Rescue bootable media has no networking...
I've created a WinPE bootable USB drive using ADK, from inside Acronis True Image 2016.
I cannot access my NAS with the backups on it, largely because it's on a network (WiFi, actually, as per WD's recommended setup of the EX2 MyCloud NAS), and there are -no- network interfaces present in the boot media Acronis created.
How do I create boot media which sees my wireless network? That's the way it's going to need to access the backup if I ever need to restore.
Thanks in advance!
Mark - WinPE does not support wireless connections. You will need to use the NIC on the laptop/computer, but as long as the WD MyCloud is connected to the network (wireless or otherwise) should be accessible. Personally, I'm not sure why you would want to connect the MyCloud wirelessly if you have the ability to plug it in to the newtork - physical connection is always better when possible. Connecting wirelessly to the NAS can then be done from say your smart phone, or amy other devices remotely if you have that access enabled.
Personally, for what you want to do, I think that as long as you're using the default Linux recovery media with a current version of Acronis, and have your computer connected to your network with a network cable, this will be the easiest/best method.
For what you want/need to do if you stick with WinPE...
1) If you created winPE using Windows 10ADK (6.0) even on a Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 machine, the resulting ADK will have better driver support than if you used Windows ADK 4.0 (win7) or ADK 5.0 (Win 7/8/8.1). If you created it with anything other than Windows 10 ADK, I'd suggest doing so for the best default compatibility, but up to you.
2) Plug laptop or pc into network via ethernet cable (suggest you do the same for the mycloud). Do this before you boot your media or the adapter may not be recognized if you boot and then plug in a network cable.
3) boot WinpE of Acronis
4) WinPE does not connect to network shares automatially, you must map the network drive first and this can only be done in WinPE from command prompt. You'd have to minimize the Acronis window and the command prompt is running int background.
Then, make sure you have a network connection. Ping the IP address of the Mycloud and if you get a response you have network connectivity. You should also be able to run "ipconfig /all" without quotes and should see that you have a valid IP address. If you have 169.x.x.x then you don't have an IP address and that may mean you don't have the correct/necessary drivers for your network adapter.
5) To map a network share as the N: drive in WinPE
net use N: \\yourNASName\ShareName\
or
net use N: \\yourNASIPAddress\ShareName\
If correct, it should prompt you for username and password. Username is typically yourNASName\username. If that is entered correctly and accepted, you should see the command prompt respond that the drive was mapped successfully and then you can go back to Acronis and just navigate to the M: drive.
Okay, let me put it this way... Is there a bare metal recovery which -does- work off of wireless?
You lose functionality if you need to connect the EX2 directly to one system. You also get -NO- performance gain. I've been down that road before, so I know the benchmarks are not worth the loss of features or convenience. The EX2 is not the world's best performer. You're getting about 27-30MB/s, tops. It was worse on older firmware, even on gigabit direct into the server.
I find it ridiculous that you can back up to any network device, but you can only restore in a bare metal sense if you reconfigure your NAS and physically move it.
So, back to the question in my first paragraph.
Also, you're apparently incorrect; it's definitely possible to do WiFi under WinPE. Do a simple search:
https://www.google.com/search?q=winpe+wireless&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
People have done it. It's possible. And as much as Acronis keeps reaming us year after year for negligible gains, -they should be on top of this-, instead of having us fight to do what should be made a far simpler task. I dunno...provide some value for what I'm paying in upgrade fees, perhaps? Just a thought for them.
You are correct, it is do-able, but waaay outside the scope of any commercial home backup product and not officially supported by Windows. Go ahead and try the free versions of every consumer home backup product and you will find the same thing (Acronis, Macrium, EASUS, Paragon, Retrosopect, CrashPlan, Windows Backup, AOMEI, others, try them all). Should you delve into the unofficial and and license breaking 3rd party tools like Gandalf PE, or WinPESE, you will get WinPE with wireless, but then you have to slip the Acronis products in too. I have done it and it works, but it is a lengthy process, and not supported by Windows per the WinPE license agreements.
In this case, there is a simple, non-wireless method that all home backup users are utilizing. All you need to do is connect the WD My cloud to one of the LAN ports on the back of your home router (which it probably already is) and then connect your laptop or PC to one of the other availavble LAN ports on the back of your home router and that is how the 2 devices will work across the physical network when you boot either the default Acronis Linux bootable media or the WinPE Linux bootable media (or any other backup software bootable media - this is not an Acronis limitation).
This is how it should be setup for you to. However, it sounds like your PC or laptop is strictly on your home network "wirelessly" in most cases. That is fine in full blown Windows (your PC booted up normally) and yes, you can access the WD mycloud via wireless connection this way and take or restore images with Acronis to it this way (well, not restore full disk images, but file/folder restores work this way).
However, for any home backup product (Acronis or otherwise) the offline bootable recovery media does not support wireless devices. Windows PE is a Pre-boot Environment that offers some Windows capability, but is very limited because 1) if it worked like a full OS, then there would be no incentive to buy or use the full OS 2) part of the limitation is to keep the size very minimal so that it can load into memory (the entire OS is in memory and not running from the CD/disk or a hard drive).
You can want this to work, but it's not going to change the fact that it doesn't. Again, I encourage you to verify this with other free and trial versions of backup products to confirm this. If you find one that has offline wireless capability, let me know.
Asking the obvious, but why does the Linux-based rescue media doesn't work for you? It has built-in wireless support.