I. Installation
In the first place it is important to understand that unlike other program allowing you to do a migration of a Windows system to a computer having a dissimilar hardware configuration the Acronis Universal Restore is not a system preparation tool. So, it doesn’t matter if you have it installed at the time of the disk\partition image creation. Acronis Universal Restore is always being applied upon the restore and that’s why the most important thing here is to have the Acronis Universal Restore functionality included into the Acronis Bootable Rescue Media (typically a bootable CD but can also be a set of floppies, ISO image, USB Flash Drive or even a bootable package on the Microsoft RIS Server) that you are going to use to perform the restoration (see the instructions for creating the Bootable Rescue Media in the next chapter of the document).
Please also note that Acronis Universal Restore is not a separate product but an add-on to the Acronis True Image program and can only be used in conjunction with that program.
In order to be able to create the Acronis Bootable Rescue Media with the Acronis Universal Restore functionality included in it, you should first install the Acronis Universal Restore add-on from the separate installation file shipped to you with you purchase or NFR of the Acronis True Image program. The Acronis Universal Restore add-on should be installed on top of the existing installation of the Acronis True Image program.
An example of the Acronis Universal Restore installation screen:
II. Creating the Bootable Rescue Media with Acronis Universal Restore
Once you have the Acronis Universal Restore add-on installed you can launch the Acronis Bootable Rescue Media Builder component of the Acronis True Image program and build your own Acronis Bootable Rescue Media that will include the Acronis Universal Restore functionality in it. One of the ways to execute the Acronis Bootable Rescue Media Builder is to select the corresponding option in the main window of the Acronis True Image program. Please see the examples below.
Executing Acronis Bootable Rescue Media Builder from the local console of the Acronis True Image program:
Executing Acronis Bootable Rescue Media Builder from the Acronis Management Console:
NOTE: The Acronis Bootable Rescue Media is “generic”, i.e. it can be used to perform a restore to any computer no matter what machine you used to create it. That means you can create your Bootable Rescue Media on any of your machines be a server or workstation, physical or virtual machine.
When creating the Bootable Rescue Media please make sure to include the Acronis True Image [version] with Acronis Universal Restore (Full version) in it (the option only appears after you install the Acronis Universal Restore add-on). For remote restores with the Acronis Universal Restore option you’ll need the Acronis Bootable Agent with Acronis Universal Restore (Full version). Please see the example below.
NOTE: You may also want to check the box next to the “Start automatically after…” option to make the selected bootable component start automatically after a certain amount of seconds.
NOTE: If you plan on restoring the image to a virtual machine (VM), you may find it convenient to export the Bootable Rescue Media as an ISO image and then use that ISO image to boot the target VM.
III. Restore\Migration to a dissimilar hardware (including virtual machines)
Assuming that you already created a backup image, please precisely follow the instructions provided below to restore that image to a dissimilar hardware configuration (i.e. a different computer or a VM).
1. Obtain the drivers for the target hardware. The drivers that you will need for migration typically include the motherboard\chipset and hard drive controller drivers (especially if the destination hard drive controller is RAID or SCSI or combination of both). The drivers can usually be downloaded from the respective hardware vendor website. For instance, if you use a Dell machine, you should be able to download the drivers from http://support.dell.com, in case of using an Intel machine the driver can usually be downloaded from http://support.intel.com/. If you are about to Universally Restore a Windows system to a VMWare (any version) virtual machine running virtual SCSI drives, you must have the drivers for the VMWare virtual SCSI hard drive controller. The drivers for both VMWare LSI Logic and BUS Logic SCSI hard drive controllers are usually shipped with your trial\purchase of a VMWare product but can also be downloaded from the VMWare’s official website and the following link: http://download.acronisboston.com/~alexey.popov/VMWareSCSIdrivers.zip
NOTE: Please make sure to use the correct drivers. For example, if you are about to restore a backup image that contains an installation of Windows 2003 Server, you should be providing the drivers for Windows 2003 Server and not Windows 2000 Server or any other Windows version. Please also keep in mind that 64-bit versions of Windows may require 64-bit versions of drivers.
2. Place the drivers for the target hardware onto any storage device\media\location available during the restore (e.g. floppy disk, USB flash drive, CD\DVD media, network share, etc.)
A VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: Please make sure to use uncompressed drivers only. There should only be *.inf, *.oem, *.sys, etc. and no *.zip, *.exe, etc. files.
2. Boot the target machine (i.e. the one you want to restore the image to) from the Acronis Bootable Rescue Media (CD, ISO, RIS, etc. boot) and select the Acronis True Image with Acronis Universal Restore (Full version) item in the boot menu. Please see the example below.
3. Once the program GUI loads, start the "Recovery" wizard and select the image file that you want to restore, specify what disks\partitions you want to restore, where you want to restore those disks\partitions to, whether you want to change the sizes or location of the restored partitions, etc.
NOTE: It is preferable that you restore the entire disk and not just an individual system partition. Although, both should work fine if operating system is installed on one partition and none of its parts refer to other volumes in any way. If you restore an individual system partition and not the entire system disk, please make sure to set the type of the restored partition to Active. We also recommend that you restore the original MBR.
4. At the point when the program asks whether you want to use Acronis Universal Restore, please select the "Use Acronis Universal Restore" option
NOTE: The option will only appear if Acronis Universal Restore was included into your Bootable Rescue Media and if a supported Windows version is detected inside of the restored image.
5. The recommended best practice is to skip the first screen of the Acronis Universal Restore option by pressing “Next” i.e. do not provide the specific driver files as the program will force installation of those drives even if they are incorrect and don’t match the target hardware configuration.
6. At the second screen of the Acronis Universal Restore option check the "Search for device drivers in the following locations" box and press the "Add" button to provide the path to the folder where the drivers for the destination hardware are located.
7. Proceed with the restore.
If you are experiencing any problems doing the restore or trying to load the restored operating system, please see the “Troubleshooting” section of the document below first.
IV. Troubleshooting
1. If you don’t receive the Universal Restore option when passing through the steps of the Restore wizard, please make sure that:
- Your Bootable Rescue Media contains the Acronis Universal Restore functionality (see the instructions above)
- The restored image contains an installation of a supported Windows version, i.e. Windows XP\2000\2003 or Vista (Windows 95\98\NT\ME are not supported) and you are selecting a partition with Windows installation for the restore.
- The restored image contains no dynamic disks\volumes. The current version of Acronis Universal Restore does not support dynamic disks\volumes.
NOTE: Acronis Universal Restore option does not work if a computer is booted with the Acronis Startup Recovery Manager (also known as “F11 feature” that comes with Acronis Secure Zone) or the backup image is located in Acronis Secure Zone. This is because Acronis Startup Recovery Manager and Acronis Secure Zone are primarily meant for instant data recovery to the same computer.
2. If you receive a error message upon the restore and\or the restored operating system doesn’t load properly, please make sure that:
- The drivers for the destination hardware are in an uncompressed format, i.e. there is no *.zip, *.exe, *.cab, etc. but only *.inf, *.oem, *.sys, etc. files.
- The provided drivers are correct and actually fit the destination hardware.
NOTE: The drivers are usually shipped with the computer or\and can be downloaded from the vendor official website. To check whether the drivers that you provide actually work with the target hardware you can boot the target computer from the corresponding Windows version installation CD, hit F6 when prompted and check out whether the drivers work there. If they do not (the RAID/HDD is not detected), then get the latest version of the drivers from the respective hardware vendor web site and try to use it instead of the older ones.
Things to try if nothing of the above helps:
- If you receive any error messages during the restore, try re-creating the image.
- If the restore Windows doesn’t load, try restoring the entire hard drive, i.e. do not change the sizes and\or the amount of the partitions.
If you are still having problems, please contact your sales representative (before the purchase) or Acronis Customer Service Department (after the purchase) to receive technical help.