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Plus Pack and WinPE questions

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Hi,

Could you please help me with the following questions?

Amazon.co.uk is selling the plus pack here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Acronis-Image-Backup-Recovery-Software/dp/B008Y…

1. Does this CD include Acronis True Image Home 2013 or do I need to purchase the Acronis True Image Home 2013 Cd and the plus pack CD and add the plus pack as an add-on?

2. Is the Acronis WinPE builder a plug-in to be used with to BartPE builder or is it an independent program?

3. Why do I need Acronis WinPE builder? Is it going to enable me to create an iso image of my current system including all programs and all custom settings?

4. I have Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit. How big is the iso going to be? Can I burn it on a DVD? I have 4.7Gb DVD's. I could buy 8.5 DVD discs. But I expect the iso to be much bigger like 16GB and it won't be possible to burn it to DVD.

5. I'm using Windows 7 but I have a Windows XP cd. Can I use Acronis WinPE to create a Windows XP PE CD? I tried creating it with BartPE but the CD gives me the blue screen during boot because there are no ahci drivers. It looks like I need to add the ahci drivers inside the bartpe drivers folder and create a new iso file. I tried that and it failed again. Am I going to have the exact same problems even if I use Acronis WinPE or does Acronis WinPE somehow help me create a windows xp pe cd that already has ahci drivers? I could install windows xp to a new partition and run Acronis WinPE from there if that is going to help.

6. What I'm trying to do is to create a Windows LiveCD that will run a customized Windows. It can be Windows XP or Windows 7, it doesn't matter. So far I haven't been able to create a standard windows pe cd, let alone a customized one. Should I buy the Acronis plus pack? Is it going to help me?

Update:
I have now managed to create a bootable windows 7 pe cd using Windows AIK but it opens to command prompt and there is no desktop. This is not what I want. I want to run windows from a CD.

Thanks

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1. Judging by the price I think it contains both TIH 2013 and the Plus Pack, but I wouldn't like to swear to it. I note they are selling 2013 by itself for £31.00 and the pack you reference is slightly dearer.

Note if you do buy the CD version, after registering it with Acronis, you should check to see if you need to download a later version from your account, the CD's tend to not reflect current builds.

2. The Bart plug in is for windows XP and as you've discovered WinPe requires the Microsoft WAIK to be downloaded.

3. You can only create ISO's of the recovery media directly not of your images. You don't need the PP to make ISO recovery media. If you do want ISO disk images, it would need to be a two step process, make an image, convert the image to VHD using the option under Utilities in True Image and then convert the VHD to ISO. It is possible to boot some VHDs, however the Home version of W7 doesn't allow this.

4. If performing a complete disk image you need to look at how much used space you have and then factor in a 40-60% reduction for image compression to get a rough idea of how much space an image will take up. Note - if you have lots of already heavily compressed items on your Pc - JPEG, Movie files etc, these won't compress any further, so the siez on the drive is the size they'll be in the image.

I would caution against using DVDs as your primary backup media as recovery can be a 'sore wrist' event if you more than 1 DVD is required for the archive, it is also prone to corruption and to the vagaries of your DVD reader. A spare ahrd drive is better for ongoing archives withperhaps the DVD as the 'Master' if all else fails.

5. WinPe will also require the AHCI drivers to be injected, but if you use the Plus Pack this will be made easier for you.

6. If you want a custonmised Windows rather than a customised WinPe environment I would suggest looking at -- (I've forgotten the name, will edit when I get home) - for a customised WinPe the only advantage of using the Plus Pack is that the True Image components are automatically added along with any extra drivers you might need, additional programs will require you to manually add them via WAIK itself - see MVP James F thread at the top of the forum concerning Windows 8 or Mustangs add ons (not free).

Hi Colin,

Thanks for taking the time to answer. I have checked a few videos and other sources and I have a growing suspicion that the Windows PE version is not a Windows desktop environment but just a command prompt for technicians to use to fix problems.

I want to run Windows 7 or XP from a CD like a linux liveCD with a desktop environment and programs and a browser. I suspect that the WinPE is not what I want. I searched a lot and haven't seen a single screenshot or video that shows windows that runs from a live CD.

I have now pretty much given up on the idea after too many problems. I'm also not too keen on using unreliable one man software that might contain anything. I'm now checking linux liveCD's. They just work. I never knew that most linux version would run as a live CD without installing the program. I don't like ubuntu too much but linux mint works pretty good.

WinPe, is the environment you see when installing Windows, it can and does have a desktop if enabled. However Microsoft do not or did not intend for this environment to be used as a 'lite' Windows. The program whose name I can't remember (but have installed on my PC) can do what you want -

RT 7 Lite is the name of the program.

Microsoft don't allow Windows to boot from external media (that is why they created WinPe for installation and roll out purposes), however Windows 7 and Windows 8 can be installed into a VHD (virtual hard drive) and the VHD file can be booted from external media if you have Windows 7 Ultimate/Enterprise or Windows 8.

WinPe with some fiddling can be booted from within an ISO.

If like me, you are ancient enough to remember RISCOS (Acorn Archimedes/A4000, BBC Basic) , this can also be booted from external media. Linux is probably the way to go as far as live CDs are concerned.