MVP Assistant - New 2.0 with Rescue Media Builder (New Version 2.6.3)
I am confused. The images you show seem to indicate that you've already created the MVP Assistant rescue media on the DataTraveler drive as the drive label is what I put on the rescue media.
Can you please run the following PowerShell command...
get-wmiobject win32_volume | select-object driveletter, drivetype
I would expect to see a DriveType of 2 for the Drive E:
My apologies for any confusion. The stick in the USB drive is a recently created Acronis rescue media to see if Acronis could see the drive per Steve's earlier request.
Here's the MVP Assistant system configuration after I formatted the flash drive. Build USB is still greyed out.
There is a easy way around this issue as follows:
Create the rescue media via the standard Acronis builder tool.
Copy the .WIM file created by the MVP Assistant to replace the \sources\boot.wim on the USB stick.
Note: rename the MVP Assistant \Wim\winre.wim file to boot.wim
First, the fact that you had the label MVP_RESCUE on your drive tells me that at some point you were able to do a build to that drive from the MVP Assistant. That label is the one I use for rescue media, but would not be put there by Acronis' media builder.
Second, you mentioned packages and drivers had been committed but you did not mention applications. Did you run the install for the applications.
Third, if you switch back to EZ-Mode, is Auto Build USB Drive enabled? If so, try that build.
I'd be interested to see the project log file.
All that said, since the Build ISO menu item is enabled in Advanced mode, that tells me that the wim is not mounted and it also contains the minimum required components. It therefore appears that the WMI query is not finding any drives, yet it does appear to be there OK as shown by the PowerShell command. The query uses underlying Windows code. I just tried running the app on my system using Windows 11 Pro 22H2 and it works fine for me.
So no good answer yet.
I created a new bootable USB drive using the Acronis Rescue Media Builder in advanced mode choosing WinPE based media. I put this USB drive aside for the moment.
Then using the MVP Assistant, I started another project in E-Z mode. After acquiring the wim source I noted that Auto Build USB drive is greyed out.
I then switched to advanced, mode ultimately committing applications, drivers and packages. At this point the Build USB option was greyed out and the ISO option enabled as before. I closed this project. I tried to upload the log from the "Add new file" upload button, but am getting "The file could not be uploaded" message. Any tricks here would be appreciated.
Next, per Steve's suggested workaround, I booted from the image I built using the Acronis Rescue builder just to verify the USB drive was working. After booting, this hung as it previously has trying to launch the Acronis executable. I then copied the wim image from the MVP Assistant project (above) and used it to replace the wim image in the Acronis Rescue drive. I then tried to boot this USB drive and discovered that the drive no longer shows up in BIOS as bootable. I retested this and the results are the same. Replacing the win image with a different one renders the drive unseen as a boot device option.
Grasping at straws I ran sfc /scannow and dism and found no problems.
Any further suggestions would be welcomed.
Thanks again.
Just copying the .wim file created by the MVPA to the USB stick to replace the original boot.wim should have no effect on the USB showing as being bootable.
All the original files & folders created on the USB by either method should still be present with only the content of the \Sources folder being changed, i.e. the MVP .wim will be larger than the one created by the Acronis builder.
See listing from my own USB rescue media
Directory: P:\
Mode LastWriteTime Length Name
---- ------------- ------ ----
d----- 21/03/2023 13:46 bg-bg
d----- 21/03/2023 13:46 Boot
d----- 21/03/2023 13:46 cs-cz
d----- 21/03/2023 13:46 da-dk
d----- 21/03/2023 13:46 de-de
d----- 21/03/2023 13:46 EFI
d----- 21/03/2023 13:47 el-gr
d----- 21/03/2023 13:47 en-gb
d----- 21/03/2023 13:47 en-us
d----- 21/03/2023 13:47 es-es
d----- 21/03/2023 13:47 es-mx
d----- 21/03/2023 13:47 et-ee
d----- 21/03/2023 13:47 fi-fi
d----- 21/03/2023 13:47 fr-ca
d----- 21/03/2023 13:47 fr-fr
d----- 21/03/2023 13:47 hr-hr
d----- 21/03/2023 13:47 hu-hu
d----- 21/03/2023 13:47 it-it
d----- 21/03/2023 13:47 ja-jp
d----- 21/03/2023 13:47 ko-kr
d----- 21/03/2023 13:47 lt-lt
d----- 21/03/2023 13:47 lv-lv
d----- 21/03/2023 13:47 MVPRescue
d----- 21/03/2023 13:47 nb-no
d----- 21/03/2023 13:47 nl-nl
d----- 21/03/2023 13:47 pl-pl
d----- 21/03/2023 13:47 pt-br
d----- 21/03/2023 13:47 pt-pt
d----- 21/03/2023 13:47 ro-ro
d----- 21/03/2023 13:47 ru-ru
d----- 21/03/2023 13:47 sk-sk
d----- 21/03/2023 13:47 sl-si
d----- 21/03/2023 13:47 sources
d----- 21/03/2023 13:55 sr-latn-rs
d----- 21/03/2023 13:55 sv-se
d----- 21/03/2023 13:55 tr-tr
d----- 21/03/2023 13:55 uk-ua
d----- 21/03/2023 13:55 zh-cn
d----- 21/03/2023 13:55 zh-tw
-a---- 06/05/2022 15:14 442062 bootmgr
-a---- 06/05/2022 15:22 2556264 bootmgr.efi
-a---- 21/03/2023 13:45 1042 Unattend.xml
Directory: P:\sources
Mode LastWriteTime Length Name
---- ------------- ------ ----
-a---- 21/03/2023 13:27 1339952637 boot.wim
The fact that I had the label MVP_RESCUE on my USB drive might be explained by my originally using MVP Assistant v186 to build my recovery media.
The MVP builder V186 is not the MVP Assistant. It is something completely different. I don't have it on my system now but I am not so sure it used MVP_RESCUE as the boot drive label. Perhaps someone else could verify.
To upload the project log, it should work if you make it a .txt file.
Just to be sure, you have said you committed the image, but are you sure it is unmounted. You should not be able to build if the image is still mounted. On the other hand, you should not be able to build an ISO if it is mounted either so that still does not make sense.
Steve, I started afresh and tried your suggestion again. The results are the same. If I replace boot.wim from the Acronis Recovery Media Builder with the winpe.wim from the MVP Assistant, the USB drive simply doesn't show up as a device in the boot list. If I then replace boot.wim with the original, the USB drive show up in the boot list.
I've tried this with both the WinPE and WinRE options in the build. I've also tested this with Secure Boot off. The behavior is still the same.
I'm running Windows 11 Pro 22H2. The laptop is a Lenovo 22CB.
Thanks.
Sorry but I cannot think of any reason why just replacing the .wim file should prevent the USB drive from being shown in the laptop boot list?
I am assuming that you kept the Boot Method as default of Either on the lower panel of the MVP Assistant builder?
If you can create an ISO, do that. Then mount the ISO and copy it all to a freshly formatted thumb drive. Give it the label MVP_RESCUE. It should boot fine. I just did it and it worked perfectly.
As for Steve's suggestion, I don't recommend that because there are things in my MVP Assistant build that are not part of the wim file so it won't boot quite the same.
My mistake. MVP_ATIPEBuilder uses WINPE as the boot drive label.
Back to MVP Assistant, the USB drive I've been using is actually an Intel SSD connected by an enclosure-based SATA bridge. It has worked reliably on everything, except it seems MVP Assistant. If I replace my SATA based USB drive with a "real" flash drive, voila, amazingly, MVP Assistant sees the drive and USB Build is enabled for both E-Z mode and Advanced mode.
I used E-Z build to create my first bootable USB drive, booted and attempted to recover my c: partition. That ended with an error that I couldn't see because of the small window size, so I rebooted to my real c: drive only to discover that the BIOS found the drive unusable, and its auto-healing attempt failed.
I'm somewhat discouraged, back to doing a factory refresh of my machine.
And I'd still like to recover my c: partition from my latest backup, which is what this exercise has been all about.
Thanks again for your collective help.
Is the backup you are trying to recover to C: created by ACPHO under Windows or from a rescue drive?
Your system is a UEFI boot (not Legacy BIOS). Did you boot the recovery media as UEFI before running the recovery? The boot mode of the recovery media must match that of the system, else it will change things in the C: drive on recovery.
As for the small window size, it is advisable with a recovery media to be sure it works well, including resolutions, before any major operations. If you include the Display Settings application (included by default), that gives you access to SetRes and SetDPI to adjust the display if the original setting from the builder does not work well.
Success!!
In answer to your question about booting the recovery media as UEFI, yes, I did that. The error turned out to a bad copy of the backup source, which I discovered by validating it.
An ironic side note, ACPHO quarantined MVPAssistant. I had to laugh.
My compliments on what you've created with MVPAssistant 2.6.1. I hope it soon replaces the older version in the ACPHO 3rd party tools.
My heartfelt thanks for your always quick help.
Glad to hear you have it working well for you and have achieved success!
ACPHO knows nothing about the MVP Assistant. My program is not an Acronis program. You just need to white list it.
I too hope it can be better supported as a third party tool.
Thank for your thanks. It's nice to be appreciated once in a while.
Have old Dell Desktop and newer Dell LapTop. Some years past replaced the HDD in the old desktop, since original was failing. Although had Acronis TI 2018 full version, I successfully cloned to WD 1T HDD using their recommended short version "Acronis WD" from which created rescue CD that boots and implements Acronis WD with limited resources. Now want to replace HDD with SSD, but I am unable to create bootable rescue media (preferred USB) using either TI 2018 or MVP Rescue Media Builder. I tried all things, and just get black screen with blinking cursor from USB or DVD media. Had no issues with newer laptop, following same process using beta MVP Assistant including Rescue Media Builder (ADK components installed), it worked fine. Laptop booted (compatible Legacy BIOS selected in MVP) from USB and provided ability to open Acronis and other tools as selected in MVP. I noticed that the rescue file size generated with newer laptop was much larger than with older desktop (1.8GB vs. 718MB).
The old desktop has two recovery partitions, one D: recovery (15GB allocation) with Dell original factory image and the other apparently was created by WD Acronis (513MB). For one trial, I used “reagenc” tool to extract image, winre.wim, from the actual recovery partition (not D:) and used it as source in MVP, but it had same problem of not booting. It responded same as when I allowed Acronis 2018 to acquire it. I am not sure why for TI 2018, MVP cannot include Acronis as with later versions, so I thought it would be necessary to let it Acquire winre.wim and then MVP would add Acronis. During process of using MVP, Acronis was not listed as being included.
I realized something else. If I used F12 with older desktop that allows specifying where to boot from (both newer and older computers are legacy BIOS) and select the bootable USB created with MVP Assistant, it results in forever black screen/w blinking cursor and does not boot. However, if I allow boot in sequence with removable media first priority, it times out due to boot failure from USB and then computer boots with limited "Acronis WD" resources (Linux?) via the recovery partition of HHD.
Before cloning to SSD, Acronis warns to be sure to have a workable rescue media and why I have been trying for long time to achieve. I really would like to create bootable USB rescue media using MVP Assistant to include more resources, but like some others it just seems impossible. One other noted that with older computer had exact problem and stated he could only get rescue with Linux and very disappointed. Is this what is happening here too? But I can’t even make USB rescue media with Acronis that will boot on older computer. I have been using Acronis for very long time, making a lot of backups for this old computer since new, so seems I should have ability to make USB rescue if this HHD totally fails (so far successfully used CHKDSK to repair). Do I have to feel comfortable only with the limited rescue CD created with WD Acronis? It would seem that I have not much use for the D: recovery partition and can delete it, since factory condition is really going too far back (win7 upgraded to win10). I should be able to trust Acronis to restore from backups, even if HHD totally fails. I just am not comfortable with inability to create rescue media that would be necessary if HHD does totally fail. Is there any help?
Lad_B, welcome to these public User Forums.
I would strongly request that you create a new topic in the Acronis True Image 2018 Forum for this new issue as this topic is already far too long for anyone to want to read all the way through!
Having your own new topic would allow us to help you more easily.
Note: there are additional considerations needed to use the MVP Assistant to create rescue media with ATI 2018 which we can guide you through in your own topic.
In the past was able to add "Universal Restore" and "Disk Director 12.5" to MVP builder V186. Given now using MVP Assistant 2.6.2, then wish to know if anyone knows how to add "Disk Director 12.5" to MVP Assistant 2.6.2.
William, if you are willing to accept that Disk Director 12.5 is an obsolete product that Acronis have not updated since 2019, then you could consider using an alternative partition manager tool such as the free Macrorit Partition Expert tool using the following XML with the MVP Assistant rescue media builder tool (copy the XML below to a .xml file in Notepad then Import it from the Advanced customisation panel.
Note: the two individual .dll files need to be copied from C:\Windows\System32\ to the same folder where the MacroritPE.zip file is stored.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Applications>
<App name="MacroritPE" description="Macrorit Partition Expert" visible="yes" optional="yes" autoinstall="no">
<Source filename="MacroritPE.zip" url="https://disk-tool.com/download/mde/mde-free-portable.zip" />
<Source filename="msi.dll" />
<Source filename="oledlg.dll" />
<Install>
<Zip source="MacroritPE.zip" />
<File source="msi.dll" destination="%ProgramFolder%\mde-free-portable\x64\msi.dll" />
<File source="oledlg.dll" destination="%ProgramFolder%\mde-free-portable\x64\oledlg.dll" />
<LaunchButton name="MacroritPE" command="%ProgramFiles%\MacroritPE\mde-free-portable\x64\dm.exe" />
</Install>
<Uninstall>
<DeleteProgramFolder />
</Uninstall>
</App>
</Applications>For including AUR see forum topic: How to create ACPHO rescue media with AUR included
Steve, et al.,
These two lines of the XML installation:
<Source filename="msi.dll" /> <Source filename="oledlg.dll" />
may be changed to:
<Source filename="C:\Windows\System32\msi.dll" /> <Source filename="C:\Windows\System32\oledlg.dll" />
It is then not necessary to copy them.
BrunoC wrote:Steve, et al.,
These two lines of the XML installation:
<Source filename="msi.dll" /> <Source filename="oledlg.dll" />may be changed to:
<Source filename="C:\Windows\System32\msi.dll" /> <Source filename="C:\Windows\System32\oledlg.dll" />It is then not necessary to copy them.
Hi Bruno, I tried doing that but the app failed to install....!
04-23-2023 10:50:29 Info Installing Macrorit Partition Expert 04-23-2023 10:50:29 Error <Source> missing file msi.dll for MacroritPE 04-23-2023 10:50:29 Error Failed to install Macrorit Partition Expert 04-23-2023 10:50:29 Error Application installations completed with 1 error
Is it only the <Source filename=... that needs to include the full original path or also the subsequent <File source=... as well - I was changing both when I tested this?
Ok, Bruno, please ignore my previous question...!
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Applications>
<App name="MacroritPE" description="Macrorit Partition Expert" visible="yes" optional="yes" autoinstall="no">
<Source filename="MacroritPE.zip" url="https://disk-tool.com/download/mde/mde-free-portable.zip" />
<Source filename="C:\Windows\System32\msi.dll" />
<Source filename="C:\Windows\System32\oledlg.dll" />
<Install>
<Zip source="MacroritPE.zip" />
<File source="msi.dll" destination="%ProgramFolder%\mde-free-portable\x64\msi.dll" />
<File source="oledlg.dll" destination="%ProgramFolder%\mde-free-portable\x64\oledlg.dll" />
<LaunchButton name="MacroritPE" command="%ProgramFiles%\MacroritPE\mde-free-portable\x64\dm.exe" />
</Install>
<Uninstall>
<DeleteProgramFolder />
</Uninstall>
</App>
</Applications>The above works fine without having to include the full path in the Install - File source section.
Hi Steve,
A little clarification of the process...
The commands before the <Install> section are where you define what goes into the install. The app will then move everything into a temporary install folder. It is from that folder that the commands within <Install> work, hence no explicit path there.
Bruno,
Nice work on the new version - I really appreciate the addition of Acronis Configuration. It's so easy and fool-proof to adjust required services.
Steve,
Great tip on addition of MacroritPE. A great time saver and works perfectly for usual needs.
CC
Thanks, CC. Shutting these unused features off is a nice improvement.
Note that pretty much any 64 bit app that can run under Windows PE can easily be installed by setting up the control file.