v4: How to create a BartPE Rescue CD for Macrium

v4: How to create a BartPE Rescue CD for Macrium Reflect
So, you’ve created your Linux based recovery CD, you push it in and boot up and it doesn’t
find your hard drives, network or both – what’s next?
If the Linux Based Recovery CD option doesn’t work for you – usually because it has trouble
recognizing your disk or network cards - then you may want to use the BartPE or Windows
PE 2.0 recovery CDs.
BartPE is a freely available preinstallation environment for 32-bit Windows XP or Server
2003. It's a bootable environment created from your exisiting Windows system files. It can
also potentially support your RAID controller although that is not going to be covered by this
article. If you do want to add RAID support to Bart PE then the best place to start is on the
PE Builder website.
If you're working with 64-bit Windows, Windows Vista or Server 2008 then you'll need the
full version of Macrium Reflect which includes paid-for licensing for Windows PE 2.0. The
Windows PE 2.0 environment includes RAID support.
BartPE has the benefit of providing a graphical user interface and a plugin architecture that
means many 3rd party custom plugins are available. Macrium Reflect provides a plugin that
allows you to restore files and partitions directly once you are booted from your CD/DVD
drive into BartPE.
Anyway, to business; you will need:
•
Access to Windows XP or Windows 2003 installation files
•
The latest PE Builder install file (the BartPE rescue disk creation software). You can
download it via http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/#download
•
Macrium Reflect installed
Note: BartPE is only suitable for 32-bit Windows XP and 32-bit Windows Server 2003
environments.
To create your BartPE / Macrium Reflect Rescue CD:
1.
Install PE Builder from the install file you downloaded earlier
Make a note of where PE Builder is installed. The default location is similar to
v4: How to create a BartPE Rescue CD for Macrium Reflect
C:\PEBuilder3110a
2.
Finish the installation by allowing it to run to check it works.
You are presented with a Search files?
3.
Click No
The main PE Builder dialog is displayed. We shall return to this once we’ve configured
the Macrium Reflect plugin from within Macrium Reflect
4.
Start Macrium Reflect
5.
Select Other Tasks > Create Rescue CD
The Rescue CD Wizard is displayed
v4: How to create a BartPE Rescue CD for Macrium Reflect
6.
Select BartPE and click Next
This displays a dialog for copying the necessary Macrium Reflect plugin files to the
BartPE plugin folder.
7.
Click Updates to check online for updates to the Macrium Reflect plugin
8.
Click the browse button ‘…’ and select the plugin folder below the PEBuilder
installation folder. For example C:\PEBuilder3110a\plugin
9.
Click Finish
The Macrium Reflect plugin is immediately copied to the PE Builder plugin folder.
Now when you use PE Builder to create a BartPE rescue CD it contains the files
necessary to run Macrium Reflect and restore disk images or files.
10. Return to PE Builder
v4: How to create a BartPE Rescue CD for Macrium Reflect
If you closed it earlier then start it from the Start menu.
11. Specify the path to your Windows installation files in the Source text box
For me these were on my original Microsoft installation CD/DVD which occupied the
only drive bay on my server – more on that later. If you believe they may be on your
hard drive but don’t know where then you can search for them by selecting menu
Source > Search. Otherwise, simply select their location
Note: The directory that contains the Windows installation files is called ‘i386’ but the
path that PE Builder wants is the parent directory to ‘i386’. So, if you have your
installation files at ‘c:\i386’ then you need to enter ‘C:\’ as the path to the Windows
installation files.
12. Leave the Custom text box empty
13. Leave the Output folder as BartPE or point it to a location suitable for storing
v4: How to create a BartPE Rescue CD for Macrium Reflect
153Mb of data
14. Select the Media Output.
You may be able to directly Burn to CD/DVD at this point. I couldn’t because, as I
mentioned, the DVD drive was already in use for my Windows installation files. Instead
we selected Create ISO image and resolved to burn it to disk later. An ISO image is a
complete disk image as a file.
Note: Your CD/DVD burning software may or may not support ISO. If it doesn’t, it is
often an extra cost option that you get for buying the full version. Alternatively, you
could use CDBurnerXP; a free utility that you can download from
http://www.cdburnerxp.se/.
15. Click Build
If the BartPE folder does not exist then the Create directory dialog is displayed
16. Click Yes to create the folder and continue
BartPE uses your Windows XP or Server 2003 installation files and so you need to read
and agree to the Windows license before proceeding.
v4: How to create a BartPE Rescue CD for Macrium Reflect
17. If you agree with the terms click I agree
PE Builder builds the BartPE installation. In my case, as an ISO file:
18. Click Close to finish
That’s it! You may now eject your BartPE CD/DVD and check it by using it to boot your
machine.
Note: If your machine isn't set to boot from CD/DVD then you need to adjust the boot
settings in your BIOS. Accessing the BIOS varies from PC to PC but you will always see a
brief message that tells you how to do this as the PC is starting. Power on your PC and
watch the screen carefully. Look for a line of text that says something like, 'Hit Del to enter
setup' or 'Press F2 for BIOS settings'. Once you've found the correct key (generally, Del, or
one of the function keys), press it repeatedly until you see a BIOS setup screen - from there
you can set the boot order so that CD/DVD takes precedence over your hard disk drive
(HDD). You can find pictures of BIOS setup screens at
http://www.hiren.info/pages/bios-boot-cdrom.
v4: How to create a BartPE Rescue CD for Macrium Reflect
Once booted into BartPE, to start restoring files or partitions, select Go > Programs >
Macrium Reflect.
Macrium KB
http://kb.macrium.com/KnowledgebaseArticle50035.aspx