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Any tips, links resources for using Acronis Universal Restore?


ZenCoder

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I am working on building my install skills

I can write winnt.sif files, slipstream hotfixes, add driver packs, change the OEMBIOS files for System Locked Pre-installation, create AutoIT scripts to automate program installations.....

But what I would really like to do is create a set of master images that together with Acronis Universal Restore or Snap Deploy can be used to clone a XP installation.

Unfortunately I am not having much luck getting UAR restored system to work. I got it to work between systems which are similar enough not to require it. I got it to work from a backup image to a virtual machine.

Today I made several attempt to move an installation from a Asus K8V SE Deluxe (VIA chipset) to an Abit NF7-S2 (NF2 Chipset)

Anyway there is some much I don't know that I have no clue where to begin.

Does anyone have any tips, tricks, or know of any links, guides available?

Does anyone even use AUR or Snap Deploy or Norton's equivalent with any success, or should I just work on writing better AutoIt scripts?

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I have used both without too many problems. I use Acronis UR regularly.

Give more info where the restore fails.

A successful OS migration can be done by using sys-prep properly and making an image immediately upon reboot.

If you don't want to really bother with sys-prep at least do a few things before making an image of the OS you want to deploy with Acronis UR.

Assuming you are ready to backup the system....

1. Uninstall non-general hardware. (Intel, SIS, VIA, graphic / sound ,printer, RAID drivers , AMD or Intel CPU drivers, etc)

2. Disable any 3rd party Services and MS services that are not essential for booting.

3. Remove read only attribute for the entire drive where the OS resides. Also, make sure you don't have Security restrictions in place unless otherwise needed.

4. (optional) Install Recovery Console to HD. (winnt32 /cmdcons from your install CD)

5. (optional) Copy OS install CD to Windows dir if you don't have a full local source.

6. (optional) Make hardlinks for big duplicate files to save space. ( I use Same Files Assistant which searches for duplicates and makes hardlinks automatically for the entire partition.)

7. Defrag

Then reboot and use the boot CD or Startup Recovery Manager to make an image. You should now find your deployment to be more agreeable with different hardware.

If that doesn't work let me know. I've spent a lot of time with Acronis TI Ent Server and Snap Deploy.

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I am just starting playing with AUR this week, so I am have little clue what I am doing.

Answer as many or a few of my questions as you see fit. If the answer is in the product manual and I missed it feel free to tell me to RTFM :)

1)

By "Uninstall non-general hardware" I take it you mean open up device manager and uninstall the drivers for the hardware, as obviously some of the devices can't be uninstalled and still do a backup.

Should I get device manager to show devices not present in the system so I can uninstall the drivers there as well?

How do I know which ones are non-general.

For example should I uninstall the drivers under System Devices that mention a brand other than Microsoft?

Are there any seemingly standard drivers that are actually specific and need removed like ACPI devices?

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2) After uninstalling the drivers do I just shut the system down and create an image?

3) Does running sysprep help or is it just a way to change the SID and CD-Key?

4) What drivers if any should I specify as forced drivers?

5) I have a driver pack with drivers for almost all system software. Will it hurt or help to let AUR search that directory for drivers.

6) Would it help to do a clean install on another drive, then point AUR to the clean installs Windows folder as a place to search for drivers.

7) Would it help to restore the OS to a VMWare Virtual Machine then re-image it.

8) For deploying new PC, would it help to install in a Virtual Machine then image from there?

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Again I apologize for asking so many questions, but I am just starting to play with their software.

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1. You want to uninstall any drivers added since initial installation. Windows will otherwise expect to see them during 1st boot on the machines you deploy to.

Some devices are very bad to leave before getting ready to image your OS.

Some Examples

Intel,VIA, SIS chipset drivers should not be installed at all because they will cause BSOD (7B's) if hardware is dissimilar. Windows generic pciide and atapi work for all hardware saving you a headache.

USB Mouse / keyboard drivers sometimes won't start because the USB controller hasn't been re-detected and driver signing prompt has not been OKed leaving you stuck at the account logon screen (PS/2 usually is not responsive either).This also affects safe mode.

2. Yes uninstall devices, reboot, and image the system before it is used again. Have that boot CD ready!

3. Using sysprep before making an image allows you to change the SID, clear current hardware Id's and prepare windows to do a full hardware re-detection and reseal for distro. This saves you from doing step 1 and will be much cleaner than doing it by hand. Get all the info from DEPLOY.CAB. and d/l from MS the newest version.

4.. Use Forced drivers for different hardware, mainly RAID and SCSI controllers or deploying IDE<->SATA.

VMWare P2V and Acronis UR both use sysprep to an extent. For a nice easy automated sysprep that will package all the latest drivers and reset the HAL, try using theUniversal Imaging Utility. After it runs, just make an image of the system (step 2) and deploy. Because of the extensive driver inclusion, it's not the fastest but it has worked without any major issues for me so far.

Try that and tell me if it helps you at all and we can go from there.

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