Portable version vs lan drivers

DanielG

Hello, I have a small problem with the addition of the recovery environment at Windows startup with certain models such as Dell OPTIPLEX5080. The network card is not activated because drivers are missing. So I can't access the network within the environment. How can I add the drivers to this environment so that I can connect to our network to retrieve disk images? Thanks.

admin

@DanielG, Sorry that the recovery environment of AOMEI Backupper currently doesn't support add drivers manually. Maybe you can try to create WinPE bootable USB, and then boot computer from WinPE USB to retrieve disk images.
When you creating the WinPE bootable USB, you can add drivers manually.

jeverett

@DanielG
The easiest/adhoc way to add a driver to the Backupper recovery environment (WinPE) is to first have the driver available in an accessible folder, like on an extra USB drive:
For example, I have the drivers for my Mellanox ConnectX-5 in:
I:\MLNX_WinOF2-2\
including the files:

mlx5ui.dll
mlx5.cat
mlx5.inf
Mlx5.man
mlx5.sys

Once you have the drivers in place, launch the Backupper recovery environment, and go to
Tools | "Windows shell command"
and at the command line, tell the plug-and-play hardware utility to load your driver via the driver *.inf file (for example, using my driver, I'd type):
pnputil -i -a I:\MLNX_WinOF2-2\mlx5.inf
(Under the "-a <file_path>" flag, you would point to the *.inf file of your driver.)
(You should see confirmation that your driver was successfully installed.)

While still in the command line, you also should be able to enter in some commands like the following to see the status of your now loaded NIC:

wmic nic get index,macaddress,name,netenabled
(which will show you the index/number of your ethernet adapter, its name, and whether it has a link.)

netsh interface ipv4 show addresses 
(which will show you if your adapter, finding it with the index number above, got a DHCP address, or not.)

If you don't get an automatic address via DHCP on your network, you can set an IP address for your network in the Backupper recovery environment under:
Restore | "Select Image File" | "Share/NAS" | "Set IP"
and there will be a place to choose your adapter (via its index number from above) and enter in a static IP address configuration (although it would be nice if AOMEI made this setup easier to access under "Tools" or "Settings" or something.)

This process will add the driver for just that session of the the recovery environment. Once you shut down, it'll be gone and you'll need to repeat the process for each reboot.

If you want a permanent solution of adding the drivers, you can do that by using the Windows Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM.exe) command to modify the WinPE environment used by the recovery environment which (at least on my install), is stored in a *.WIM file at:
"C:\AomeiRecovery\AomeiBoot.wim"
To edit/add drivers in the AomeiBoot.wim file, you have to:

1) create a working directory, (for example, I do):
md C:\test\offline
2) "mount" the "image"/contents of the existing AomeiBoot.wim file into this working directory:
Dism /Mount-Image /ImageFile:C:\AomeiRecovery\AomeiBoot.wim  /Index:1 /MountDir:C:\test\offline  
3) add drivers to the mounted image, as desired (for example, using my Mellanox driver):
Dism /Image:C:\test\offline /add-Driver /Driver:"I:\MLNX_WinOF2\Drivers\mlx5.inf" /ForceUnsigned
(Under the "/Driver:<file_path>" flag, you would point to the *.inf file of your driver.)

(You should get confirmation of successful completion.)
4) Save and unmount the modified image into the AomeiBoot.wim file:
Dism /Unmount-Image /MountDir:C:\test\offline /Commit
(Again, you should get confirmation of successful completion.)

Now, when you boot into the recovery environment, you should have the added driver support.

Of course, if you don't have DHCP giving you an automatic IP address, you'll still need to do the:
Restore | "Select Image File" | "Share/NAS" | "Set IP"
each time you boot into it.