Booting Acronis over Network (with Bootmenu)

[devaux]

I've extracted 'kernel.dat' and 'ramdisk.dat' from a bootdisk and integrated them in my PXE-Configuration:

label acronis10
        kernel acronis10/kernel.dat
        append initrd=acronis10/ramdisk.dat ramdisk_size=32767 vga=791 root=/dev/ram0 quiet

The problem is that I can't choose between the bootoptions (savemode, universal-restore...)
Is there a possibility to solve this?

[devaux]

No Ideas?

[MudCrab]

I'm not familiar with PXE booting so this may mean nothing...

When you do a network boot, can you pick different "boot files" or "boot images" to boot?

If so, then could you create separate "boot images" for each one you want. One for Full mode, one for Safe mode, one for UR, etc. Then when you need to boot you could just select the one you want. (I'm assuming that if ONLY ONE program option is included then that's the one that would boot since you're not getting the Acronis menu.)

[devaux]

I have to extract the boot-ISO-image (with the kernel and the initrd-file) to make it PXE-booting. But when I create an image with full mode and universal restore, I get an "empty" image :-/

[MudCrab]

I'm assuming that the ISO image boots correctly when it is burned onto a CD and you boot the CD?

It's just the extraction that's not getting it out correctly?

Have you tried it both ways? Use Acronis Media Builder to create an ISO file and use Media Builder to create a bootable CD and then create an ISO from the CD?

[devaux]

> I'm assuming that the ISO image boots correctly when it is burned onto a CD and you boot the CD?
> It's just the extraction that's not getting it out correctly?

Yes. But the image contains no visible files :-/


> Have you tried it both ways?
> Use Acronis Media Builder to create an ISO file and use Media Builder to create a bootable CD and then create an ISO from the CD?

Yes, the boot-CD seems to be empty, too

[MudCrab]

Are you using the latest builds?

Is there any difference if you include everything? (Full mode, Safe mode, UR, anything else.)

Have you tried installing the program on another computer to see if it can successfully create the ISO or bootable CD that contains both TI and UR?

[devaux]

> Are you using the latest builds?

Yes


> Is there any difference if you include everything?

Yes, then I get the required files (kernel and initrd). But I can't choose the mode. It takes everytime the standard mode without universal restore.


> Have you tried installing the program on another computer

The Boot-CD and Image are ok. I can boot with them. But it seems, that there are different methodes in Acronis making a boot disk (single or menu-mode).

[K0LO]

Use the Bootable Media Builder to create a bootable USB flash drive version of the Acronis programs. All of the files will be visible on the flash drive including the one that generates the selection menu.

[MudCrab]

Mark,

That may work, but I think the files generated for the CD are different from the ones used for the flashdrive (at least the booting part). It's worth a try, though.

I know copying the files from the CD to the flashdrive wouldn't let the flashdrive work correctly.

[K0LO]

That's right; CD boot is very different from hard disk or flash drive boot. But if you get a look at all of the files you'll see the kernel file and the ramdisk image and the program that generates the menu. Perhaps the OP can take it from there to figure out how to start the menu from a PXE boot.

[devaux]

Hey thanks! That works!
I had to make a USB-Stick bootable with the single menue "Acronis Full Version with Universal Restore" and copy the files dat2.dat (initrd) and dat3.dat (kernel) to my PXE-Server and now I can boot to a Universal-Restore session

[K0LO]

Great! On my list of things to learn is PXE booting. My PCs are capable of it but I've never bothered to learn how to do it.