MVP Assistant - New 2.0 with Rescue Media Builder (New Version 2.6.3)

Usage Tips:

To enhance the user experience with the MVP Assistant it is possible to apply settings to the applications executable file so that the app is always run as administrator.  In addition I prefer to add a shortcut to the app on my Desktop so that a double mouse click will launch the app.  Follow the steps below to apply these settings:

• After extracting the app files into a Parent folder per the README file included, right mouse click on file MVPAssistant then select Properties from the menu.
• Now click on the Compatibility tab and check the box saying "Run this program as an administrator".
• Now click the Apply button to make this change permanent.

To create a shortcut:

• Again right mouse click on the MVPAssistant file and select Create shortcut.
• A shortcut will be created in the parent folder.
• Drag + drop this shortcut on your desktop, double click it to launch the app then, acknowledge the UAC.

Enjoy!

Enchantech wrote:

Usage Tips:

To enhance the user experience with the MVP Assistant i.......

Enjoy!

I also do this to streamline the process! 

This topic needs to be pinned to the top of the forum rather than being allowed to disappear into the masses of other topics posted here!

Tested the new rescue media feature to create, boot from and recover a Win 11 OS system all successfully yesterday.

The new interface is different to the prior MVP Custom PE Builder tool but is very easy to get used to though I would like to see some more options for adding in 'Extras' as with the older tool.

Steve,

What "Extras" would you like to see? 

Steve Smith wrote:

This topic needs to be pinned to the top of the forum rather than being allowed to disappear into the masses of other topics posted here!

Tested the new rescue media feature to create, boot from and recover a Win 11 OS system all successfully yesterday.

The new interface is different to the prior MVP Custom PE Builder tool but is very easy to get used to though I would like to see some more options for adding in 'Extras' as with the older tool.

Yes, please pin this post. I did edit the other pinned post on the MVP Assistant to reflect the new version.

As for the extras... if you want to add another program, you could mount an image and use the Image/Explore command to open the Explorer on the image and then copy over a program to \Program Files\<new folder>. You would need to then open A43 (or other) in the boot media to navigate to the app to launch it. (I don't recommend messing with the mounted image unless you know what you're doing.)

My plan is to use the same mechanism as I currently use for the packaged apps so that adding an app could also include running scripts at boot and creating LaunchBar buttons.

Tell me what else you want to see.

Bruno, Bob, it was a case of comparing Paul's approach of being able to add any PE capable apps to an Extras folder and it being added with a menu option to the folder where it could be launched from.  I have used this to launch a licensed copy of MiniTool Partition Wizard for example, or CCleaner etc.  That approach didn't require any expertise by the user to mount images etc.

Steve,

Thanks for explaining what you're looking for.  Such capability will be forthcoming in a future release.  This has been discussed previously.

Bruno, Bob, I have come across an interesting / worrying fact about the Acronis Disk Report tool that is being offered via the Acronis Configuration > Acronis Utilities menu.

The Acronis Disk Report tool simply does not look to be able to work correctly with NVMe and RAID drives!

The Acronis System Report - disk report file (disks.txt) does work correctly with NVMe and RAID drives!

To show the differences, see the following from my own system.

Acronis Disk Report tool (from MVP Assistant menu)

                     Speed IFace Hs-Bs-Tg Model                     
Num  NT    L9NO  Size FSsize Free FS     Type            Label       ABCHSV
---- ----- ---- ----- ----- ----- ------ --------------- ----------- ------
1-   d(2)       932G  748M       0-0-0    Samsung SSD 980 PRO 1TB 3B2QGXA7
  -1  p(1) ----  932G  932G       NONE   EE EFI header               --C--v
2-   d(1)       1.8T   20M RAID  0-0-0    ST2000LM015-2E8174 0001   
  -1  p(1) ----  1.8T  1.8T       NONE   EE EFI header               --C--v
3-   d(0)       1.8T  4.5M USB   0-0-0    USB 3.0 0508              
  -1  p(1) CCCH   32G   32G   12G FAT32  0C FAT32 LBA    ESD-USB     A-C--V
  -2  p(2) --ES  1.8T  1.8T  447G NTFS   07 NTFS, HPFS   Seagate2TB. --C--V
4-   d(?)         8G  1.5G       0-0-0    Msft Virtual Disk 1.0     
  -1  p(1) --D-    8G    8G  7.5G NTFS   07 NTFS, HPFS   PortableBas --C--V
                 330K             free                               ------

Acronis System Report - disks.txt report (extracted from zip file).

DA-API report version 3

          PS         Speed IFace Hs-Bs-Tg Model                     
Num  NT    L9NO  Size FSsize Free FS     Type            Label       ABCHSV Error
---- ----- ---- ----- ----- ----- ------ --------------- ----------- ------ ----------
1-   d(2) GPT   932G NVME  0-0-0    Samsung SSD 980 PRO 1TB 3B2QGXA7
                                  MBR                                ------
                                  GPTpri                             -----v
                                  MSresr                             -----v
  -2       ----  260M  260M  172M FAT32  EF EFI          SYSTEM..... --c--V
  -3       --GC  201G  201G   74G NTFS   07 NTFS, HPFS   Windows.... --c--V
  -4       --HG  729G  729G  209G NTFS   07 NTFS, HPFS   SSD-Data... --c--V
  -5       ----  977M  977M  486M NTFS   27 Windows RE H Windows RE  --c--V
                                  GPTbck                             ------
2-   d(1) GPT   1.8T RAID  0-0-0    ST2000LM015-2E8174 0001   
                                  MBR                                ------
                                  GPTpri                             -----v
                                  MSresr                             -----v
  -2       --ED  920G  920G  614G NTFS   07 NTFS, HPFS   Data....... --c--V
  -3       --FE  943G  943G   31G NTFS   07 NTFS, HPFS   Backup..... --c--V
                                  GPTbck                             ------
3-   d(0) MBR   1.8T USB   0-0-0    USB 3.0 0508              
                                  MBR                                -----v
  -1  p(1) CCCH   32G   32G   12G FAT32  0C FAT32 LBA    ESD-USB.... A-c--V
  -2  p(2) --DS  1.8T  1.8T  447G NTFS   07 NTFS, HPFS   Seagate2TB. --c--V
4-   d(?) MBR     8G FVIRT 0-0-0    Msft Virtual Disk 1.0     
                                  MBR                                -----v
  -1  p(1) --I-    8G    8G  7.5G NTFS   07 NTFS, HPFS   PortableBas --c--V
                 2.9M             unallc                             ------

Firmware:           UEFI x64
OS:                 Windows
Free letters:       ------GHIJKLMNOP-RSTUVW---

This may need to be flagged up in the Help information or else the older Disk Report tool removed unless there is a newer version available to match that used by System Report?

Steve,

Thanks for flagging this.

The standalone Disk Report is retrieved from the location in this KB article. I just checked that link and it gets the same version I've had on my machine for a few years.

I just checked my system and see similar results to yours, even on my ATI 2019 system. That tells me the version in the System Report has been good for a while, while the standalone version is something different.

Perhaps someone at Acronis should be made aware.

Bruno, I have sent an email to Arpita to ask if she can investigate this issue with the disk report tool.

Thanks, Steve.

Dear MVPs,

thank you for developing the MVP Assistant tool! Made the topic sticky and posted reference to other forums 🙂

BrunoC wrote:

Steve,

Thanks for flagging this.

The standalone Disk Report is retrieved from the location in this KB article. I just checked that link and it gets the same version I've had on my machine for a few years.

I just checked my system and see similar results to yours, even on my ATI 2019 system. That tells me the version in the System Report has been good for a while, while the standalone version is something different.

Perhaps someone at Acronis should be made aware.

Steve, Bruno

thank you for pointing this out! I'll follow-up with the product team to have an updated version in the KB  

Thanks, Ekaterina... for both of these action.

Bruno, a huge plus of Rescue Media Builder Version 2.0.1 is that it allows you to delete applications in the image. Minus - a step-by-step Wizard - a more convenient solution (as in the MVP WinPE Builder script).
I want to embed the DisDirect application in an image. I mounted the image created in MVP WinPE Builder, copied the DisDirect folder to \Program Files\ of the image created and mounted in Rescue Media Builder Version 2.0.1. After burning the image to USB, I got DiskDirect, but in the Demo version. How to transfer a DisDirect license? And how to add a DiskDirect icon to the menu?

I would like an option to select using left- or righthand mouse ?:)

Noted, Leif. The ability will be there on the next release.

BrunoC wrote:

Noted, Leif. The ability will be there on the next release.

Thank you :-)

Back in 2020 I wrote a wish list for the MVP Assistant (v. 18.6) dated Sat, 05/23/2020 - 16:03.

I can see, that Steve Smith has thoughts/comments about my #2. And thankfully my #3 wish will be done.

As the msg. is two years old, I dont know if the other wishes are current.

https://forum.acronis.com/forum/acronis-true-image-2020-forum/mvp-ati-w…

Leif, I am sure that Bruno will respond to your wish list items as appropriate but just for clarification, the previous tool with version 18.6 is a completely different one to Bruno's MVP Assistant tool.

Bruno has been working closely with Paul who was the author of the older tool and all the MVPs have been doing extensive testing of the tool as this is being developed further.

Leif, I never saw that post from two years ago... but then it didn't apply to what I was doing anyway.

The next iteration of the assistant will incorporate a powerful method of installing extra applications which should satisfy most of your concerns.

As for the keyboard issue, have you tried this in the WinPE media created by either my MVP Assistant or the old MVP media builder... open Command Prompt and enter the following command
winpeutil SetKeyboardLayout 0406:00000406

I would be interested to know if this will work for you.

I am happy to see that other users are giving the new beta version of the MVP Assistant a go.  The utility is worthy of download and use as a general system tool whether you use it for assistance with Acronis products or not.  Here's hoping that this trend continues!

@BrunoC

You wrote: "winpeutil SetKeyboardLayout 0406:00000406

I would be interested to know if this will work for you."

I will test your recommendation for both the old, and new version, and send results up here.

But it will take a while, because I need to buy some new USB sticks for testing :-)

Leif, if you have a system that can run either VMware Player or Hyper-V virtual machines, then you can test rescue media using that method!  I do my testing using a Hyper-V VM booting from an ISO file of the rescue media mounted in the virtual DVD drive.

The latest version is now available. Please see the link in the top post or in my signature below.

This new version completes my plans for the Rescue Media builder. It provides significant customization allowing for new applications and plug-in.

As always, please refer to the Help for details.

Leif Guldbrand wrote:

I would like an option to select using left- or righthand mouse ?:)

Leif, this is in the new release.

It uses the new application and plug-in customization. I'll lead you to it... go to the Settings/Rescue Media and select Advanced Customization. Select "Left Hand Mouse" in the list and then click Visible, click Save, click Close. You will now see it as an installable application on your build.

BrunoC wrote:

 

Leif, this is in the new release.

It uses the new application and plug-in customization. I'll lead you to it... go to the Settings/Rescue Media and select Advanced Customization. Select "Left Hand Mouse" in the list and then click Visible, click Save, click Close. You will now see it as an installable application on your build.

--------------------------------------------------------------

BrunoC  :

Wow... Brilliant :-) And thank you :-)

 

Leif, thanks a lot for this tool!

I've added Minitool PW Wizard manually but the source URL is causing issues.

There is an = inside and when I import the XML it's telling me the = is an unexpected token.

Any way to encode it?

Not really important, just to tell you, I have removed the URL and provided the zip file.

What is more worrying is that I can't see the NAS.

It's a Samba 4 and I can see it with the Acronis True Image ISO and UrBackup ISO.

Not sure, maybe it needs the downgrade of encryption enabled.

Rings a bell?

Another small glitch is that the video resolution can't be set to 1080 or higher.

Seems to be 800x600 or similar.

I'm experimenting a bit more.

Forgot that Minitool PW Wizard portable wasn't free so I've replaced it installing Macrocrit Partition Expert portable and ResizeC Partition Magic.

Didn't work OOB, had to add in the zipfile oledlg.dll and msi.dll.

The problem is that they are not visible in the Launchbar like was Partition Wizard.

Is there a way to troubleshoot it?

Did exactly the same as PW and doesn't work. They are present in the Program Files dir when it's booted and seems also the path is fine.

  <App name="PartitionExpert" description="Partition Expert" visible="yes" optional="no" autoinstall="yes">
    <Source filename="mde-free-portable.zip" url="" />
    <Install>
      <Zip source="mde-free-portable.zip" />
      <LaunchButton name="PartitionExpert" command="%ProgramFiles%\mde-free-portable\mde-free-portable\x64\dm.exe" />
    </Install>
    <Uninstall>
      <DeleteProgramFolder />
    </Uninstall>
  </App>

Clearly the path in the XML was wrong...

About the network I've found out is just the browsing that doesn't work.

Using the correct password (oops), I can make map the network drive perfectly fine.

What is really bothering me now is the screen resolution.

It's a real torture.

Is there anything that I can check out?

I'm using an nVidia GPU and the drivers should be included and should also work fine with the Microsoft generic ones. 

What is really bothering me now is the screen resolution.

It's a real torture.

Is there anything that I can check out?

I'm using an nVidia GPU and the drivers should be included and should also work fine with the Microsoft generic ones. 

Not sure why you are having issues with the display resolution - this should be able to be set on the initial panel and normally defaults to your current display resolution?

The above is before a Project has been opened or created on my own HP laptop with a NVIDIA display.

One suggestion (after your Project is open & mounted) is to click on Drivers > Analyze, then select the suggested driver updates and apply these, followed by committing the changes.

One further thought, what Source wim did you select for the Project?  Ideally, the Source should be WinRE where it can pick up device drivers from your Windows system.  If you choose to use WinPE from ADK, then you would need to add extra drivers using the Drivers > Use other driver or Use driver folder options.

ManniX,

I did some quick testing on the Macrorit Partition Expert portable version. My first attempt was to use the simple setup but I see that the downloaded zip file is missing files as it won't run. Here is the XML I settled on to do it...

  <App name="MacroritPE" description="Macrorit Partition Expert" visible="yes" optional="yes" autoinstall="no">
    <Source filename="MacroritPE.zip" url="https://.../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>

A few things to point out...

1. I set the app name to MacroritPE. This means the program folder name is MacroritPE. Therefore, you need that name to follow %ProgramFiles% on the LaunchButton command.
2. I first defined msi.dll and oledlg.dll as Source files for the install. I then copied them in the install process.
3. Before installing the program, I copied msi.ll and oledlg.dll into my UserApps\MacroritPE folder.

I booted the WinPE with just the standard version and found the error, but have not booted this version yet although the files are in their proper places so it should work.

As for your resolution issue... WinPE has a mind of its own when it comes to resolutions. It may or may not accept your requested resolution and that depends on the hardware and the driver and what resolution you ask for. So to pick up on Steve's input... because you have an nVidia GPU you'll want the right driver. If you used WinPE as a source you won't have that driver in the wim. If you use WinRE, you may or may not have the driver. So, run the Drivers/Analyze operation and check for the Display class drivers. If you show it for the online system, but not the image, then right click the driver in the online list to add it to the suggested drivers. Then check that driver and install it. In normal circumstances WinPE does not automatically load Display drivers because they aren't "boot critical". When the MVP Assistant builder installs a display driver, it also adds the command to load the driver on boot. You should see a command window open up that says it is installing display drivers. Also, install the DisplaySettings app in case you may need it to change the resolution. But do so cautiously as the commands it uses are unable to know whether the values you choose are good for your display device.

Hope this all helps. And, thanks for using the MVP Assistant.

EDIT: took out some of the URL so the forum would not expose it as a valid link.

@ ManniX

You wrote: "Leif, thanks a lot for this tool!"

Sorry, but I didn't make this tool. I'm only a happy user of it :-)

Credits goes to BrunoC and others.

@ Leif

Yes I did it, mixed up sorry :P

Thanks to BrunoC and the others!

@ Steve BrunoC

Thanks for the tips!

I did double check about the drivers and they were not loaded.

I thought the central box "Drivers in the image" was about the drivers which were loaded in the current session in the image.

When I was doing Driver Analyze it wasn't populated at all.

Then I checked again the drivers on the left and the nVidia drivers was green.

But with right click and request to add I got the nVidia driver in the Suggested update box while for others I got the message that it was already in the image.

I did also get a whole bunch of new drivers to update.

When I selected all of them and clicked on Drivers > Apply chosen suggested update only a few of them went into the box "Drivers in the image".

I've added them a few at a times and they finally all went into the central box "Drivers in the image".

Now when I mount the image with Driver Analyze they are all there where they should be.

I've tested the image and indeed now the driver is detected and 1080p set.

Something was messed up and the drivers were not really loaded before.

@ BrunoC

Slick setup with the File and Source tags, good to know :)

I've been more blunt and just added the two DLLs into the original zip files...

Thanks a lot for the tool again!

I was really missing my old 2018 MVP with Disk Director but now it's even better...

Cheers

ManniX wrote:

...

@ Steve BrunoC

Thanks for the tips!

I did double check about the drivers and they were not loaded.

I thought the central box "Drivers in the image" was about the drivers which were loaded in the current session in the image.

When I was doing Driver Analyze it wasn't populated at all.

Then I checked again the drivers on the left and the nVidia drivers was green.

But with right click and request to add I got the nVidia driver in the Suggested update box while for others I got the message that it was already in the image.

I did also get a whole bunch of new drivers to update.

When I selected all of them and clicked on Drivers > Apply chosen suggested update only a few of them went into the box "Drivers in the image".

I've added them a few at a times and they finally all went into the central box "Drivers in the image".

Now when I mount the image with Driver Analyze they are all there where they should be.

I've tested the image and indeed now the driver is detected and 1080p set.

Something was messed up and the drivers were not really loaded before.

...

Thanks a lot for the tool again!

I was really missing my old 2018 MVP with Disk Director but now it's even better...

 

 

When running the Driver/Analyze, by default it only checks for "out of box" drivers... those that use the oemxx.inf format. These are third party drivers and will not appear in a new WinPE image. That would be why the center box was empty after the analysis. Some of them may or may not appear in a WinRE image. If you select "Include inbox drivers" before running the analysis, it will show all the drivers in the image. It isn't recommended because it takes a lot more time and is almost never important.

After applying updates, it runs the analysis again only on the image just to be sure about what is there or is not there.

I'm not sure what to make of the other suggested updates and why they would not have been applied when you tried as I don't know anything about what they are. Many of the suggested updates are not important, which is why none of them are checked by default. Those things listed are "boot critical" third party drivers which are not in the image or for which a newer version seems to exist online. Also, there may be drivers which appear not to be used by any seen PnP devices. Again, they are only suggestions and not recommendations.

The Display driver is a different story because they are not considered "boot critical" and so it may be necessary to manually select that driver. It appear as though you got that driver in the image and it also loaded properly on boot so you could get the resolution correct. Glad to hear that.

And, very pleased to hear you like the MVP Assistant tool.

@ BrunoC

Thanks a lot for the explanation, now it's much more clear.

I wonder if/how it's possible to add the Microsoft Display driver which is used during installation.

It works on all display adapters at least up to 1080p.

Should be more than enough and would work for Intel/AMD/nVidia without a specific install for each one.

Yes I really enjoy the tool, thanks for spending so much time for us!

ManniX wrote:

I wonder if/how it's possible to add the Microsoft Display driver which is used during installation.

It works on all display adapters at least up to 1080p.

Should be more than enough and would work for Intel/AMD/nVidia without a specific install for each one.

The Windows installer is a WinPE OS.  The native driver for WinPE uses a resolution of 1024x768 and is what you see during installation.  This 1024x768 resolution is the default for all pre-installation/recovery environments (ie PE/RE) If you build media and do not include a Display driver in the build then your PC should use the default resolution.

Having said that the advent of UEFI has changed the above slightly.  If your PC boots using UEFI then UEFI will use whatever display resolution is contained in the attached monitor EDID firmware.  Installed Windows drivers in a regular Windows booted installation can update and change this resolution.  

The MVP Assistant Rescue Media builder looks to the installed Windows OS on the host machine to determine the (recommended) display resolution and scale factor.  That is what you see in the builder as the default when you run the tool.  If you install the regular Windows display adapter found by the Driver Analyze feature then this (recommended) resolution is applied on boot of the created media.

Having said that in some cases this can cause unexpected or unwanted results.  if your display is a 4K or above monitor you may not get the result you expect or want.  If this is the case my suggestion is to first update the display driver for the default display adapter to the latest version available, build new media, and test the result.  If that proves to not be as expected then the best thing to do is to install the Display Settings app in the media along with the display driver and also install the HWiNFO app.  Once the media is booted open the HWiNFO app, close the sensors that appear by default, and on the main app window look for the Display menu item.  Clicking on that will show the supported resolutions of the WinPE OS.  Apply those one at a time until you reach what is acceptable to you.  Make a note of this desired resolution.

Now build new media again and this time change the resolution default shown by the builder to your desired resolution found above and that resolution should then be applied when the media is booted.

A new version... 2.2.1.0 is now available via the link at the top of this thread.

As always, please check the Release Notes to see what has changed.

Hi,

I have Acronis TI 2017 latest version 8058 installed in Win 11 on an ASUS VivoBook 15 R565EA.  I also updated the 2 EFI files which prevented the Linux boot media from booting. Only to discover that there was no driver for the NVMe SSD.  So I just downloaded the MVPAssistant 2.2.1 pkg. I ran the Assistant as admin. I used the EZ mode of the PE Builder and everything seemed to go well (no error messages). It wrote to the USB drive successfully. However when I booted from the USB drive all the "goodies" were there, but no Acronis! I checked the log and it said that it failed to install ATI 2017. No error code or anything else. Where can I find additional info to troubleshoot this issue?

Thanks, Drew

P.S. I should add that earlier I used MVP_ATIPEBuilder_v186 and successfully created PE boot media which did include ATI2017 in the image (but I couldn't use it because it didn't have support for Bitlocker) So I tried using  MVPAssistant 2.2.1 which did not include ATI2017 in it's image. So the difference in the way the 2 MVP packages add the app to the image may be central to the issue.

Drew, welcome to these public User Forums.

Please look at the log for your build project in the MVP Assistant tool, the log should open in Notepad or your default text editor.

Note: Open your last project first to get the option to open the log file.  You should see lines of text similar to mine below:

================ Begin Logging Session ================
09-07-2022 10:23:25  Info Project created in folder D:\MVPA\Base\Test\
09-07-2022 10:23:58  Info Copying.wim file to project folder...
09-07-2022 10:24:04  Info Successfuly copied .wim file to project folder.
09-07-2022 10:24:30  Info Mounting image file...
09-07-2022 10:25:07  Info Scanning image for applications and packages...
09-07-2022 10:25:24  Info Installing shell application...
09-07-2022 10:25:26  Info Installing required packages...
09-07-2022 10:25:28  Info Installing language package en-GB...
09-07-2022 10:25:50  Info Image successfully mounted
09-07-2022 10:27:03  Info Installing selected driver updates...
09-07-2022 10:27:59  Info Replacing driver oem34.inf with wirelessbuttondriver.inf succeeded
09-07-2022 10:27:59  Info Replacing driver oem19.inf with iccwdt.inf succeeded
09-07-2022 10:27:59  Info Replacing driver oem21.inf with vigembus.inf succeeded
09-07-2022 10:27:59  Info Replacing driver oem9.inf with accelerometer.inf succeeded
09-07-2022 10:27:59  Info Adding driver rt640x64.inf succeeded
09-07-2022 10:27:59  Info Adding driver netadapter.inf succeeded
09-07-2022 10:27:59  Info Adding driver netwtw08.inf succeeded
09-07-2022 10:27:59  Info Driver updates succeeded
09-07-2022 10:28:54  Info Installing Acronis True Image 2021
09-07-2022 10:29:00  Info Installing 7-Zip
09-07-2022 10:29:00  Info Installing A43 File Management Utility
09-07-2022 10:29:01  Info Installing Display Settings
09-07-2022 10:29:01  Info Installing Explorer++ File Explorer
09-07-2022 10:29:01  Info Installing Extra Files
09-07-2022 10:29:02  Info Installing IrfanView Graphic Viewer

You should also check the Acronis Configuration page of the MVP Assistant tool to ensure this is correctly showing your installed version of ATI 2017.

If you are still getting an issue with the builder adding Acronis to your media, then I would suggest doing a Repair Install of ATI 2017 to let it correct any issues in the installation.

See KB 60915: Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office, Acronis True Image: repairing program settings - for details.

Steve, thanks so much for your quick reply.

I opened the log file and directly below the line which says: Info Installing Acronis True Image 2017

is says: ERROR Failed to install Acronis True Image 2017

Thats it, no error code or any more details.

I checked the Acronis Configuration page; all looks good except the last line which says:

Scheduler Manager Version: Not Installed

Could this be the problem?

Also. this morning I uninstalled ATI2017, MVP_ATIPEBuilder_v186, and MVPAssistant 2.2.1 project folder, then re-installed ATI2017. When I tried to create the boot media it stilled failed to install the app.

I will do the Repair Install and report back here.

Do you think the Scheduler Manager Version: Not Installed could be the problem? If so where/how do I get it installed?

Thanks, Drew

Drew, the Scheduler Manager tool has no relationship to the rescue media builder(s), it is a stand-alone tool, no installation, and is only relevant for handling scheduled tasks within Windows.

When installing ATI 2017 it is very important that this is done from an Administrator account to ensure correct authorities / privileges are given.  The install / repair should not be blocked by any security / antivirus type software.

It has been a long time since I used ATI 2017 and I don't have any licenses for the same, but check the contents of C:\Program Files (x86)\Acronis\TrueImageHome\WinPE which is where the rescue media is looking for the WinPE version of ATI to use?

The image below shows the contents of the WinPE folder from an ATI 2018 system.

Drew, I will look into this issue in my code. First I need to get an old system up and running and install ATI 2017.

Meanwhile, if you are able to create a WinPE based media using the ATI 2017 media builder, you could create a wim which would have ATI installed. Then, you could use that wim as the source of a build using the MVP Assistant builder.

Steve, BrunoC, thanks for your help. I went through all the steps of the Repair Install: no joy.

I wound up uninstalling ATI2017 and running the cleanup tool. Downloaded & installed the latest ATI2017 version 8065 pkg. (before I was installing my original version from disc and it automatically update to 8058). Still no joy.

I checked the C:\Program Files (x86)\Acronis\TrueImageHome\WinPE folder; it contained WinPE.zip. It was the actual zip file uncompressed. Should the files be extracted? The zip contained 3 folders: Files, Files32, Files64, and 2 files: acronis.inf, and WinPE.zip.edep.

The Files32 & Files64 folders both contained 19 items including TrueImage.exe & TrueImage_starter.exe.

Does this help?

Thanks, Drew

I got ATI 2017 installed. I've discovered that the mechanism for guiding the WinPE installation changed with ATI 2018 whereas I thought it was compatible to ATI 2017. My mistake; I've edited the top post on this topic to reflect that.

If I get some time and inclination, I'll see if I can adapt to the older method.

FYI, the file winpe_resources.dll that Steve alludes to a few post back does not exist in ATI 2017.

Bruno, thanks for the update. That's disappointing. Somewhere on this forum it stated specifically that the assistant was compatible with ATI2016 but only the later versions of ATI2016, which lead me to believe that someone had actually tested it with ATI2016. Could it be that it was changed in ATI2017 and then changed again in ATI2018?

In any event, I tried to implement your suggestion about using a wim file from the ATI 2017 media builder as the source in the MVP Assistant builder. Not sure if I did this correctly.  As I mentioned earlier, I was able to create a winpe boot DVD using MVP_ATIPEBuilder_v186. (but can't use it because it lacks Bitlocker support) So I used the \sources\boot.wim from the DVD as the source of a build using the MVP Assistant. I used the EZ-MODE and in the bottom right pane it showed that ATI2017 was installed. I started to get my hopes up, but when I booted the USB drive I only saw the MVP wallpaper, and then a few flashes (like it was trying to bring up apps that quickly disappeared) and then it rebooted. It never displayed the launch bar nor the ATI app, so I must have left out some steps??

And now for a reality check: if I build rescue media successfully using MVPAssistant 2.2.1, will it have Bitlocker support? Will I be able to use it to create a backup image of my C drive without having to unlock the drive beforehand?

If not I may just bag it, and discontinue using Bitlocker.

Thanks, Drew

Excellent new tool! (2.2.1.0)

I had a few issues, though no show stoppers. I built the project on my Dell XPS8900 with an NVIDIA GTX745. I added the NVIDIA driver to the image and it booted just fine, however HWiNFO would not run. It starts and seems to be initializing, then dissapears. I rebuilt the image without the NVIDIA driver and then HWiNFO runs fine, but the resolution is limited to default? Doable, but not supreme. I used the ADK, so guess I'll try to use WinRE instead.

The other issues are:

I could not install Pale Moon - "Installation failed".

No progress on the status bar when building the USB drive. Wasn't sure if it was hung at first, but it builds fine.

Both of the builds work great on my Surface Pro too.

Kudos to all who contribute!

CC

Thanks, CC. I appreciate the kudos.

Resolutions are always an issue with WinPE. And being that every single system is different, there is no way to know whether what I code will work for all. No idea why HWiNFO didn't like the NVIDIA driver.

I don't know why Pale Moon would have failed, but in general it takes a long time to initially download the install file. Perhaps there was an issue with the download. Sometimes what can happen is that a program changes the location of the download in the event of a newer version. When this occurs, it is fairly easy to modify the installation parameters to update it. If you need help with this, just message me back channel.

When building the USB drive, I just call a Windows copy IO function which runs to completion without informing my program, therefore no UI feedback. I may look into that issue for the future.

Thanks for using the MVP Assistant... and don't forget about the other components. I find them all useful under various conditions.

-Bruno

Bruno,

Thanks for the response.

Turns out C:\ProgramData\MVP Assistant\UserApps\PaleMoon folder is empty. I'm not sure exactly when this folder is created.

I have this morning checked out all the other components. Integrating them all in the new MVP is terrific. Appreciate all the great work.

CC

Hi.

Im a long time MVP tool user (v18.6) and it has served me very well.  While I have licensed copies of ATI v9 thru 2021, I have settled in using ATI2017 because I backup to external drives from a range of Pcs and the Main ATI (after 2017) Win interface and philosophy interferes with my need to simply manage multiple pc backups to a single external drive...In the end I backup & restore from a MVP bootable usb drive...not using the ATI installed windows App..too complex...I tried this approach with ATI2018/19/20/21 and while the functionality "works" the backup-time is 2 to 3x slower compared to ATI2017!  plus some versions, as you know, changed the file format.

While MVP 18.6 has been great I was looking forward to using the newer V2x ...but now it seems (from your posts) that 2017 vs newer versions has a slightly different setup.  Any chance that you can include 2017 compatibility or a workaround???? 

bob

Bob, there is one later version of the Custom MVP builder tool which can be downloaded from:

http://www.mechrest.com/plugins/MVP_ATIPEBuilder/Advanced/MVP_ATIPEBuilder_v190.zip

Note: you can take the .WIM file created by the older MVP tool and use it with the new tool by selecting it in the Source option instead of the WinRE or ADK option.  This would get around the issue with injecting ATI 2017 as it will already be in the WIM file.

CC, I did some updates for my own copy of the MVP Assistant builder which included Palemoon browser latest version.  My PaleMoon.XML is as below:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Applications>
  <App name="PaleMoon" description="Pale Moon Browser" overrides="yes" visible="yes" optional="yes" autoinstall="yes">
    <Source url="https://rm-us.palemoon.org/release/Palemoon-Portable-31.2.0.1.win64.exe" filename="palemoon-portable.zip" />
    <Install>
      <Zip source="palemoon-portable.zip" />
      <LaunchButton name="Pale Moon" command="%ProgramFiles%\PaleMoon\palemoon-portable.exe" />
    </Install>
    <Uninstall>
      <DeleteProgramFolder />
    </Uninstall>
  </App>
</Applications>

If you open the MVP Assistant > Settings > Advanced Customisation panel, select PaleMoon then click on the Edit button, it will create the default PaleMoon.XML file in your  C:\ProgramData\MVP Assistant\UserApps\PaleMoon folder, and allow you to modify the Source URL if needed for a new version. (as I have done above)

Note 1: you need to Save the changes to the Edited XML file, then use the Import option to bring those changes into the builder application.

When you select PaleMoon to be installed, and no zip file exists, it will download a new copy to the folder.  This download did take quite a long time when I did this yesterday, so it is very likely that this is what failed for you.

Note 2: you can download the .exe file directly yourself and rename it to .zip / store it in the folder to avoid any download delays or issues.