Emergency Media Creation

[Froggie]

Trying to clear my head a bit from the early days...

At what point is the HBS Emergency Disk built using the System's existing WinRE-base WIM rather than the MicroSloth downloaded (PE-based I believe) WIM.

I assume using the off-line (OPE) version is PE-based.

Any help, greatly appreciated!

[admin]

Trying to clear my head a bit from the early days...

At what point is the HBS Emergency Disk built using the System's existing WinRE-base WIM rather than the MicroSloth downloaded (PE-based I believe) WIM.

I assume using the off-line (OPE) version is PE-based.

Any help, greatly appreciated!

By default, HBS searches for the system's built-in WinRE on the disk. If found, WinPE will be created based on the found WinRE. Otherwise, the user needs to download the basic WinPE components from Microsoft and create WinPE. The off-line (OPE) version is actually based on WinPE components downloaded from Microsoft.

Just FYI, the USB drivers in the WinRE included with the latest Windows 11 25H2 update (KB5066835) seem to have issues. WinPE created from this WinRE may fail to recognize all USB devices, including keyboards, mice, and storage drives. Therefore, if USB devices are not working properly, please recreate WinPE and choose to download the WinPE components from Microsoft.

[Epictetus]

Just FYI, the USB drivers in the WinRE included with the latest Windows 11 25H2 update (KB5066835) seem to have issues. WinPE created from this WinRE may fail to recognize all USB devices, including keyboards, mice, and storage drives. Therefore, if USB devices are not working properly, please recreate WinPE and choose to download the WinPE components from Microsoft.

That is somewhat disturbing! So I could have my .DBI file on a USB device which is not recognised when I try to boot in to it to do a restore.

I think I might stay with any WinPE disks created in 24H2 until MS fixes this problem.

[admin]

Just FYI, the USB drivers in the WinRE included with the latest Windows 11 25H2 update (KB5066835) seem to have issues. WinPE created from this WinRE may fail to recognize all USB devices, including keyboards, mice, and storage drives. Therefore, if USB devices are not working properly, please recreate WinPE and choose to download the WinPE components from Microsoft.

That is somewhat disturbing! So I could have my .DBI file on a USB device which is not recognised when I try to boot in to it to do a restore.

I think I might stay with any WinPE disks created in 24H2 until MS fixes this problem.

I have conducted tests and confirmed that this issue affects Hasleo, Aomei, and Macrium Reflect. On my test computer, EaseUS was not affected because it always downloads WinPE from Microsoft - at least on this computer.

Some users have reported encountering this issue.

[Epictetus]

That is somewhat disturbing! So I could have my .DBI file on a USB device which is not recognised when I try to boot in to it to do a restore.

I think I might stay with any WinPE disks created in 24H2 until MS fixes this problem.

I have conducted tests and confirmed that this issue affects Hasleo, Aomei, and Macrium Reflect. On my test computer, EaseUS was not affected because it always downloads WinPE from Microsoft - at least on this computer.

Some users have reported encountering this issue.

I have done a few tests too and found that when I tick the box to download WinPE from MS in the Emergency Disk Creation process, I get an image which is better suited to the size and scaling of my display. That is, an image created this way does not have the very small fonts or incomplete boxes that I (sometimes/often) get when using the 'inbuilt' WinPE on my machine's SSD. It takes longer to create the WinPE disk this way but seems like a better way to go for me at least on this particular machine anyway.

Of course, I have not done the extensive testing you have, and I have just done my testing in 25H2, but interesting.

[hader]

I have also a problem with the Emergency disk. I am using Hasleo Backup Suite v5.4.2.5 (the latest version) on my Windows 11 25H2 system with the latest build: 26200.6899. Also the latest build. Windows 11 is without any problems. Using DISM and the SFC tools there are no errors to be found. Registry is clean as possible. I have only VMWare latest Workstation Pro installed. It add some virtual network device to make the connection with my hardware network card and the Internet. That should not be any problem as the backups/restores are local.

At first I used the Add bootmenu option. After that I did get a choice at startup between Windows 11 and Windows PC (Hasleo Backup Suite) but when I choose the second option it rebooted itself and than.... nothing. Screen is black. So that was no option. I removed the bootmenu again. This was a non-preferred way by the way. 2 times to reboot to get... nothing.

I than made an Emergency disk. Wrote it's content directly to a 8Gb rescue USB stick. At this time I rebooted my system and use my motherboards (ASUS) option "F8" to choose from which device I wanted to boot from. I choose the freshly made Emergency disk. It booted from that USB-stick and after a long while I saw the WinPE screen from Hasleo. Nice I thought. It showed me a full menu where I can do an offline save or an offline restore. I also saw the backups I've made previous. But..... My keyboard and mouse were dead. They were not even initialized. All their lights were off. By this time and age I think Hasleo should have the capability to even see my USB-keyboard and USB-mouse. So what's going on here? 😮

I even used the WinPEDownloader program from Hasleo to make sure any problems between WinPE from Windows are not an issue. (If any) I downloaded the WinPE version from Hasleo and went for "WinPE For Windows 10/11" option. I got that *.OPE file. And it just sitting inside my download location. I have no clue what to do with it next. And I Looked everywhere....

If I look at the file created by using the .ISO option of the Emergency disk tool and the *.OPE file they don't differ that much if I look at their size. Are they basically the same?

[Geri123]

I think I might stay with any WinPE disks created in 24H2 until MS fixes this problem.

I'm on 24H2 and I had the no working keyboard/mouse problem Admin described. Luckely the "download from MS" option worked when creating the rescue bootmenu because booting into a rescue media where you can do nothing doesn't help

[Froggie]

I even used the WinPEDownloader program from Hasleo to make sure any problems between WinPE from Windows are not an issue. (If any) I downloaded the WinPE version from Hasleo and went for "WinPE For Windows 10/11" option. I got that *.OPE file. And it just sitting inside my download location. I have no clue what to do with it next. And I Looked everywhere....

If I look at the file created by using the .ISO option of the Emergency disk tool and the *.OPE file they don't differ that much if I look at their size. Are they basically the same?

@hader - If you have already created a BOOT media of any kind with your latest installation, having the current OPE file doesn't do anything for you.  You need to go to C:\Program Files\Hasleo\Hasleo Backup Suite\bin and delete the file called winpe.iso.  While in the bin folder,  go to the following folder... WADK\Windows Preinstallation Environment and delete the AMD64 folder (the previously downloaded Microsoft files).  You can eliminate these steps by re-installing your current HBS version which will do all this cleanup for you.

Now, when you start a new Emergency Disk build, Hasleo will ask whether to download winpe components once again... CHECK the box and say NEXT.  At the next window you will see an Offline WinPE Package button, SELECT that button.  A DropDown will appear allowing you to drill to the location of your recently downloaded OPE file.  SELECT your file and CLICK Next.  The download and build will commence but instead of downloading, a few seconds later the build will begin.  The rest is as you expect.

[Froggie]

You need to understand the basic, first attempt, build process.  When building the EMERGENCY DISK initially (after a fresh HBS install), if you don't select the Download Components process, HBS will use your System's generated WinRE.wim file (if it can find it) to create the emergency media.  Usually this contains the richest driver set for the System it's being built on, but lately, users with W11 25H2 upgrades have been experiencing issues with that WinRE version.  If you select the download components process, it will allow you to do that or use an off-line media to do the build (Hasleo's OPE file if you have it).  The components download will be the current WinPE (not RE) build available from MicroSloth for your OS.  The off-line OPE selection will be whatever you've downloaded from Hasleo (they have both a W10 and W11 version... the W11 version is much richer in its driver inclusions).

If you've already gone through the above procedure once, Hasleo will use "leftovers" for any future build.  They include the original "internal" winpe.iso build as well as the downloaded MicroSloth components.  That's why if you want a "fresh" ED build, you need to do a "leftover" cleanup (described previously) or a fresh program install which will also do that for you.

Personally I have found Hasleo's W11 OPE off-line download to be the most versatile WIM-base for all my needs, regardless of OS in use on the actual System being imaged.  The W11 WinPE WIM-base is never as new as the WinRE.wim created by the OS... which in this case is a really good thing 

[Epictetus]

You need to understand the basic, first attempt, build process.  When building the EMERGENCY DISK initially (after a fresh HBS install), if you don't select the Download Components process, HBS will use your System's generated WinRE.wim file (if it can find it) to create the emergency media.  Usually this contains the richest driver set for the System it's being built on, but lately, users with W11 25H2 upgrades have been experiencing issues with that WinRE version.  If you select the download components process, it will allow you to do that or use an off-line media to do the build (Hasleo's OPE file if you have it).  The components download will be the current WinPE (not RE) build available from MicroSloth for your OS.  The off-line OPE selection will be whatever you've downloaded from Hasleo (they have both a W10 and W11 version... the W11 version is much richer in its driver inclusions).

If you've already gone through the above procedure once, Hasleo will use "leftovers" for any future build.  They include the original "internal" winpe.iso build as well as the downloaded MicroSloth components.  That's why if you want a "fresh" ED build, you need to do a "leftover" cleanup (described previously) or a fresh program install which will also do that for you.

Personally I have found Hasleo's W11 OPE off-line download to be the most versatile WIM-base for all my needs, regardless of OS in use on the actual System being imaged.  The W11 WinPE WIM-base is never as new as the WinRE.wim created by the OS... which in this case is a really good thing