MVP Tool - CUSTOM ATI WINPE BUILDER for 2020
I have been using your MVP Tool builder method for my Acronis USB Boot media with Acronis 2018. I upgraded to 2020 and notice that the directions are back in the 2017 folder. Does the Media Builder now include all that the MVP folks include in their version, or would it be helpful to edit the 2017 post with directions on the MVP tool to update it for use with 2020. Or will the old method work without changes from the directions in 2017 forum?
I suppose the brainpower and effort I had to use to create an MVP USB using 2018 is simply too much for me to recreate these days. I presume 2018 won't restore a 2020 backup will it?
In the case of a backup created using 2020 as a Full disk and as a new task no, because 2020 uses a new file backup format known as .tibx which is not compatible with 2018 version. I posted a reply to your other post about this.
Thank you. I appreciate all you do for us.
Steve, I chose the useful Link to the right of this, "MVP User Tools and Tuts" and have downloaded MVP_ATIPEBuilder and see it has modern files, so it has been updated to work currently. Thank you both. A question, I am running an EVGA GPU and the normal fancy stuff that a powerful Tower workstation has in it. Besides your already included RAID, AHCI and Killer drivers, what custom drivers would you recommend we look for and add? BTW, you video on working through the ATIPEBuilder is most helpful. Again thank you.
Steve, I am still frustrated. The MVP builder script works great until I try and create a bootable USB drive. I have tried 3 different USB drives and the script fails each time at being unable to complete a format on the chosen drive. I do have the iso file. I will try and see if I can use that to create a bootable USB drive. You think it is a failure in the script?
William,
The MVP script is fine. It has been tested extensively so we are confident of its workings.
How did you format the USB flash drives? Using Windows Disk Management will usually do the trick. If a Quick format does not work, uncheck that option and run the full format. You can also right mouse click on the flash drive in Disk Management and select Delete Volume. This will remove all formatting from the drive and leave it Unallocated. Next, right click on the drive again and select New Simple Volume. Follow the prompts to create a FAT32 format drive. When that is finished your drive will be ready to build media.
Ok, hopefully you can don't need to hold my hand any longer. I did use Rufus to convert the iso to a bootable USB drive. Apparently my most used USB port died. I change ports and it worked. The little things will kill you if you aren't careful.
Hi,
during run of MVP_ATIPEBuilder I got an error:
*****************************************************
** System scan and preparation in progress. **
** **
** Please be patient. **
*****************************************************
=================================================================
"(" kann syntaktisch an dieser Stelle nicht verarbeitet werden.
Can anyone help me with this problem?
Thanks
Eli, where have you extracted the MVP tool folder to? This should be in the root of one of your partitions for best performance. Example: I have the tool in the root of my D: partition.
William Kincy wrote:Steve, I am still frustrated. The MVP builder script works great until I try and create a bootable USB drive. I have tried 3 different USB drives and the script fails each time at being unable to complete a format on the chosen drive. I do have the iso file. I will try and see if I can use that to create a bootable USB drive. You think it is a failure in the script?
I have run into a similar sounding problem with USB flash memory "drives". In my case it was definitely not the script; it was the way the vendor formatted the device. The Windows Format function would not fix the problem. (It actually made it so that Windows could no longer find a formatted partition on the device.)
Some 3rd party products such as RMPrepUSB can reformat my devices to make them usable. I don't know if you have the same problem, but it can't hurt to give it a try.
Steve Smith wrote:Eli, where have you extracted the MVP tool folder to? This should be in the root of one of your partitions for best performance. Example: I have the tool in the root of my D: partition.
Thanks Steve, but I get the same error in the root of a partition.
Eli, what does the log file for the MVP tool show for this situation? Logs are created each time the tool is used and stored in the Logs folder.
Steve Smith wrote:Eli, what does the log file for the MVP tool show for this situation? Logs are created each time the tool is used and stored in the Logs folder.
Steve, there was no logfile (logs folder is empty), so I started the tool in an admin shell and redirected the output into the attached file.
Eli,
I'd like to pin down where your error is coming from in the script. I've made a diagnostic version of the program to help with this. You can download it at http://www.mechrest.com/plugins/MVP_ATIPEBuilder/Advanced/MVP_ATIPEBuilder_Diag.zip
Unzip the file and put MVP_ATIPEBuilder_Diag.exe in your MVP folder and run it. There are a series of pauses added to the script. You will see "Press any key to continue . . ." at each pause. I will be able to tell where the error is coming from by the number of pauses that come before the error.
You will get virus or malware warnings from this program because it is not digitally signed. You will need to trust it. There are no problems with it.
Please post your output and I will try to find the problem.
Mustang wrote:Eli,
I'd like to pin down where your error is coming from in the script. I've made a diagnostic version of the program to help with this. You can download it at http://www.mechrest.com/plugins/MVP_ATIPEBuilder/Advanced/MVP_ATIPEBuilder_Diag.zip
Unzip the file and put MVP_ATIPEBuilder_Diag.exe in your MVP folder and run it. There are a series of pauses added to the script. You will see "Press any key to continue . . ." at each pause. I will be able to tell where the error is coming from by the number of pauses that come before the error.
You will get virus or malware warnings from this program because it is not digitally signed. You will need to trust it. There are no problems with it.
Please post your output and I will try to find the problem.
Hi Mustang,
thanks for your diag, the output will be attached, hope you will be lucky...
Ewald
Mustang wrote:Eli,
I'd like to pin down where your error is coming from in the script. I've made a diagnostic version of the program to help with this. You can download it at http://www.mechrest.com/plugins/MVP_ATIPEBuilder/Advanced/MVP_ATIPEBuilder_Diag.zip
Unzip the file and put MVP_ATIPEBuilder_Diag.exe in your MVP folder and run it. There are a series of pauses added to the script. You will see "Press any key to continue . . ." at each pause. I will be able to tell where the error is coming from by the number of pauses that come before the error.
You will get virus or malware warnings from this program because it is not digitally signed. You will need to trust it. There are no problems with it.
Please post your output and I will try to find the problem.
Hi Mustang,
thanks for your diag, the log.txt is attached, good luck...
Ewald
Mustang wrote:Eli,
I'd like to pin down where your error is coming from in the script. I've made a diagnostic version of the program to help with this. You can download it at http://www.mechrest.com/plugins/MVP_ATIPEBuilder/Advanced/MVP_ATIPEBuilder_Diag.zip
Unzip the file and put MVP_ATIPEBuilder_Diag.exe in your MVP folder and run it. There are a series of pauses added to the script. You will see "Press any key to continue . . ." at each pause. I will be able to tell where the error is coming from by the number of pauses that come before the error.
You will get virus or malware warnings from this program because it is not digitally signed. You will need to trust it. There are no problems with it.
Please post your output and I will try to find the problem.
Hi Mustang,
thanks for the diag, log will be attached, good luck...
Ewald
Hi Mustang,
thanks for the diag, the log is attached, good luck...
Ewald
Hi Eli,
Thanks for the output. I need more information. I see you got 20 pauses. When I run the WinRE option on a Windows 10 system. I get 20 pauses. When I run the WinRE option on a Windows 7 system, I get 23 pauses.
Is your system Windows 7 or Windows 10?
Is your WinRe enabled? To find out, please open a command prompt as Administrator and enter:
reagentc /info
Please post the resulting text of the above command.
Hi Mustang:
WinRE-Status: Enabled
WinRE-Ort: \\?\GLOBALROOT\device\harddisk0\partition5\Recovery\WindowsRE
Win10 prof. 1909 (Build 18363.535)
Hi Eli,
Since you got further than I expected, I've uploaded a revived version of the Diag program. Please download again (same link) and show me the output.
Hi Mustang,
seems that I got the same result, see attached log.
At the end I get this message in the shell:
"(" kann syntaktisch an dieser Stelle nicht verarbeitet werden.
Hi Eli,
I see what I did wrong. Download again. You'll get a different output this time.
here's the new log
Hi Eli,
Okay, I see the problem now. Here's the output from an English system from the reagentc /info command:
Windows RE status: Enabled
Windows RE location: \\?\GLOBALROOT\device\harddisk5\partition5\Recovery\WindowsRE
Notice the difference in the wording from your output. The script is having a problem getting the WinRE path from the text output. Let me work on this to see what I can do to fix it for you.
Hi Mustang,
isn't there a different (os language independent) method to retrieve the winre location (instead of the reagentc /info)?
Thanks a lot for your effort so far. I'm waiting for your solution.
Ewald
Hi Eli,
I'm looking for a better method to find the WinRE Status and WinRE Path. I haven't had any luck. In the meantime, here's a quick and dirty workaround. I made another modified script that just sets WinRE Status and WinRE Path to the values on your system. Download it here:
http://www.mechrest.com/plugins/MVP_ATIPEBuilder/Advanced/MVP_ATIPEBuilder_Eli.zip
That should get it working for you now.
EDIT:
Could you also please try changing your system temporarily to display English instead of German and run the original program.
Hi Mustang,
both methods worked:
- your "special" workaround (with german os)
- the original version with english set as language
You should implement some additonal error handling for such cases (check the result of the reagentc /info etc...).
the cleanup routine is being not called in such cases (script aborted).
Thanks a lot,
Ewald
Hi Ewald,
Thanks for reporting back with your results. I'll keep working on this issue to see if I can find a better solution and implement additional error checking.
To All,
I have a new version ready for testing. There are two differences between version 18.6 and the new version 18.8.
1. Acronis' fix for handling BitLocker locked drives has been included. To use it you need to either build using the WinRE option or choose to add BitLocker support during the build from an ADK option. You then need to use a command prompt in WinPE to unlock the drive with manage-bde.exe before True Image can use the drive.
2. Locating WinRE.wim in the build with WinRE option has been improved. It will now find WinRE.wim in systems of all languages. It continues to use reagentc /info so it will find the correct WinRE.wim for the system.
You can download the new MVP_ATIPEBuilder .exe file at this link:
http://www.mechrest.com/plugins/MVP_ATIPEBuilder/Advanced/MVP_ATIPEBuilder_Beta.zip
Unzip the file and move MVP_ATIPEBuilder_Beta.exe to your existing version 18.6 folder and run it from there. It has not been signed by Acronis so you may get anti-virus warnings from it. You will need to trust it in the AV program.
Hi Mustang,
bad news: the script aborts with the same error: "(" kann syntaktisch an dieser Stelle nicht verarbeitet werden.
Means unexpected "(" in the script.
See attached logs.
Hi Ewald,
Thanks for reporting back. The good news is that the new script got the location of WinRE.wim correctly.
I made another diagnostic script to pin down where the new error is occurring. Please download it and run it from the MVP folder and show me the output.
http://www.mechrest.com/plugins/MVP_ATIPEBuilder/Advanced/MVP_ATIPEBuilder_Diag.zip
Hi Mustang,
the problem occurs probably shortly after that location in your script:
...
::############################################
:MOUNT_NADK
::############################################
ECHO ARCH=%ARCH%
pause
ECHO.
ECHO.
ECHO.
ECHO.
because in the output of the script the ARCH is not set:
...
=================================================================
ARCH=
Drücken Sie eine beliebige Taste . . .
seems that the ARCH variable gets lost somewhere...
waiting for your feedback....
will continue testing tomorrow.
Hi Ewald,
No need to do any more testing until I find why ARCH isn't setting. I'll get back to you when I have a correction to try.
Hi Ewald,
Please download MVP_ATIPEBuilder_Beta.zip again from the link in reply #31. It seems Microsoft reports the system architecture under English as 64-bit and under German as 64-BIT. I didn't expect that! I made a change to take that into consideration by making my test case insensitive.
Let's see how far you get now.
Hi Mustang,
this time I have good news: your new diag version is working (on VM and real machine).
For the different wording:
It's not the language but the machine:
real machine (german language!): OSArchitecture=64-bit
VM (Hyper-V): OSArchitecture=64-Bit
What I did not find in the log are several settings (e.g. language and ATI version).
see attachment.
Hi Ewald,
Glad to hear it worked.
Not logging the OS language in the WinRE option was intentional. It is logged in the build from an ADK version. The reason is that without an ADK there is no way to add language packages to the PE. Therefore, I skip the whole language section of the script. If you install an ADK and build from it, you should see an option to change the PE language to match the OS language.
I was aware that there was an issue getting ATI version information from non-English systems. You can help with this. I made a new Diag version which will pause and ask you to look at a file called atiinfo3.txt. The console will tell you where to find it. Please copy it out when the script is paused and show me the output. I may be able to work out a language independent method of getting the info.
http://www.mechrest.com/plugins/MVP_ATIPEBuilder/Advanced/MVP_ATIPEBuilder_Diag.zip
Hi Mustang,
this is the content of the atiinfo3.txt:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Acronis\TrueImageHome\TrueImage.exe :
Dateibeschreibung: Acronis True Image 2020
Firma: Acronis International GmbH
Dateiversion: 24.5.1.22510
Erstelldatum: ?19.?11.?2019 ??00:10
GrӇe: 13,8 MB
looks pretty good, except creation date (Erstelldatum), which contains some questionmarks and german name of size, should be "Größe" instead of "Gr”áe"
Hi Ewald,
Thanks for the info. It'll be awhile before I get back with a new test version.
To All,
I have a new Beta version ready. The new version should work with all languages. You can download it from the link in reply #31 above. Follow the instructions in reply #31 to add MVP_ATIPEBuilder_Beta.exe to your existing v18.6 folder and run it from there.
I was able to add German OS display support to my Windows 10 English-US system for testing. It worked well with both the build from ADK and build from WinRE options. The version and build information in the log is now working properly. I realize this test is not the same as testing on a full German system. The OS Language is still reported as English-US. Therefore, I was not offered the option to change the WinPE language in the build from ADK option. Let me know if you run into any problems.
Hi Mustang,
the new diag version worked well for WinRE but not when choosing ADK.
See the output in the attached log-file (WinRe not found).
There has an iso been created (rather small) which cannot be booted from.
Hi Ewald,
I fixed the problem. Please download and run again.
Hi Mustang,
meanwhile I tried both options: ADK and no ADK.
When using ADK there's an output (which is not in the logfile):
=================================================================
*****************************************************
** System scan and preparation in progress. **
** **
** Please be patient. **
*****************************************************
=================================================================
Keine Instanzen verfügbar.
(blank lines removed).
and in the logfile:
----------------
ADK INFORMATION:
----------------
Installed: 10.0.14393.0
WINRE64: NotFound
WINRE86: NotFound
Nevertheless the script finished successfully with iso creation (which I could boot from).
See attached logs.
I'm still not sure what's the difference in the result between using the ADK or not.
The non ADK version (ca. 800 MB) creates a bigger iso the the ADK version (ca. 600 MB).
I have some proposals for improvment. Please let me know your opinion to the following suggestions:
1. output the title, version, MVPs, etc... first (before asking for any option) in the shell
2. Mention your warning...
3. collect all options from the user e.g. ADK/WinRE, network share mapping, Disk burning, USB-Stick creation etc... before running the script (in order to run the script without further user interaction)
(if any user interaction is required later mention that here, but should be avoided))
4. check all settings and check if everything needed is in place (e.g. ADK, recovery partition, Acronis installation, etc...)
5. report all options set and also report the collected info (paths, versions etc....) in the logfile
6. report a detailed error message if any of the collected info would lead to unsuccesful media creation
7. ask if all settings are correct and ask to continue
8. cleanup remaining stuff from previous runs
9. store all intermedite stuff below the folder from where the .exe has been called (in a temp folder) in order to be able to easily cleanup
10. if anything goes wrong, report a detailed error message in the logfile, stop building, and cleanup (maybe that a "debug" option should skip the cleanup in order to check the intermediate created stuff)
Kind Regards,
Ewald
Hi Ewald,
Thanks for testing. This is great. Your logs are perfect.
WINRE64: NotFound
WINRE86: NotFound
The above results in the ADK log are expected. There is an option to provide winre files when building from an ADK. They would be user place in the WinRE\x86 and WinRE\x64 folders. This is only needed if the user is trying to get WiFi support to work. Please note the log entries for these files can only be displayed when building on an English system. wim files have no version information embedded in them. The version numbers are found using the dism /Get-WimInfo command. The output was such that there was NO way to make it language independent. So even if you put the files in place, the version information would not show in a German system.
The reason the ISO's are a different size is because WinRE.wim from your system in much larger than WinPE.wim supplied by the ADK you have installed. This is to be expected.
Thanks for your suggestions for improvements. However, redesigning the script is not an option.
Hi Mustang,
Thanks for your quick reply. I assume you will be then initiating the signed release version.
I understand that you won't change the script completely.
Perhaps you can consider some of my proposals for future projects equivalently.
Please consider also that the powershell is much more powerful than the "old" scripting.
Thanks a lot for your effort,
Ewald
The new version has been sent to Acronis for testing and signing. It will take some time to get it back.
When I run the tool (v18.8) I get the following when I select ADK, I get error messages as shown in the attached file.
Hi Matt,
Please try again with the link below. It is version 19.0 and is the latest version that has been submitted to Acronis for testing.
http://www.mechrest.com/plugins/MVP_ATIPEBuilder/Advanced/MVP_ATIPEBuilder_v190.zip
If you still get the same errors, we will try to work out why. Are you running on a system where you are logged in as Administrator? The program needs Administrative privileges.
Mustang wrote:Please try again with the link below. It is version 19.0 and is the latest version that has been submitted to Acronis for testing.
http://www.mechrest.com/plugins/MVP_ATIPEBuilder/Advanced/MVP_ATIPEBuilder_v190.zip
Should we all be giving this a test drive?