The Rescue Media Wizard

  1. Insert your blank CD, DVD or USB stick.

  2. From the Backup tab of the task pane, below Other Tasks, click Create bootable Rescue media.



    Accept the default Windows PE environment selected by Macrium Reflect or Click 'Change PE Version' to use a different version of Windows PE for your rescue media:



  3. Click Next and add device drivers if required.

    This dialog enables you to add drivers for any Network and Disk controllers that are unsupported in Windows PE.

    A device driver is a collection of files (also referred to as a driver package) and generally comprises of:

    • The driver software, these files have a .SYS extension.
    • The driver information, or INF, file which contains the installation instructions for the drivers, these files have a .INF extension.
    • An optional security catalog that signs those drivers for operating systems that require signed drivers, commonly used on x64 operating systems, these files have a .CAT extension.
    • One or more optional supporting software library files (Dynamic Link Library) that contain further code to support the driver software, these files have a .DLL extension.



    Windows PE (WinPE) is packaged with a large collection of drivers but there are many devices that are not part of the WinPE driver package. If your device is not compatible then you must add its driver so WinPE recognizes it and communicates with your device.

    The wizard checks whether your device requires drivers adding to WinPE. It builds a list of devices in your computer that are either Hard Drive/RAID controllers, Network Interface Cards, USB controllers or USB hubs. For each of these devices it checks if:

     

    The sequence below shows an example of adding a device driver to the Windows PE build:

    In the above example a driver is missing for a USB Controller. This is indicated by the   icon next to the device description.

    Note: You do not need to install missing drivers for devices that you do not intend using from WinPE. 

    Supported devices have a status of either:

    • Device Support in WinPE
    • Compatible Device Support in WinPE
    • Copy Host Driver
    • Driver already present in Drivers folder
    Even if a device is supported you can choose to update it and use a different driver, you do not need to use the driver provided by WinPE. Being able to update drivers in this way is useful if you experiencing issues with performing backups or restores in WinPE, for example, if restoring runs slowly from a USB device.

    You can find driver install packages in several places. Most manufacturers create a driver folder on the hard drive of a new PC, often named after the manufacturer. If this is not present, you can download drivers from the device or PC vendor's website. For older PCs, manufacturers of devices and motherboards included driver CDs in the packaging, however, these may not be the latest.

    Click the 'Update Driver' button to search for a compatible driver.
    This presents a wizard. This wizard is straightforward to use, the first page prompts you for a folder to scan for drivers and whether you want to include all sub-folders.


    A compatible driver is found. Select it and click Next

    The device now has a green tick next to it to indicate compatibility with Windows PE


     



  4. Click Next. to prepare and build the Windows PE image

    Note: If you have already built the Windows PE image for this rescue media then the wizard will skip this step and advance to the Burn page


    OptionDescription
    PE ArchitectureEither 32 bit or 64 Bit. The default option is selected to match the architecture of the host Windows OS.
    Include optional componentsSelect this option to add BitLocker Encryption and iSCSI support to the rescue media. Please note that adding these components may several minutes to the creation process.
    See Adding iSCSI support to Windows PE for more information on using iSCSI in Windows PE
    Automatically unlock BitLocker encrypted drivesSelect this option to automatically unlock all BitLocker encrypted drives when Windows PE starts.
    See  Adding BitLocker support to Windows PE for more information on using Windows PE to access BitLocker encrypted drives. 
    Default base WIMUse the standard Microsoft Windows PE base installation. Macrium Reflect executables will be added to this to crate the rescue media,
    Custom Base WIMUse your own customized WIM for the rescue media. This is an advanced topic not covered in this help.

    Click Next to begin the WIM build process. If necessary, files will automatically be downloaded from Microsoft to complete the build process.

    You can also select the PE Components .zip file by clicking the 'Browse' button in the download dialog. The PE .zip file can be downloaded by using the Reflect download agent 'ReflectDL.exe'.
    See Installing anInstalling and updating Macrium Reflect offlined updating Macrium Reflect offline for more information on downloading the PE components separately. 


     

    A detailed log of the build process is saved to: 'C:\ProgramData\Macrium\waik\waiklog.txt'



  5. Once complete you can choose where to burn the media

    Option ________________Description
    Rebuild

    Click this button to advance to the 'Prepare Windows PE image' wizard page to rebuild the Windows Image (WIM).

    Note:  If updates are available for your rescue media then you will receive a message box prompting you to rebuild.

    Check for unsupported devicesSelect this option and Windows PE will prompt to add drivers for unsupported Network Interface and Disk controllers when started.
    Prompt for key pressSelect this option to enable the 'Press any key to boot from CD or DVD...' prompt when your PC starts. This is useful if you want to bypass Windows PE and boot into your host Windows OS.
    CD/DVD burner

    Select this option to choose a CD/DVD device that you are using to create your rescue media.

    To save the rescue media to an .ISO image file for burning with any burning software. Click the drop-down list of burners and select 'Create an ISO image file':

    USB DeviceSelect this option to save your rescue media to a bootable USB stick or external hard drive.
    Enable multiboot MBR/UEFI

    Only applies if you are saving your rescue media to a USB device. This option enables the USB device to boot both legacy MBR and GPT/UEFI for modern motherboards. Please consult your motherboard user manual for information on choosing these boot options at PC startup.

    Note: CD/DVD media is always created multi-boot MBR/UEFI
    Technicians USBApplies to Macrium Reflect Technicians license keys  only. See Technicians portable application support for more information



  6. Click Finish.to create your rescue media


To complete the process, boot from your Rescue media to ensure it works correctly.

After Windows PE loads, Macrium Reflect runs. The Windows PE user interface for Macrium Reflect is identical to that of the main application and offers the same core functions.

 

If you are using USB media, you can make the Macrium Rescue Environment compatible with multiple computers:

  1. Use the Rescue media wizard to create a bootable USB rescue device on one computer.
  2.  Repeat the process with each other computer in turn using the same USB device. 

 


Once I have created rescue media, will it work on all my computers?

If the hardware for all your computers is supported by the default Windows PE driver set, then the answer is a simple yes. You can confirm this on the Rescue Media Wizard drivers page. If all the drivers listed have the status Device support in WinPE or Compatible device support in WinPE for each of your machines then you only need one rescue media.

If any of your machines require extra drivers, then you have three options:

Note: Options 2 and 3 only work if all your machines are configured to use the same version of PE with the same architecture (i.e. they are all 32-bit or all 64-bit).


If my rescue media refuses to boot, what should I do?