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RMBuilder.exe

v7.2 of Macrium Reflect includes a new Rescue media builder user interface that offers:

  • Simplified user interface with one click build for most scenarios

  • Windows RE support. Windows RE is usually available as a no download option on the majority Windows installations from Windows 7 and later.  

    For the majority of PCs, Windows 10 WinRE adds WiFi support when booted in the rescue media.

    Note: A few WiFi adapters are unsupported. The vast majority of adapters will be automatically supported and will automatically connect using a WiFi profile copied from Windows during the build process. 

  • Windows PE 10 1709

  • New network TaskBar icon and management UI in PE/RE. Right click on the Network icon to open the UI.  

The Rescue Media Builder executable 'RMBuilder.exe' is located in the Macrium Reflect installation folder, usually 'C:\Program Files\Macrium\Reflect'. RMBuilder.exe can be launched independently or by taking the Rescue Media build menu option in Macrium Reflect.

RMBuilder.exe depends on the following files:

DescriptionArchitectureFile name
DVD/CD Support32 BitPrimoBurner.dll

64 BitPrimoBurnerx64.dll



Free Edition32 BitWaikFiles00x86.exe

64 BitWaikFiles00x64.exe
Home/Workstation Edition32 BitWaikFiles15x86.exe

64 BitWaikFiles15x64.exe
Server Edition32 BitWaikFiles20x86.exe

64 BitWaikFiles20x64.exe
Server Plus Edition32 BitWaikFiles25x86.exe

64 BitWaikFiles25x64.exe


Note: RMBuilder.exe requires Macrium Reflect to be installed.


Windows Image File (WIM) and toolset files location

For Windows PE 3.1/4.0/5.0/10 the files required to build the Macrium Rescue media are copied from the Input location to the Repository.  The Repository is then used to populate the Staging Area when rescue media is built from scratch or stale. 

For the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) the required files are located on the current system and copied to the Staging Area when rescue media is built from scratch or stale. 

The Staging Area provides the files for the Boot Menu and for creating ISO/DVD/CD and USB boot media.


Windows PE 3.1/4.0/5.0/10

Required files to populate the PE Repository are searched for in the following sequence...

  1. PE Zip files: -  PE zip files(s) containing the Windows Image (WIM) file and toolset files are saved to the Macrium download folder by the Reflect download manager ReflectDL.exe.  

    The default location is 'C:\users\<USER>\Downloads\Macrium'

    Windows PEFile Name
    PE 3.1pe3x64.zip
    pe3x86.zip
    PE 4.0pe4x64.zip
    pe4x86.zip
    PE 5.0pe5x64.zip
    pe5x86.zip
    PE 10pe10_1709x64.zip
    pe10_1709x86.zip


    .

  2. WAIK/WADK - Windows is searched for installations of the Windows® Automated Installation Kit (AIK) for PE 3.1 or the Windows® Assessment and Deployment Kit (Windows ADK). These products contain the Windows Image File (WIM) and tools to create the rescue media. 

    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/get-started/adk-install
    https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5753

    Note: The WADK and WAIK download is several GB. It isn't necessary to manually install these products unless you are having problems with the automated download.

  3. Automated Download - Finally, any missing files are automatically downloaded directly from Microsoft and copied to the PE Repository.

    Note: If there is no Internet connection at this stage then the build process will fail.



PE Repository

Files located in 1. above are copied to the PE repository in the following folders.

PE VersionLocation
3.1C:\ProgramData\Macrium\Reflect\Windows AIK
4.0C:\ProgramData\Macrium\Reflect\Windows Kits\8.0
5.0C:\ProgramData\Macrium\Reflect\Windows Kits\8.1
10C:\ProgramData\Macrium\Reflect\Windows Kits\10


Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE)

Files for the Windows Recovery rescue environment are pre-existing and located on the local file system.

The folowinng folders, and sub-folders are searched for file WinRE.wim

C:\Windows\System32\Recovery
<ALL VOLUMES>\Recovery

If multiple copies of WinRE.wim are found then each WIM is examined and the WIM that contains the most recent Windows OS is copied to the Staging Area.

Additional toolset files are copied from folder 'C:\Windows\Boot' 

Staging Area

The Staging Area is re-populated each time the rescue media is re-built. Immediately after the Windows Image (WIM) file is copied to the Staging Area, it is mounted and the current version of Macrium Reflect is copied to the WIM file system along with required components and additional files extracted from WaikFilesxNNnnn.exe. 


PE VersionLocation
3.1C:\boot\macrium\WAIKFiles
4.0C:\boot\macrium\WA4KFiles
5.0C:\boot\macrium\WA5KFiles
10C:\boot\macrium\WA10KFiles
WinREC:\boot\macrium\WinREFiles


Output

When the 'Build' button is clicked files are copied from the Staging Area to the rescue media target. For the Boot menu, the Windows Boot Configuration Data (BCD) is updated to add a 'Macrium Reflect System Recovery' menu option which loads the Windows Image File (WIM) directly from the Staging Area. 

For more information on the Windows BCD please see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Vista_startup_process

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