Upgrade caused failing re-installation
The system was on Acronus 2016. A 2016 (I think) update was suggested. It was attempted, but never successful. A reinstall of 2016 does not work, perform the cleanup procedures involving registry modifications and other items, and running the cleanup utility has not allowed the Acronis to re-install. The McAfee anti-virus was stopped and starting the process is done with right-click 'Run as Administrator'. Lots of re-boots have been done as instructed through the many times the suggested recovery processes have been run.
Currently the start up just locks. After waiting 15 minutes there is no action after a fresh demo download or original install has occured. Even killing the transaction leaves the window open. Equipment is a DellXPS running windows 10 with all updates installed.
I hope I don't have to level and reload the pc.
Thanks in advance....
Well originally it was on 2016 when the update to it failed. I had previously purchased a tripple set of 2017, but had not done this PC yet, and did not have the time then to deal with it. Several update attempts did not work, after restarts and running as administrator. So I gave up.
Now there is some time, so the update to 2017 was installed. and did get through once, but did not work. So the 2017 was totally uninstalled, reboot, and 2017 is now trying to get installed and the freeze of the install occurs. It won't even allow a 2016 reinstall either now. All of those recovery steps were done and actually a couple of times after failures of these installs. By the way there is no other Acronus type software loaded so one of the areas of the registry did not need any changes.
What my thought is to totally remove absolutly anything that makes Acronus think it has been installed before. Any ideas on what needs to go or be modified to make the installation routine think this is the first install?
Perhaps Acronis can help due to thier support policy.
Brent, I can only suggest to use the Acronis Cleanup Tool (link in my signature) which is intended to completely remove all traces of Acronis software and allow for a clean install. Make sure that you restart the computer after running the cleanup tool, and run it as Administrator.
If you still have problems then you need to open a Support Case directly with Acronis Support for this issue as this is just a user forum whereas Acronis have full access to all their technical and development resources to investigate the problem and be able to resolve it.
Thanks Steve. That is the procedure I have been using to try to get this think going again. I have probably gone through it about eight times now with no changes after each one.
I have given up. I have spent way too much time working on this. I found this great one called SyncBackPro. Very easy to install and does it's job.
Bottom line: When it comes to backups, it does no good with software this complex. If the system goes down, there should be no wondering if it will really restore. Simple installs & simple comands guys.
Thanks for the suggestions.
Hello Brent,
Thank you for the posts.
Actually the installation and updating of both 2016 and 2017 versions is extremely simple. It is a "one-click" installation. A lot of efforts have been put into it and now we are happy to see the software installing and updating in one click.
When you decide to give it another try, take Steve's advice and let us help you. We would gladly review and fix the issue for you.
Regards,
Slava
Hi Slava,
I wsh the upgrade was so simple. The system suggested it, I did it, and have never been able to get back in it.
Now, as part of fixing it, there needs to be registry modifications?? Really?? I have always been told - "Do not do things in the registry. You could actually kill your PC and be forced to reload windows and lose everything!"
I had someone do these registry mods and follow the rest of the process, but the Acronis will still not start properly. Unfortunetly, I have purchased about five copies for other PCs as well. I am scared-to-death to let the other systems do any updates. Fortunetly they are 2017 as purchased. THEN I also got my dad, who is weaker than I am, to deal with software. I am scared-to-death to tell him about my problem!
All I get is that it gets to the process screen. It just freezes and never shows any progress. It waits for for at least 15 minutes, then gives a message "Installer no longer responding."
Can I just totally and absolutly uninstall all Acronis and make it think that it has never, ever, been on this PC, period? I should then be able to do an absolutly fresh install. WITHOUT registry modifications!
Thanks,
Brent
Attached is my attempt to follow directions and the results:
Hello Brent,
Thank you for the detailed step-by-step description and screenshots.
The problem could be with the specific version of the installation file that you are using. Could you try installing the program using this file? If the installation succeeds, please open the installed program, click on the Help tab, click "Send feedback" and submit the form. This way we would receive the logs of failed installation attempts since the last time CleanUp Tool was used, would be able to analyze it and work on fixing the particular installation file that was used in your case.
I have created a support ticket for you, case number 02961717. Our engineers will contact you regarding this incident and will help you installing the software on that particular computer.
When you will be installing the software on the other computers, you can do it under our supervision - just agree with our Support Team on the exact day and hour of the installation.
Working with the registry is indeed a potentially dangerous operation, but as I can see from the screenshots, you have made all the necessary precautions and followed the KB article accurately. Latest versions of the CleanUp tool work accurately enough and in 99% of cases no modifications to the registry are required - all the user needs to do after applying the CleanUp tool is just to verify that there are no Acronis-related entries in the registry according to KB instructions.
One last note - as this is a backup software, it has a big advantage over other kinds of software in the installation issues. It is that before you start updating/upgrading/doing anything you are unsure about, you can save the whole system state and if you are not happy with the results after updating/upgrading/etc you can actually get everything back like it was before you started making changes. The answer to the question "how?" is by creating a backup of the system disk using bootable media. By starting your computer from a bootable CD, DVD or USB pendrive, you can both backup and restore the entire Windows system (system disk). Those who have not created Acronis bootable media can always write it to a CD/DVD from the Bootable ISO image, available under Downloads section of account.acronis.com. Once the .ISO file is downloaded, right-click it and select Burn disc image and burn it to a CD or DVD. If you will have any questions about this method, feel free to ask here or in the communication with our Support Team.
I am sure that this issue with installation can be and will be resolved.
Regards,
Slava
Okay so now that installation went through. I set up a new backup process again and started it. Now I rememeber remember how all this started.
What happens is that the progress chart goes to 37%. Then the status says "Calulating time remaining...' and just freezes right there. In the past I let this run overnight and nothing changed. It is still "Calculating time remaining...'. That is when I quit and did the upgrade from 2016 to the new 2017 that I just had not had the time to perform yet. If I click on the 'Stop', it then just goes on and on with the three dot box saying it is 'Processing', then gets stuck there. Clicking the close X does close the window. However going back into Acronis, basically just shows the screen still with the three dots scrolling in the middle.
I did the Help/Send, so that should be available.
At least an install works again, but a backup attempt still freezes. What is magical about the downloaded file that was successful and installed?
Thanks,
Brent
Brent, the main focus of this forum topic has been getting ATIH 2017 to install on your system, but from the last update above, it seems that you now have 2017 installed but have a different problem with performing a backup action.
From your update, I am not sure whether you are 'remembering' what happened previously before the install issue, or whether you are saying that this backup problem is happening now since the upgrade? Can you clarify this for us please?
If you are seeing 'Calculating time remaining..' and this remains for a long time, then we need to know more about the type of backup you are doing, what messages are shown in the backup task logs when this is happening, what is your source data, where is your target backup drive etc?
Is this problem backup task one that was created on a previous version of ATIH?
Have you tried creating a whole new backup task on ATIH 2017 directed at a different/new target backup folder and does this show the same issue?
This type of problem suggests that you may have a Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) issue at work here, as VSS is used to create a snapshot of the data being backed up.
See KB 59440: Acronis True Image 2017: 'Snapshot for backup' option overview which describes the new options provided in ATIH 2017 with regards to how snapshots are performed, including not using VSS which can help to prove where this type of problem may originate from.
See also KB 36200: Acronis Backup: VSS Troubleshooting Guide which while written for a different Acronis product, may still provide relevant information for looking at VSS issues.
Hi Steve
Brent, the main focus of this forum topic has been getting ATIH 2017 to install on your system, but from the last update above, it seems that you now have 2017 installed but have a different problem with performing a backup action.
Oh darn it…I am such a foolish idiot for not simply closing this and starting a new ticket with a whole new conversation on how to resolve the initial problem that locked me into this issue that is now resolved.
This issue is now back to its unusable state\, thank for your help. I am glad I do not need to restore my tax sofware due tomorrow, or something. I have spent way too much time on this issue. Now I am posting things wrong, and I can't get the answer on just completly, totaly and fully removing Acronus for a simple reinstall. I'm thinking it can't be done without a Windows re-install. I’ll stop bothering you guys and stick with SyncBackPro.
Sorry – and – Thanks for your help,
Brent
Brent, we are happy to continue to try to help you in resolving the problems you are seeing, I just was seeking a clarification on what the new problem is as we have changed direction in this topic.
When you say that 'this issue is now back to its unusable state' - we need to start off on the premise that only you really know what that means, so we need you to help us attain the same level of understanding as you yourself have of the issue.