up previously.

Bob wrote:
 

1. In creating the WinPE media inside TI, it's a canned closed routine, but do the existing (underlying) Bios/Legacy or UEFI options effect the Rescue Media content, or: Is it just not so effected...at that moment in time....

2. Again, with the aforementioned DEll LT configuration set, when booting the WinPE Rescue media, I have to modify the boot order using the Dell F12 key at startup.  Then I must choose (for that media type) either LEGACY BOOT or UEFI boot.(BOTH ARE LISTED)  Both will boot, with a small differences"

A1.  The Rescue Media is capable of booting in either Legacy or UEFI modes and has support for both methods included in every build of the media, both for the standard, Linux based, and Windows PE media.

A2.  The method for selecting the boot device in order to use the Rescue Media differs according to the system involved, can be different depending on who provided the BIOS firmware on the motherboard, and can use different methods of gaining access.  Dell and some other makers default to using the F12 key to access the 'boot override' menu, but this can be the Esc, F1, F2, F11 or other keys, or none at all.  I have encountered Lenovo laptops where it was necessary to push the end of a paperclip into a tiny hole to bring up this type of BIOS access menu!

Bob wrote:
 Lastly, Once I produce Rescue Boot media (as appropriate for a PCs hardware (x86 or x64) & maybe other factors, must I do this for each PC?...or can I make a single set for a specific ATI build which can be used with several PCs?

Simple answer is yes to this question.  The main caveat is the architecture of the systems where the Rescue Media will be used.  If you build the 64-bit Windows PE media, then this will only work on 64-bit capable systems, whereas if you build the 32-bit Rescue Media then this can be used on either type of system (32 or 64 bit).

I have been using the MVP ATI WinBuilder to mainly build the 32-bit Windows PE media and then testing this on my 32-bit and 64-bit systems where it has worked well on both.

The main considerations in this area are simply those of whether any extra device drivers are needed or not, which only applies to making the Windows PE media, and only those which are applicable to the system where the media is being used will actually be used.

Steve,

Thanks so much for your great feedback which seems sensible.  Based your final group of answers of my last questions: (see quoted section next:)

Bob wrote:

 Lastly, Once I produce Rescue Boot media (as appropriate for a PCs hardware (x86 or x64) & maybe other factors, must I do this for each PC?...or can I make a single set for a specific ATI build which can be used with several PCs?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Simple answer is yes to this question.  The main caveat is the architecture of the systems where the Rescue Media will be used.  If you build the 64-bit Windows PE media, then this will only work on 64-bit capable systems, whereas if you build the 32-bit Rescue Media then this can be used on either type of system (32 or 64 bit).

I have been using the MVP ATI WinBuilder to mainly build the 32-bit Windows PE media and then testing this on my 32-bit and 64-bit systems where it has worked well on both.

The main considerations in this area are simply those of whether any extra device drivers are needed or not, which only applies to making the Windows PE media, and only those which are applicable to the system where the media is being used will actually be used.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I did notice that when I built Winpe using the standard Media Builder on my Dell i5-5558 running win x64 and then booting the Rescue media, I did mention:

"Note: In both cases, the underlying CMD screen shows" X:\windows\system32> "

which seems to indicate, that even though I created the rescue media on the Win x64 PC, that due to, perhaps my Bios settings, that the Rescue media (WinPE) actually did boot into a 32 bit environment...seems this is likely my UEFI/Bios settings in effect at the time I Rescue-booted, rather than the Rescue media as created...That's just my guess??  I suppose this might make for a slower Rescue operation, but the Dell seems happier for a whole host of reasons compared to being set to NOT include Legacy support.  THe enabled Legacy Firmware option is easy to spot as storage devices appears TWICE (once as a UEFI choice and secondly as a Legacy Device). 

I might mention, that on my Win7 x86 Asus P8Z77 system, the same storage double listing occurs!  I do recall that if I don't enabled the P8Z77 "CSM" -Compatability Support Mode option" that that some bootable USB, CD etc devices don't boot. 

By the way...just to be clear, I really don't place any blame any of the complexity of all of this on Acronis's shoulders...seems like system and mobo vendors try to make their products "flexible" and the B.UP SW vendors do likewise.  While the Linux Rescue media actually seems more "guided" in it's use, at times it suffers a lack of drivers and instability issues...forcing me to use WinPE on some systems.

Once again, thanks for your time & effort...as always.

Bob

 

Bob, all of the WinPE Rescue Media will result in a Windows Command Prompt window being launched and showing the X:\windows\system32> prompt, as this is then used to launch the Acronis True Image application, so this is all normal behaviour.

The default ATIH Rescue Media Builder application will only create 64-bit Windows PE media even though the code needed to create 32-bit media is present.  The MVP ATI WinBuilder script swaps in the 32-bit components when creating the 32-bit media then calls the Rescue Media Builder which goes ahead and creates this as if it were the 64-bit version.

Within the ATIH application itself, both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the True Image application are both provided and can be included on the Rescue Media, so that even when booting Windows PE Rescue Media in 64-bit mode, you can still choose to run the 32-bit True Image application.

See the ATIH 2017 User Guide: Removable media settings section for more information on the options that can be included on the rescue media, and see the attached screen shot from ATIH 2017 - Advanced options page tab, where you can select what to include.

The options shown when you are booting and using the override menu really depend on that options are set in the BIOS.  If you have UEFI only, then you should only see options related to that boot method, but if you have both UEFI and Legacy / CSM enabled then you are likely to see options for both Legacy and UEFI methods for booting into the Rescue Media.

 

Attachment Size
400046-135580.png 24.5 KB

I'd chime in more, but Steve has nailed it :)

FYI, regardless of 32-bit or 64-bit OS or WinPE, "X:\windows\system32" is a normal directory and the default location of an administrative command prompt.  On any full Windows OS (64-bit or 32-bit), right click on CMD and "run as administrator".  You'll notice that you'll be starting off in C:\windows\system32 which is common OS system folder for Windows, regarldess of OS architecture or hardware.

Robert,

Ultimately, the Dells are 64-bit machines and are shipping with UEFI, but also have legacy/CSM enabled.  When you boot UEFI, you will always be in 64-bit UEFI mode with the WinPE on these systems.  When you goot in legacy mode, it can be 32-bit or 64-bit (depending on how the WinPE was created).

I have no 32-bit only systems, so the way I test the 32-bit WinPE builds is to boot it in legacy mode :)

Check out this post with screenshots to see if it helps with understanding a bit more.

https://forum.acronis.com/forum/121829#comment-378318

 

 

One other note about the WinPE for the Dell's...

Our winpe builder has all the drivers you need on these systems, and I'd recommend it over the default Acronis Linux media (at least for now), as many of the new Dells are shipping with single PCIE NVME hard drives and the SATA mode is set to RAID by default.  Our WinPE builder will automatically include the latest Intel IRST RAID controller drivers which ensures that these PCIE NVME drives are detected right off the bat, whether the OEM's ship them in AHCI or RAID mode.  Plus, our MVP WinPE with the extras is pretty sweet anyway.  I'm uploading a new version now, which includes bitlocker support, enhanced iscsi support, and now has sumatrapdf tied in with direct file association for .pdf files to make accessing some of the tutorials (or just reading PDFs) a little nicer.  If you haven't tried the advanced PE builder, give 7.2 a try and let us know what you think.  It should be available for download in about 15 minutes.

First a BIG thanks to Steve, Bobbo, Mustang (and others) for contributing to this important thread.I must admit, I've been building and modifying "pcs" from the Heath H8, Northstar, S100, CP/M days...where the concept of drivers didn'y ter exist...a new printer often meant writing 8080 ASM code and re-compiling the individual Bios (a way more complex world). 

Enough nostalga...been using ATI from V8 (not 2008!) and have purchased more ATI SW than I care to add up. Despite buying upgrades each year; thru win 7, I pretty much stuck with ATI2010-7160, using either the winapp, or Rescue disk even to backup systems...which of course were still all x86 and UEFI was at best a novelty.

Then UEFI (Bios inclusion in HW/FW) began to appear, I think often confused with just being a more graphical FW U.I, rather than more fundemental important to system operation.  Since, apparently, UEFI was more or less irrelevant on such HW/Windows most did not pay much attention..I didn't.  I often built a new system, picked the Win Version (32 or 64 bit variant) and just shoved the DVD into the drive and installed windows 7 forward.  The systems ran...so everyone smiled...or so it seemed,

Then application software which became tightly integrated at the HW/FW level (such as True Image) had to deal with the variants, but just like Windows (I think) never asked upon a clean install (especially to a virgin/bare metal) disk to select Bios/legacy/MBR/UEFI/GPT that was desired, so was the case with programs like ATI...Overtime, more & more FW configurable Legacy/UEFI options appeared in some FW (Bios/UEFI) choices.

Seems like (by luck?), mostly the PC's "Bios" default options ended up creating a system that did run, even though it never openly (say on Boot) informed the user of the Boot Mode in effect.

All of the MVPs on this forum have done a very good job (at least for me) of explaining the Interaction of all of these options.  GREAT JOB.

So today we have Legacy(MBR?), UEFI plus partition modes of NTFS and GPT.  Checking several MS support postings (KB's) they appear (to me) to "mix topics)!  For example one can easy get the impression that UEFI has some equivalency to UEFI (EFI).  Switching between NTFS and GPT (suing appropriate tools appears "easy"; but if a user has installed Win(x64) as a legacy installation vs. a UEFI installation, seems like changing may require a total Win installation.

Maybe all of this should have been clear to me, but it wasn't.  Luckily, despite have some Bios option like CSM & dual Legacy/UEFI bios-enabled, all of my win10 systems do report (MSINFO) being UEFI.

So again to all the MVPs I give a big THANKS.

 

Bob

 

Bob, I am sure all the MVP's are equally happy to have been able to help with your questions.

In order to boot an X64 PC using UEFI the use of the GPT disk format is required.

NTFS is the current file system used by Windows rather than that of FAT systems used in prior Windows versions/years.

You will find EFI partitions on disk where UEFI is being used at the boot method.  That partition is where the Windows Boot Manager is located and provides the mechanism for booting the installed Windows OS.

X64 systems default to UEFI installations if the hardware supports it.  The Windows installer of the X64 versions will automatically format the disk as GPT on such systems and create the appropriate required partitions.

X86 systems default to Legacy/CSM (MBR) installations of Windows.  It is possible however to install a 32 bit OS using UEFI.

The main thing that needs to be understood is that under the UEFI specification the machine firmware architecture and the OS must match.  For a great but technical article about this that can help a great deal in understanding the differences visit the link below:

https://blogs.intel.com/evangelists/2015/07/22/why-cheap-systems-run-32…

Ok...so I thought I had the start of a handle on how this all works...I mentioned my DELL i5-5558 had from the factory:

==

Looking at Win x64 Disk Management the following partitions are the factory partitions (if this matters).  The HDD is 1 TB:

DISK0: 500MB Healthy (EFI)  /  DELLC: 910GB NTFS Healthy(Boot,Page etc)  / 852MB Healthy (Recovery)  / 11.97 Healthy (Recovery Part)

==

But thanks to your (and Bobb's Dell Info) I see that I had some confusion over the *Partition Type* GUID(GPT), or MBR and the *File System Type*, NTFS.

Looking at the DISK0 Properties I see the GPT designation

Thx to all once again