Universal Restore Will Not Work With Lenovo Computers
If you want to restore an image on a Lenovo computer that was created on another computer, the Universal Restore will not work. As part of the restoring process, Universal Restore requires the destination computer driver files be available on an external device in the *.inf, *.sys or *.oem formats. Lenovo does not provide drivers in this format. I spoke to 4 people in Lenovo’s tech support department and they said the only way to obtain drivers for their computers is to run their *.exe files on the computer being configured. The *.exe files can only be run on the destination computer AFTER the restore process has been completed (but the drivers are required as part of the restore process to get the computer to boot up properly).
As a failed workaround attempt, I restored my Lenovo back to its original state (which took 3 hours) and then exported all of the Lenovo drivers to an external device (in the *.inf and *.sys formats) using a third-party program (Lenovo doesn’t have a product to do this). But after using Universal Restore in this manner, the computer blue screens when it tries to load the OS (Windows 7).
It’s also worth noting that the restore process using Universal Restore is complicated. Using their wizard, it asks questions about “Partition 1-1” but there is nothing in the documentation to help with this. It also shows 3 options for items that can be restored (system, MBR and the contents) but it’s not clear which ones to choose. I paid for 2 separate cases (21170836 and 21123303) to get help from Acronis and the representatives appeared to be guessing when helping me decide what to do with the “Partition 1-1” question.
I am going through the same thing with no luck. I am trying to migrate the image of my C disk from my Lenovo T400 to a new T420i but I haven't yet found a way to get the drivers using the 7-zip method above. When you search inside the .exe files you do not find anything useful inside. I suppose I can try to use double driver again but it utterly failed to capture the most important drivers when I used it on the T420i fresh out of the box (before blowing the installed OS away; now awaiting the recovery disks from Lenovo's tech support depot in Atlanta). Any advice/help would be greatly appreciated!
Forgot to mention that I am using the 2012 version with plus pack (of course since trying universal restore).
Understand with the Lenovo Thinkpad, the target disk must be located inside the computer in is normal boot location before a restore or clone to a new disk will work. And assuming that if there is a non-lettered partition active partition, it must be part of the restore.
Right, I know. The target disk is indeed inside the T420i. I have assumed that the partition 1-1 is the "system" or hidden partition and that C is, well, C. The issue I'm having is with drivers. I guess I'll just have to (1) restore the target PC using the recovery disks en route from Lenovo (2) copy over to a USB flash drive the top-level folder for each driver and pray that Acronis is smart enough to search down the path to find the needed files and (3) go through the recovery process again. One extra question that will come up is do I recover the MBR last?
I am having the same issue (TI 2013 Plus Pack :: Universal Restore.) I am using 7-zip to open up the .exe's from Lenovo. There aren't any *.sys, *.inf, or *.oem files within these .exe's. Is the only way around this to use the recovery disks? Did this work for you? What about the MBR? Here is what I see within the chipset drivers:
directory .rsrc
.text
.itext
.data
.bss
.idata
.tls
.rdata
CERTIFICATE
[0]
Greetings,
Not every exe file can be unpacked or extracted. 7-zip and win.rar are good choices on your part.
Might try google for other possible switches
For chipset drivers, use Intel, etc.
OEMs such as Lenovo may provide only .exe installers, and it may not be possible to unpack them to find the raw drivers. For many or perhaps most of the components, you may find suitable drivers from component manufacturers' own web sites. Those manufacturers frequently provide a choice of full .exe installer or raw drivers.
I recently did a clean install of Windows on my Dell laptop, and I obtained driver packages for most components from component manufacturers' sites. I used Dell's packages only for those which were significantly customized for Dell for good reason, such as the audio drivers that came with special software not obtainable from the component manufacturer's site. This also has the advantage that the component manufacturers usually have much more recent updates than Dell or Lenovo would.
For example, instead of downloading from Dell, from Intel I obtained chipset, Intel Rapid Storage Technology, Intel HD Graphics, Intel PROSet/Wireless Bluetooth, and Intel PROSet/Wireless WiFi. From other sites I obtained USB 3.0 Host Controller, NVidia graphics, Realtek Ethernet, JMicron 9-in-1 Card Reader, etc. All were considerably newer than what Dell offers.
Thank you for the responses. Much appreciated! :)
I went to Intel's site to grab the chipset drivers. They are not as current as Lenovo's which I find rather odd:
INTEL:
File name:
MEI_allOS_8.1.30.1350_5M_PV.exe
Version:8.1.30.1350 5M
Download
Date:02/05/2013 Status:Latest
LENOVO:
Intel Management Engine Firmware 8.1
g1rg16ww.exe
Windows 7 64bit, 8.1.40.1416 04 Jul 2013
I figure I will get the chipset driver to be recognized by Acronis Universal Restore and nothing more. I'm under the assumption that this will at least allow the OS to boot. Once the OS has booted, I will install the rest of the drivers from Lenovo. Does this sound logical? (Spock reference: please ignore.)
Supercell29,
Typically, the most important drivers needed when using universal restore are:
Chipset and Storage
Chipset may well be sufficient for initial booting. Your display may look wonky and be at a very low resolution until you install video drivers, but you should be able to work with it.
If you have Intel HD Graphics as well as a separate graphics card, as my laptop does, then you must install Intel HD Graphics first.
If your network card provides WiFi as well as Bluetooth, as mine does, you must install Intel PROSet/Wireless Bluetooth before installing Intel PROSet/Wireless WiFi (if those are the packages used by your card).
Ok. I was able to use the existing SATA HDD from this Lenovo (it had all the drivers/same OS installed) to grab all the Lenovo drivers. I copied all .inf, .sys, .oem, .cat, .dll files from C: of this laptop (identical laptop) to my thumb drive (all in same directory [I pointed universal restore to this directory]). I went through the universal restore process again. I receive the same "missing 'PCI \VEN_8086&DEV_1E03&SUBSYS_21F317AA&REV_04'" issue. I looked this message up on the web and came across this (Intel(R) 7 Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller / LENOVO 2349GDG (ThinkPad T430- SKU:LENOVO_MT_2349) as I did prior to adding all the aforementioned drivers to my thumb drive. I also tried downloading the .zip from Intel, but no go (same message: "missing 'PCI"...).... any ideas?
Try ignoring the error message. I had a similar issue some time ago and selecting ignore solved my problem.
I did. I get the same Windows 7 colored circles (boot up), freeze up, BSOD and reboot.
Ok. Nothing has changed. I really want this to work! I've been using Acronis since the early '00's and really love their TI 2013 Plus Pack product!
SITUATION:
Attempting to migrate my Windows 7 Professional image from my Dell Latitude E6420 to my new Lenovo T430. I have the new Windows 7 Professional image on my Lenovo T430's SATA drive (clean OS :: I have a ton of applications I would have to reinstall), but would like to take this drive out of the picture as it is SATA.
WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO DO:
I have an SSD installed into the Lenovo T430 that I would like to place the image of the Dell Latitude E6420 on.
ISSUE:
True Image 2013 (Plus Pack. All latest versions) Univeral Restore does not work.
Again, I have the exact Windows 7 Professional drivers from the identical SATA drive on my identical Lenovo T430 notebook (both .sys drivers [see attached]) that TI 2013 Plus Pack's Universal Restore (T.I.U.R from now on) complains about when trying to move this image from my Dell notebook: ("Device driver 'PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1E03&SUBSYS_21F317AA&REV_04' for Windows 7 cannot be found." and "Device driver 'PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1E31&SUBSYS_21F317AA&REV_04' for Windows 7 cannot be found.") I created a directory containing the two drivers that (T.I.U.R) continually asks for at the end of re-imaging the drive. These two are the exact .sys files T.I.U.R continually asks for. I still get the two aforementioned messages! ("Device driver 'PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1E03&SUBSYS_21F317AA&REV_04' for Windows 7 cannot be found." and "Device driver 'PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1E31&SUBSYS_21F317AA&REV_04' for Windows 7 cannot be found.")
Anyone with any advice of any kind would be very, very cool! Thank you in advance! :~)
Same problem with a Yoga 13:
http://forum.acronis.com/forum/43941
I opened a ticket with Acronis and we figured it out. Took a good two weeks. It all boiled down to drivers. It was a real pain in the ass finding the correct chipset/usb drivers:
THESE WERE THE ERRORS I SAW TIME AND TIME AGAIN POST UNIVERSAL RESTORE:
"Device driver 'PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1E03&SUBSYS_21F317AA&REV_04' for Windows 7 cannot be found."
"Device driver 'PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1E31&SUBSYS_21F317AA&REV_04' for Windows 7 cannot be found."
AND THESE ARE WHAT FIXED IT!
USB 3.0 Driver: Intel® USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller Driver for Intel® 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family:
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProdId=3467&Dwn…
AND
CHIPSET (no longer viewable on Intel's site):
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=21805〈=eng&wapkw=9.3.0.1021
Everything works great now except for this ridiculous split screen issue I am now having off my new Lenovo doc (dual DVI). One screen looks great and the other decided it wanted to go black and white (sigh). I know it's the drivers as I've tested everything else (DVI cable, other monitors, new bay, etc).
I hope someone finds this helpful! I still have the chipset driver (link no longer working on Intel's site) on my thumbdrive in case some one needs it! Just reply to this string and I'll get the email...
Better yet, I'll upload the bastard! :~) (All drivers for USB 3.0 and CHIPSET [Lenovo T430 only] within .zip. Just dump these in a directory, point U.R. to this and you're good to go! Once you PC boots you will have to load all the rest of the drivers [video, audio, etc (unless you want to hunt all these down and add them to the aforementioned directory which is a HUGE waste of time!!)]). ENJOY!
My solution for going from HP dv87 Win7 Ultimate x64 to Lenovo Yoga 13 Win8 Pro just gave up on using my license and, given what other above had to go through for an "almost" OK transfer, I'm glad I did:
(1) Windows Easy Transfer
(2) Install all my programs again on the new PC (more than the full set of Lenovo .exe drivers, but that full set is still a lot).
When I have to soon go from a Lenovo Yoga 13 Win8 Pro to a Lenovo Thinkpad Carbon touch Win8, I'll do it the same way. I don't to mess with getting the wrong drivers (outdated or more updated but not compatible with all drivers) onto my new PC.
As others have noted, using 7z or other decompression programs is bad advice -- this won't give even the important drivers in the format required by UR.
I just changed from Lenovo Yoga 13 PCs to Lenovo Thinkpad Carbon X1 Touch PCs (more drivers ...). Again, the lack of Lenovo driver support in Acronis Universal Restore led me to use Windows Easy Transfer, then installing about 100 programs -- tedious but all doable in a day.