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Setting Acronis 2018 Rescue Media (Linux) default menu action

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I recall that I used to be able to specify the default action on the rescue media boot menu.  In Acronis 2018, the rescue media (Linux, not WinPE) does not appear to provide the option anymore when creating the .ISO file.  Is there a "legal" way to set this when I create the media?  I don't want it defaulting to "Continue booting Windows", because I wouldn't have booted into the rescue media in the first place if I had wanted it to do that.  That seems like a rather poor choice of default.

I see in the bootmenu.xml file, this "continue" option is set to the default option.  Must I edit this file directly to achieve a non-interactive boot into "Acronis True Image (64-bit)"?

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Robert, there is no official method of removing the 'Press any key...' and selecting a default boot option for media created via the Acronis Rescue Media Builder tool that I am aware of.

Robert,

I have not attempted to do what your asking here but I believe that you can specify kernel startup parameters for the Linux ISO during the build process as described below:  I believe Quiet is what you are looking for.

12.1.1.2 Bootable media startup parameters

Here, you can set bootable media startup parameters in order to configure rescue media boot options for better compatibility with different hardware. Several options are available (nousb, nomouse, noapic, etc.). These parameters are provided for advanced users. If you encounter any hardware compatibility problems while testing boot from the rescue media, it may be best to contact Acronis Technical Support.

To add startup parameters:
 Enter a command into the Parameters field. You can type several commands, separated by spaces.
 Click Next to continue.

Additional parameters that can be applied prior to booting Linux kernel

Description

The following parameters can be used to load Linux kernel in a special mode:
 acpi=off
Disables ACPI and may help with a particular hardware configuration.
 noapic
Disables APIC (Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller) and may help with a particular hardware configuration.
 nousb
Disables loading of USB modules.
 nousb2
Disables USB 2.0 support. USB 1.1 devices still work with this option. This option allows using some USB drives in USB 1.1 mode, if they do not work in USB 2.0 mode.
 quiet
This parameter is enabled by default and the startup messages are not displayed. Deleting it will result in the startup messages being displayed as the Linux kernel is loaded and the command shell being offered prior to running the Acronis program.
 nodma
Disables DMA for all IDE disk drives. Prevents kernel from freezing on some hardware.
 nofw
Disables FireWire (IEEE1394) support.
 nopcmcia
Disables PCMCIA hardware detection.
 nomouse
Disables mouse support.
 [module name]=off
Disables the module (e.g. sata_sis=off).
 pci=bios
Forces to use PCI BIOS, and not to access the hardware device directly. For instance, this parameter may be used if the machine has a non-standard PCI host bridge.
144 Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, 2002-2018
 pci=nobios
Disallows use of PCI BIOS; only direct hardware access methods are allowed. For instance, this parameter may be used if you experience crashes upon boot-up, probably caused by the BIOS.
 pci=biosirq
Uses PCI BIOS calls to get the interrupt routing table. These calls are known to be buggy on several machines and they hang the machine when used, but on other computers it is the only way to get the interrupt routing table. Try this option, if the kernel is unable to allocate IRQs or discover secondary PCI buses on your motherboard.
 vga=ask
Gets the list of the video modes available for your video card and allows selecting a video mode most suitable for the video card and monitor. Try this option, if the automatically selected video mode is unsuitable for your hardware.

Thank you both for your replies, but I don't think either of you is actually addressing my question.

I use the Linux version of the rescue media, so I don't get the "Press any key to boot..." message, Steve.  And I'm familiar with the kernel parameters, Enchantech, none of which addresses my actual issue as far as I can tell.

Please see the attached screen shot.  It is this menu, and it's options, of which I speak.  This menu is displayed when the rescue media launches, and the last option, "Start Windows" is the default.  It has a 15 second timeout, which then completely bypasses the actual purpose of booting the rescue media.

What I am asking about it an option that allows me to set the default action on this menu for unattended booting (i.e., "Acronis True Image (64-bit)").  As it is, I must be present at the machine to select an option other than "Start Windows", which really doesn't make sense.  I wouldn't have booted to the rescue media if I didn't want to use it.

I have investigated the files on the .ISO image, and I see that the last item is set as the default option in the "bootmenu.xml" file.  What I want is a way to set another menu action as the default when I create the rescue media -- instead of having to hack around in the .ISO files and make modifications there.

I remember being able to do this in an older version of Acronis.

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Robert,

As for me I have never seen this option in Linux rescue media, I presume because I have converted to using WinPE based media since the release of the 2018 product.

Short of modifying the xml file I have no answer for you.

Ditto to Enchantech ref using the WinPE version of the Rescue Media, and in particular, using the MVP Custom ATIPE script to create the media on my USB sticks which boots directly into the PE environment and launches the 64-bit ATI application by default (unless the 32-bit media is created, which launches the 32-bit ATI).

I have avoided WinPE-based rescue media because it does not appear to support UNC (NetBIOS) access to network shares.  I do backups across the network to a centralized NAS, and the WinPE version won't access it (either by NetBIOS name, or IP address, using UNC formatting).  The Linux-based media will.

As for not being able to select the default action, perhaps you can't, but my Acronis 2016 rescue media (which I've been using for years) defaults to the backup software.  I don't know now if I was able to select that, or it just did it automatically, when I created the media, but I know that "Start Windows" was not always the default.

I hate to go hacking around in the ISO files -- it seems like an inelegant solution -- but it looks like that's the only recourse.

Thanks again for your input on this, guys.

I believe the default for 2016 was to boot straight to the app.

I recommend opening a support ticket on this as WinPE needs to support your NAS.  I would say it does but you have to map a drive letter to the share to make it work.

At the very least send feedback and reference this Forum thread.

If you mount the bootable Linux USB and make the following changes to the boot configuration files, you can boot directly into True Image and bypass all of the (completely useless) menu options on startup.  In my opinion, the menu options are both pointless and useless, and should not be there at all.  So what if I "accidentally" forgot to remote the USB from the slot and boot into True Image?  Who cares?  Pull the USB, hard-boot the computer again, PROBLEM SOLVED.

The file(s) you need to change are "/efi/boot/bootx32.xml" and / or "/efi/boot/bootx64.xml".  Copy the XML for the first <LoadKernel> element,  use it to replace everything inside of the <Config> element, and save the file back to the USB.  The image below illustrates the change I made with the True Image 2020 USB to bypass the menu.