Creating Acronis bootable media

  1. Plug in a USB flash drive, or an external drive (HDD/SSD), or insert a blank CD or DVD.
  2. Start Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office.
  3. In the Tools section, click Bootable Rescue Media Builder.

  4. Choose a creation method.

    • Simple—This is the easiest option. Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office will choose the optimal media type for your computer. If you use Windows 7 or a later version, WinRE-based media will be created.

    • Advanced—This option allows you to choose a media type. This means you can create the bootable media not only for your computer, but for a computer running a different Windows version. Refer to Acronis Media Builder for details.

      If you select a Linux-based media, choose Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office components to be placed on the media. Ensure that the components that you select are compatible with the target computer architecture. Refer to Removable media settings for details.

      If you select a WinRE-based or WinPE-based media, then:

      • Select an architecture type of the media—32-bit or 64-bit. Note that 32-bit bootable media can work only on 32-bit computers, and 64-bit media is compatible with both 32-bit and 64-bit computers.

      • Select a toolkit that you want to be used for creating the bootable media. If you choose WAIK or WADK and you do not have the selected kit installed on your computer, then you first need to download it from the Microsoft website, and then install the required components—Deployment Tools and Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE).

        If you already have WinPE files on your computer and they are stored in a non-default folder, then just specify their location and the Acronis plug-in will be added to the existing WinPE image.

      • For better compatibility with your hardware, you can select drivers to be added to the media.

  5. Select a destination for the media:

    • CD
    • DVD
    • External drive

    • USB flash drive

      If your drive has an unsupported file system, Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office will suggest formatting it to FAT file system.

      Formatting permanently erases all data on a disk.

    • ISO image file

      You will need to specify the .iso file name and the destination folder.

      When the .iso file is created, you can burn it onto a CD or DVD. For example, in Windows 7 and later, you can do this by using a built-in burning tool. In File Explorer, double-click the created ISO image file, and then click Burn.

    • WIM image file (available only for WinPE-based media)

      Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office adds the Acronis plug-in to the .wim file from Windows AIK or Windows ADK. You will need to specify a name for the new .wim file and the destination folder.

      To create a bootable media by using a .wim file, you first need to convert it to an .iso file. Refer to Creating an .iso file from a .wim file for details.

      If Acronis Media Builder detects a previously created Survival Kit on this drive, it will attempt to overwrite and update only the hidden partition with the bootable media without formatting the whole drive.

  6. Click Proceed.