Acronis Backup: Creating WinPE-based Custom Boot Media

Applies to:

• Acronis SCS Cyber Backup 12.5 Hardened Edition
• Acronis Cyber Backup 12.5
• Acronis Cyber Protect 15

Use Case

In some situations, hardware may not be properly recognized by the drivers loaded in Acronis prepackaged boot media. In these situation, WinPE based media needs to be created.

Symptoms

Boot media fails to recognize hardware on the device such as HDD or SSD or a recovery fails with disk read errors. 

Solution

Prerequisite: 

Windows 10 ADK and PE Add-On must be installed from here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/get-started/adk-install

Download the needed storage/network drivers from the device manufacture's website: 

Below are links to common manufacture's support site to download the needed drivers to be added to Windows PE.

• Intel Storage Driver
• Intel Wired Ethernet Driver
• HP Drivers
• Dell Drivers
• Lenovo Drivers (Search for SCCM to list driver packs)
• Killer Ethernet Driver

Drivers will need to be in the root of a folder for the bootable media to be able to add them. You can use the following command with 7zip to extract drivers to a root location.

.\7z.exe e {Path to zip file downloaded from manufacturer} -o{"Destination Folder"}

Create the Media:

• Run "Bootable Media Builder" from the Acronis start menu folder and select the Windows PE option on the media type step.
  
  
  • Acronis Cyber Backup must be installed for Bootable Media Builder to be present. If it still is not present on the machine, run your installer and choose "modify installation". This will allow you to check off the "Install Bootable Media Builder" option.
• Follow the program's instructions to provide the folder of the drivers previously downloaded.