MVP Tool - CUSTOM ATI WINPE BUILDER
CURRENT VERSION:
12.1 Advanced (09/04/2017)
5.9 Basic (11/26/2016)
README----Basic Vs. Advanced MVP_ATIPEBuilder
Changelog - check out the 12.1 Advanced improvements! **** Now supports Acronis True Image Home 2018 (Backwards compatible with 2017/2016) and the new Acronis Revive file recovery application!
Due to the larger size of the Advanced version, (about 60Mb), we are unable to post it directly in the forums so everything has been moved to the Acronis MVP Google Drive.
Basic is no longer supported and considered deprecated with the release of Acronis True Image Home 2018. Please use the advanced mode; trust us, you’ll like it!
Advanced - just as easy to use to build your WinPE rescue media as the old Basic version! It does everything that Basic did, but also includes options for Bitlocker support, ISCSI support, a web browser, file explorer, explorer shell, 7zip association, PDF association, tools, screen resolution, customizations and more!
It is also possible to use WinRE to incorporate Wi-Fi support if desired. What’s even cooler, is that it will automatically include Universal Restore and/or Disk Director 12 if they are also installed on the machine that the rescue media is being built from.
WHAT IS THIS?
MVP ATIPEBuilder is essentially a batch script tool designed by MVP's: Bobbo_3C0X1 and Mustang, with collaboration from Steve Smith and Enchantech and testing by other MVP's.
This tool can be run on any 32-bit or 64-bit system that is using Windows 7, 8, 8.1 or 10, as longs as there is a compatible version of Acronis True Image Home (2018/2017/2016) installed on it already, and a pre-existing installation of the Windows ADK (5.x, 6.x or 10.x).
This tool does NOT work with legacy versions of Acronis True Image Home (2015 and earlier) and there are no MVP plans to provide support for them, due to variations in the Acronis provided WinPE content. Additionally, newer Acronis products are designed to have better compatibility with newer hardware technologies and current Operating Systems and believe that using more current versions of Acronis products is beneficial for users looking to migrate to these newer technologies.
Anyone with a Windows 7 or newer Windows OS, that has a current version of Acronis 2016 or newer, may use this tool to build CUSTOM 32-bit or 64-bit Acronis Bootable Rescue Media. This will be especially useful for those of you that have 32-bit only UEFI systems or the OEM manufacturer has set the SATA mode to RAID in the BIOS and it cannot be changed. This tool supports automatic driver injection in both the 32-bit and 64-bit media creation process.
Whether using this tool to build 32-bit or 64-bit customized WinPE Acronis Bootable Rescue Media, the resulting media can also be booted in legacy mode for ANY system (32-bit or 64-bit), where the bios supports legacy/CSM booting and/or UEFI mode for ANY system where the bios UEFI booting.
README----Basic Vs. Advanced MVP_ATIPEBuilder
WHY DO WE NEED IT?
If you have a 32-bit only UEFI tablet or laptop that came with an eMMC flash hard drive, or any system that came with a PCIE NVME hard drive, you may have found that the current 32-bit/64-bit Linux Acronis Bootable Rescue Media and/or the default 64-bit WinPE Acronis Bootable Rescue Media won't detect your hard drive. This is because the manufacturer has set the bios SATA mode to RAID and/or:
01) Prior to the release of Acronis True Image Home 2018, the default version of the Acronis Bootable Rescue Media was based on Linux and typically did not have RAID controller drivers such as Intel Rapid Storage Technology (IRST), which are needed to detect newer hard drives when the SATA mode in the bios has been set to RAID by the manufacturer. Although Acronis True Image Home 2018 has options to build rescue media with WinPE or WinRE, and also has driver injection, it still has some limitations compared to this tool.
02) The current Acronis Bootable Rescue Media Builder only creates 64-bit WinPE and will not be bootable on a 32-bit only UEFI system.
03) Driver injection is now built into the tool and additional drivers can seamlessly be added "on-the-fly". By default, we provide the latest Intel Rapid Storage Technology (IRST) drivers (if you choose to run the driver injection option) so that anyone using the latest NVME PCIE hard drives can create media that will support it out of the box - even if the manufacturer has set the SATA mode to RAID in the bios. (Note: if your system has a custom RAID controller such as LSI or Rocket-RAID, you may still need to add those drivers into the driver folder before running the tool)
HOW DOES IT WORK?
What we've done with this tool is simply emulated the Acronis default media builder process, but enhanced it. We take full advantage of the provided 32-bit and 64-bit WinPE tools that Acronis provides (Acronis currently only builds 64-bit WinPE rescue media with the default media builder). We have added a section for CUSTOM / AUTOMATIC driver injection too! The entire process is handled with Microsoft DISM commands from the WinPE ADK packages so that we can include the ability to add custom drivers, copy drivers from the local system into the build, include Bitlocker support, ISCSI support and native OS language support. Furthermore, instead of limiting the WinPE media to just True Image Home, it will search the system for Universal Restore and Disk Director 12 and include them if they are already installed.
CAVEATS / CONSIDERATIONS / RECOMMENDATIONS
01) This is not an official Acronis tool, but they like it a lot. It has even been integrated into the application for easy access. However, we recommend checking the MVP Google Drive to ensure you are getting the latest version. We've tested it thoroughly and feel that it is not only useful, but safe to use. If you do have issues, please be sure to post here in the forums for assistance.
02) The tool should always be run with Administrative Privileges to ensure that the script has the proper access for making changes where necessary. We've taken precautions to ensure that the script is always run with admin access (even if you forget). 1) All current advanced versions are now an EXE that forces admin access before launching. 2) The older versions use a shortcut to require admin privileges by default. 3) The older version scripts will prompt for UAC access if it is not launched with the shortcut and detects it has been run with a regular user account. Please still try to always right-click and "run as administrator" whenever possible - just to be sure though.
03) On some machines, the tool may flag as an untrusted file under Windows Smart Screen. This is because it includes A43 file explorer, 7zip and is a .bat script downloaded from the Internet without a digital signature. This tool is not malicious and contains no malware. You can safely run it without fear, but please do so only if you are comfortable doing so.
04) If you have not already installed the Windows ADK to create your 32-bit or 64-bit WinPE Acronis Bootable Rescue Media, please do so before running the tool, as it needs to check for existing file paths to function correctly. If the file paths don't exist, the script will terminate automatically and you will not be able to continue with the custom WinPE rescue media creation.
05) As of 9.5 advanced and newer, the tool is strictly self-sufficient and no longer needs the Acronis media builder. However, it goes through the same process of checking for licenses to ensure proper activation in the WinPE. Additionally, it will look for other installed Acronis products (Universal Restore and/or Disk Director 12) and automatically add those too.
If your customized WinPE Acronis Bootable Rescue Media boots successfully, but still does not detect your hard drive, you will need to re-run the tool and make sure to have the drivers ready to include them in the automated driver injection process. Alternatively, you can still use the DISMGUI tool and instructions in this thread to inject drivers manually, after you've created WinPE Acronis Bootable Rescue Media.


- Log in to post comments

Nice job!
- Log in to post comments