TI2014 - network not available in recovery environment [SOLVED]
SOLUTION: upgraded to TI2016 and performed steps listed in reply #5 below.
---original message---
Am testing ATIH 2014 on a UEFI machine. Backs up to network drive no problem.
Can boot to recovery disc, but cannot find my network drive when browsing for backups. Only "ftp" and "NAS" are available, no "computers near me" or anything else network-dependant.
Been using TrueImage for years, but this is my first time in the UEFI environment. Suspect that has something to do with my difficulty.
Thanks in advance for help or suggestions,
Steve
Thank you for that suggestion, Shadow. Yes, I am using the current build, 6673. Note that the Acronis Product Updates page claims that 6688 is the current build, but that's not what is linked, as I discovered on download and installation. I mentioned this in a different thread here a couple of weeks ago, but did not get an acknowledgement, nor has there been a change or update yet at the Product Updates page.
As you indicated, typing the UNC caused the Authentication Settings button to appear in the Browse for Backup dialog box. Authentication failed, however. I am totally confident that the correct user name and pw were entered. Nevertheless, I get an "Authentication failed. Please verify user name and password." response. This happens even if I enter the entire UNC path and filename.
According to devmgmt.msc the NIC is a "Marvell Yukon 88E8075 family Gigabit Ethernet Controller". Marvell isn't obscure, but maybe the 88E8075 is, idk.
In the two weeks since starting this thread I have purchased a license for TI2016. Will try that as an alternative and report my results here.
System is a Samsung "ATIV One 5 Style" AIO, model # DP515A2G-K02US.
Again, thank you shadowsports for sharing your time and expertise.
z
Greetings,
Thanks for the kind words. Is it possible that the computer you are trying to connect from is in a different WORKGROUP? If so, try authenticating with
domain name\username & password
Your NIC should be supported no problem since v2011 and later
About the 6673 and 6688 build descrepancy... There was a critial bug fix in the final build of 2014, while unconventional Acronis decided not to recompile and publish an official release, and instead it included the fix on 6673 and called it 6688. Its confusing, sorry about that.
zzwerzy,
Did you input the IP address of your network server?
When booted from rescue media, on the main screen, select tools & utilities drop down menu...then select options. Picture 1 below.
That will bring up the menu for inputting the IP address. Picture 2 below.
This has worked for me, and I hope it works for you.
Regards,
FtrPilot
Tried the IP address, thank you FtrPilot. And the Network Adapters option was not available under Tools and Utilities. WORKGROUP wasn't the issue either. This was all done using the standard Acronis recovery disc, which just didn't work.
Next option was the Acronis-made WinPE version of the recovery disc. There was some issue with TI2014 and WinPE and this PC. The machine was built in mid-2014 and has a fresh install of Win10. I decided to upgrade the machine to TI2016 (local) for the best chance of compatibility. Made a successful WinPE recovery disc with TI2016 and...
Still no NAS! (using all the suggested methods)
One of the benefits of using the WinPE media option is that, in addition to the Acronis interface, you get a command prompt window. So I ran ipconfig which returned "Windows IP Configuration" and nothing else. This is most definitely a problem! I tried network initialization and configuration commands (which I detail below), but nothing helped. There was no IP Configuration. OK, the Acronis-generated media does not contain the necessary driver for my NIC and that troubling suggestion from Shadow has come to pass - I have an obscure NIC.
(better go get coffee and a snack, this might take awhile...)
In the Acronis TI Help file I am now pointed toward creating a custom WinPE disc with the appropriate driver. Sounds simple. The instructions are right there in the Help file, except they don't work. I kept making discs that wouldn't boot. I trolled the fora here and found one or two promising guides (that differed from the Help file) to doing this, but even though I followed the various instructions to the letter, I was still generating non-bootable discs. Frustrated, I spent the 20 buckazoids for pay-per-incident support.
The support engineer pointed me to yet another guide for generating a custom WinPE disc with the Acronis plugin and added drivers, and this time it worked! Here are the steps:
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Start Acronis. Go to Tools --> Rescue Media Builder, and click "WinPE-based media with Acronis plug-in". Follow the links in the next dialog box to download and install the two programs you will need to complete this task: The Acronis Media Add-on and the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK).
Alternately, you can download the latest version of the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK), currently version 1511, here: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/dn913721.aspx
When you install the ADK, you will have important options to select which impact the size and length of the installation (because you'll be downloading gigabytes of installation files). The only two components you need are "Deployment Tools" and "Windows Preinstallation Environment". That's over 3 gigs right there. If you select all, it's over 7.3 gigs. You may have to install a newer version of .NET. The ADK installer will do that automatically if necessary.
OK. Those two components are installed and you now have all the tools you need to continue the task.
At this point I will assume you have your NIC driver ready. I'll talk about how to find the correct driver later on.
Start Acronis, if not already running, and go back to Tools --> Rescue Media Builder, and click "WinPE-based media with Acronis plug-in". As you've completed your downloads and installs, this time the next dialog box is different. Choose WIM file (Windows image file) and in the Save As dialog box, create a new folder "wim" and save the file in that folder. In the command line arguments below, I assume that location is "c:\wim". Close Acronis.
Place your NIC driver in its own folder. To use the command line arguments below, that folder must be "c:\driver". The driver has three component files with these extensions: .sys, .cat, and .inf. They must all be present, although maybe the .cat can be ignored.
In the Start Menu, locate and expand "Windows Kits", right-click on "Deployment and Imaging Tools Environment" and tunnel down to and click "Run As Administrator". Enter the following command lines, one at a time followed by an Enter keypress, each time the command prompt reappears:
copype amd64 C:\winpe
copy c:\WIM\AcronisBootablePEMedia.wim c:\winpe\media\sources\boot.wim --- (accept overwrite with "y" and press Enter)
cd c:\winpe
dism /mount-image /imagefile:"c:\winpe\media\sources\boot.wim" /index:1 /mountdir:"c:\winpe\mount"
dism /add-driver /image:"c:\winpe\mount" /driver:"c:\driver" /recurse
dism /get-drivers /image:"c:\winpe\mount" --- (a bonus step, this shows what driver was added)
dism /unmount-image /mountdir:"c:\winpe\mount" /commit
makewinpemedia /iso c:\winpe c:\winpe\TIWinPE.iso
exit
Open a file explorer window and navigate to c:\winpe. Put a blank CD or DVD in your drive and right click TIWinPE.iso and select "Burn disc image". Follow the prompts and you're done! Now, test the disc and make a liar out of me. <g> Note: In the "Browse For Backup dialog box I had to enter the first part of the UNC name of my NAS to get the "Authentication Settings" dialog to appear and access the drive.
---SUPPLEMENT--- ---Finding The Correct Driver And Testing It For Functionality In The WinPE Environment---
If you have a pre-built PC such as Samsung, HP, Lenovo, etc., your best bet is to get the LAN driver from the manufacturer's website. For homebuilts, go to your motherboard manufacturer's website. For the Acronis/WinPE disc you will need 64-bit drivers (x64). 32-bit (x86) drivers will not work. These driver downloads are usually archived (.zip or .exe) files. You'll have to expand them to select the appropriate .inf, .sys and .cat files for your NIC. I leave that for you to sort out. Place the three candidate files in the "c:\driver" folder.
Now you have driver files to test. Here is how: Go back to Acronis and, assuming you've installed the Media Add-on and ADK, again visit Tools --> Rescue Media Builder, and click "WinPE-based media with Acronis plug-in". This time select "ISO file" and save it anywhere convenient. Burn image to disc and reboot computer using that disc. When the machine boots up you will have two windows: Acronis and Command Prompt. Switch to the Command Prompt window and enter the following commands followed by an Enter keypress:
c:
dir --- to confirm presence of "driver" folder. otherwise, try a different drive letter and repeat
drvload c:\driver\??????.inf ---where ?????? is the filename of your particular .inf file, such as mvykxx.inf
wait for the command line window to report success, then enter:
netcfg -winpe
wpeutil initializenetwork
ipconfig
Here, if the driver is correct, the command line window will return "Windows IP Configuration" with some kind of IP addressing scheme below depending on whether or not your Ethernet port is connected. Otherwise, the command line window will return "Windows IP Configuration" and nothing else. If so, find another driver and retest (close and reboot WinPE each time).
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I don't want to know how many hours I burned on this project, but I am happy to have learned something new. I hope I save someone else from the hassels I went through to get here. Thanks for all the help from the community!
z
z,
I am glad you were able to resolve your problem...but most of all, thanks for closing the loop and sharing what you have learned.
Regards,
FtrPilot
I'm only ever able to see my NAS as network shares under "network". I never have any share or device options showing under "NAS". Is this due to recognition of only certain brands or device models as a NAS or requriement for Bonjeur or other plugin? Not a big issue for me at this point but it seems a bit strange (and I've been following this thread due to the network driver issues so thanks for the detailed follow up with your solution).
mgrobins,
My NAS does the same thing...shows up under Network and not under NAS. I have learned to live with it.
Did you have to create a WinPE recovery media like zzwerzy? Or were you able to see your NAS with the regular (Linux) rescue media?
Regards,
FtrPilot
It is not possible with True Image 2014 rescue media to access a Windows 7/10 network share. The share can be seen, but the credentials are not being accepted.
In contrary, with True Image 2011 rescue media it's no problem at all to connect to the same share mentioned above.
Thorsten
Just for the archive the solution for the authentification problem:
My network share was not accessible for True Image 2014 Rescue environment because I used the character '%' within my password for accessing the share. Other special characters like $ or § worked as expected, but not %.
Thorsten, thank you for sharing your feedback on the use of special characters in your password.