TI 9.1 workstation with univ restore stuck

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by SeanFL, Jun 9, 2006.

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  1. SeanFL

    SeanFL Registered Member

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    I'm using TI9.1 with universal restore at a clients site. When restoring a very clean image of xp to a new dell dimension 5150, the restore goes fine. Now when windows boots, it's going to find some drivers.

    I'm stuck with no keyboard or mouse support...so I can't direct windows where to install some drivers from, or even manually install the network or video driver. Any ideas?

    The system boots, says found new hardware and presents the usual "can I go find the drivers" type message. Without a keyboard or mouse working, I'm stuck.

    Lastly, I don't know where to find drivers for my standard microsoft wheel mouse or dell keyboard to tell acronis to load them up automatically. I think if I could get windows to move past whatever it's trying to install (sound? graphics?) it would find the mouse and keyboard and I'd be fine. But I'm stuck.

    The 5150 doesn't have a round mouse or keyboard port...strictly usb. Any ideas appreciated. Thank You!

    Sean
     
  2. homer007

    homer007 Registered Member

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    I have the same problem with winxp, where it would not detect usb devices untill dead last during driver setup, creating a catch-22 situation. I know of two potential solutions to this problem :

    1) Use sysprep - this will cause windows to go through a minisetup phase of installing device drivers / settings which does not require user interaction untill windows is ready to run. The downside though is that you must be very carefull with what settings are on the machine you run sysprep, as once it is run, you have to run through minisetup at next boot. I would recommend making a backup before launching sysprep, as well an image after sysprep. You should definitely do some research to make sure sysprep goes as planned.

    2) A slightly less painstaking way, which seems to work in most cases that i've tested, is to use the hwpnp program from bartpe. I posted a tutorial on this earlier at https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=750553&postcount=13 . The advantage is that you don't really need to modify the image much; the disadvantage is that the program was not originally designed to be used this way, so it does not work every time.
     
  3. SeanFL

    SeanFL Registered Member

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    thank you homer. I'll try sysprep first and see how it goes. Can I run sysprep from bart pe (I have a bart pe handy, just not one with the hwpnp you mentioned.)

    Sean
     
  4. homer007

    homer007 Registered Member

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    Thats one other potential downside to using sysprep, you have to run it from inside the operating system you intend to image; as far as I know, there is no bartpe plugin for it. Basically, you would :

    1) Set up all software the way you want it on the other machines

    2) Backup the system - this will allow you to go back and make changes later on this machine... you should not run sysprep more than one time on any machine as it can cause problems with winxp activation.

    3) Reset adminstrator password to blank (that is, not having one). start -> run -> control userpasswords2 -> select adminstrator -> change password .

    4) Copy the main user (usually the administrator) to the default user profile as detailed here http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=291586 . Normally winxp will just copy this user profile over administrator after minisetup is complete, potentially erasing settings for software you've installed; this step makes sure settings are not damaged...

    5) Copy sysprep files to c:\sysprep\ folder (note : make sure to find the latest version, as with sp2 alot of changes were made to sysprep)

    6) use sysprep

    7) reboot into bartpe with TI9 or a rescue cd and image the drive

    Done... at next boot sysprep will run and hopefully nothing goes wrong. You should be able to use universal restore to install the winxp image to any partition/system afterwards. At the moment, it takes an average of 10 minutes to complete minisetup for me, so be patient.

    This tool takes some time to learn, and you can mess things up easily, so backup often...
     
    Last edited: Jun 9, 2006
  5. Tsu

    Tsu Registered Member

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    Try the F8 boot to Safe Mode to see if you can gain control of your mouse and/or keyboard before you go with the SYSPREP solution.
     
  6. starfish_001

    starfish_001 Registered Member

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