• Running a backup
• Mounting an image
• Unmounting an image

Each topic is discussed in detail below.

Running a backup

Use the syntax as follows:

reflect.exe [-v | -e [-w] [-full | -inc | -diff] [xml filename] ]

Switches

-e	Execute the XML file. If no full / diff / inc qualifier is used, a full backup is performed by default.
-w	If Reflect is busy then wait until available otherwise exit immediately
-v	Validate the XML file and exit
-full	Run a full backup
-diff	Run a differential backup
-inc	Run an incremental backup

Examples

    reflect.exe -v "c:\backup.xml"

    reflect.exe -e "c:\backup.xml"

or

reflect.exe -e -full "c:\backup.xml"

    reflect.exe -e -w "c:\backup.xml"

    reflect.exe -e -inc "c:\backup.xml"

Mounting an image

    reflect.exe [Path To Image File] -b [-auto -drives [Drives[s]]  -pass [PASSWORD]]

Switches

-b	Browse image
-auto	Automatically assign drive letters. \tIf not specified then you will be prompted
-drives	A comma separated list of drive letters to use. If not specified \tthen the next available letters are used
-pass	The password for protected image files

Examples

reflect.exe "D:\901DBF91346B9A81-00-00.mrimg" -b

    reflect.exe "D:\901DBF91346B9A81-00-00.mrimg" -b -auto

reflect.exe "LAST_FILE_CREATED" -b -auto

reflect.exe "D:\901DBF91346B9A81-00-00.mrimg" -b -auto -drives j,k,l

    reflect.exe "D:\901DBF91346B9A81-00-00.mrimg" -b -auto -drives j,k,l -pass "PWD"

Unmounting an image

reflect.exe [Drive Letter] -u

Switches

-u Unmount image

Examples

reflect.exe J -u

reflect.exe -u

Use drivers of the same architecture

Drivers not located on accessible disk

Solution 1 : Make drivers available on accessible media such as a usb device

xcopy /e c:\boot\macrium\drivers\* e:\boot\macrium\drivers

xcopy /e c:\boot\macrium\drivers\* e:\drivers

Solution 2 : Add drivers to PE Image

If you have previously created a 'Custom Windows PE' rescue CD (WAIK) then jump to step 4, otherwise follow all the steps below:

1. Take the 'Custom Windows PE' rescue CD option in the rescue CD wizard.

2. If you haven't previously installed the Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK), then this will need to be downloaded and installed. This is a big (1.7GB) download, so please be patient.The WAIK download dialog will be shown. Just click 'Continue' and be patient while the integration completes.

3. Once the integration is finished cancel the rescue media wizard.

4. Download and run 'inject.exe' from here:

http://updates.macrium.com/reflect/utilities/inject.exe

This will automatically inject the drivers into the windows image file (WIM) and will take a few minutes.

5. Once completed, take the rescue media build wizard again, select the 'Custom Windows PE' and click through to the final page.

6. Click the 'Rebuild' button to re-integrate the WAIK. This will not need to download and install the WAIK again, so will be much quicker.

7. Once completed, if you now burn the rescue CD the drivers will be integrated and you should have no problems booting with the CD and recognizing your local RAID volumes.

If you still have problems then email the file 'c:\waiklog.txt' and an explanation of your issue to support (at) macrium.com so we can investigate further.

Driver location load order

1. Removeable media (such as USB pen drives). The file (macrium.oem) must reside in the Drivers folder on the root of the media.
2. CD=ROM/DVD-ROM drives. The file (macrium.oem) must reside on the Drivers folder on the root of the media.
3. Local fixed hard disks. The file must reside on the Boot\Macrium\Drivers folder on the root of the local hard disk.

Missing support files

In order to create a differential image, a full image must first be created. The differential then stores only the changes that have been made to the imaged file system since the last full image. It is possible to take subsequent differentials, but only one differential and the full are required in order to fully restore the system. However, the longer the time between the full and the differential, the larger the differential image file will be and the longer it will take to create.

Advantages

• Differential images created after the initial full Image are very quick because only file system changes since the full backup are saved.
• The amount of disk space used by differential images is significantly less than that of full images
• Only two image files are required to restore the system

Disadvantages

• As the time since the last full image was taken increases, the size of the differential will grow as will the time it takes to create the differential image. In order to reduce this time, it is necessary to perform a full image occasionally to reduce the size of the subsequent differential images.

Incremental images are similar to differential images in that they require a full backup to be made first. However, the main difference is that they only store file system changes since the last image, either full or incremental. The resultant backup set will therefore consist of a full image and a number of incremental images which must all be present in order to restore the system correctly.

Advantages

• Incremental images have the same advantages as differential images, but since they only store the changes that were made since the last full or incremental. They are always small and very quick to make, especially if done frequently.

Disadvantages

• The only disadvantage to using incremental images is that all files must be present in the image set. If any intermediate incremental images are missing, it will not be possible to restore the system to the latest backup.

In this article, we look at using VBScript to handle a monthly backup cycle. I’ll show you how to generate a template VBScript source file and modify a couple of lines to enable selective execution of the XML definition files created in the previous tutorials.

So far we’ve created image definitions and scheduled these to run in a weekly backup cycle. We’ve also used the disk space management option to ensure that our backup disk doesn’t overflow. But, what if you want to schedule your images using a monthly calendar cycle? Say you want to run a full image on the first Monday of every month and an incremental image for all other weekdays. How do you do that?

Macrium Reflect uses the standard Windows Scheduler to schedule all backups and images. This has the advantage of being a very well tried and tested scheduler, plus it reduces valuable program overhead by using an existing, running service. However, while the Windows Scheduler is great for repeating weekly pattern of days, it can’t handle monthly exclusions very well. In our above example we can schedule the full image to run on the first Monday of each month without a problem, but the incremental images would have to be scheduled for every weekday. This means that on the first Monday of each month you’d run both the full and incremental images. This isn’t a very elegant solution; so what do we do?

The answer is VBScript. With VBScript we have total flexibility to do anything we want. We can also reduce the number of tasks to schedule to just one.

If you’re unfamiliar with VBScript source, it can look rather daunting. The syntax seems unnecessarily complex and verbose. However, one thing to remember is that in most cases you can just copy existing code examples and modify them slightly to make them work for you. Macrium Reflect generates a great working template for you to modify, and I’ll show you a couple of simple code lines to add to achieve the scheduling scenario I’ve outlined above.

1. Start Reflect, click the ‘Backup Definition Files’ tab, select the ‘image of C’ example file and then click the ‘Generate VBScript’ button.

This will generate a VBScript template file using the default options. The defaults will simply run the image and create a log file in the directory where the XML definition is stored. A VBScript source file can be scheduled in exactly the same way as an XML file, but first we’re going to modify it to run both the full and incremental images on the correct days.

3.Click the ‘VBScript files’ tab. You should see your new VBScript source file in the list of source files. If you select it with your left mouse you can see the automatically generated code in the lower half of the window.

Monthly
This view has the advantage of syntax highlighting. This means that keywords, conditions and certain variables are displayed different colors, making viewing the source (and potential errors) much easier.

This will open the source file in the default editor, Notepad.exe. Make sure that Word Wrap is turned off. This makes editing the source code much easier.



Locate the following line of code:

ExitCode = Backup ("""C:\Program Files\Macrium\Reflect\reflect.exe"" -e -w <BACKUP_TYPE> ""C:\Users\Nick\Reflect\image of c.xml""")

And replace it with:

If Weekday(Date) = 2 AND Month(DateAdd("d", -7, Date)) <> Month(Date) Then
' Run the full image
ExitCode = Backup ("""C:\Program Files\Macrium\Reflect\reflect.exe"" -e -w -full ""C:\Users\Nick\Reflect\image of c.xml""")
Else
' Run the Incremental image
ExitCode = Backup ("""C:\Program Files\Macrium\Reflect\reflect.exe"" -e -w -inc ""C:\Users\Nick\Reflect\image of c.xml""")
End If

Note: Your XML file paths will be different to the paths above. We've replace the parameter '<BACKUP_TYPE>' with the type of backup we want to run. This could be either '-full, '-inc' or '-diff'

A quick summary of the functions used above:

• The Date keyword is the current system date.
• The Weekday function returns the day of the week as a number. 1 = Sunday, 2 = Monday etc.
• DateAdd simply subtracts 7 days from the current date. The “d” means that we are subtracting (or adding) days. The other possibilities are, “yyyy” - Year, “q” – Quarter, “m” – Month, “y” - Day of year, “w” – Weekday, “ww” - Week of year, “h” – Hour, “n” – Minute, “s” – Second.
• The Month function returns the month (1-12) of the DateAdd result and compares this with the current month using the ‘<>’ not equal to operator.

So, if the current day is Monday and the Monday of last week is a different month, then this must be the first Monday of the current month. As you can see, the code then simply executes the XML definition file for the full image otherwise an incremental XML is executed.

When you’ve made the changes, save the file and close Notepad.

5. All that remains is to schedule the VBScript file to run every weekday.

Right click on the VBScript file in the list and select ‘Schedule’. You’ve been through this wizard before, so I won’t go over it again. You could of course, select only weekdays or every day, but the important thing to understand is that whatever you choose, it’s the VBScript code that decides whether to run the full or incremental image not the scheduler.

Note: When you schedule this script it doesn't matter whether you select 'Full', 'Incremental' or 'Differential' in the schedule dialog, it's the script that determines which type to run.

You’ve done it! VBScript code that modifies the running order of your images. VBScript gives you complete flexibility for any situation you can think of.

1. How to run the Full backup on the 1st day of every month and increments on every other.

Change the execution condition in step 4 above to the following:

If Day(Date) = 1 Then

' Run the full image
ExitCode = Backup ("""C:\Program Files\Macrium\Reflect\reflect.exe"" -e -w -full ""C:\Users\Nick\Reflect\image of c.xml""")
Else
' Run the Incremental image
ExitCode = Backup ("""C:\Program Files\Macrium\Reflect\reflect.exe"" -e -w -inc ""C:\Users\Nick\Reflect\image of c.xml""")
End If

2. How about running the full backup at a different time to the incremental backups.

For example: The full backup at 01:00 and the remaining increments at 09:00. For this you'll need to create two scheduled tasks.

1. First create create the full backup scheduled task by right clicking on the XML backup definition file and scheduling to run a 'Full' on the 1st of each month at 01:00

2. Then modify the VBScript as below and schedule it at 09:00 every day.

If Day(Date) <> 1 Then
' Run the Incremental image
ExitCode = Backup ("""C:\Program Files\Macrium\Reflect\reflect.exe"" -e -w -inc ""C:\Users\Nick\Reflect\image of c.xml""")
End If

In the above example on the first day of each month nothing will happen when this VBScript is executed but the scheduled full backup will occur at 01:00. On other days of the month incremental backups will occur at the scheduled time, 09:00,

An excellent reference of VBScript functions can be found at http://www.w3schools.com/VBscript/vbscript_ref_functions.asp . Here you’ll find, not just the date functions introduced in this article, but every function available to you.

diskpart

list disk

sel disk <n>

detail disk

DISKPART> detail disk...Disk ID: 4936F9A1...

DISKPART> detail disk...Disk ID: {C0F4976C-CFA6-45C1-BBCE-3B40016336E5}

...

MBR partitioned disks

GPT partitioned disks

Summary

Preparing a PE4 based rescue environment

This article explains the steps required to exclude disks when Macrium Reflect starts up.

1. Click 'Start' (then click 'Run' in XP), type 'regedit.exe' and press enter:

2. In the registry editor window, navigate to 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE' > 'SOFTWARE' > 'Macrium' > 'Reflect'. Then right click and select 'New' > 'Key'

3. Enter the name 'Disks' for the new key.

3. Right click on the new 'Disks' key and select 'New' > 'DWORD (32 bit) Value'.

4. Enter the number of the disk that you want to exclude. In the above example it is disk number '4' that's excluded. You can add multiple disks by adding additional values to the 'Disks' key.

Backup aborted! - Failed To Create Volume Snapshot Result Code: 0x8004231f

1. Start the Windows Disk Management console. Click 'Start', type 'diskmgmt.msc' (without quotes) and press ENTER.

2. In the Windows that opens, right click on the 'System Reserved' partition in the lower pane and select 'Change Drive Letter and Paths..'

3. In the dialog that opens, click the 'Remove' button.

4. Close the Disk Management Console and restart Macrium Reflect.

Applies to:

Macrium Reflect version 5.1 running on Windows 8, Windows Server 2012 or later.

About the ADK

What is the Microsoft ADK?

The Microsoft Assessment and Deployment Kit is part of the Microsoft System tools. It is designed to give system administrators the ability to deploy Windows on a large scale with a number of custom tools for preparing their systems. For example, it might be used by the IT department of a large company to roll out pre-configured Windows Installs.

You may already be familiar with the Windows Automated Installation Kit, or Windows AIK. This is the previous offering for Microsoft that fulfilled a similar role.

Why does Reflect use the ADK or AIK?

Both the ADK and AIK contain a component called the Windows Preinstallation Environment, or Windows PE. This is a version of Windows contained in a Windows Image, or WIM file, which is cut down from the full install of Windows but contains sufficient utilities for building recovery, install and system preparation environments.

Reflect uses the basic PE environmnent from the ADK/AIK as a base and customises this environment with the Reflect tools. This gives Reflect a rescue environment with access to a range of common hardware drivers as well as native support for Windows File Systems and Windows boot management utilities.

What is the difference between the ADK and AIK?

The ADK is a newer version of the kit designed for Windows 8. Each Windows PE version is based on a version of Windows. In the case of PE 4 (available in the ADK) the environment is based on Windows 8. In the case of PE 3, the environment is based on Windows 7. As such, PE4 supports a number of enhancements to the Windows boot environment which arrived in Windows 8.

When should I use the ADK or AIK?

If you have Windows 8, you should use the ADK if:

1. You only have Windows 8 drivers for your hardware. As PE3 is based on Windows 7, it requires Windows 7 compatible drivers. If you do not have access to these, but do have access to Windows 8, you can use the ADK and Reflect will copy your Windows 8 drivers from your system (or search for Windows 8 drivers as needed).

2. You require support for UEFI Secure Boot when using Fix Boot Options. Windows 8 is the first version of Windows to support Secure Boot and the relevant support utilities are needed by Reflect to correctly fix a system using UEFI Secure Boot.

You should use the AIK if you only have Windows 7 drivers for your hardware. As PE4 is based on Windows 8, it requires Windows 8 compatible drivers.

Can I use PE4 (ADK) to back up/recover a Windows 7 or earlier system?

Yes you can.

Can I remove the ADK after I have created rescue media?

Yes you can. To do this, open up Add/Remove Programs from the control panel. You can then select the entry Assessment and Deployment Kit and remove the kit from there.

Note: if you remove the kit, but need to rebuild your rescue media at a later stage you will need to re-install the kit which may involve a new download if you have deleted the installer.

Enabling the ADK

How you enable the ADK for your install of Reflect depends on your setup.

Prerequisites

You need to be running Macrium Reflect on either Windows 8, or Windows Server 2012, or a later Windows Operating System to use the ADK. If you are not running Windows 8 or Server 2012, you will have no issues running PE3 (the AIK).

If you have never created WAIK/WADK rescue media before

Reflect will default to the ADK.

If you have previously created rescue media, or wish to change the type of media you are creating

To change to the ADK, or switch your rescue media type:

1. In the main window of Reflect, click the rescue media wizard icon.

2. On the first page of the rescue media wizard, select the Windows PE option and then select the auto-built PE option.

3. In the drop-down, select the WAIK or WADK.

4. When you click next, the ADK will be automatically downloaded and installed for you.

---

Enabling the ADK (alternative method)

1. In the main window of Reflect, press theedit defaults toolbar option or choose Other Tasks then Edit Defaults from the menu.

2. In the Reflect Defaults screen, select the Advanced Tab.

3. In the options list on the left hand side of this dialog, select Rescue media.

4. You will then be presented with a choice of Windows Kit for Rescue Media which allows you to select the kit you wish to use.

5. Once you have selected a kit, press Ok to close the dialog.

6. The next time you start the Rescue Media Wizard your Auto-builtPE option will indicate the new kit type.

Running the ADK Setup

As with the WAIK, if you have not previously installed the WADK Reflect will download the ADK setup utility and run it for you. You will be presented with the following dialog:

We recommend leaving the default options selected. You then simply need to follow the wizard. On the features page, Reflect will select the minimal required features for you. You need to ensure Deployment Tools and Windows PE are selected for Reflect to function correctly, as shown in the screenshot below:

The WADK Setup wizard will then complete your installation and you can continue creating your rescue media.

Backup aborted! - Failed To Create Volume Snapshot Result Code: 0x8004231f

1. Start the Windows Disk Management Console. Click 'Start', type 'diskmgmt.msc' (without quotes) and press ENTER.

2. In the Windows that opens, right click on the 'System Reserved' partition in the lower pane and select 'Change Drive Letter and Paths..'

3. In the dialog that opens, click the 'Remove' button.



4. Close the Disk Management Console and restart Macrium Reflect.

Error

Backup aborted! - None of the specified backup locations could be written to

Description

This error occurs if it is not possible to write the image file to the destination location provided, or any of the alternative locations that may have been specified.

Possible causes

This article explains the situations when Reflect will create a full backup instead of an incremental or differential backup.

There are a number of cases when you have a backup task, either scheduled or manually triggered, that is configured to produce a differential or incremental backup as part of a backup set and Reflect instead reverts to a full backup. This article explains why this may occur.

Example: There are a number of scenarios in which this can occur. We shall take one example. Suppose you have two backup locations:

Primary location: \\myserver\backups\pc1\

Alternative location: d:\mydata\backups\pc1\

Suppose that you are taking incrementals at the primary location but at the time of backup the network location is not reachable. In this case, as requested, Reflect will use the alternative backup location. As it cannot read the backup set at the primary location it will then create a full backup at the alternative location.

Note: the online help for Macrium Reflect contains a section on alternative backup locations.

Reason: Reflect needs to be able to read the existing backup set to work out what has changed.

Example: This issue is triggered when the source backup set is corrupted for some reason. As an example, suppose that you are backing up to an external USB 3 disk called G: and suppose that the existing backup set is created at G:\backups\pc1\. Now, suppose this backup set has somehow become corrupted. Reflect cannot recognise this as a valid backup file and so creates a new backup set.

Reason: If files are corrupted such that they are not recognisable as backup sets, it is likely their indexes (used for performing incremental or differentials) are unusable too.

Example 1: Suppose your system contains drives C:, D: and E:. Initially, your backup definition contains C:,D:. You take a full followed by a series of differentials. You then edit the backup definition file to include E:. Reflect will then trigger a full backup.

Example 1: Suppose your system containsdrives C:, D: Initially, your backup definition contains C:,D:.You take a full followed by a series of differentials. You then resize D:. Reflect will then trigger a fullbackup.

Reason: Reflect considers that if a backup definition differs from what is contained in the backup set, then it is potentially an entirely different backup source. It would be difficult to reliably distinguish between the sensible examples given above and removing all of the source drives and using others. The resulting incremental would make little sense. The potential for an invalid backup set to be created is high, so Reflect prevents this.

Example:Suppose you have a backup set for a system on a network share. You then perform a clone of this system to a new disk, remove the old disk and boot the new system. You then ask Reflect to back up the system using the existing backup set. Reflect will create a full.

Reason: Macrium Reflect uses the Disk Identifier in MBR, or the Disk GUID on GPT systems, to uniquely identify the disk and verify that the backup set and backup source are of the same disk layout. These values remain stable so are a reliable identifier.

If the source folders, or filters, are changed in a File and Folder backup

Example: Suppose you are backing up *.doc in C:\ImportantData\. You then modify the backup definition to back up *.doc;*.xls in C:\ImportantData. Reflect will then create a new full backup.

Reason: Changing the directory or filter essentially changes the source definition. In many circumstances it would not make sense to take an incremental from this source, so Reflect defaults to a new full.

UEFI (the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) is an interface between a computer's firmware and operating system. It is designed as a replacement for BIOS (Basic Input/Output System).

UEFI supports hard disks with either MBR (master boot record) or the newer GPT (GUID Partition Table) system. GPT is a newer standard, that supports disks larger than 2TiB and allows for more than four primary partitions per disk.

As UEFI and GPT become more widespread, older images of MBR disks will often need to be restored to replacement UEFI / GPT systems.

This article assumes that, apart from the type of disk, there are no other hardware differences between the system being imaged and the system being restored to. For dissimilar hardware, Redeploy may be needed.

To prepare a GPT disk to boot in UEFI

1. Boot into Windows PE.
2. Open a Windows command window, and run "diskpart".
3. List the disks:
   list disk
4. Select the disk number that you want to restore to. For example:
   select disk 0
5. Clean the selected disk:
   clean
6. By default, "clean" creates an empty MBR disk. Convert it to GPT:
   convert gpt
7. Create the EFI partition:
   create partition efi size=200
8. Format the EFI partition:
   format fs=fat32
9. Create the MSR partition:
   create partition msr size=128
10. Exit Diskpart:
    exit

To restore an image to the GPT disk, ready to boot in UEFI

1. In Macrium Reflect, restore the imaged partitions into the free space. Do not copy over the old MSR partition.
2. Open a windows command window.
3. Use BCDBoot to create the boot environment files:
   bcdboot E:\windows
   where "E:\" is the letter of the restored Windows partition you wish to boot into.

You may have to edit the UEFI configuration to tell it to boot into the new GPT hard disk.

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