Adding the Acronis Plug-in to WinPE 2.x, 3.x, or 4.0
Bootable Media Builder provides three methods of integrating Acronis Backup & Recovery 11.5 with WinPE 2.x, 3.x, or 4.0:
Adding the Acronis Plug-in to the existing PE ISO. This comes in handy when you have to add the plug-in to the previously configured PE ISO that is already in use.
Creating the PE ISO with the plug-in from scratch.
Adding the Acronis Plug-in to a WIM file for any future purpose (manual ISO building, adding other tools to the image and so on).
To be able to perform any of the above operations, install Bootable Media Builder on a machine where Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) or Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (Windows ADK) is installed. If you do not have such machine, prepare as described in How to create bootable media.
Bootable Media Builder can create 32-bit and 64-bit WinPE 2.x, 3.x, and 4.0. The 32-bit WinPE distributions can also work on 64-bit hardware.
PE images based on Win PE 2.x, 3.x, and 4.0 require at least 640 MB RAM to work.
Adding Acronis Plug-in to WinPE 2.x, 3.x, or 4.0 ISO
To add Acronis Plug-in to WinPE 2.x, 3.x, or 4.0 ISO:
When adding the plug-in to the existing Win PE ISO, unpack all files of your Win PE ISO to a separate folder on the hard disk.
Start the Bootable Media Builder either from the management console, by selecting Tools > Create Bootable Media or, as a separate component.
If Agent for Windows is not installed on the machine, specify the license key or the license server with licenses. The licenses will not get assigned or reassigned. They determine which functionality to enable for the created media. Without a license, you can create media only for recovery from the online backup storage.
If Agent for Windows is installed on the machine, the media inherits its functionality, including Universal Restore and deduplication.
Select Bootable media type:Windows PE.
When creating a new PE ISO:
Select Create Windows PE 2.x, 3.x, or 4.0 automatically
The software runs the appropriate script and proceeds to the next window.
When adding the plug-in to the existing PE ISO:
Select Use WinPE files located in the folder I specify
Specify path to the folder where the WinPE files are located. Make sure that the WinPE files correspond to version 2.x, 3.x, or 4.0.
To create a 64-bit bootable media, select the Create x64 media check box. You need to create a 64-bit media for a machine that uses Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI).
Specify network settings for the machine network adapters or choose DHCP auto configuration.
[Optional] Specify the Windows drivers to be added to Windows PE. Once you boot a machine into Windows PE, the drivers can help you access the device where the backup archive is located. Also, you will be able to point to these drivers when configuring Universal Restore. For using Universal Restore, add 32-bit or 64-bit drivers depending on whether you are planning to recover a 32-bit or a 64-bit Windows operating system.
To add the drivers:
Click Add and specify the path to the necessary *.inf file for a corresponding SCSI, RAID, SATA controller, network adapter, tape drive or other device. You will have to repeat this procedure for each driver you want to be included in the resulting WinPE boot media.
WinPE itself uses 32-bit or 64-bit drivers depending on whether it is 32-bit or 64-bit.
Choose whether you want to create ISO or WIM image or upload the media on a server (Acronis PXE Server, WDS or RIS).
Specify the full path to the resulting image file including the file name, or specify the server and provide the user name and password to access it.
Check your settings in the summary screen and click Proceed.
Burn the .ISO to CD or DVD using a third-party tool or copy to a flash drive.
Once a machine boots into WinPE, Acronis Backup & Recovery 11.5 starts automatically.
To create a PE image (ISO file) from the resulting WIM file:
replace the default boot.wim file in your Windows PE folder with the newly created WIM file. For the above example, type: