Macrium KB

v5 - How to run DiskRestore from Windows PE

Administrator — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 08:54:56 GMT

This article explains how to run DiskRestore from the v5 Windows PE rescue environment. DiskRestore provides an alternative method to restore disk images when running Windows PE.

The normal Macrium Reflect restore process is a partition based restore. This enables control over partition size and placement. This flexibility comes at a cost and the restore wizard can seem overly complex for some restore tasks. With DiskRestore you can restore partitions to the same offset and length with a couple of clicks.

DiskRestore will also allow continuation of restore if a corruption error is detected in the source image file.

To start DiskRestore

1. Click the Dos command prompt button on the Windows PE task bar.

2. In the command Windows that opens type: "x:\program files\macrium\diskrestore.exe" and press Enter.

3. DiskRestore will start and the restore dialog will be shown:

4. Click the '...' button to choose your image file, select the partitions to restore, select the target disk and click 'Restore'

How to verify image and backup files from the command line

Administrator — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 10:13:45 GMT

This article explains how to verify Macrium Reflect image and backup files using the standalone command line verification tool 'Verify.exe'. Verify.exe supports individual file verification as well as folder and sub-folder file search and verification.

Please use the link below to download:
http://updates.macrium.com/reflect/utilities/verify.exe

The following command line switches are supported:

verify.exe "full path to image file or folder" -p[--password] "password" -r[--recurse] -l[--logfile] "logfile name"

file name or path with wild card can be entered.
e,g; "d:\backups\*" or "d:\backups\1FF33614674A6438-00-00.mrimg"

-p OR --password The optional password that was used to protect and/or encrypt the backup

-r OR --recurse Scan all sub-folders if a folder is specified. The default is not to recurse.

-l OR --logfile Full path to output log file. This file will be created for each run and contains the file name and verification status 'success' or 'fail'.

-s OR --set Verify all files in the set. Use if verifying individual files to ensure they can be restored. When verifying all files in a folder this isn't necessary. The default is not to verify the entire set.

-h OR --help This help output

examples:

verify.exe "d:\backups\1FF33614674A6438-00-00.mrimg"

verify.exe "d:\backups\1FF33614674A6438-00-00.mrimg" --set --password "mypassword" -l "c:\verifylog.txt"

verify.exe "d:\backups\*" --password "mypassword" -r -l "c:\verifylog.txt"

On success Verify.exe will return '0'. If any file fails verification then the return code will be '1'.

The following success/failure text will be displayed in the command window and log:

Verify Success	The file contained no errors.
Verify Failure	The file could not be verified successfully. Try the verification process again using the Macrium Reflect user interface. This may give more information on the problem.
Backup set is incomplete. At least one file may be missing	This message is displayed if the --set command line switch is used and at least one other file required to restore this file cannot be opened and/or located in the same folder.
Password Error	The backup file is password protected and/or encrypted and the supplied password is not correct.

v5: Windows XP BSOD MULTIPLE_IRP_COMPLETE_REQUESTS when creating rescue CD

Administrator — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 10:48:14 GMT

This article details the issues with Norton Internet Security (NIS) 2013 when creating the Macrium Windows PE rescue media on Windows XP

Problem

When creating rescue media in Macrium Reflect when Norton Internet Security 2013 installed you may receive the following blue screen caused by the diver 'fltmgr.sys':

The problem is caused by Norton Internet Security (version: 20.3.0.36) which causes the computer to crash during the mount of the wim (windows image file) using components from the Microsoft Window Automated Installation Kit (WAIK).

Solution

You need to disable Norton Internet Security before running the Macrium Reflect rescue CD creation wizard. To complete this task follow the below steps:

Right click the NIS icon in the task bar and select 'Disable Antivirus Auto-Protect'
When the following window opens select 'Until system restart' and click 'OK':
After disabling NIS create your rescue media using Macrium Reflect
After the rescue media has been created please restart your PC to ensure NIS is re-enabled

Search terms

NIS

Norton Internet Security

Blue screen Of Death

BSOD Error MULTIPLE_IRP_COMPLETE_REQUESTS
STOP 0x00000044
fltmgr.sys

What user name and password is used when scheduling a backup?

jon.dittman@macrium.com — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 22:36:57 GMT

This article explains how to find the user name and password required when scheduling a backup task with Macrium Reflect

Macrium Reflect uses the standard Windows task scheduler to schedule backup jobs. To ensure that tasks can run when no users are logged on to the computer it's necessary to supply a Windows user account and login password. These are the same details that are used when you login to Windows:

How do I see what my actual user account name is?

The actual account name can be different to the 'Friendly' name used at the Windows login screen. If you are having difficulty finding your user account name then follow the steps below:

1. Open a command prompt. Click 'Start' then type cmd and press 'Enter'.
2. For Windows Vista/7/8 type 'whoami' and press Enter:

The screen shot above shows that the user account currently logged on is office3ick

Similarly, for Windows XP, type echo %username%

Note: The computer name 'office3' is not shown but will be defaulted if not entered in the schedule dialog.

I don't use a password but the scheduler is prompting for one?

If you don't use a password when logging into Windows then your system may have been set to automatically log you in with a saved password. To reset your password please follow the steps below:

1. Click 'Start', type 'netplwiz' and press Enter.
2. In the dialog that opens select 'Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer' and click 'Apply'

3. To manage/change your user account password press Ctrl+Alt+Del

Search Terms
Can't schedule my backups
What is my user name and password?

tag:backup

tag:file

tag:image

v5: How to download and install a trial of Macrium Reflect

jon.dittman@macrium.com — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 12:12:52 GMT

How to download and install a trial of Macrium Reflect

It is possible to download and install a trial of all editions of Macrium Reflect including Standard, Professional and Server. The trial is valid for 30 days and is fully functional. The only exception to this is that the ReDeploy functionality to restore images to dissimilar hardware is not included. The decision to remove this functionality was made on commercial grounds.
You can download the trial from here:
http://www.macrium.com/pages/downloads.aspx

Note: No other software us bundled with our installation package.

Installing

When you download and run ReflectDL.exe, this gives you the option to download whichever edition you require as shown below in red.

Once the install wizard is under-way, we would also advise you to register the trial so that we can provide support for you during the trial period. See below:

Once installation is complete, Reflect is ready to go.
Please be reassured that any XML definition files, images and rescue CDs created during the trial period are fully compatible with the 'paid for' versions.

Search terms

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v5: Can I boot Machine A with Windows PE rescue media created on Machine B

jon.dittman@macrium.com — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 11:19:29 GMT

The Macrium Reflect Windows PE rescue media is not machine specific, however, there are two issues that could possibly arise:

Hardware differences between Machine A and B.
While the rescue media creation process will take into account drivers required for hardware on Machine A, the addition, or loading, of drivers for hardware on Machine B would have to be a manual process if required.

If drivers are needed on Machine B to access local fixed disks (e.g.: RAID configuration), USB3 hardware or Ethernet based resources (e.g.: NAS or other file server) then these drivers will need to be loaded manually once the rescue media has booted into the WinPE environment.
Booting differences between Machine A and B.
If Machine A is a UEFI booting system then in all likelihood the rescue media will have been created as UEFI and will not boot if Machine B is an MBR booting system and vice versa.

Search Terms
Boot Rescue Media
Boot Rescue Media On Different Machine

tag:restore

tag:image

v5 - Disk space management and Duplicate Backup Files

jon.dittman@macrium.com — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 11:43:36 GMT

This article details how to ensure that disk space management functions are enforced for duplicate directories

Problem

When creating VB scripts to run backups, it is possible to select that the resultant image is copied to a chosen directory after the backup has completed. (See below)

The problem, is that if have Disk Space Management enabled, the original backup files will be purged as required, but the duplicate files will not.

Solution

With regard to the duplicate setting, rather than using the 'Duplicate backup files' option, you may be able to achieve the desired behaviour by using the Microsoft tool called 'robocopy'. Robocopy (robust file copy) has a folder synchronize option that can keep your backup and copy folders mirrored.

When creating the VB Script, in the Duplicate Backup File dialog shown above, deselect the Enable file copy checkbox.
Open Notepad and type:
robocopy "<PATH TO BACKUP FOLDER>" "<PATH TO MIRROR>" /MIR /COPYALL /E /R:0
Replace the "<PATH TO.. placeholders with the correct folder names, e.g "d:\Images" and "e:\Images"
Save the file as 'copybackups.bat'
Generate a VBScript source file for your XML definition, select the 'Run a program or script at end' option and enter the 'copybackups.bat' file just created as shown below:

If you run the VBscript then at the end of the image or backup, robocopy will synchronize the two folders. Any files that have been purged from the backup folder will be deleted from the copy.

Robocopy is included with Vista, Server 2003/2008 and Windows 7. If you are running XP then you need to download the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools

Search terms

tag:backup

tag:image

tag:file

Installation from the command line

john.pendleton@macrium.com — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 11:37:37 GMT

This article explains how to install and uninstall on the command line

Applies to:

Macrium Reflect version 5.1 all editions and windows versions.

About the Macrium installation process

The macrium installer is msi based with an executable wrapper to ensure it is launched in the correct mode

Command line installation

In most cases, just invoking the installer interactively will be the most effective way to install Reflect. However, in some cases, particularly if the installation is to be automated across many PCs, it may be more desirable to enable the installation to complete without user intervention. To do this, first download the installer using ReflectDL. Then invoke using the following options.

reflect_setup_x64.exe /passive /l log.txt LICKEY=16-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXX

Or, if you have ordered multiple licenses, you can install them on multiple computers with the same command. If you run out of licenses, the install will fail.

reflect_setup_x64.exe /passive /l log.txt ORDERREF=NNNNNNNN ORDEREMAIL=sample_email@macrium.com

If the installation fails, consult the log file, specified by the /l parameter to discover why.

The above examples will display a progress bar. If you wish the install to be completely invisible, replace /passive with /qn.

Notes
1) The installer name will vary dependent on edition and platform.
2) This will only work with full (not upgrade) licenses.
3) An internet connection is required.
4) If you have made multiple orders, you can specify a colon separated list, eg ...
ORDERREF=NNNNNNNN:OOOOOOOOO:PPPPPPPP etc
They will be searched in the same order as specified.

Search Terms
How do I install silently
Can I use msi command line parameters

tag:install

v5: How to fix Windows boot problems

jon.dittman@macrium.com — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 16:45:03 GMT

This article explains how to use the 'Fix Boot Problems' option to resolve common boot problems when restoring an image.

When restoring an image or cloning a HD there can be situations where Windows is unable to boot due to incorrect boot configuration. This article explains how Reflect enables you to resolve these situations.
Depending on whether the disk you have restored uses GPT or MBR partitioning schemes, the action you need to take may vary. This article covers both cases.

Fix boot problems on MBR/BIOS systems

Fix Windows boot problems is available in the Windows PE Rescue media environment. To fix Windows boot problems, start your computer with your rescue media inserted. Then, after a restore or clone, to use fix boot problems:

1. Select the restore menu, then select fix boot problems. Alternatively, choose the restore tab then under restore tasks select Fix Windows Boot Problems.
2. The Fix boot problems wizard will then open.
3. You will be presented with a list of Windows Installs, which the wizard detects. Verify these are correct. If the wizard has not automatically detected your Windows install, add it using the buttons on the right. You can also correct any details using the edit functionality.
4. Select the active partition. The wizard automatically selects the boot disk for the relevant Windows install, but you can change this if you are using an alternative setup:
5. Choose the boot options to be fixed. We recommend leaving all options checked, however, power users may wish to alter the behaviour of the wizard.
6. Click finish. The wizard will then offer you the choice to reboot. If you need to perform additional tasks in the PE environment such as ReDeploy, select no. Otherwise, select yes.
7. Your system will now boot.

Fix Boot problems for GPT/UEFI Boot Systems

Fix boot problems is available in the same location as for MBR systems. Boot your UEFI capable rescue media. Then:

1. Select the restore menu, then select fix boot problems. Alternatively, choose the restore tab then under restore tasks select Fix Windows Boot Problems.
2. The Fix boot problems wizard will then open.
3. You will be presented with a list of Windows Installs, which the wizard detects. Verify these are correct. If the wizard has not automatically detected your Windows install, add it using the buttons on the left. You can also correct any details using the edit functionality.

4. (Optional Step) if you have multiple disks, you may be asked to select which you should boot from. Choose the disk you wish to boot from, then press next.
5. The wizard will then display a summary screen. Press Next.
6. You will then see a report showing you a choice of actions and allowing you to restart your PC. Select Yes if you wish to restart now and select No if you wish to perform additional tasks in the PE environment.

Search terms
tag:restore
tag:image

v5: How are backup sets created and maintained?

jon.dittman@macrium.com — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 20:53:27 GMT

This article explains how Full, Incremental and Differential images and backups are saved to the target folder specified in your backup definition file. Also, which backup set is chosen when you run a Differential or Incremental.

For information on how to create Incremental or Differential backups please see here: http://kb.macrium.com/KnowledgebaseArticle50075.aspx

How do I specify the backup target folder?

For disk images this is specified in the first page of the backup wizard:

Similarly, for File and Folder backups, this is also on the first page of the backup wizard.

What is a backup set?

Backups are grouped into 'sets'. A backup set contains first a Full backup and subsequent linked incremental and differential backups. You can see the links by looking at the default file name which is a unique backup set identifier, followed by a number pair:

The above folder contents shows (marked in red) a single backup set {4F6F6CACA58B077D} which contains a full image and 4 increments. The end of the image file contains a number pair 'xx-yy.mrimg'

'xx' is the increment number.
00 - Full image
01 - first incremental/differential
02 - Second incremental/differential

'yy' is the file number and is always sequential. 00, 01, 02, 03... . This will be different to the increment number only if files have been split. This can happen if files larger than 4GB are saved to a FAT32 file system or you are saving an image to multiple DVDs.

So the first file for a full image always ends with '00-00.mrimg'.

Note: The Image ID, file and increment numbers are also stored as data inside the files. Renaming a file does not affect the integrity of the set, Macrium Reflects ability to append to the set, or restoration of the files.

How is a set chosen when an Incremental or Differential backup is run?

Each backup set is grouped by similar backup types. This means that a single set will only consist of images of *exactly the same partitions or a File and Folder backups of exactly the same selection criteria.
*Note: A change in partition layout will cause a new backup set to be created even if the drive letters are consistent. The partitions must have the same disk offset and length and must be from the same disk, i.e, the disk must have the same Disk ID.
e.g, If you run an Incremental image of only drive 'C' and the target folder contains 4 image files:

6698CD700DF88DF4-00-00.mrimg   Drives: C, D, E   Created 1st Jan 2013
430D57E2CEEA8552-00-00.mrimg   Drive:   F           Created 2st Dec 2012
1EB1112ABA7C3898-00-00.mrimg   Drive:   C:          Created 1st Nov 2012
D407A9E1BF98D822-00-00.mrimg   Drive:   C:          Created 1st Oct 2012

Then the newly created image file will be 1EB1112ABA7C3898-01-01.mrimg. This is because file 1EB1112ABA7C3898-00-00.mrimg is the most recent full image in the target folder that contains exactly the same partitions as the current Incremental image. The next Incremental (or Differential) image would be 1EB1112ABA7C3898-02-02.mrimg and so on...
Note: If there was no existing backup set that contained only drive 'C:' then a new backup set (full) would be created.

Doesn't this get confusing if multiple backup types are saved to the same folder?

Not if you use the 'Restore' tab in Macrium Reflect to view your images to mount and/or restore. The Restore Tab can be restricted to show only images that contain a particular drive and also be sorted by date. So, if you want to restore drive 'C' as it was last week than you can easily find it. In fact Backup Sets are an abstraction that you don't need to worry about when restoring data, they are only relevant to optimizing backup speed and storage space.

Note: If you want to organize your backup sets so they are easier to find in Windows Explorer then we recommend that you save different backup types to different folders. e.g.

D:\Backups\Images of C
D:\Backups\Images of D
D:\Backups\Images of Disk 1

Additional Information

A differential backup saves only the changes made since the last full backup of the same type found in the target folder for the backup.

An incremental backup saves only the changes made since the last backup of the same type found in the target folder for the backup.

Search terms

Backup Sets Incremental Differential

tag:backup

tag:image

tag:file

v5: How to create a Rescue USB stick

jon.dittman@macrium.com — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 10:58:13 GMT

In this article we will explain how it is possible to simply create a USB stick.

Follow the steps on Creating Rescue Media
When you get to the final screen as show below:

Select 'USB Device' as indicated in Red and click Finish.

Search terms

tag:restore

tag:image

Incremental or differential specified but no backup set to append to.

jon.dittman@macrium.com — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 11:53:45 GMT

This article explains the situations when Reflect will create a full backup instead of an incremental or differential backup.

There are a number of cases when you have a backup task, either scheduled or manually triggered, that is configured to produce a differential or incremental backup as part of a backup set and Reflect instead reverts to a full backup. This article explains why this may occur.

If the full (or parent incremental) is inaccessible for any reason

Example: There are a number of scenarios in which this can occur. We shall take one example. Suppose you have two backup locations:
Primary location: \\myserver\backups\pc1\
Alternative location: d:\mydata\backups\pc1\
Suppose that you are taking incrementals at the primary location but at the time of backup the network location is not reachable. In this case, as requested, Reflect will use the alternative backup location. As it cannot read the backup set at the primary location it will then create a full backup at the alternative location.
Note: the online help for Macrium Reflect contains a section on alternative backup locations.
Reason: Reflect needs to be able to read the existing backup set to work out what has changed.

If the backup set being appended cannot be opened due to corruption.

Example: This issue is triggered when the source backup set is corrupted for some reason. As an example, suppose that you are backing up to an external USB 3 disk called G: and suppose that the existing backup set is created at G:\backups\pc1\. Now, suppose this backup set has somehow become corrupted. Reflect cannot recognise this as a valid backup file and so creates a new backup set.
Reason: If files are corrupted such that they are not recognisable as backup sets, it is likely their indexes (used for performing incremental or differentials) are unusable too.

If the full (or parent incremental) contains a non matching set of partitions compared with the requested incremental.

Example 1: Suppose your system contains drives C:, D: and E:. Initially, your backup definition contains C:,D:. You take a full followed by a series of differentials. You then edit the backup definition file to include E:. Reflect will then trigger a full backup.
Example 1: Suppose your system containsdrives C:, D: Initially, your backup definition contains C:,D:.You take a full followed by a series of differentials. You then resize D:. Reflect will then trigger a fullbackup.
Reason: Reflect considers that if a backup definition differs from what is contained in the backup set, then it is potentially an entirely different backup source. It would be difficult to reliably distinguish between the sensible examples given above and removing all of the source drives and using others. The resulting incremental would make little sense. The potential for an invalid backup set to be created is high, so Reflect prevents this.

If the disk ID is different to that in the full (or parent incremental).

Example: Suppose you have a backup set for a system on a network share. You then perform a clone of this system to a new disk, remove the old disk and boot the new system. You then ask Reflect to back up the system using the existing backup set. Reflect will create a full.
Reason: Macrium Reflect uses the Disk Identifier in MBR, or the Disk GUID on GPT systems, to uniquely identify the disk and verify that the backup set and backup source are of the same disk layout. These values remain stable so are a reliable identifier.

If the source folders, or filters, are changed in a File and Folder backup

Example: Suppose you are backing up *.doc in C:\ImportantData\. You then modify the backup definition to back up *.doc;*.xls in C:\ImportantData. Reflect will then create a new full backup.
Reason: Changing the directory or filter essentially changes the source definition. In many circumstances it would not make sense to take an incremental from this source, so Reflect defaults to a new full.

Search Terms
Why does Reflect create a Full backup when Incremental/Differential specified
Can't create a Differential/Incremental image

tag:backup

tag:image

tag:file

Backup aborted! - None of the specified backup locations could be written to

jon.dittman@macrium.com — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 11:01:24 GMT

Error

Backup aborted! - None of the specified backup locations could be written to

Description

This error occurs if it is not possible to write the image file to the destination location provided, or any of the alternative locations that may have been specified.

Possible causes

The destination directory no longer exists or was deleted.
The destination drive is no longer present or plugged in. This may be the case if the destination drive is an external USB drive.
If the destination drive is a USB drive it may have entered 'Sleep' mode and be unavailable.
If the destination is a network location, the network share may not be available or have been deleted or renamed.
If the backup is scheduled and the target is a network location, you may have to provide login credentials to access the network share. To resolve this issue, you need to add the Network login credentials in the Macrium Reflect defaults. Please see here for more information.
The NTFS file permissions of the destination directory may have changed.

tag:backup

tag:image

tag:file

How to remove a drive letter from the - MS System Reserved partition

Administrator — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 11:33:48 GMT

This article explains the steps required to remove a drive letter from the Microsoft System Reserved (MSR) partition.

Note: You can also use the same steps to remove a drive letter association from any partition.

The MSR partition is required to boot Windows 7 and later operating systems. Ordinarily, this partition does not have a drive letter assigned to it. If a drive letter is assigned then this can cause problems with Microsoft Volume Shadow copy Service (VSS).

If you receive the following error (or similar) when the MSR partition is included in a disk image then removing the drive letter association should resolve the issue:

Backup aborted! - Failed To Create Volume Snapshot Result Code: 0x8004231f

1. Start the Windows Disk Management Console. Click 'Start', type 'diskmgmt.msc' (without quotes) and press ENTER.

2. In the Windows that opens, right click on the 'System Reserved' partition in the lower pane and select 'Change Drive Letter and Paths..'

3. In the dialog that opens, click the 'Remove' button.

4. Close the Disk Management Console and restart Macrium Reflect.

After removing the drive letter create a fresh image of your system including the MSR partition.

Search terms
VSS Error 0x8004231f
How do I change windows drive letters

v5 - Preparing a USB pen drive for WinPE

jon.dittman@macrium.com — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 12:24:37 GMT

This article outlines the steps needed to get a USB pen drive ready for create WinPE rescue media
Why do I need to prepare my USB pen drive for WinPE ?
Some USB pen drives are shipped without a master boot record (MBR) and with just a single partition. In order for the USB pen drive to be used as a boot device, it will require an MBR. Formatting the USB pen drive using the standard Windows format option will not prepare the disk correctly by creating a master boot record. You will need to prepare the USB pen drive using other tools, e.g. Windows diskpart.

What steps do I need to perform to prepare the USB pen drive ?
There are many tools available that can perform this process but we will focus on the free Windows tool diskpart in this article.

1. Run a command prompt session as an elevated user. Do this by clicking Start > Run > type in cmd and then hold and press the following key combination left shift + left control + enter.

2. Type in diskpart and press enter.

3. Type in list disk and press enter.

4. Identify the disk number of your USB pen drive. Caution should be taken with this step as incorrectly identifying a drive may attract unwanted consequences further in this solution.

5. Type in select disk <n>, where <n> is the number of the disk previously identified as being the USB pen drive. In the screenshot above, it can easily be seen that disk number 6 is the one we are after. Confirm that the current disk selection is correct by typing in detail disk, this will show information relating to the currently selected disk.

Please be certain you have the disk selection correct before proceeding to the next step.
6. Type in clean. This will erase all data on the USB pen drive.

7. Type in create par primary. This will create a primary partition on the USB pen drive using the maximum size available.

8. Type in active to make the primary partition active.

9. Type in format FS=ntfs LABEL="Macrium WinPE" QUICK. This will format the newly created partition on the USB pen drive.

10. Type in exit once the format command has completed to exit diskpart.

11. Type in exit again to close the command prompt session.

Search terms

tag:restore

tag:image

When do I need to use the ADK and how do I enable it?

jon.dittman@macrium.com — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 11:21:11 GMT

This article explains the role of the Microsoft Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) in creating rescue media, when you should use it and how you can enable it.

Applies to:

Macrium Reflect version 5.1 running on Windows 8, Windows Server 2012 or later.

About the ADK

What is the Microsoft ADK?

The Microsoft Assessment and Deployment Kit is part of the Microsoft System tools. It is designed to give system administrators the ability to deploy Windows on a large scale with a number of custom tools for preparing their systems. For example, it might be used by the IT department of a large company to roll out pre-configured Windows Installs.

You may already be familiar with the Windows Automated Installation Kit, or Windows AIK. This is the previous offering for Microsoft that fulfilled a similar role.

Why does Reflect use the ADK or AIK?

Both the ADK and AIK contain a component called the Windows Preinstallation Environment, or Windows PE. This is a version of Windows contained in a Windows Image, or WIM file, which is cut down from the full install of Windows but contains sufficient utilities for building recovery, install and system preparation environments.

Reflect uses the basic PE environmnent from the ADK/AIK as a base and customises this environment with the Reflect tools. This gives Reflect a rescue environment with access to a range of common hardware drivers as well as native support for Windows File Systems and Windows boot management utilities.

What is the difference between the ADK and AIK?

The ADK is a newer version of the kit designed for Windows 8. Each Windows PE version is based on a version of Windows. In the case of PE 4 (available in the ADK) the environment is based on Windows 8. In the case of PE 3, the environment is based on Windows 7. As such, PE4 supports a number of enhancements to the Windows boot environment which arrived in Windows 8.

When should I use the ADK or AIK?

If you have Windows 8, you should use the ADK if:

1. You only have Windows 8 drivers for your hardware. As PE3 is based on Windows 7, it requires Windows 7 compatible drivers. If you do not have access to these, but do have access to Windows 8, you can use the ADK and Reflect will copy your Windows 8 drivers from your system (or search for Windows 8 drivers as needed).

2. You require support for UEFI Secure Boot when using Fix Boot Options. Windows 8 is the first version of Windows to support Secure Boot and the relevant support utilities are needed by Reflect to correctly fix a system using UEFI Secure Boot.

You should use the AIK if you only have Windows 7 drivers for your hardware. As PE4 is based on Windows 8, it requires Windows 8 compatible drivers.

Can I use PE4 (ADK) to back up/recover a Windows 7 or earlier system?

Yes you can.

Can I remove the ADK after I have created rescue media?

Yes you can. To do this, open up Add/Remove Programs from the control panel. You can then select the entry Assessment and Deployment Kit and remove the kit from there.

Note: if you remove the kit, but need to rebuild your rescue media at a later stage you will need to re-install the kit which may involve a new download if you have deleted the installer.

Enabling the ADK

How you enable the ADK for your install of Reflect depends on your setup.

Prerequisites

You need to be running Macrium Reflect on either Windows 8, or Windows Server 2012, or a later Windows Operating System to use the ADK. If you are not running Windows 8 or Server 2012, you will have no issues running PE3 (the AIK).

If you have never created WAIK/WADK rescue media before

Reflect will default to the ADK.

If you have previously created rescue media, or wish to change the type of media you are creating

To change to the ADK, or switch your rescue media type:

1. In the main window of Reflect, click the rescue media wizard icon.
2. On the first page of the rescue media wizard, select the Windows PE option and then select the auto-built PE option.
3. In the drop-down, select the WAIK or WADK.

4. When you click next, the ADK will be automatically downloaded and installed for you.

Enabling the ADK (alternative method)

You can also change this setting through the Reflect defaults. To do this:

1. In the main window of Reflect, press the edit defaults toolbar option or choose Other Tasks then Edit Defaults from the menu.

2. In the Reflect Defaults screen, select the Advanced Tab.

3. In the options list on the left hand side of this dialog, select Rescue media.

4. You will then be presented with a choice of Windows Kit for Rescue Media which allows you to select the kit you wish to use.

5. Once you have selected a kit, press Ok to close the dialog.

6. The next time you start the Rescue Media Wizard your Auto-built PE option will indicate the new kit type.

Running the ADK Setup

As with the WAIK, if you have not previously installed the WADK Reflect will download the ADK setup utility and run it for you. You will be presented with the following dialog:

We recommend leaving the default options selected. You then simply need to follow the wizard. On the features page, Reflect will select the minimal required features for you. You need to ensure Deployment Tools and Windows PE are selected for Reflect to function correctly, as shown in the screenshot below:

The WADK Setup wizard will then complete your installation and you can continue creating your rescue media.

Please view the tutorial below for an example of how to create a Rescue CD using the WADK.

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How to exclude disks when Macrium Reflect starts up

jon.dittman@macrium.com — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 10:37:30 GMT

This article explains the steps required to exclude disks when Macrium Reflect starts up.

When Macrium Reflect loads, the first task it performs is to analyze local file systems and disks to enable imaging and to display the local disks in the main application Window...

Reading all local disks may be time consuming and may also load unnecessary information, such as the disk information of your backup disk which will never be the source of an image process.

To exclude disk(s) at startup take the following steps:

1. Click 'Start' (then click 'Run' in XP), type 'regedit.exe' and press enter:

2. In the registry editor window, navigate to 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE' > 'SOFTWARE' > 'Macrium' > 'Reflect'. Then right click and select 'New' > 'Key'

3. Enter the name 'Disks' for the new key.

3. Right click on the new 'Disks' key and select 'New' > 'DWORD (32 bit) Value'.

4. Enter the number of the disk that you want to exclude. In the above example it is disk number '4' that's excluded. You can add multiple disks by adding additional values to the 'Disks' key.

Note: The disk number is the number that's displayed in the Windows Disk Management console. This is 1 less than the number that's shown in the Macrium Reflect main window. So, if you want to exclude disk number '1' that's shown in Reflect then enter '0' as the disk number in the registry.

The next time Macrium Reflect starts it will ignore the disks specified at startup.

Changes to the windows PE rescue environment

jon.dittman@macrium.com — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 16:25:07 GMT

This article discusses the changes to Microsoft Windows PE Licensing and Macrium Reflect from November 1st 2012

The rescue environment is a critical feature of any system backup software, enabling recovery in the case of non-booting systems. The Macrium Reflect rescue environment is based on either Linux or Windows PE. This article discusses changes in the way that the Windows PE rescue environment is created. The Linux rescue CD is unchanged, being shipped pre-built as part of the installation.

Before November 2012, a pre built distribution of Windows PE configured to work as a Macrium rescue CD was included in the installer. For users who wanted more flexibility, an alternative method was made available. This uses the Microsoft WAIK distribution to build the environment on the users PC. The build process is entirely automated including a 1 time download from Microsoft.

For licenses issued from November 2012, we are unable to offer the pre-built environment, due to a global change in licensing policy from Microsoft. We have developed the custom method, now renamed the auto-built environment to be as easy to configure as the old pre-built one. Building the PE environment on your pc allows us to automatically customise it and potentially add new features. The large, one time, download from Microsoft is mitigated by a much smaller installer and a more efficient update process.

Backup aborted! - Write operation failed - Insufficient system resources ...

jon.dittman@macrium.com — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 09:31:30 GMT

If your backups fail with the following message :

Backup aborted! - Write operation failed - Insufficient system resources exist to complete the requested service

then it may be caused by your windows configuration. If so, the following steps may fix your issue:

1. Click 'Start' (then click 'Run' in XP), type 'regedit.exe' and press enter:

2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\Memory Management

3. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD (32 Bit) Value.

4. Type PoolUsageMaximum as the entry name, and then press ENTER.

5. Right-click PoolUsageMaximum, and then click Modify.

6. Click Decimal. In the Value data box, type 60, and then click OK.

7. Create another DWORD (32 Bit) value named PagedPoolSize.
Note: If this entry already exists then modify its value as described below.

8. Right-click PagedPoolSize, and then click Modify.

10. Click Hexadecimal. In the Value data box, type a value of FFFFFFFF, and then click OK.

11. Finally, Reboot and attempt to create another image.

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Understanding Disk IDs

jon.dittman@macrium.com — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 16:05:39 GMT

To enable an operating system to uniquely identify disks, a signature is generated as part of the initialisation process. In the case of an MBR partitioned disk, this is a 4 byte value, typically presented as an 8 character hex string. This is extended to a 16 byte value for gpt disks, presented as a GUID.

You can see the disk signature by opening a command window, and typing

diskpart

followed by

list disk
sel disk <n>

replacing <n> with the number of the disk you wish to query and then type

detail disk

MBR disk example

DISKPART> detail disk
...
Disk ID: 4936F9A1
...

GPT disk example

DISKPART> detail disk
...
Disk ID: {C0F4976C-CFA6-45C1-BBCE-3B40016336E5}
...

MBR partitioned disks

For MBR partitioned disks, the disk signature is relevant for (Vista and later) booting and also to ensure drive letters assignments persist between reboots. As it is used to uniquely identify disks, Windows will not allow multiple disks with the same disk signature to be online at the same time. If you attempt to bring a second disk online, windows will re-calculate the disk signature on the second disk. This will potentially make it not bootable and also change any drive assignments.

For these reasons, as part of a clone or restore process, Macrium Reflect will recalculate the signature according to the table below. If the signature is recalculated, the boot configuration data (BCD) store is located and updated and the drive mappings in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices\ are also updated if necessary.

GPT partitioned disks

Unlike MBR partitions, GPT partition entries have an associated unique id. This allows GPT partitions to be uniquely identified without the disk signature making the disk signature redundant for the purposes discussed above. Therefore, Reflect never sets the disk signature to that of the source.

Summary

Operation	Target disk Signature
Any restore or clone to a GPT disk	Not changed, or if target not initialised a new one is generated.
All target partitions overwritten	From source disk
Source disk present after restore (e.g. in the case of a clone)	Regenerated
Some original target partitions remain after restore	Not changed
Target partitioning scheme different from source (e.g. source MBR, target GPT)	Not changed, or if target not initialised a new one is generated.
Target uninitialised, MBR source disk, target < 2TB	From source disk/image

Search terms

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tag:file

tag:image

How to Restore an MBR image to UEFI/GPT

jon.dittman@macrium.com — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 14:31:37 GMT

UEFI (the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) is an interface between a computer's firmware and operating system. It is designed as a replacement for BIOS (Basic Input/Output System).

UEFI supports hard disks with either MBR (master boot record) or the newer GPT (GUID Partition Table) system. GPT is a newer standard, that supports disks larger than 2TiB and allows for more than four primary partitions per disk.

As UEFI and GPT become more widespread, older images of MBR disks will often need to be restored to replacement UEFI / GPT systems.

This article assumes that, apart from the type of disk, there are no other hardware differences between the system being imaged and the system being restored to. For dissimilar hardware, Redeploy may be needed.

To prepare a GPT disk to boot in UEFI

Boot into Windows PE.
Open a Windows command window, and run "diskpart".
List the disks:
list disk
Select the disk number that you want to restore to. For example:
select disk 0
Clean the selected disk:
clean
By default, "clean" creates an empty MBR disk. Convert it to GPT:
convert gpt
Create the EFI partition:
create partition efi size=200
Format the EFI partition:
format fs=fat32
Create the MSR partition:
create partition msr size=128
Exit Diskpart:
exit

To restore an image to the GPT disk, ready to boot in UEFI

In Macrium Reflect, restore the imaged partitions into the free space. Do not copy over the old MSR partition.
Open a windows command window.
Use BCDBoot to create the boot environment files:
bcdboot E:\windows
where "E:\" is the letter of the restored Windows partition you wish to boot into.

You may have to edit the UEFI configuration to tell it to boot into the new GPT hard disk.

Search terms

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v5: Macrium Reflect Minimum System Requirements

Administrator — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 15:23:04 GMT

In order to run Macrium Reflect, you must have a system that has the following minimum system requirements:

At least 512MB RAM (1GB min recommended)
Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 or newer
A keyboard and mouse

If you wish to use the rescue media, you will need either a DVD writeable drive or USB pen drive.

Locating missing disks/drives

Administrator — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 12:16:19 GMT

This article will help you understand and resolve the situation where you can't see your disk in Windows Explorer.
This can occur particularly if a clone or restore operation is interrupted or fails.

Note: If you can't see a disk in the rescue environment, this is more likely due to missing drivers. Please read more here...

Firstly a few terms.
Disk: This is a physical device attached to your computer, typically via a SATA or USB cable.
Partition: A disk is subdivided into one or more partitions. At the start of a disk resides a partition table that stores the location of these partitions. There are two standards, MBR and GPT.
Filesystem: To enable Windows to manage the space defined by a partition, a filesystem is created. This process is called formatting. The two most common standards are FAT32 and NTFS.
Drive / Volume: To utilise this space, Windows will typically assign a letter, at which point it will become visible in the windows explorer.
Note: There may be multiple Volumes on one disk. Or volumes can be split across multiple disks when RAID or dynamic volumes are employed. Drive letters can also be assigned to network attached volumes, but this is outside the scope of this article.

To manage disks and drives/volumes. there are two tools, shipped with all editions of Windows, diskpart (command line) and Disk Management Console (Gui). They are both equally capable. For the purposes of this article, we shall use the Disk Management Console.

To invoke, from the start menu select run, or in the "search programs and file" field, type diskmgmt.msc
For Windows 8: Press the 'Windows key', type diskmgmt.msc and press Enter.

The window is split into 2 parts, the upper concerns volumes and the lower disks.

To locate your missing device.
Scroll down the list of disks in the lower pane. Usually, the disk size is a good way to identify your missing disk.
Once you have located it, check that
1) It is Online. It may be Offline for various reasons such as a fault or a signature clash.

2) Does it have a partition table? If not, it will be labeled "Not initialized". To create a partition table, right click on the left column, and select initialize disk.

3) Does it contain any partitions? If not, the disk view will show the whole space as unallocated. You can create one by right clicking on the disk view and selecting "New Simple Volume".

4) Do the partitions contain valid filesystems. If not, they will be marked RAW. To resolve, right click and chose format.

5) Do the partitions have assigned drive letters? If not, they still wont be visible in windows explorer. To resolve, right click and Select "Change Drive Letter and paths". Once you have assigned a drive letter, it will become visible in windows explorer.
Note: There are one (or 2 in the case of EFI booting systems) small partitions (~100MB) on a windows 7 and later system disk. Do not assign drive letter to these partitions.

You will now be able to see this volume in windows explorer as drive G:

Resolving network issues in Windows PE

jon.dittman@macrium.com — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 11:31:46 GMT

In the windows PE rescue environment, you may find that you can't connect to your network attached disk or another computer containing your backup. If this is the case, please use the following troubleshooting steps to resolve this issue.

1) Ensure your computer is connected via a network cable. Wireless (Wifi) network connections are not supported in windows PE.
Note the name of the server (NAS device or computer) and share name you normally connect with. Later, you may need your server ip address.
In a command window type the following (replacing <servername> with your server name).
ping <servername>
The ip address will be reported in [] and the reply responses.

2) Boot into the rescue environment.

3) Select the Restore -> View unsupported devices option. Are there any unsupported Network interface controllers listed? If so you can locate a driver for a temporary solution, or for a permanent fix, add a driver and rebuild your rescue CD. See the following article for further information.
http://kb.macrium.com/KnowledgebaseArticle50094.aspx

4) If you are confident that you have drivers for all relevant network devices have matching drivers loaded, select the Others tasks -> Network Config option.

i) Is there at least one network adaptor listed. If not, you need to reconsider step 3.
ii) Do you have an ip address (other than 0.0.0.0)? If not, check your network cable, and then hit renew. Alternatively, if you don't have a DHCP server on your network then enter a valid ip address for your network. Hint all domestic routers and corporate networks have a DHCP server configured by default.

5) If you do have a valid ip address for your network, and you can still not browse to your network attached storage, confirm that you can map a drive.

To do this, start PE explorer (third icon from left on the taskbar).

To do this you will need both the server name (or ip address) and the share name.

If this completes successfully, you will be able to access your network drive using the drive letter specified in the above dialog.

If you are still having problems, please contact support@macrium.com attaching the file, media_drivers.log.
It can be found in the folder C:\Documents And Settings\All Users\ApplicationData\Macrium\Reflect

v5: How to use VBScript to create a monthly backup cycle

jon.dittman@macrium.com — Wed, 02 May 2012 10:41:02 GMT

In this article, we look at using VBScript to handle a monthly backup cycle. I’ll show you how to generate a template VBScript source file and modify a couple of lines to enable selective execution of the XML definition files created in the previous tutorials.

So far we’ve created image definitions and scheduled these to run in a weekly backup cycle. We’ve also used the disk space management option to ensure that our backup disk doesn’t overflow. But, what if you want to schedule your images using a monthly calendar cycle? Say you want to run a full image on the first Monday of every month and an incremental image for all other weekdays. How do you do that?

Macrium Reflect uses the standard Windows Scheduler to schedule all backups and images. This has the advantage of being a very well tried and tested scheduler, plus it reduces valuable program overhead by using an existing, running service. However, while the Windows Scheduler is great for repeating weekly pattern of days, it can’t handle monthly exclusions very well. In our above example we can schedule the full image to run on the first Monday of each month without a problem, but the incremental images would have to be scheduled for every weekday. This means that on the first Monday of each month you’d run both the full and incremental images. This isn’t a very elegant solution; so what do we do?

The answer is VBScript. With VBScript we have total flexibility to do anything we want. We can also reduce the number of tasks to schedule to just one.

If you’re unfamiliar with VBScript source, it can look rather daunting. The syntax seems unnecessarily complex and verbose. However, one thing to remember is that in most cases you can just copy existing code examples and modify them slightly to make them work for you. Macrium Reflect generates a great working template for you to modify, and I’ll show you a couple of simple code lines to add to achieve the scheduling scenario I’ve outlined above.

OK, let’s begin…

1. Start Reflect, click the ‘Backup Definition Files’ tab, select the ‘image of C’ example file and then click the ‘Generate VBScript’ button.

2. The VBScript generation dialog is shown. Modify the VBScript file name to ‘Monthly Schedule’, and then click OK.

This will generate a VBScript template file using the default options. The defaults will simply run the image and create a log file in the directory where the XML definition is stored. A VBScript source file can be scheduled in exactly the same way as an XML file, but first we’re going to modify it to run both the full and incremental images on the correct days.

3.Click the ‘VBScript files’ tab. You should see your new VBScript source file in the list of source files. If you select it with your left mouse you can see the automatically generated code in the lower half of the window.

Monthly
This view has the advantage of syntax highlighting. This means that keywords, conditions and certain variables are displayed different colors, making viewing the source (and potential errors) much easier.

4. Right click on the VBScript file and select ‘Edit’.

This will open the source file in the default editor, Notepad.exe. Make sure that Word Wrap is turned off. This makes editing the source code much easier.

Locate the following line of code:

ExitCode = Backup ("""C:\Program Files\Macrium\Reflect\reflect.exe"" -e -w <BACKUP_TYPE> ""C:\Users\Nick\Reflect\image of c.xml""")

And replace it with:

If Weekday(Date) = 2 AND Month(DateAdd("d", -7, Date)) <> Month(Date) Then
      ' Run the full image
          ExitCode = Backup ("""C:\Program Files\Macrium\Reflect\reflect.exe"" -e -w -full ""C:\Users\Nick\Reflect\image of c.xml""")
Else
          ' Run the Incremental image
          ExitCode = Backup ("""C:\Program Files\Macrium\Reflect\reflect.exe"" -e -w -inc ""C:\Users\Nick\Reflect\image of c.xml""")
End If
        Note: Your XML file paths will be different to the paths above. We've replace the parameter '<BACKUP_TYPE>' with the type of backup we want to run. This could be either '-full, '-inc' or '-diff'

A quick summary of the functions used above:

The Date keyword is the current system date.

The Weekday function returns the day of the week as a number. 1 = Sunday, 2 = Monday etc.

DateAdd simply subtracts 7 days from the current date. The “d” means that we are subtracting (or adding) days. The other possibilities are, “yyyy” - Year, “q” – Quarter, “m” – Month, “y” - Day of year, “w” – Weekday, “ww” - Week of year, “h” – Hour, “n” – Minute, “s” – Second.

The Month function returns the month (1-12) of the DateAdd result and compares this with the current month using the ‘<>’ not equal to operator.
So, if the current day is Monday and the Monday of last week is a different month, then this must be the first Monday of the current month. As you can see, the code then simply executes the XML definition file for the full image otherwise an incremental XML is executed.
When you’ve made the changes, save the file and close Notepad.

5. All that remains is to schedule the VBScript file to run every weekday.

Right click on the VBScript file in the list and select ‘Schedule’. You’ve been through this wizard before, so I won’t go over it again. You could of course, select only weekdays or every day, but the important thing to understand is that whatever you choose, it’s the VBScript code that decides whether to run the full or incremental image not the scheduler.
Note: When you schedule this script it doesn't matter whether you select 'Full', 'Incremental' or 'Differential' in the schedule dialog, it's the script that determines which type to run.

You’ve done it! VBScript code that modifies the running order of your images. VBScript gives you complete flexibility for any situation you can think of.

Variations...

1. How to run the Full backup on the 1st day of every month and increments on every other.

Change the execution condition in step 4 above to the following:

If Day(Date) = 1 Then
      ' Run the full image
       ExitCode = Backup ("""C:\Program Files\Macrium\Reflect\reflect.exe"" -e -w -full ""C:\Users\Nick\Reflect\image of c.xml""")
Else
       ' Run the Incremental image
       ExitCode = Backup ("""C:\Program Files\Macrium\Reflect\reflect.exe"" -e -w -inc ""C:\Users\Nick\Reflect\image of c.xml""")
End If

2. How about running the full backup at a different time to the incremental backups.

For example: The full backup at 01:00 and the remaining increments at 09:00. For this you'll need to create two scheduled tasks.

1. First create create the full backup scheduled task by right clicking on the XML backup definition file and scheduling to run a 'Full' on the 1st of each month at 01:00
2. Then modify the VBScript as below and schedule it at 09:00 every day.
If Day(Date) <> 1 Then
' Run the Incremental image
ExitCode = Backup ("""C:\Program Files\Macrium\Reflect\reflect.exe"" -e -w -inc ""C:\Users\Nick\Reflect\image of c.xml""")
End If
In the above example on the first day of each month nothing will happen when this VBScript is executed but the scheduled full backup will occur at 01:00. On other days of the month incremental backups will occur at the scheduled time, 09:00,

This is just a very small example of the power of VBScript. If you want to delve further into VBScript, have a look at the options in the generator. It generates separate functions for each option and provides some handy comments to help you understand the code.

An excellent reference of VBScript functions can be found at http://www.w3schools.com/VBscript/vbscript_ref_functions.asp . Here you’ll find, not just the date functions introduced in this article, but every function available to you.

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