Rescue Media Builder and ISO Builder still don't create bootable media on Surface Pro
After wasting $40 on 2013 Plus Pack which promised to create bootable media and didn't, and now another $20 upgrading to 2014 Premium which claims to have "Full Windows 8® certification" but also doesn't create bootable media for me, I am frustrated.
Surface Pro needs "pure" 64-bit code to boot up.
ISO Builder specifically states that it does not support x64. What's with this?
I have been able to create bootable WinPE 4.0 media without Acronis using ADK, but I don't know how to add Acronis to this, if it's possible.
Before you suggest it, disabling Secure Boot doesn't help.
Help would be appreciated.
Note there is a difference between being Win 8 certified (and that is provided by Microsoft) and working on specific hardware, in this case the Microsoft Surface. There is anecdotal evidence that the Surface hardware has problems with some non Microsoft programs accessing bits and pieces.
Unfortunately the only Acronis products which at the moment provide 64 bit recovery environments are ABR11.5 and SnapDeploy 4, and I'm not sure if these willl work on a Surface, although I would expect the PE4.0 version of the recovery media to work.
Colin, the Acronis-provided tools don't work with PE4.0 - that's what we Surface Pro people need. Surely this can't be that hard.
Brian,
They should be working with PE4 (W8), they don't work with PE4.1 (W8.1) I have made a PE4.0 recovery ISO in both ABR11.5 and 2014 Premium, however, as you originally noted, 2013 only uses 32 bit versions (apart from ABR11.5) rather than 64 bit. The fact the Surface will only boot from 64 bit PE would seem to be specific to the Surface at the moment, not to other tablet machines.
Personally, I'm not sure why the 64 bit version has not been made available to the Home users instead of only the corporate users, seeing as how more and more machines will in short term become more like the Surface in their requirements..
***edited typing error and changed a sentence to be more readable****
I feel your pain Brian. I too stupidly put my trust in Acronis and bought an upgrade stupidly thinking they would have sorted out all the problems with creating their recovery media. Especially after the lengthy discussions in these forum for these issues in TI 2013.
I have a support case open but not holding my breath as the impression I got is they don't have a clue.
In my case I am just trying to create a standard Recovery USB, which I did. However it still won't work with secure boot. Something about failed security validation.
It annoys me how it was so easy to create a bootable USB with my recovery partition on that works yet this lemon of a product can't do the same
The reason I instantly upgraded to TI 2014 (without reading about its details) was for sure Acronis had addressed the Recovery Media issues.
It turns out that I was a fool for believing in Acronis!
You know what? I use this music editing program called GoldWave. As you play a music file, the marker is normally displayed in HH:MM:SS. On their support forum, I created a thread, asking them to implement an option to display it in "MMM:SS" (i.e., 1 hour and 5 mins would display as 65:00). That feature would greatly help me out in something else I'm doing.
Guess what? In their very next patch release, the feature was there! I was such a happy camper!!! Boy, oh, boy, do those folks pay attention to what is being written and discussed in their support forums.
Acronis, you should learn to do the same.
These issues may have more to do with the Surface Pro than they do with Acronis. Apparently various software apps are having trouble running properly on the Surface Pro, and even some Windows features don't work properly on the Surface Pro. This seems not to be an Acronis-specific issue. I'm sure in time Acronis will add the required support to its Rescue Media.
I use Acronis TrueImage 2014 to ghost our Surface Pro and Surface Pro 2 at my job.
But you need a port replicator, in my case I use the Lenovo Thinkpad USB 3.0 Port Replicator which is great since you can add two monitor at ounce.
I used the rescue media builder option and put that on a usb Key
1. Insert the USB key in the port replicator.
2. Boot the unit by holding down volume up and the power button, When you see SURFACE, release Power then Volume up
3. Change the Secure boot Control setting to Disabled and save settings.
4a. Now this part is for Surface Pro only
The unit will restart in Windows 8, shut it down.
Boot the unit by holding volume down button, then hit power button, When you see SURFACE, release Power then Volume down.
4b This part is for Surface Pro 2 only
from Windows 8.1 go to Settings- Change PC Settings - Update and Restore - Restore - Reboot now
From the Blue Menu, choose Use a peripheral and select your usb drive. (sometime it don't work the first time, restart 4b)
5. You will be prompted with a menu where you can select Acronis (note the you need the keyboard..)
Be sure to backup only the C drive avec leave unchecked the other 3
On the Surface Pro 2 when you disable the Secure boot you'll get an ugly Red screen when you boot. You'll have to re-enable Secure boot and choose the option Install Default Secure Boot Keys to get rid of it.
Thanks Olivier, most helpful.
Nice post.
However what gets me about True Image is the fact you have to disable secure boot in the first place. At least one other imaging product can boot to its rescue media with secure boot enabled. It also create a WinPE 4 x64 rescue media from its GUI without having to manually do this, that and the other. I just wish Acronis would stop focusing on the airy fairy stuff like cloud backup and get backup to improving the basics that I bought true image for over 7 versions ago and that is create images, boot to rescue media and restore without having to manually do this and that. If you can't do the basics without problems then you've lost me as a customer. If you want to know what that other product is then "google is your friend" :0). or just look at the posts in this forum by someone else.
With my Surface Pro 2 and 3, I can boot from a device created with Windows 8.1. This results in some options to repair windows.
What I want is a USB boot where Acronis is started so I can restore or duplicate a complete system. This is not possible when you start Windows on the target device.
I used Grub4Doc (advice in the Acronis help files). This works for Windows 7. Unfortunately not for Windows 8.1. The device is not recognized.
Please, is there a possibility now (sept-2014) to make a rescue media from Acronis for new OS Windows 8.1 and Surface devices?
I'm brand new to Acronis and require advice. I purchased True Image 15, created Rescue Media on a newly FAT32-formatted** 16 GB Verbatim USB 3 Flash card, using the computer that I wish to 'image' (Dell Vostro 470, Windows 7). I not only wish to use the Rescue Media for Recovery in the future, but right now, to boot the computer in order to create the original, separate hard drive backup images of System and Files. [It is recommended by Acronis to run Linux rather than Windows to both create images and recover files.] The problem is that despite changing boot order in BIOS, when I power up the computer, it still sees the Internal HDD as the first bootable media and boots Windows.
When I open the Flash Key, I can see all the recovery files, so I know that the USB 3 port on the back of my computer is being seen by the computer. I don't know why the computer is 'passing over' the USB Flash key.
**I initially formatted the Flash Key using Windows Disk Management tool and then used True Image to install Bootable Rescue Media Software. This didn't work. I then followed the procedure on https://kb.acronis.com/content/1526, using Command Line to format the Flash Key prior to installing the Bootable Rescue Media Software.
Then I shut down, rebooted, changed BIOS boot order to Boot 1 = USB Removeable Media and Boot 2= Internal HDD.
Acronis indicates that some hardwares require additional kernel instructions, but I have no idea where or how to apply them.
Here's what appears on my BIOS screen (my comments/questions are in capital letters. Note that I did not change any of the settings other than the Boot Order)
I CHANGED THE ORDER OF BOOT DEVICES SO THAT USB STORAGE IS 1ST AND INTERNAL HDD IS 2ND AND SAVED CHANGES
Boot Mode is set to: Legacy Secure boot: OFF
Legacy Boot: Hard Disk WD...
CD/DVD
Boot Tab:
Numlock Key ON
Keyboard Errors Report
USB Boot Support Enabled
System Mode State uSER
Secure Boot State Disabled
Secure Boot Disabled
Load Legacy OPROM Enabled
Boot Mode [Legacy]
1st Boot Device [USB Storage]
2nd Boot Device [Internal HDD Devices WD...]
3rd Bood Device [Internal ODD Devices]
Hard Disk Drives
When I open "Hard Disk Drives", it shows:
1st Boot Drive [Internal HDD Devices WDC...]
Disabled
SHOULD I CHOOSE 'DISABLED'?
Here is the Acronis knowledgebase Kernel Parameter page. I DON'T KNOW WHETHER I SHOULD BE APPLYING ANY OF THESE PARAMETERS AND IF SO, EXACTLY WHERE DO I APPLY THEM AND HOW DO I DO SO?
The following parameters can be used to load Linux kernel with specific options.
acpi=off Disables ACPI which may help with a particular hardware configuration.
noapic Disables APIC (Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller) which may help with a particular hardware configuration.
nousb Disables USB modules loading.
nousb2 Disables USB 2.0 support. USB 1.1 devices still work with this option. This options allows to use 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 very 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, not access the hardware device directly. For instance, if the machine has a non-standard PCI host bridge.
pci=nobios Disallows use of PCI BIOS, only direct hardware access methods are allowed. For instance, 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.
NEXT QUESTION (ASSUMING MY COMPUTER CAN FINALLY BOOT FROM RESCUE MEDIA:
If my hard drive fails, Acronis recommends that the optimal solution is to replace the failed internal drive with a new drive, boot from Rescue Media and then recover by using the Rescue Media software to restore the system, partitions and files from backup images that are on my external hard drive.
Is it less optimal to restore to a new hard drive that is NOT mounted internally, but instead is connected to the computer via a Startech USB 3 eSATA to SATA docking hub and only then remove the crashed drive and install the new, restored hard drive? What are the problems with this approach? (The Startech hub is made specifically for backing up to naked hard drives and then swapping the failed internal with the backup drive.)
Genome,
Your problem is quite probably down to the way Dell has implemented the Microsoft UEFI requirement. Even though you have switched Secure Boot off, the UEFI BIOS still searches for 'approved' devices.
Try the following that is my workaround for a Medion hybrid.
1. This requires using the Windows PE version of the recovery media.
2. NOTE: This will FORMAT your USB stick, so everything on it will be lost.
Boot into Windows on your Dell PC.
2a. From Control Panel select 'Make a Microsoft Recovery Disk' (if you are using Windows 8 you can get to the advanced settings from a right side swipe.
2b. When the Microsoft recovery wizard recognises your USB stick, untick the 'put Windows recovery files on nedia'. Select Next and let Windows format your drive.
When it has finished you will now have basic boot files on your USB stick. In the Sources folder (32 bit) will be a boot.wim file - rename this file to boot.old.
3. Now make a True Image recovery environment selecting the PE version and select the WIM output.
Once TI has made a Mediabuilder recovery WIM file.
4. Rename it boot.wim and copy it over to the Sources folder on your USB stick.
Your PC should now see the stick and boot from it.
I've never been able to get Linux to boot on a brand name UEFI system, computer shop and home made PCs it may well work.
Things to note:
You can if you wish, add more WIM files to your sources folder if you want to have more than one booting environment of either an Acronis product or other utilities. Here though, you would name all your Wim files as you please and put them in the Sources folder. You then need to get one of the free BCD editors and edit the BCD on the USB stick to point o all your WIM files.
When you boot from the stick you will then get a menu and you can select which WIM file you want to boot.
Note: If you have a 64 bit system you will have two BCDs on your USB stick, you need to alter both BCDs so that it will boot 32 and 64 bit systems.
The 64 bit BCD lurks in; Drive Letter:\boot\resources\efi\microsoft\boot
and the 32 bit version in Drive Letter:\boot
My multiple USB UEFI PE boot stick.
Thanks Colin B. I must say, these instructions make my head spin. I came up with a simpler solution. Rather than create bootable Media Recovery on a flash USB key, I burned a DVD. It works perfectly!
Hi all
one Problem of Surface Pro and Surface Pro 2 not booting directly from Acronis USB recovery stik or in Acronis Recovery Environment (F11) seems to be missing Microsoft UEFI "Certification Authority Certificate".
There is a way to fix this (partially) by installing "Microsoft Surface Pro UEFI CA"
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=41666
I did this on Surface 2 Pro running Win10 and ATI2016. Startup Recovery as well as booting from ACRONIS USB stik now works without disabling secure boot before.
!! as stated in install instructions this may brik your System so be sure to backup your data and follow Installation instructions step by step.
Probems i noticed so far:
- within Acronis Startup env my SD Card is not recogniced
- neither Touchscreen nor Keyboard are working correct so you have to attache mouse and (in case of booting from USB) you have to use an hub.
S22
S22,
Are the problems you mention when booted from the recovery environment?
Hi Colin
Yep i tried to dig a little deeper in it.
1. Touchscreen seems to have a varying setup of pointer if you touch it. This is reproducible.
2. Missing keyboard (Microsoft SFP type cover) seems to be a little instable behaviour as i had one try (out of many many others) where keyboard and touchpad seems to work. Within Windows itself keyboard works wo any problems...
3. SD card is noticed but it seems to take quite a wile after ATI started.
S22
** Sorry was in wrong thread ** belongs to https://forum.acronis.com/forum/103974
I think here would help a new kernel. And it would be much apreciated.
Clone.Zilla works with kernel 4.4 and detects NVME M.2 in Surface 4
It would be nice, if Acronis could upgrade the kernel. Unfortunately I don't know which is the oldest version supporting Surface 4.