No more WinPE

I am not sure, but I do not think that is WinPE. Paragon only loads a one page interface in such situations, not the whole suite with all the options that are available in WinPE.

 

That's true too. Maybe it's a proprietary routine, then. Or a small subset of the whole WinPE recovery environment. But either way, I don't think that that part will be affected by this change.

 

It was in a reply posted by the Paragon Software vendor yesterday (23rd March) at 1:16am.

The reply is to two people, it starts off:

Hi there,

To Rick -
If you want to use Winodws 7 and XP simultaneously on one PC,

 

Neither have I - but I have just looked on the My Downloads area and that same new message is now posted against Backup & Recovery 11 Home.

Interestingly, it is not posted against Backup & Recovery 10.0 Suite, even though the earlier message (received by email yesterday) is:


We would like to inform you that Microsoft has changed its license conditions, meaning that software vendors will no longer be allowed to offer WinPE media directly.
If you haven't downloaded your WinPE from the Paragon website yet, we recommend you to do so by March 30, 2012. WinPE is the most convenient way to create your bootable media.


is posted against both.

 

Paragon has mishandled all this WinPE issue.

In the HDM 12 manual, created on 10 Feb. 2012, there are several references to the Boot Media Builder: “Please use Boot Media Builder to prepare the WinPE 3.0 recovery environment, which you can get here: www.paragon-software.com/my-account/.”

So, it appears that the BMB was planned to be introduced with v. 12.

However, v. 12 was released with the old pre-build WinPE, and no mention was made of the change. The alarmist e-mail sent on 22 March doesn´t mention the BMB, and it appears to fault MS for a sudden change of policy.

Then another e-mail was sent the next day, announcing the BMB. They should have put this on this first mail. Bad PR.

 

Not to mention that some of us never got the follow up email. But fortunately, there are some very helpful posters -- like you and Raza0007 and seekforever and others -- who helped clarify the situation. When it's all said and done, I don't think it will end up being a problem, aside from having to deal with WAIK. But you're absolutely correct -- Paragon should have handled it better.

 

As far as I know - the other software vendors haven't told their customers about it yet.

It seems to me Paragon are ahead of the game.

It is entirely possible that the new licensing was not actually confirmed until just recently.

MS put forward drafts of licensing proposals beforehand.

That would explain why Paragon mention the BMB in the earlier documents - they were prepared - just in case the new MS licensing proposals did go ahead.

 

Re lack of Paragon staff on this forum:

It used to be extremely well supported - the best anywhere.

Sadly, they seem to have switched their attention to Twitter and the like.

It is a sign of the times.

Going for the masses - those who just consume.

MS are doing the same.

Windows 8 is clearly aimed at delivering content to consumers.

 

This paragraph is once again disappeared.
What does it mean, Paragon decided not to provide your own PEbiulder?

 

It is still there for Backup and Recovery Home 11. It was never there for B & R Home 10. At least for me.

 

sunrisecc,
Thank you very much, I have done a foolish think (due to the fact that I have more than one Paragon account) for my hdm's:
HDM 2009 Pro -- no
HDM 2010 Suite - no
HDM 11 Pro -- yes
HDM 12 Suite - yes
HDM 12 Pro -- yes

 

No problem.

 

Did you get both HDM12Pro and HDM12 Suite?

Why would you want the Suite if you have the Pro?

 

If you ask me, then, unfortunately, I do not understand the question.
Another question: Are you able to run hdm12pro in win8? (judging by the screenshot win8-based WinPE - yes). If you could, how?

 

This is complicated.

Win8 Consumer Preview won't allow HDM12 Pro launcher (ie the main interface ) to run.

However, it will allow the other executables - e.g. backup.exe and restore.exe , etc - which you can start from the Express launcher.

( Win8pe has no problem running HDM12Pro. )

It seems that HDM12 Pro is identified as "Paragon Backup " and win8 presumably has that on a list of incompatible programs.

Because HDM12 Suite main launcher is allowed to run - I assume it is not identified as "Paragon Backup" - but as something else - not sure what , tho.

 

Here's something I hadn't thought about before...

I'm currently running Win 7 Pro 32 bit on my system. But I have thought about changing it, at some point, to Win 7 Pro 64 bit. I can't remember if the rescue disk is 32/64 compatible, or if there are different versions for 32 and 64.

 

At the moment the Paragon's products are 32 bits apps (as far as I know), so you have to build your WinPE with the x86 architecture, even when running on a x64 computer with 64 bits OS (like I do). To me, it was a challenge to retrieve the appropriate drivers for my USB 3.0 HDD (with a PCIe card controller). I had the Setup CD with all drivers inside the exe, the installation program only extracted the drivers needed for my OS (64b). I had to run the setup on a 32b machine to unpack the drivers I needed.

The Paragon video tells:
"Browse for drivers you'd like to additionally have on your WinPE media.
Please make sure you use 32-bit drivers for Windows 7, which is currently a base OS for our WinPE."

Macrium offers both 32 and 64 bits WinPE environment. They have a great tool for creating your personalized WinPE CD/USB! They have also added the option to select your keyboard configuration. That's an advantage when you have a non-en-US keyboard. Without localizing you are going to cry out: “Where is the backslash!” * * Paragon has something to evolve when they are going to create the new WinPE tool.

 

As far as being compatible with a 64-bit version of WIndows, it doesn't matter if WinPE is 32-bits. When booted it is running in its own 32-bit environment - it doesn't care what the version of Windows sitting on the HD is. The NTFS file system is the same for both 32 and 64 bit Windows and this is what the program deals with.

 

Yes. Both problems exist, the need to use 32-bit drivers and that is not possible to use non-US keyboards. In this aspects, Paragon WinPEs are inferior to others.

 

Sorry guys have been busy to get here more often. The WinPE will not disappear. According to the MS we are not allowed to give away ready to use ISO copies of WinPE as we did it before.
But sure we cannot leave Paragon product users without this nice boot CD.
As everyone can easily download WAIK package from MS website we are going to give the feature with our software that allows building WinPE on your own system. The appropriate tool will be available for download.
Boot Media Builder - with it you will be able to build the WinPE CD with exactly same features as our previous WinPEs had and plus an option to inject drivers during PE building process. You will not be dissatisfied.

Regards
Support Team

 

Well, well... I only know about the Macrium WinPE when it concerns non-en-US keyboard. Acronis does not care, Ease-US does not care … But it is “easy” to personalize your wim file; these commands gave me the appropriate environment (Norwegian keyboard):

Dism /image:C:\winpe_x86\mount /Set-SysLocale:nb-NO
Dism /image:C:\winpe_x86\mount /Set-InputLocale:0414:00000414
Dism /image:C:\winpe_x86\mount /Set-TimeZone:"W. Europe Standard Time"
Dism /image:C:\winpe_x86\mount /Set-UserLocale:nb-NO


When posting this comment, I read Paragon_MA's latest answer. Great news! Thanks a lot.

 

There is an "Online WinPE Builder" ($20) for Professional versions, which permits to customize the WinPE.

I suppose this means that the non-Pro versions won´t be directly customizable, when built from the announced Boot Media Builder.

 

Here is the outline of how it will go:

1. You need to download and install WAIK - 1.7 gb at least.
( The pebuilder might do the download for you )

2. The pebuilder will mount the x86 winpe.wim that is included in the WAIK. It will use imagex to do the mounting.

3. It will copy in the Paragon program files, plus startup instructions (winpeshl.ini). It will also ask if you want to install any additional drivers - if you do - then you will browse to them and they will installed using dism (which is also in the WAIK)

4.It unmounts the wim and create an iso using mkisofs or oscdimg.

If you want to customize - you can

i) Either work on the x86 winpe.wim before you run paragon winpebuilder ( save a copy of the original x86 winpe.wim first )

ii) Or you can run pebuilder first - then fish the boot.wim out of the iso - add to it - then put it back in the .iso (or make a new .iso ).

I do this kind of thing all the time.

 

Robin A., are you always anticipating worst case? Let us wait to see what Paragon is coming up with. SIW2's outlines are probably a road map for our future.

I was not aware of it, but it is possible to download your localized Windows AIK from MS; just select your language at http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=5753. With a localized WAIK you do not need to adjust the keyboard settings.

The thread WinPE & USB 3.0 https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=315679 is awesome if you want to modify your recovery CD/USB. My personal result can be viewed in post #52 and #61:
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=2020130&postcount=52
Integration of “other programs” into the Paragon product:
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=2029248&postcount=61

I have, at last, tried the Macrium Reflect Free version. I am really impressed; the app has a fresh GUI and is indeed capable of performing a straight forward image backup. The method to create your own WinPE is lovely, and the WinPE solution itself is excellent. In addition to the backup app, the GUI has an option for a CMD window and the PE Explorer (with a context-integrated text editor). It is very easy to mount the backup images. This is a very flexible solution; I should like something similar from Paragon.

It might not be nice to show it here in the forum, but I have prepared my own WinPE including both Reflect and HDM12 & Total Commander/IrfanView.

 

Nope. It means that now customers will get two download links. One for HDM12Suite for example and the other one is for BMB Add-on. No extra money.