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Can't Create Survival Kit

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I'm running ATI 2020 on a Win10 box. I'm using a 2tb WD portable as the destination for the backup files.

I have three backups on portable right now and I'm trying to create a Survival Kit on that drive. It keeps failing with the error "Unable to mount the source .wim file. Check for a solution." And like almost every other time I run into an error and the message has a link to 'check for solution' the link brings me to a page that states "We have no information about this error."

Thinking that the portable should be empty, I moved the three backups to a local drive and tried again and got the same error.

A little guidance as to what I need to do to get the Survival Kit created would be appreciated.

Thanks.

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Fred, the message about 'unable to mount the source .wim file' suggests either an issue with the ATI 2020 application install, or else with the Microsoft 'dism' function on your Windows 10 system.

For the first case, try doing a repair of ATI 2020 after first checking that you have the correct file shown as per the screen image below:

The above shows the file where the ATI source .wim is extracted from, and should show the current build #21400 in the file version information.

For the second case, open an Administrator level command prompt then run the following commands:

C:\WINDOWS\system32>dism /Get-MountedWimInfo

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.18362.1

Mounted images:

No mounted images found.

The operation completed successfully.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>dism /Cleanup-Wim

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.18362.1

Scanning drive C for stale files
Scanning drive D for stale files
Scanning drive E for stale files
Scanning drive G for stale files
Scanning drive S for stale files
The operation completed successfully.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>

You can run the command: dism /? to see a full list of all commands available.

You can run the same commands in an Admin PowerShell instance.

Worse case (or perhaps a better alternative)... I don't use survival kit.  Instead, I create a small 2GB partition at the beginning of my drives (make it FAT32) using the free minitool partition wizard.  This will keep existing data on the drive.  Then, use the regular rescue media builder and point it to the new 2GB partition.

Just be careful and take precaution - just in case.  I would recommend backing up that drive first if there is any important data on it.  You can never be too careful, although this is a pretty safe method.  

And make sure you build the rescue media on the 2GB partition and not the one with the data on it.

@Steve & Enchantech- The dll exists and lives where it should and is the correct file size and version. I also ran both dism commands and the results were the same as in your screenshot.

@Bobbo- Last night I tried to create 2gb FAT partition at the beginning of my 2tb NTFS portable. This is the destination drive for backups. I was using the fan-favorite MiniTool Partition Wizard but ran into a few problems with cluster sizes and abandoned the project until today. Now I look at the drive and see that it has a 2gb FAT32 partition. I was pretty sure I never clicked the 'go ahead' button on the Wizard, but I guess I'm wrong. I will try getting the rescue media built on there shortly and will report back.

Thanks to all.

Phred, good deal.  Sounds like you're almost there. 

FYI, in the future, to update it, you can just build the .wim version of the rescue media (or an .iso) and then copy it over the existing boot.wim that lives on the root of the drive in the "Sources" folder.  But it's also OK to just rebuild it as long as that separate partition is there (which it should be).

 

I must've been sleep-computing last night. Not only did I not think I had created the 2gb FAT32 partition, but just now when I attempted to install boot rescue media, ATI 2020 politely informed me that there's a Survival Kit on that partition. <sadly shaking head> I guess it's time to boot to it and make sure it works.

Hehe - Maybe that's what created the 2GB partition.

Yeah, test it.  It may have successfully created the partition, but failed to copy all of the necessary files to make it bootable if it failed and didn't complete.

If that's the case, then I would just delete everything on that partition, give it a drive letter, rename it (since I think the name might indicate if Acronis sees a survival kit on the drive or not) and then rebuild the rescue media on it.

Perhaps I spoke too fast. Windows couldn't boot to the FAT partition. I used file explorer to look at it and except for the ubiquitous $RECYCLE.BIN, the partition is empty. The partition label is ACRONIS HM, so something took place last night. Also the destination drive is still showing a USB symbol, while the documentation for the survival guide shows it should be the Acronis 'A' logo.

I guess what happened last night was the kit started to install and then ran into the 'unable to mount the source .wim file' issue that started this thread. And the same is happening now.

So I'm off to (try) creating the regular rescue media on that partition.

EDIT: Two minutes later ... "Unable to create bootable media" because it's unable to mount the source .wim. Again. I will attempt a repair install of ATI 2020 even though the files Steve reference are still there.

Ok, it's time for my plea for help. I formatted the 2gb partition and removed its label. Tried creating rescue media and got the .wim file error. Needlessly tried with the survival kit and of course got the same error.

I then did a 'repair' install of 2020 and that damn .wim file is still causing a problem.

Later today I will try it all on another Win10 machine to see if it's my machine or the app. In the meantime, any other suggestions would be welcome. Good thing I had nothing to do today.

Fred, like Rob (Bobbo), I also take a different approach rather than using the Survival Kit method.

If you have your 2GB FAT32 partition, then allocate a drive letter to this, then simply use the normal Acronis Rescue Media builder tool and point it at your 2GB partition drive letter (instead of that for a USB stick etc).

Steve Smith wrote:
If you have your 2GB FAT32 partition, then allocate a drive letter to this, then simply use the normal Acronis Rescue Media builder tool and point it at your 2GB partition drive letter (instead of that for a USB stick etc).

Yes, I've tried putting the regular rescue media on the 2gb partition (which has a drive letter) but I'm still getting the 'can't unlock source .wim file' error.

This sounds like you may have a corrupted or missing WinRE (recovery environment) on your Windows system.  As a test, next step would be to download and install the Windows 10 ADK (1903) - linked in my signature, run the advanced rescue media builder and pick ADK as the option (instead of WinRE) and see if that works.  I prefer this anyway in most cases as the drivers, although generic, are really good for most systems.

Bobbo_3C0X1 wrote:

This sounds like you may have a corrupted or missing WinRE (recovery environment) on your Windows system.  As a test, next step would be to download and install the Windows 10 ADK (1903) - linked in my signature

Thanks Rob.

I feel like I'm being particularly dense this evening. I don't see any link to the W10 ADK in your sig, but I did find it via my local, friendly search engine. I installed it, and then created the rescue media per your instructions and I now have a bootable partition of the portable drive. So you were correct in your diagnosis of a mangled RE.

As an aside, the issue is definitely local to my machine. On another Win10 machine in the house I was able to create the survival kit and then overwrote it with the regular rescue media on a 2gb partition of a portable drive. Booted from it and it works as expected.

Thanks Rob. It was a battle, but one in which I learned a few things, and accomplished creating the rescue.

Phred,

Glad to hear it!  Sorry, I've been out of town for several days and just getting caught up.  I thought I had the WinPE ADK files linked - I'll get them added again soon.  

Sounds like you got it figured out, but just in case, you can always Google it and here it is too:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/get-started/adk-install

One way to also check with your WinRE is installed (or working) is to run the following from an admin command prompt (right-click and run as administrator - even if logged in with an admin account).

reagentc /info

if it says it is not found, or not enabled, you can try

reagentc /enable

I recently had a machine that failed to enable it until the third attempt - if it keeps saying it's now found or can't be started, then WinRE is likely corrupted or missing on that machine.  ADK will get your rescue media built and working just fine though.  Windows 10 builds have great default driver support and you can always add more specific drivers during the rescue media build if need be too.

Bobbo_3C0X1 wrote:

Phred,

Glad to hear it!  Sorry, I've been out of town for several days and just getting caught up.  I thought I had the WinPE ADK files linked - I'll get them added again soon. 

 Not a problem. Thanks for getting back to me and providing the additional info. And you are correct - I've got it all squared away.

You bet!  And thanks for confirming.  I see what I did - I wrapped them all into the common drivers link as it is a working document now... I'll remember that next time.

(12). Common OEM Drivers