No mouse recognized.
I recently had to restore a laptop computer using a recent TI 2016 backup file. No matter what I tried, no mouse was recognized. I have a few usb mice which, in addition to the touch pad and buttons, also did not work It was several hours and and many trial and error attempts at finding the keyboard command combinations to get the restore identified and finally get the restore started. Why is this? I would think activating the mouse would be automatic. A no brainer. So, is it me or the software which is a no brainer? ;)
Thanks,
Dave
Actually, I had to reset the computer to original settings, install ATI 2016, and then do the restore. I have 3 different "wireless" USB mice. And they were all $20 or less. So, cheap. I have "dabbled" with Linux in the past, and never had a mouse which was not recognized. Since I didn't use a a bootable Acronis media disk, maybe I should make one and use it instead of installing ATI 2016 on the newely prepared hdd. I just began the restore function from within Win 10. The computer rebooted, and asked me for all the stuff it should have been able to detect. The backup process is a lot more user friendly than the restore function. But then, I had a mouse for that.
Thanks,
Dave
I was assuming you could not get the mouse detected in the recovery media, but it sounds like you're saying you could not get it detected in full blown Windows after the restore, or in the recovery media that popped up after the process was started from Windows?
When restoring a full disk image, you want/need to use your Acronis bootable recovery media - that is what it is there for. You really don't want to start a full disk restore (or a clone process) from Windows - it just reboots and boots into Linux, but overwrites the Windows bootloader in the process and can lead to issues if it doesn't properly return the Windows booloader again (for instance, if Acronis fails to launch properly this way). Definitely create a USB flash drive with the Acrnois media builder when you get a chance - this is your best friend for recovery. When you do have it created, be sure to test to make sure you can boot it, that it sees your hard drives, the mouse works, etc. though.
I have had trouble with the 64-bit version of Acronis not working with some internal trackpads, but never with a USB mouse - was the external mouse plugged in already? If not, try that. If it was, does unplugging and replugging it in work better - try a different USB port perhaps.
If your offline recovery media is not detecting even a USB mouse, I would be very surprised as I've always been able to use them just fine.
I will do as you suggest with the recovery media using the "Universal Restore" which I just recently found. But I don't get why it's so troublesome to just install ATI2016 on a fresh windows install. Linux seems to be ATI's prefered/default method of handling a full restore operation. i.e., it can rewrite the bootloader, and not put it back the way it was. Is this a known issue? And why does Acronis not make these issues public when you buy the software? I have never seen a recomendation in the text files to use the Windows PE when making the recovery media if using Windows 10. If you buy ATI for Windows, why would the software not just offer to make the recovery media in the safest format? Do you recoment backing up from the recovery media as well?
Thanks again,
Dave
Dave, from your earlier post, you said you "have 3 different "wireless" USB mice" - this is where the problem with the Acronis standard Linux Rescue Media most probably arises. Linux support for wireless devices really depends on how well known the underlying wireless adapter is. Rob's previous advice to have a cheap USB mouse on hand is really pointed at wired devices which should always be supported and work with the Linux media.
There should be no need to go to the lengths you have described of doing a clean Windows install then installing ATIH 2016 on top of that just to wipe it all out again when restoring a backup image.
The issue with the bootloader when starting recovery (or clone) operations from within Windows is a known one, but only affects a minority of users, most commonly where either a problem arises during the process to prevent the original bootloader configuration to be restored, or where the system BIOS prevents this.
Acronis provides two different flavours of Rescue Media to be used for these types of operations, primarily for bare metal type recovery, but absolutely necessary for any boot disk failure which would wipe out both the OS and any other disk installed recovery mechanisms such as the Acronis Startup Recovery Manager (that gives the F11 prompt on boot) or even the manufacturer provided recovery utilities.
The main reason why the MVP's and others in these forums strongly recommend to use the Rescue Media for restores / recovery is because this is the safest method, completely avoiding any interaction with the installed Windows OS or Security software etc, being totally outside of any OS control except that on the media itself.
For the majority of users the standard Linux media will suffice - this is the same as used when you start these operations from within Windows too, and as used by the ASRM (F11).
For some users with very new hardware components or complex BIOS / EFI boot configurations, then the Linux media either doesn't work correctly or cannot support the devices installed or being used, hence the alternative Windows PE rescue media which offers more flexibility for these users, as new device drivers can also be added to the media if needed, plus the Windows ADK used to create this media has more device support than the Linux media.
Well, thank you. A lot of good information. This forum is a good buffer between marketing, and reality for some of us, I guess.
I would have thought a wireless usb mouse would operate the same as any wired usb mouse. There is just the addition of the wireless signal between the wireless usb plug-in to the mouse receiver. Shouldn't require anything from the computer itself.
How about my final question? Do you recomend making backup files from the bootable media? Come to think of it, I never really looked to see if that is even possible. I'll check it next time I try my recovery media, which I will now remake using the WinPE/Universal Restore options.
Thanks to all for the great information. Perhaps one day code will exist to just handle all possible problems automatically. I must also say that, once I was able to restore the hdd from the backup, the computer has been operating normally ever since. So ATI 2016 worked perfectly. The reason for the reset to original settings was due to being hacked and much damage done to the programs so that I would not trust anything other than a fresh install of Win 10. It's what the manufacturer recommended. The curious thing was, ATI no longer recognized the computer, so I had to transfer it from "old" to "new" computer. Even though all hardware was the same.
And finally, will the recovery media made by one computer work to restore a different computer? Or does each computer have to have it's own recovery media?
Thanks again,
Dave
I would have thought a wireless usb mouse would operate the same as any wired usb mouse. There is just the addition of the wireless signal between the wireless usb plug-in to the mouse receiver. Shouldn't require anything from the computer itself.
How about my final question? Do you recomend making backup files from the bootable media? Come to think of it, I never really looked to see if that is even possible. I'll check it next time I try my recovery media, which I will now remake using the WinPE/Universal Restore options.
And finally, will the recovery media made by one computer work to restore a different computer? Or does each computer have to have it's own recovery media?
Dave, wireless devices are not quite so simple as you believe unfortunately as device driver support is definitely needed in the rescue media and the Linux OS build that Acronis uses is not as capable as such as a Live CD for a full Linux distribution such as Ubuntu etc - but then the size of the image file is vastly different - fits on a CD for ATIH but requires a DVD for Ubuntu (well over 1GB).
It is certainly possible to make offline backups using the rescue media and this is recommended for irregular one-off backups as offers a safety net against interference from any Windows programs including malware! Such offline backups are purely manual and cannot be scheduled, plus you will need to setup your required exclusions.
Recovery media can be used on different computers provided these support the OS version used in the media, i.e. 32-bit media can work on 64-bit systems but not the other way round. The rescue media offers a choice of both 32 and 64 bit programs. The Windows PE media is typically only used for 64-bit systems.
AH! I just learned something about wireless mice. I might get a wired one just for restore operations, if needed.
Also, the suggestion was offered for me to get Win 10 ADK package. Once installed on my hdd, how do I use it in making my ATI bootable restore media?
Thanks,
Dave
Yeah, I grabbed a cheapo Amazon basics wireless keyboard/mouse combo to always have on hand (it's actually a pretty nice set though) - have to use it my old Mac sometimes to get into the recovery enviornment on it since the Magic mouse/keyboard doesn't pick up at pre-boot either. Worth having on hand for those just in case moments for sure.
To create Acronis WinPE, you would download and install the Windows 10 ADK. Once downloaded, when you install, click the first 3 boxes when - it's about 3.6Gb total. Once installed, go back into Acronis and click on the rescue media builder. However, instead of taking the default option, click on the WinPE option below it and Acronis will do the rest.
WinPE built with Windows 10 ADK has some really great driver support, but still may not have all of the necessary drivers for different type of hardware - it's basically limited to the same default drivers found in a fresh install of Windows 10. In most cases, it just works though.
I have created my bootable recovery DVDs, and will use them in the future if needed.
But in making a bootable "Universal Restore" DVD, I came across a new problem. But maybe that's a topic for a new thread.
Dave
Dave, for the Universal Restore DVD, the important point to remember that this is primarily intended to help restore your system backup to new hardware where you use it to 'normalise' device drivers to allow Windows to find and provide default drivers for new hardware found, plus be able to add other drivers for hardware that Windows cannot find.
When building the UR media there is no need to add any device drivers from the current system - doing so, especially if including the whole Windows INF folder contents will lead to problems in the build of the media!
My backup drive is a hdd in a usb enclosure. I have it secured with bitlocker. Should my ATI recovery DVD be able to find it since it's not booting into Win 10 all the way?
Dave
Dave, sorry but no rescue media will be able to see the contents of your backup drive if it is secured with bitlocker.
Please see KB document: 56619: Acronis True Image 2016: Compatibility with BitLocker
You would have to unlock the backup drive before attempting any operations (backup or restore) with it from the Rescue Media. There is no problems when using ATIH 2016 within Windows with accessing drives secured with BitLocker as those drives appear to be unlocked to the application.
The thing is, a bitlocker encrypted drive can be unlocked from within Win 10, but it can't be manually locked again. It remains unlocked until you reboot, or turn the drive off and back on. Then it will be relocked when booting back into Win 10. So, I must remove bitlocker encryption from the drive, I guess.
Thanks for the info, again,
Dave