KB5028254 breaks the Macrium bootable media.

Wisewiz · Jul 28, 2023

Scott said:
And you have revocations applied? Anything will boot without revocations applied.

Oh. I didn't realize that the BIG question here was whether or not you had revocations applied. I must not have read the previous 35+ posts carefully enough. I thought the problem was the UPDATE disabling Macrium bootable USB rescue drives. My bad.

pparks1 · Jul 28, 2023

The real issue will be 1st quarter 2024 when MS pushes the relocations automatically. Right now, you have to take steps on your own.

Mark Phelps · Jul 28, 2023

CornishRattler said:
Even the defunct free version has a newer build number than that 8.0.7279

I'm confused about what you mean.

The MR site no longer offers a free version, only a 30-day trial of the paid version -- and that is version 8.1.7544. The prior 8.0 Free version no longer seems to be available from them.

My existing Free versions are still 8.0.7279 -- and they say No updates available.

Spartan · Aug 1, 2023

Mark Phelps said:
I'm confused about what you mean.

The MR site no longer offers a free version, only a 30-day trial of the paid version -- and that is version 8.1.7544. The prior 8.0 Free version no longer seems to be available from them.

My existing Free versions are still 8.0.7279 -- and they say No updates available.

You are indeed on the latest FREE version and you don't need to update, as long as you have the bootable rescue media, you can always boot off it and create backups or restore.

JohnnyFire · Aug 1, 2023

Ghot said:
I'm still on Macrium Reflect 8.0.6635, and today's Cumulative Update broke my bootable rescue media.
I can create a Macrium Boot Menu entry that works, which IMO is useless.
If the boot record ever gets corrupt, I won't be able to access my backups.

I have NOT done the "revocations".

I created the Macrium Boot Option, and restored from .2070 back to .1992, and now my bootable USB rescue media works again.

update your software too and recreate a new version of bootable usb and you are ready to go! all wortks flawless here!

Ghot · Aug 1, 2023

JohnnyFire said:
update your software too and recreate a new version of bootable usb and you are ready to go! all wortks flawless here!

1. I don't want to update Macrium. I did before and the newer versions are quite a bit slower.
2. I already did re-create the USB stick... no joy.

IanMosley · Aug 1, 2023

Ghot said:
I created the Macrium Boot Option, and restored from .2070 back to .1992, and now my bootable USB rescue media works again.

FIXED

From the Macrium Reflect Knowledge Base -

Below is a link regarding the UEFI Secure Boot and the Rescue Media, the KB article will provide more information about the situation and the steps to resolve any issues with booting into the rescue media related to this topic.

Windows Security update for Secure Boot - Knowledgebase 8.0 - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase

We hope this clears things up regarding this situation.

glasskuter · Aug 1, 2023

Well it's about time Macrium made a statement.

Ghot · Aug 1, 2023

IanMosley said:
From the Macrium Reflect Knowledge Base -

Looks promising.
I'd imagine I'd have to update MR to the latest version.
I don't really want to do that, unless they fixed the "speed" issue with backups and restores.
Currently, it take me about 2:20 to make a backup and 1:55 to restore (30GB of data, with a backup size of approx. 15GB)

A while back I tested and found the 8.0.6635 version to be about twice as fast as the newer versions.

I guess I'll have to make a fresh backup, then spend about a day... testing. LOL

Someone really needs to beat up Microsoft, till they get their act together. :/

So my "plan" will be as follows...

1. Make a fresh backup and restore that backup. Timing the backup and restore.
2. Update MR to the latest version, then time a backup and restore again.
3. IF the speed issue still exists, I'll have to decide if I can deal with it.
4. IF... it's fixed or I decide I can deal with it, I will then do this...

Problem Resolution for Windows PE 11
Temporarily Turn Off Secure Boot

Go into your computer’s UEFI settings, typically by pressing a function key while your system restarts, and turn off Secure Boot

Restart your computer; it will now boot.

Apply the latest updates using Windows Update

Apply the Secure Boot Revocations as detailed in How to manage the Windows Boot Manager revocations for Secure Boot changes

Restart your computer, go back into your UEFI settings and turn Secure Boot back on

Windows will now boot successfully with Secure Boot enabled

5. Then, after that's done, I will do this... "Create New Macrium Reflect Rescue Media" as per the Macrium PE instructions.

Nothing is ever... easy.

But, at least Macrium is on the ball.

Ofc I'm not gonna rush into this. I wanna wait and see if someone finds a solution for the stupid large Taskbar icons, that came with 22621.2070 :/

IanMosley · Aug 1, 2023

Ghot said:
Looks promising

I've followewd the steps for both Windows RE & Windows PE and both newly created Rescue Media boot & run as they should.

Wisewiz · Aug 1, 2023

@Ghot,
I don't see any of your reported speed changes on any of my three systems. E.g., I'm getting consistent times of 1:26 -1:29 (depending on what I've fiddled on my main disk) for my full disk backups and verifies (system on C:; apps on D:; C: and D: on disk 0) as far back as (EDIT) June 1. I recall that a few updates ago, we all (on this forum) were amazed that the speeds of all processes had been cut in half. Are you saying that since that time, your times have reverted?

Ghot · Aug 1, 2023

Wisewiz said:
@Ghot,
I don't see any of your reported speed changes on any of my three systems. E.g., I'm getting consistent times of 1:26 -1:29 (depending on what I've fiddled on my main disk) for my full disk backups and verifies (system on C:; apps on D:; C: and D: on disk 0) as far back as (EDIT) June 1. I recall that a few updates ago, we all (on this forum) were amazed that the speeds of all processes had been cut in half. Are you saying that since that time, your times have reverted?

No.
When I first updated MR from version 8.0.6635 to w/e the next version was... the speeds were atrocious, so I stopped updating MR all together.
I assume from your comments they have fixed this in later versions. That will be nice to see.

Wisewiz · Aug 1, 2023

Back in that 8.1 release thread, I see these observations:

Noticeable (some would say major) speed difference:
PC 1: Full main disk image: 8.0: 2:28; 8.1: 1:40; Single apps drive image: 8.0: :35; 8.1: :23.
PC 2: Full main disk image: 8.0: 2:19; 8.1: 1:43; Single apps drive image: 8.0: :33; 8.1: :24.
(That was me, Ww.)

and

8.0 images completed in ~ 18 minutes.
8.1 images complete in ~ 6 minutes.
(That was OAT, I think)

Ghot · Aug 1, 2023

Wisewiz said:
Wow!

Well, first of all, I see your times, but it's not very clear what they are for... exactly Or, which version of MR.

However, I just upgraded MR from 8.0.6635 to 8.1.7544. Now I'm tuckered out.

In a while... I'll make a fresh backup, and see what my times look like.

Well, I guess I can make a fresh backup now. I don't have to do the rest of my "plan" till I recover.

Be back in about 10 mins...

Wisewiz · Aug 1, 2023

Ghot said:
Well, first of all, I see your times, but it's not very clear what they are for... exactly Or, which version of MR.

8.1.7544. Times are for C: plus D: full disk image and verification. C: is 26.5GB; D: is 7.0GB. If you compare my full disk image times in post 53 above to my full disk image time in post 51, it's obvious that the MR speed has improved, even within the 8.1 version releases.

Ghot · Aug 1, 2023

Wisewiz said:
8.1.7544. Times are for C: plus D: full disk image and verification. C: is 26.5GB; D: is 7.0GB. If you compare my full disk image times in post 53 above to my full disk image time in post 51, it's obvious that the MR speed has improved, even within the 8.1 version releases.

OK, none of that counts.

1. It's on prebuilts, and who knows what they do when no one is looking.
2. You have weird backups or methods or both.

Now, for some reality... 31.7Gb on C: drive... backing up Windows partition and EFI partition.
.6635 backup ~2:20
.7544 backup 1:23

Will test the restore speed later.

Wth... brb with restore times...

Ok... w/o using Rapid Delta Restore... and restoring from bootable rescue media...

.6635 ~1:55
.7544 3:14 <--- there is the speed problem.

So, with the new version... we gain about 1 minute when creating a backup from within Windows, and lose about a minute when restoring from a backup, outside of Windows.

Ok... the lab must shut down for a bit, gotta help neighbor with comp. Bbiaw.

Tweakfiend · Aug 1, 2023

IanMosley said:
I'm on Build .2070 & MR 8.1.7544 and I'm not able to reproduce your issue.

Having used / studied Macrium since it came out , the only current problems on version 7544 seem to be 1) slowness in backing up =15- 20 mins average and 2) problem with external drive backup targets taking for ever or stalling. Until this year problems were virtually zero .
Currently no boot media issues seen on latest version . So many reports on these 2 issues seem to have prompted a re think , behind the scenes.

IanMosley · Aug 1, 2023

Tweakfiend said:
Currently no boot media issues seen on latest version . So many reports on these 2 issues seem to have prompted a re think , behind the scenes.

You need to read my message #47 in this thread and take the PREVENTATIVE action advised.

Wisewiz · Aug 1, 2023

Ghot said:
2. You have weird backups or methods or both.

Now, for some reality... 31.7Gb on C: drive... backing up Windows partition and EFI partition.
.6635 backup ~2:20
.7544 backup 1:23
Ok... the lab must shut down for a bit, gotta help neighbor with comp. Bbiaw.

Backups of this, with pretty much the basic MR settings, from primary NVMe to internal storage NVMe. Backups launched from MR shortcuts, so the defaults don't have to be copied; they're already there in the profile.

Oh, and I don't use the User folders at all, and I have no software installed on C:, so that prolly accounts for the sizes of our C: drives. Oh, yeah, and my pagefile.sys is on D:, not C:.

Helping a neighbour with comp, eh? You're a good man, Charlie Brown.

Ghot · Aug 1, 2023

Ok, now it's time to make the new .7544 rescue media (the old way), and see if that affects the restore speed.
PE version, but with out the revocation adaptations.
My USB stick is now the Win 11 PE version, up-to-date.

I'm gonna see how long a restore takes with this...

See post #61