[SOLVED] TI Plug-In for BartPE fails with "Unable to create volume snapshot"

OK, after spending the better part of two days trying to get the True Image 11 Plug-In for BartPE working, I finally figured out the cause of the problem in the subject line, and decided to share the solution on the off chance someone else is having the same problem.  And while I'm not sure if it affects other versions of True Image, I strongly suspect it does.

Before I begin, make sure you are using the latest version of the SnapAPI - see 1754: Acronis True Image Errors Out With "Unable to create volume snapshot" for details.  If that solves the problem, great!  Otherwise, make sure you have set up the plugin according to the instructions provided in 1506: Working with Acronis True Image Plug-In for BartPE.

If you are still getting the error after performing both the steps above, the most likely source of your problem is another plugin included in your BartPE build.  For me it was the HWPnP plugin, which sets the UpperFilters parameter for the DiskDrive class to use "PartMgr" only, instead of both "PartMgr" and "SnapMan" as the Acronis plugin requires.  The problem can also be caused by Sherpya's XPE plugin, which does the same thing.

The reason this happens is when PEBuilder runs, it loads the plugins alphabetically.  And if you followed the instructions in 1506, you named your True Image plugin folder "Acronis" - which means it gets loaded before HWPnP, XPE, etc.  Then, when those plugins are loaded, they override all of the settings the True Image plugin needs!

The solution is quite simple:  Rename your plugin folder from "Acronis" to "z_Acronis", or something similar, so that it gets included *after* all your other plugins.  This will allow the True Image plugin settings to override any others which would otherwise overwrite the settings needed to get the file system drivers to load (if you can follow that...).

Hope this helps someone!

- Nathan Lewis