New Mustang TI9 & TI10 BartPE Plugins

Hi All,

New versions of my TI9 and TI10 plugins are available for download. They represent a major improvement.

Up until now, image mounting would only work if “PartMgr” was removed from the Upper Filters line at HKLM\System\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{4D36E967-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}. Removing “PartMgr” had some undesirable side effects. Hidden partitions (including OEM recovery partitions) were assigned a drive letter under BartPE. Certain other BartPE plugins that depended on the “PartMgr” Upper Filter would not work. My good friend Frodo has written a nice system tray application that manages the Upper Filters as you go. Now “PartMgr” is present on initial boot up into BartPE. The new Acronis Tray application has two modes. Backup/Restore mode and Image Mounting mode. You can do all TI operations, except image mounting, in Backup/Restore mode. When you want to mount an image, you need to switch to Image Mounting mode. If you are using a default BartPE (Nu2Shell), hitting Alt-M on the keyboard will toggle between Backup/Restore Mode and Image Mounting mode. You will see a splash screen telling you which mode you have switched to. If you are using Reatogo or XPE, you will see the Acronis Tray icon in the system tray. To switch between modes, right-click the tray icon and choose the mode you want from the pop-up menu. Behind the scenes, the tray application will remove “PartMgr” and install “timounter” to the appropriate registry keys for image mounting. When you switch back to Image Mounting mode, “PartMgr” will be restored and “timounter” will be removed.

Please let me know if there are any problems with the new plugins. There was a lot to change and I may have missed something.

Important Note:
Delete your existing TI plugin from \pebuilder\plugin. Download the new TI plugin and unzip it to \pebuilder\plugin. Before you run TIXX-Get_Files+Lic.cmd, you must delete the existing z_UpperFilters plugin from \pebuilder\plugin. This plugin will be recreated with new Upper Filters values when you run TIXX-Get_Files+Lic.cmd. If you leave the existing z_UpperFilters plugin in place, a new plugin will not be created and the Upper Filters values will be wrong.

 

Nice, I look forward to trying it out!
Thanks again for all your hard work.

Corey

 

Hi Mustang,

Good work. It never ceases to amaze me how you manage to fit all this in with your day job of running your own company (Mechanical Restoration Services).

Do you intend including a suitable reference to the new plugins in your <sticky thread>?

Regards

 

Done.

 

There is another new version of the TI9 & TI10 plugins posted on my website as off today. The new versions automatically detect if you are using a plain BartPE, XPE or Reatogo. There is no more need to manually delete the Directory Profiles section of the inf file when using Reatogo. A separate mkdirprofiles.inf file will be created only if you are using a plain BartPE. Now the entire plugin configuration is automated. There is no need to edit the inf file manually is you are using Reatogo. The problem of double desktop icons in Reatogo if now eliminated.

 

Hi Mustang,

I just downloaded the new version (Workstation 9.1 3625 and up) from your site and the "TICW9-Get_Files+Lic.cmd" among others is missing.

Thanks for all of your work.

 

The new versions use AutoHelp.cmd instead of a TIXX-Get_Files+Lic.cmd to configure the plugin. This is covered in the help file. This makes for less version specific changes I'll have to do in the future. Also, some of the files have been moved from the root of the plugin to the \Pre\Include folder to neaten things up.

Give it a try and let me know if you have any problems.

 

Hey Mustang,

Just downloaded both your TI 9 Workstation and HDM8 plugins. Ran the Autohelp for TI9 and saw it created the upperfilters file. Reading the HDM8 help file I'm confused if I need to modify the HDM8.inf file or if that will be overwritten since the upperfilters.inf is in the z_upperfilters directory and would get processed after the HDM8.inf. Any help you could give me on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for all your work on the plugins!!

 

You would not want to modify either plugin. Make the change in z_UpperFilters.inf. You should use the following code:

[Version]
Signature= "$Windows NT$"
[PEBuilder]
Name="Force UpperFilters to be processed last"
Enable=1
[SetupReg.AddReg]
0x7,"ControlSet001\Control\Class\{4D36E967-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}","UpperFilters","PartMgr","snapman","hotcore2"
0x7, "ControlSet001\Control\Class\{71A27CDD-812A-11D0-BEC7-08002BE2092F}","UpperFilters","snapman"

All I have done here is add "hotcore2".

 

I have win2k can bartpe be made for win2k systems?

 

Hi Mustang. I just built a plain BartPE disk with XPE V1.06 and your new plugin for build 3625 and up. The build went fine but when I booted from the CD I got an error message that "another instance of True Image was running. There was no icon in the system tray. I could switch to "Mount mode" by using ALT-M. I noticed the profile plugin was enabled for plain BartPE. Should this have been disabled?

 

Hi elaps,

You can build BartPE on a Win2K system. However, you need a WinXP disk for the source files in Pebuilder. A Win2K source will not work.

 

Hi Tom,

I need a little more info here. You say you built a plain BartPE with XPE 1.0.6. When we say plain BartPE we mean just as it comes from the Nu2 website. Using XPE would not be considered a plain BartPE. I wanted to move the slider on your nice screen shot to see if XPE was enabled. Silly me.

The new plugin tries to find XPE, Reatogo and UBCD4Win. I added the UBCD4Win check Sunday morning. If you downloaded before then, please download the plugin again. The test for XPE also checks to see if the main XPE.inf is enabled. If you enabled XPE after the TI plugin was configured, this would explain your results. Please delete the existing TI plugin folder and the z_UpperFilters plugin folder. Run the AutoHelp.cmd for the latest plugin. Let me know exactly what messages you see during the configuration process. If you have XPE enabled, you should get a message saying XPE is present and enabled. The MkDirProfiles.inf should not be generated if XPE was present. If you get a message saying this looks like a plain BartPE, the MkDirProfiles.inf should be generated.

Having the MkDirProfiles plugin with XPE enabled should not cause any problems. XPE will process after the MkDirProfiles plugin and overwrite all the lines. There are. however, some problems with having the MkDirProfiles fix with Reatogo and UDCD4Win.

When you booted the CD and saw an error message. It was probably that another version of the True Image Tray App was running. The tray app is started on boot. If it tries to start again, you will see that error message. I'm not sure what's going on here. Please let me what version of TI9 you are using. Is it Home, Workstation, Server or Enterprise Server? I'll then look into the plugin you are using to see if I find any mistakes. I've only fully tested Workstation and Home 10. I just don't have all the flavors of TI installed for testing.

 

OK. I'm running TI Home V9 B3677. I just recreated the plugin and it did find the XPE plugin and recognized that it was enabled. I'm rebuilding now I'll post back later with my results. I'll also test it with UBCD4WIN when I get a chance since I use that a lot.
I just did a quick build and I still see the error "another instance of True Image is running". TI briefly appears in the system tray and quickly goes away. ALT-M works for mounting.

 

Mustang, I did a build using your new plugin in UBCD4WIN. The plugin recognized UBCD4WIN and did not create a profile as expected. I booted the CD and when the desktop came up the system tray application started up but disappeared quckly with no error message. I started TI and used ALT-M to mount an image successfully.

So to summarize what I've seen so far:
1) BartPE with XPE enabled, I get an error "another instance of True Image is running" when the desktop comes up. The systray application is gone and ALT-M works as expected. My laptop keyboard had the scroll lock turned on but this is probably not caused by the plugin.
2) UBCD4WIN. No error message when the desktop comes up. The system tray application appears and disappears. ALT-M works as expected and has to be used to mount images.
I'm running TI 9 B3677.

I'll try a plain BartPE build also and report back.

 

Hi Tom,

I get the same results under UBCD4Win. I'm pleased with it even though the tray app doesn't appear in the tray. Images can be mounted with the Alt'M method.

I don't understand what's happening to you under XPE. For me it is working perfectly. The tray app appears in the try and I can use it to mount images. I'd like to know exactly what the error message said and when it occurred. Did it show up when the desktop first came up, or did it happen after you clicked something? Also, what options do you have enabled under XPE? When you run pebuilder.exe and hit the plugin button, you should see 10 plugins that relate to XPE. They all start with [Sherpya]. I have all of them enabled except WMI. Please do the same and see if the error goes away.

 

OK. I built another BartPE disk with all the XPE plugins enabled except WMI and I still got the error. The error occurs when the desktop is up. I can the Systray application starting and then I see the error. See the image below for the exact error message.

 

Hi Tom,

It is the Tray app. and not True Image that is trying to run twice. I think I know what's wrong. As part of the initial setup for XPE you are instructed to disable the Startup Group plugin. Run pebuilder.exe in you XPE setup and hit the Plugin button. Scroll down to the Startup Group line and disable it. That should solve the problem.

 

OK. I'll try that and let you know. Either way its not a big deal fro me since ALT-M works for mounting.

 

Mustang,

I just tried the new plug ins using plain BartPE with ATI Workstation 9.1 w/Universal restore build 3886.

When I try to restore, the Universal Restore screen does not even come up. I am now trying with your older plug in and v3854 and Universal Restore comes up. We will see what happens.

Silver

Edit: It resulted in a BSOD. STOP: 0x00000007B (0xF7961528.0xC0000034,0x00000000.0x00000000)

I just rebooted and something about Perfect Disk came up and then a black screen. I rebooted again and it worked. It appears that 3854 works but 3886 has problems with Universal Restore.

 

After much gnashing of teeth and general screwing around. I finally got the systray mounting mode feature to work with XPE. I had to disable the Startup Group as you had mentioned but I also had to disable the Nu2Shell plugin to get it to work properly. I actually read the XPE help file. Another good job by you.

 

Please excuse my newbie question, but what is the advantage of using your BartPE plugin as opposed to the one that already comes with ATI 10?

 

It has more capability. I'll let Mustang give you the details.

 

Hi Tom,

Glad to hear you got it working. Yes, you do have to read the XPE help file. There is a lot to XPE. It is a plugin that supplies a Windows like shell that replaces Nu2Shell. You were tying to run two shells at the same time. They both use different methods of starting programs at boot. That's why you also had to disable the Nu2 Startup Group plugin. Some people write plugins that only work under Nu2Shell or XPE. I write my plugins so that one plugin runs under both shells.

Hi dantz,

Tom said it all. More features. If all you want to do is simple backup/restore operations, the Acronis TI10 plugin is fine. If you like the idea of being able to mount an image or manage the Secure Zone, then you should use my plugin.

 

Just rebuilt my UBCD4WIN CD and the systray image mounting application starts up but does not appear in the tray. ALT-M works fine so I'm happy. If you have any other suggestions let me know.