Creating BartPE disc with Acronis True Image Home 2011
BartPE (Bart Preinstalled Environment) is a bootable Windows CD/DVD created from the original Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 installation/setup CD. The current version of Acronis True Image Home 2011 does not have a plug-in for a preinstalled environment based on Windows Vista and Windows 7.
The main advantage of BartPE is that it uses Windows drivers and has a Windows-like graphical user interface. It also provides for adding any storage drivers at startup in the same manner as when installing Windows on the hard drive (by pressing F6 and inserting a diskette with the drivers).
Applications are installed into BartPE in the form of plug-ins and the Acronis True Image Home 2011 plug-in can be included into the BartPE plug-in tab.
If you do not have the boxed version of Acronis True Image Home 2011, you will need to download a separate installation file from your Acronis account:
- Go to https://www.acronis.com/my/index.html
- Log in;
- Register the serial number for your copy of Acronis True Image Home 2011 (if it is not registered yet);
- Click Registered Products;
Under the registered products click on BartPE & Safe Media to download the plug-in. Install the plug-in as follows:
- Double-click on the downloaded file to start installation.
- If you only want to install the BartPE plug-in, choose Custom installation and unselect the Safe Media add-on. Otherwise choose Typical.
- Having finished the installation, you can proceed with creating a BartPE CD/DVD with Acronis True Image Home 2011 plug-in.
The below description is based on PE builder version 3.1.10a.
To create a BartPE CD with the Acronis True Image Home 2011 plug-in follow the instructions below:
- Download the PE builder using link http://nu2.nu/pebuilder/download/ and install it;
Go to the Acronis True Image Home 2011 installation folder. (The default folder is C:\Program Files\Acronis or C:\Program Files\Acronis\Media Add-ons). Rename the BartPE folder to Acronis. Copy this folder into the Plugin folder in the BartPE builder installation directory. (The default directory is C:\pebuilder3110a or similar);
Run the PE builder, put in the necessary paths (the online help is available at http://nu2.nu/pebuilder/help/), and click the Plugins button:
Make sure you have the Acronis True Image Home 2011 plug-in enabled on the Plugins screen:
Close the Plugins window and click the Build button to start the building process. If you want the image to be burned to CD, select the Burn to CD option and choose the necessary burner in the Device menu;
After the image is created, burn it to CD or DVD. (If you did not check the Burn to CD option at the previous step.)
After booting from the CD/DVD, you can find the Acronis True Image Home 2011 plug-in in Go/System/Storage.
Adding drivers
BartPE supports adding two types of drivers: storage drivers and network drivers. For instructions on how to add drivers refer to PE builder driver help at http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/help/english/drivers.htm.
There is also an option to add storage drivers (for RAID or SCSI devices) during BartPE boot-up. (You need to press F6 and point to the diskette with the drivers). Common storage drivers are available at http://nu2.nu/pebuilder/drivers/.
When you boot from the newly created BartPE media, Acronis True Image Home 2011 can be found here:
Go ® System ® Storage ® Acronis True Image Home 2011.