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arctan - 4 January 2023 4:06 PM

Hello, I have a few questions about adding a boot menu option for system image recovery.  I have guesses for the answers, but before messing with boot options I would feel more comfortable knowing for sure:

1) If I enable the boot menu, will I see the "Choose an Operating System" screen every time I boot the computer?  Or only when I press a special key (like F12 or F8 or Windows key, not sure which) when booting the computer?

2) Is the boot menu an undoable option, i.e. if I don't like/need it, can I go back to Macrium | Other Tasks | Rescue Media Builder | No Boot Menu?

3) If I update Macrium Reflect to a new version in the future, will I need to return to this dialog and rebuild to keep the boot menu version in sync?

1.  Yes. Each time you boot.
2.  Yes.
3.  If a new version is issued and you visit "Create Rescue Media" Reflect will ask you if you want to update the boot menu.

The Windows Rescue Boot Menu (WRBM) allows you to restore an image file without using external rescue media. It allows you to boot into the rescue environment using files already located on your C partition. These files load directly into RAM, so it is possible to restore an image of the C partition you booted rescue from. That being said, you should make sure you have created and tested alternate rescue media. Think of WRBM as a convenience and not something you would rely on to consistently restore an image. The reason is that the files you need may not be available on your computer for a number of reasons (corruption, malware, drive failure, etc.). External rescue media can be used as your only rescue media (or a backup to the recovery boot menu option) because it does not depend on any recovery files being on your computer.

The WRBM can be rebuilt automatically whenever you rebuild rescue media for any target device. The rebuild process involves updating the stored build files and the boot menu option boots from those files. Windows Rescue Boot Menu is not a replacement for external rescue media. WRBM requires certain files on your HD to be intact, which they may not be in some failures.
Once created and the computer is rebooted, a screen will be displayed where you can select the WRBM or your Windows OS. The Windows OS is selected by default and will boot into it after a period of time. The default time can be changed between 5 seconds, 10 seconds and 5 minutes. Other options can also be selected on this screen.

The WRBM can be handy for those who perform frequent restores, e.g., people who perform frequent application testing or who need to reset to a known good state frequently.

To answer your questions:
1.  Yes, but you can set the time it waits for an answer and select the default which will usually be to boot Windows.  The timer can be reset online from additional options on that screen, but the lowest it goes is 10 seconds, I think.
2.  Yes, if there is a boot menu set, Rescue Media Builder will offer the option to remove the current boot menu option.
3. You can, and RMB will note if there is a new version of Reflect that could be built if you elect to build it. Rarely does a MR update require a rebuild, and it almost always noted in the release notes for the new version.   Otherwise, the release notes will advise you can skip the rebuild if you so choose.

My personal setup's answer to those same questions. YMMV.
1) I set the wait-for-answer time to 2 seconds, because striking any key while waiting suspends the timer.  The "any timer value you want" is set in Windows Settings / Advanced System Settings / Startup and Recovery.
2) I seldom choose to remove the boot menu version.   However, I always build the boot menu version, and a USB Flash drive version, and I also build an ISO file version that can later be used to rebuild the flash drive with a past version.
3) I rebuild so that almost always I am using the latest boot menu.  And after doing this, I reboot my laptop in Rescue Media mode to verify that I can still access all the disks on the current system, and the folder on another system that contains the backup images that I would have to restore from.

I'd also offer this caution:  you MUST have a working non-boot-menu version of Rescue Media in the event you must restore your System Disk because of a total failure of that disk. You cannot restore the system disk from the usual online version of MR that runs in Windows.

Edited to fix typos/missing words.



L.W. (Dan) Danz, Overland Park KS