I need to restore my computer's hard drive immediately, but I've hit a roadblock: my Rescue DVD fails to load Reflect completely. Windows PE boots, but loading Reflect hangs while trying to load the 'netwtw02' driver. The version of Reflect on the rescue DVD is 7.2, Build 3897, created shortly after I started using Reflect last November. About a month after creating this Rescue disk I was able to do a restore without difficulty.

I believe that the version of Windows 10 on the computer when the rescue disk was created was 1803, but the version there now is 1903. I don't think that should affect whether Reflect can load from the rescue DVD, though. The 'netwtw02' driver name suggests it's a networking driver. I don't need networking for a restore because my backup images are on USB external hard drives.

I hope someone has suggestions for how to proceed because I'm really in a jam. Thanks for any help!

Darron

How long did you wait at the driver loading screen?  Sometimes, it takes a few minutes.  Even if it was working before, try waiting 5 minutes before giving up that it's hung.


Another thing you can try is try pressing the Escape key to stop loading the driver.  If that doesn't work, try booting into the Rescue Media again but pressing Escape before the networking driver appears if you can do that quickly enough.  Since you said you don't need access to network volumes, you should be able to get by without a networking driver.

If you’re using WinRE as your Rescue Media base WIN, then the Windows version on your PC can absolutely affect Rescue Media. I remember that original release of 1809 that was subsequently retracted had a bug in its WinRE kernel that caused certain network drivers not to load during Rescue Media startup even though they could be loaded manually afterward. The 1809 rerelease had this fixed in its WinRE kernel. So if you haven’t already, try using WinPE 10 as your base WIM, since that always uses WinPE 10 1709, regardless of what version you’re running. Sometimes consistency has its virtues.

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dbminter - 28 July 2019 6:15 PM

How long did you wait at the driver loading screen?  Sometimes, it takes a few minutes.  Even if it was working before, try waiting 5 minutes before giving up that it's hung.


Another thing you can try is try pressing the Escape key to stop loading the driver.  If that doesn't work, try booting into the Rescue Media again but pressing Escape before the networking driver appears if you can do that quickly enough.  Since you said you don't need access to network volumes, you should be able to get by without a networking driver.

Thanks for your reply. I waited nearly an hour for Reflect to finish loading that driver, buit Reflect was still hung up. Hitting Esc after the "loading netwtw02" did nothing and hitting Esc while the "initializing WinPE environment" message is still displayed simply moved the process to "loading netwtw02" stage, where the process again hung. I'm running out of ideas to try here.
Darron

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jphughan - 28 July 2019 7:56 PM

If you’re using WinRE as your Rescue Media base WIN, then the Windows version on your PC can absolutely affect Rescue Media. I remember that original release of 1809 that was subsequently retracted had a bug in its WinRE kernel that caused certain network drivers not to load during Rescue Media startup even though they could be loaded manually afterward. The 1809 rerelease had this fixed in its WinRE kernel. So if you haven’t already, try using WinPE 10 as your base WIM, since that always uses WinPE 10 1709, regardless of what version you’re running. Sometimes consistency has its virtues.

Thanks for your reply. I will try downloading a WinPE 10 .iso file, boot from that, and then try to run Reflect. As I understand it, WinPE runs from RAM, so I should be able to remove the boot disk and load my disk that has Reflect on it. Now crossing my fingers and going to start that process.....

Darron

You could try getting access to another machine with Reflect installed on it and create temporary new WinPE based media.  Or let a good friend install the free version of Reflect to get a temporarily working Rescue Media.  Then, once you get the system restored the way you want it, create new WinPE based media on your system installed Reflect, particularly if it's the paid version.  That way you get full access to all features.  Although don't do this for ReDeploy, I think, because you want a Rescue Media that's as close as to the system in the restore you're attempting for is that.  I don't know that for sure, though.

Why are you downloading a WinPE 10 ISO file? Just tell Reflect to build with WinPE 10 by opening the Rescue Media Builder wizard and clicking Advanced > Choose Base WIM tab > WinPE 10. When you click OK and then Build, Reflect will download any files it needs and directly create a Rescue Media build on top of WinPE 10.

I construed the OP was in a state where his system is inaccessible for some reason and needs to restore.  Maybe I'm working too much into it.  All he said was he needed to restore his HD immediately.  His system may still be in a bootable way.


If the system is still bootable into Windows, then do as JP says.  Just rebuild your Rescue Media on your machine.


BTW, is it even possible to run Reflect booting from a standalone WinPE ISO that isn't configured to automatically run Reflect on it?  Would it be possible to run the Reflect installed on another partition from a booted WinPE ISO that way?

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jphughan - 28 July 2019 9:01 PM

Why are you downloading a WinPE 10 ISO file? Just tell Reflect to build with WinPE 10 by opening the Rescue Media Builder wizard and clicking Advanced > Choose Base WIM tab > WinPE 10. When you click OK and then Build, Reflect will download any files it needs and directly create a Rescue Media build on top of WinPE 10.

I don't have access to Reflect because I can't boot to Windows, so I can't use Reflect to create a new Rescue disk. The Rescue disk I prepared before doesn't work for the reason mentioned in my opening post. 

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dbminter - 28 July 2019 9:10 PM

I construed the OP was in a state where his system is inaccessible for some reason and needs to restore.  Maybe I'm working too much into it.  All he said was he needed to restore his HD immediately.  His system may still be in a bootable way.


If the system is still bootable into Windows, then do as JP says.  Just rebuild your Rescue Media on your machine.


BTW, is it even possible to run Reflect booting from a standalone WinPE ISO that isn't configured to automatically run Reflect on it?  Would it be possible to run the Reflect installed on another partition from a booted WinPE ISO that way?

I sure hope I can run Reflect from a different volume! I've not had much experience with WinPE, but I did read that when booted it runs from a ram disk so that one can load other disks as needed.
Darro