Need help booting from USB stick on Dell laptop

Satwar, what type of USB Rescue Media are you using here?

ATI 2017 creates Linux based media by default and this may require that Secure Boot is disabled if your computer does not like booting from Linux media with it enabled.

See KB 59877: Acronis True Image 2017: how to distinguish between UEFI and Legacy BIOS boot modes of Acronis Bootable Media which shows more information on this subject. 

I'm using a 16GB Sandisk Ultra USB 3.0.  I don't believe this is the problem, however, because I have recovered this PC several times using the media.

Satwar, the 16GB Sandisk stick should be fine, but which actual version of the Rescue Media have you created?  Is this the default Linux based media or the alternative Windows PE?  Have you tried turning off Secure Boot in the UEFI settings?

I used MVP_ATIPEBuilder_v59 for building PE Media Rescue

I'm a little afraid of turning Secure boot OFF, because I don't know what it is and where do I change it.   I also assume that if it works I should go back in the bios and turn it back on.  I came very close to trashing my computer by making bios changes to suit Acronis.  It turned out well in the end with excellent support from this group, but  I don't want to go there again.  It was rigorously tested and worked well until now.  The only thing that has changed is a few Bios updates have been implemented on my DELL since I build the rescue media.

Satwar, I would recommend using the latest Advanced version of the MVP tool (MVP_ATIPEBuilder_v182_signed.zip) and recreating the USB Rescue Media with that tool.

As this is the WinPE version of the media being used, then there should be no need to turn off Secure Boot as this type of media should boot fine with it enabled.

Well, I guess I can try.  There's a lot of stuff to wade through.  Where do I find the correct version and where is the tutorial and user guide.  I'm afraid it's been over a year since I've tackled this beast and I've forgotten much of what I learned.

The first step seems to be having to decide whether to build a 32-bit or 64-bit Media Rescue.  Should I be building a 32-bit or 64-bit app.

satwar, the MVP tool can be found from the Useful Links section of the forum pages, click on the MVP User Tools and Tutorials link there which will take you to a Google Drive folder for the tool.

Download the Advanced version of the tool, which is also the most up to date and maintained version, last updated in March.  The tool is a zip file, so extract the zip contents to the root of your C: drive (as shown in my screen image below).

Once you can see as per the image, then you need to right-click on MVP_ATIPEBuilder.exe and choose "Run as Administrator" to launch the tool.

You should select to build the version of the tool that matches your computer architecture, so for most users this will be 64-bit.  You can run msinfo32 to see what this is if you are unsure - see the second screen image below for my 64-bit Dell laptop.

It's asking me if I want to map a network share in WinPE.  Don't know what this means.

I do recall using DISMGUI to mount boot.wim and modify startnet.cmd by adding two lines of code:

ping -n 10 127.0.0.1

net use S: "\\192.168.0.62\home\Acronis Backups" Password /user: admin

This makes connecting to my backups much easier.  Is this what the Builder is asking about ?

satwar, if you open the C:\MVP_ATIPEBuilder_v182\MappedDrive\Map.cmd file in Notepad then you can see what information is being requested for the question about mapping a network drive and there should be no need for you to use DISMGUI and modify the startnet.cmd yourself.

Well I went through the process and burned image to my USB and it seemed happy, but the computer will still not boot into Acronis environment.

satwar, what does running msinfo32 show for your Windows BIOS Mode?  Does this show UEFI as you are attempting to boot the USB rescue media in this mode?

Next, when you are attempting to boot from the USB media, are you first doing a full Shutdown of Windows so that you are not going into a Hybrid Sleep state?  You can avoid Hybrid Sleep by using Restart instead of clicking on Shutdown, or else by pressing the Shift key at the same time as clicking on Shutdown.

You can get an indication of whether hybrid sleep is involved by looking at the Performance page of the Windows Task Manager, and looking at the Windows Up Time shown there (at the bottom left of the CPU panel)?

Yes, Bios Mode says UEFI

Yes I shutdown the PC completely before plugging in the USB stick.

Windows Up Time 1:18:09:30  This seems very long.  I'll try shutting down with shift key .

Shutting down with shift key reset the Windows Uptime Counter, but no change in booting into Acronis environment.

Looks like disabling Secure Boot is the only chance, but changing back to enabled might not be possible.

Satware, is your initial statement still true? 

"For some reason it no longer boots up into Acronis but goes into a Dell diagnostic mode."

If this is true, then it does not sound like you are booting from the USB Rescue Media at all.

What do you see when booting the USB stick?

When I press the <F12> key during start up, it gives me four options to boot from.  When I select what to boot from it simply starts running a Dell diagnostic screen, which I interrupt by pressing the <Esc> key.

I read a little about Secure Boot and it is designed to prevent anything but Dell approved software from booting.

Satwar, try comparing what you see when you press <F12> key with and without your USB stick connected to your computer - if possible try to capture a screen image with your phone or camera to show if there are any obvious difference?

Secure Boot is not about allowing only Dell approved software from booting, but not allowing any non-Microsoft approved software.

The boot screen accessed by holding <F12> key is the same, whether or not the USB is attached to my laptop.  I am above my paygrade here, but I would expect this behaviour because it is waiting for instructions on how to boot.

Can you post a screen shot of what the <F12> boot options are and what you are selecting from those options?

I would expect you to see something that allows you to select the correct USB device from the menu.

This looks to be directly related to your earlier comment: "The only thing that has changed is a few Bios updates have been implemented on my DELL since I build the rescue media."

You may need to go into the BIOS settings and ensure that you have your USB stick shown as one of the Boot device options.  If this was working prior to the BIOS updates, then it would appear that those updates have reset the BIOS settings to their original default values.

Please find attached my <F12> screen.  One of the UEFI SanDisk, Partition entries would work.  There are 3 of them now because each time I install a new Resue Media I get a new entry in the list.  I don't know how to clear out. the old entries.

satwar, thank you for the F12 boot menu image.  I have no idea why you should have 3 entries for the same SanDisk USB media.

Please see Dell KB document: How to enable boot from DVD option with UEFI boot mode enabled. (Windows 8, 8.1 & 10) which advises Dell users to disable Secure Boot as one of the first steps, so would suggest trying this with your USB Rescue Media to see if it does make a difference or not? 

Another suggest I read from doing a Google search is to plus the USB stick into your USB 2.0 port rather than using a USB 3.0 port, plus not to use a USB Hub to connect the stick.

Thank you, I'm finally getting somewhere.  After disabling Secure Boot, the computer booted from the USB.  Unfortunately the mapping to the NAS didn't work, but that usually takes a while to sort out, very touchy syntax.

I have used the following syntax for making the network mapping more robust.

net use Z: "\\192.168.0.100\AcronisBackupspath" password /user: username

The WINPE builder tool works well but is quite geeky in the language it uses and could be difficult for the computer novice to use.  But you can get very sophisticated results without knowing too much about computers.

Everything is good to go.  Thanks for finding the DELL documentation for disabling secure boot in the UEFI Bios.  I created a new USB boot device in the BIOS and in this same area found where I can go to remove the older USB boot devices that no longer exist.

Satwar, glad that you have a working solution now, well done for keeping going to work through this.