MACRIUM REFLECT - Create Bootable Rescue USB Drive

MACRIUM REFLECT - Create Bootable Rescue USB Flash Drive

How to Create a Bootable Rescue USB Flash Drive for Macrium Reflect​

   Information

In order to restore a Macrium image when your Windows operating system cannot be started, you are required to boot from a rescue CD, which holds a compact Linux operating system. The Linux operating system on this rescue CD allows you to quickly browse the disks and partitions of your PC, and select the image you wish to restore.

Within Macrium reflect, there is no direct way to create a bootable USB drive, but there is a very simple workaround to create bootable rescue USB drives. This tutorial will show you how to do that, so you can forgo the stack of rescue CD's sitting on your desk. If you manage Macrium images for multiple computers, you will find this technique extremely useful.

This tutorial is based on Macrium Reflect Free Edition Version 4.2 Build 3141

:note: Requirements:

You will need the following in order to create a bootable rescue USB drive:-

1. A USB flash drive
2. YUMI Multiboot USB Creator

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:note: Step 1 - Create the RESCUE ISO

Open Macrium Reflect as normal, and then from the menu, select the option Other Tasks > Create Rescue CD.

The 1st panel of the Rescue CD Wizard will be be displayed as shown below:

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The default option is Linux. Accept that by clicking on Next, and proceeding to the 2nd panel of the Rescue CD Wizard.

From the pull-down list, select the option Create ISO image file, as shown below:

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Click Finish, and now provide a name and location for the rescue ISO file that is about to be created, as shown below:

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   Warning

Do not include spaces in the ISO name or YUMI will fail to boot from it.

Once the file has been saved, close Macrium Reflect as normal.

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:note: Step 2 - Create the bootable RESCUE USB drive


Download YUMI Multiboot USB Creator to your desktop - its a single executable that requires no installation.

Insert the USB flash drive you want to use, into an available USB port on your computer.

Open YUMI by double-clicking it, and when prompted by Windows UAC, click Yes. You will be prompted to accept the Licence Agreement. Click I Agree to proceed.

Now follow thse steps and refer to the image shown below:

1. From the drop-down list, select the letter of the USB you wish to use.

2. The USB drive is required to be formatted as FAT32. If this is not the case, check the format option, which will format the entire USB drive before copying any information to it. If the USB drive is already formatted as FAT32, ignore this option.

3. In the distribution box, scroll to the very bottom and hlighlight the Try an Unlisted ISO.

4. Click Browse to locate and select the rescue ISO you create previously.

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5. Now click Create to create the bootable rescue USB drive.

If you opted to format the USB drive, please take careful note of the warning panel that appears, and is shown below. Click Yes to proceed.

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The rescue ISO file will now be copied to the USB drive. If successful, you will see the progress panel as shown below:

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Click Next to proceed. You will be prompted if you wish to add more ISO's/Distros. Click No to close this pop-up, and then click Finish to exit YUMI.

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You have now created a Macrium Bootable Rescue USB and can safely remove the USB drive.

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:note: Step 3 - Test the bootable RESCUE USB drive


One of critical elements of imaging, is to ensure that you can boot from the rescue USB drive. In fact, the same holds true if you choose to use the traditional bootable rescue CD method.

To do this, turn off your computer, plug in your USB drive and reboot your computer as normal. During the POST screen, press the DEL key repeatedly to enter your BIOS, and then find the setting that allows you to boot from a USB drive and place it first in the device boot sequence. Alternatively, during POST keeping pressing the F8 function key to bring up the one-time boot menu, and then select the USB device from that menu.

Once the PC boots from the USB device you will see the YUMI boot menu, as shown in the example below:

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If you select the option called Directly Bootable ISO's you will then be presented with the rescue ISO you created earlier. In the example shown below, I have a choice of 4 rescue ISO files (refer to the tip below):

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Once you select that ISO, the Linux operating system will boot the ISO, and then allow you to select the Macrium image to restore, as shown in this example below:

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   Tip

If you manage multiple computers, you can add as many Macrium rescue ISO's as you require. I manage 4 different computers and each one's rescue item is bootable from a single USB flash drive - refer to the image above.

If you already have a YUMI multiboot USB drive with other ISO's and/or distros on it, simple add the Macrium rescue ISO's as normal. This makes for a very handy USB toolkit.

I hope you find this tutorial useful, and remember : you saw it first at Sevenforums.

Regards,
Golden

   Note

Special thanks to kado897 who provided the information for capturing the YUMI screens.

Related Tutorials

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• Imaging with free Macrium

 

[Golden]

Hi,

Sorry this doesn't work for you : I agree, use the WAIK as a workaround.

Out of interest, if you use Macrium to burn a traditional rescue CD/DVD, do you get the same error message?

Regards,
Golden

 

[gugarci]

Don't know because this netbook has no cd/dvd drive. And putting the ISO created by Macrium 5 on the usb drive does nothing.

 

[kado897]

You need either to incorporate it into YUMI as in the tutorial or instead of creating the ISO Macrium gives you the option to create a bootable USB with just the Macrium PE on it.

 

[gugarci]

And I tried both tutorials and Yumi and Unetbooting did not work. I even tried just putting the ISO on the USB drive alone since someone here mentioned that v5 can save the ISO to the USB device. But now that I think about it, I used an image that I created earlier that day was saved originally to my desktop. Maybe I'll try creating a new ISO with Macrium and save it directly to the USB.

As soon as I get access to my son's netbook I'll try this and if it doesn't work I'll try making the USB PE boot device.

 

[lala1990]

pardon me, but can i ask, can the bootable usb drive created by yumi be used for other purposes like storage, or has it become solely a bootable usb drive only and not meant for other uses (storage)?

 

[Golden]

Hi,

You can still use free space on the USB to store other items if you wish.

Regards,
Golden

 

[lala1990]

ok thank you very much

 

[kado897]

You can use the free space but you must not disturb the existing directory structure.It is probably safest to add a new directory to the root for your stuff.

 

[lala1990]

You can use the free space but you must not disturb the existing directory structure.It is probably safest to add a new directory to the root for your stuff.

thank you, that was what i did.

 

[gugarci]

I'm just not having any luck with this netbook. I downloaded the file and followed the instructions on the link below.
Create a Custom Windows PE Rescue Environment

I have followed every step about more than 5 times and I still cannot get it to work. Everything is like the tutorial except I never see step 4. The Rescue Media Drivers page never displays! At the end I keep getting the following error message:
"Failed to create Win PE USB rescue media. The USB drive may be unsuitable please try another drive."

This is a Asus Eee with Win 7 Starter and I'm using a 4GB SandDisk flash drive formatted to Fat32. Also to play it safe I have downloaded the 1.7GB file 2 separate times in case one was corrupted. And have started from scratch 3 times by uninstalling and reinstalling the WAIK.

 

[kado897]

hi gugarci. Sounds like you are not having much luck. It is a while since I needed to to this as I now have the paid version but I think I can remember how it goes.

Some questions.

At step 3 did you select the correct architecture for the Netbook x64 x86 etc?
After the download of the WAIK were the messages "mounting the WIM and unmounting the WIM etc displayed in the status area?
Did you get an operation completed popup at the end of the stage?
After you pressed the close button what screens did you get?

 

[gugarci]

I'm 100% sure I chose 32 bit. As far as the rest is concerned I saw a mounting message, don't recall and unmounting message. I'm going to try it again and make notes of the screens that come up and my responses. I'll post again when I try it. Not giving up yet. But like I said earlier I had no issues at all with the Paragon Linux USB rescue media.

 

[kado897]

OK. Thanks.

 

[kado897]

A further question.

I notice that your specs say x64. Are you creating this on the Netbook or your x64 Machine?

 

[gugarci]

I have all my PC's listed in my signature. I have 2 x64 PC's. But the netbook is a Win 7 Starter 32bit.

 

[kado897]

Yes, but are you creating this on the netbook or one of the x64 machines? If so that could be the problem. On a 64bit machine Macrium would be 64bit and you cannot then create a 32bit PE disk from it.

 

[gugarci]

I'm using the Win 7 Starter 32 bit netbook to create the rescue media, and all have failed except for Paragon B&R 2012 free.

 

[gregrocker]

What about Win7 built-in backup imaging? Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup

 

[kado897]

I'm using the Win 7 Starter 32 bit netbook to create the rescue media, and all have failed except for Paragon B&R 2012 free.

I can't think of anything else at present. Perhaps others will have more suggestions.

 

[gugarci]

What about Win7 built-in backup imaging? Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup

Does Win 7 Starter have that? And even if it does I'm still going to need to create a bootable usb drive. If it does I'll try it. Also I use Win7 built-in backup imaging along with Macrium in my other 2 Win 7 Pro PC's.