Solved Latest Macrium Reflect X updates

Like @Caledon Ken I made the upgrade to Macrium X. In the couple of backups I have done on 3 PCs, the backup speed has been 3 - 5 minutes longer than v8. X chose System Cache as the write method - not a huge issue but I was hoping for a reduction in backup time.
Is it necessary to redo the USB Rescue Media or the Boot Menu after every Reflect update or would that be stated in the Release Notes for the update? Thanks.

Mitch said:

Like @Caledon Ken I made the upgrade to Macrium X. In the couple of backups I have done on 3 PCs, the backup speed has been 3 - 5 minutes longer than v8. X chose System Cache as the write method - not a huge issue but I was hoping for a reduction in backup time.
Is it necessary to redo the USB Rescue Media or the Boot Menu after every Reflect update or would that be stated in the Release Notes for the update? Thanks.

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It is not essential but I do it simply so the info on the app page is consistent

Well my backups over the network, wired from my machine, are about the same amount of time. One from my wife's machine, and two from mine (One the system drive and one the data drive.) not a big deal, they run in the middle of the night.

Thanks for the info Bree. Prior to seeing your note I ran fulls just to be sure. Also gave me a chance to time.

Mitch said:

Like @Caledon Ken I made the upgrade to Macrium X. In the couple of backups I have done on 3 PCs, the backup speed has been 3 - 5 minutes longer than v8. X chose System Cache as the write method - not a huge issue but I was hoping for a reduction in backup time.
Is it necessary to redo the USB Rescue Media or the Boot Menu after every Reflect update or would that be stated in the Release Notes for the update? Thanks.

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When it's a requirement, Macrium always mentions it in their RELEASE NOTES.

Did anyone take up the newer Reflect X Home 4 Computers 3 Year Term 50% Off offer?
With the 50% discount, I still think it's too expensive.



They're trying to win back customers.

Stigg said:

Did anyone take up the newer Reflect X Home 4 Computers 3 Year Term 50% Off offer?
With the 50% discount, I still think it's too expensive.

View attachment 172622

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What is not clear in your screenshot it that your $423.54 price is in Australian dollars. You can change the display currency at the top of that 'buy' page, only your local currency does not identify itself, GBP in my case, AUD in yours.

Stigg said:

They're trying to win back customers.

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No, those are the standard prices. The 50% off for a 4-pack has always been there, even for the old v8 perpetual licences. What's new is that a 3-year term is now available to everyone (at a 10% discount to a 1-year plan). Previously a 3-year plan was (as I understand it) only for business customers. It was however offered at launch to those of us who had just purchased a v8 Home perpetual licence, we could trade it in at no cost for a 3-year plan. That's how I got mine.

They are, however, trying to win over existing v8 owners (perhaps in response to the psmounterex.sys issues). They've recently emailed us with two upgrade offers, a '50% off for life' trade in that's almost too good to refuse, or keep your v8 licences and buy 3 years for the price of 2.



As well as buying a v8 licence just before launch, specifically to trade in for a 3-year Reflect X plan, I have (or rather, had) a 4-pack of v8 and a single v8 licence. I have now traded in the single licence for a '50% off for life' 1-year plan. So I now have two Reflect X plans (one 3-year, one 1-year at 50% off for life) and a 4-pack of v8 perpetuals.

If I traded in my 4-pack I'd be paying £36.99 per year, over 3 years that's £110.97 (A$208.82). Or should I buy an extra 3-year 4-pack at £133.84 (A$251.87) and keep the v8? Or just wait to see what Black Friday brings? (They're still regularly making offers, there's already been a World Backup Day discount.) The jury is out....

I bought the four pack at 50% off for life by turning in mu V7 licenses. I asked about what happens at the end of the first 3 year plan and Saul (Macrium) said at the end of three years the plan goes back to full price. I didn't push. I imagine there will always be a 3 year discount of some sort, the company gets the money up front and companies love being paid in today dollars.

Caledon Ken said:

I asked about what happens at the end of the first 3 year plan and Saul (Macrium) said at the end of three years the plan goes back to full price.

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When I took the launch offer to trade in v8 for a 3 year plan at no extra cost, Macrium specifically said there may be loyalty offers at the end of 3 years. I suspect the same applies however you get a 3 year plan.

Macrium said:

Trade in (your existing license will be deactivated after your new license is activated) your one-time license (which has one year of support from the date of purchase) and receive a 3-year Annual Plan at no extra cost. Macrium may make loyalty offers available at the end of your 3-year term.

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---edit---

Saul Painter is 'old school' Macrium....

Saul Painter is an experienced marketing professional currently serving as the Marketing Operations Manager and previously as the Marketing Manager at Macrium Software since February 2012.

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Saul Painter - Marketing Operations Manager at Macrium Software | The Org

Yes him and Nick

June 2026 Monthly Update has replaced the boot manager file. Please update your USB drives again.

@garlin

I've updated my Macrium X boot media, sometimes a real PITA. I.m just waiting for Macrium to update its software where we can make bootable winre rescue media without having to constantly manually update it with the new CA 2023 certs.

Moving forward, it's not just installing the CA 2023 certs. After performing the CA 2011 revocation, UEFI will have a SVN (or version number) which mandates the lowest build version of the Windows boot manager that's allowed.

Any boot file below that SVN (8.0 in April 2026, and 9.0 after installing June 2026), will be banned. This is because MS knows there was a security hole important enough to replace the boot manager. You already have the CA 2023 certs installed, but the SVN is an additional security feature that was rolled out as a consequence of the CA 2011 revocation.

This is why I recommend providing user feedback to Macrium (and the other backup vendors):

1. Macirum must record the Secure Boot cert type and current SVN (in a config file or the registry) when you create a recovery drive.

2. Every time you open up the tool's UI, it should check the current Windows version of the SVN. If that has changed (after Windows Update), then alert the user they should recreate their recovery drive.

3. Create a new recovery drive, and again log the now-current SVN.

4. Repeat forever.

The point is Macrium can never predict when MS will patch the boot manager (and SVN which changes in lockstep). MS's rules for responsible security disclosure prevent them from sharing details with Macrium ahead of time. So the tool should learn to check, and advise the user it's time to recreate the boot media.

This also means they need to move away from the more static model of "download this PE/RE file from Macrium". Because they'll always be lagging behind, and should try what my script does (pull the files from an updated Windows system).

garlin said:

This also means they need to move away from the more static model of "download this PE/RE file from Macrium". Because they'll always be lagging behind, and should try what my script does (pull the files from an updated Windows system).

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From what I have seen it looks like Macrium rescue media just copies files from the system when creating WinRE based media including the winre.wim from the recovery partition. Then it mounts the wim file to add the Macrium files.

I have rescue media files for Macrium on D:\boot\Macrium instead of C: so that is why the log says copying to D:\boot\macrium in the log.




Log file attached.

garlin said:

Moving forward, it's not just installing the CA 2023 certs. After performing the CA 2011 revocation, UEFI will have a SVN (or version number) which mandates the lowest build version of the Windows boot manager that's allowed.

Any boot file below that SVN (8.0 in April 2026, and 9.0 after installing June 2026), will be banned. This is because MS knows there was a security hole important enough to replace the boot manager. You already have the CA 2023 certs installed, but the SVN is an additional security feature that was rolled out as a consequence of the CA 2011 revocation.

This is why I recommend providing user feedback to Macrium (and the other backup vendors):

1. Macirum must record the Secure Boot cert type and current SVN (in a config file or the registry) when you create a recovery drive.

2. Every time you open up the tool's UI, it should check the current Windows version of the SVN. If that has changed (after Windows Update), then alert the user they should recreate their recovery drive.

3. Create a new recovery drive, and again log the now-current SVN.

4. Repeat forever.

The point is Macrium can never predict when MS will patch the boot manager (and SVN which changes in lockstep). MS's rules for responsible security disclosure prevent them from sharing details with Macrium ahead of time. So the tool should learn to check, and advise the user it's time to recreate the boot media.

This also means they need to move away from the more static model of "download this PE/RE file from Macrium". Because they'll always be lagging behind, and should try what my script does (pull the files from an updated Windows system).

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So this is why I can't do a restore, I revoked the 2011 cert. Is there a way to get it back??

What you can do is temporarily disable Secure Boot, for the duration of the restore. Sometimes it's just less hassle.

1. This allows any older boot media to work. Run the restore process.

2. This allows any old restored backup image to work. Restart Windows.

3. Check if your saved backup might have been before you made the CA 2023 updates. Run my check script with the -Audit flag (runs the report pretending that Secure Boot is enabled, since you've actually disabled it).

4. If your restored image is out of compliance (usually it's the boot manager or SkuSiPolicy that is behind in versions), then run the update script. You don't have to redo the Secure Boot certs, it's the boot manager that's typically older (because it was saved before the last time the boot manager was replaced by a recent security fix.)

If you like to update your current boot media, plug in the drive and run:

5. After you're checked out as good. Re-enable Secure Boot mode.

Again, it's OK to temporarily disable Secure Boot for the purposes of re-installing or recovering the system if that's all that will happen during the time Secure Boot is off. Presumably you're not making other changes like downloading and installing random files off the web while performing a restore. You would do that after re-enabling Secure Boot.

garlin said:

What you can do is temporarily disable Secure Boot, for the duration of the restore. Sometimes it's just less hassle.

1. This allows any older boot media to work. Run the restore process.

2. This allows any old restored backup image to work. Restart Windows.

3. Check if your saved backup might have been before you made the CA 2023 updates. Run my check script with the -Audit flag (runs the report pretending that Secure Boot is enabled, since you've actually disabled it).

Code:

Check-UEFI.bat -Audit -Verbose

4. If your restored image is out of compliance (usually it's the boot manager or SkuSiPolicy that is behind in versions), then run the update script. You don't have to redo the Secure Boot certs, it's the boot manager that's typically older (because it was saved before the last time the boot manager was replaced by a recent security fix.)

Code:

Update-UEFI.bat

If you like to update your current boot media, plug in the drive and run:

Code:

Update-UEFI.bat -BootMedia

5. After you're checked out as good. Re-enable Secure Boot mode.

Again, it's OK to temporarily disable Secure Boot for the purposes of re-installing or recovering the system if that's all that will happen during the time Secure Boot is off. Presumably you're not making other changes like downloading and installing random files off the web while performing a restore. You would do that after re-enabling Secure Boot.

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The saved backups were from yesterday. These were done after I updated to 2023 and revoked 2011. Secure boot is on and was on when I made the backups. I opened a Ticket with Macrium. I have too much going on at this time. Thanks your your help though.

Josey Wales said:

I opened a Ticket with Macrium. I have too much going on at this time. Thanks your your help though.

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Keep us updated Josey on what Macrium says about it. Thanks.