Recovery Media Creation

Synology Active Backup for Business is an all-in-one backup solution that supports backing up Windows PCs, Windows servers, and Linux servers.

You can create recovery media automatically and manually for Windows devices. We recommend using the automatic method, as it's easier. If you need to create recovery media manually, refer to the Recovery Media Creation Guide for detailed instructions, requirements, and limitations.

Note:

Automatically Create Recovery Media

Active Backup for Business Recovery Media Creator is a desktop tool affiliated with Active Backup for Business. This automated tool is designed for administrators to effectively and automatically create recovery media to perform bare-metal or volume-level restore. Administrators can adopt this tool if the device intended to be restored isn't running a 32-bit version of Windows and doesn't contain specific drivers, time zones, and languages. This tool will create a 64-bit recovery media, and the language and time zone of the media will be the same as the device that creates recovery media.

You can go to the Download Center or click here to download this tool and use it to create recovery media if all the default settings do not need to be changed and no further customization is required. Refer to Automatically Create Recovery Media for detailed instructions.

Note:

System Requirements

Supported Media Types

Create USB Recovery Media

To create USB-based recovery media, insert a USB drive with enough capacity (at least 1 GB) into your device first, otherwise, there will be no available USB drive for you to select. Afterward, launch Active Backup for Business Recovery Media Creator and select USB media.

Windows ADK and Windows PE installation:

A pop-up notification will appear if no Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (Windows ADK) or Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) is detected. Click Download and the wizard will guide you through the installation process. Make sure both the Windows ADK and Windows PE are installed.

Deployment Tools and Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) are the only two features required for building recovery media. Installation may take a few minutes. If you want to download the Windows ADK and Windows PE in advance, we recommend downloading version 10.1.25398.1 (Windows ADK/Windows PE).

Note:

Select the target USB drive:

All detected USB drives will appear in the drop-down menu of the Active Backup for Business Recovery Media Creator. Select a target USB drive and then click Create to start the process of automatic recovery media creation. Note that this action can't be undone once the creation process has started. Make sure you want to proceed with USB media creation before you start the recovery media process.

Time zone and language settings:

Active Backup for Business Recovery Media Creator automatically applies your local time zone and language to the recovery media. If these settings can't be detected, the default time zone (Pacific Standard Time) and language (English) will be used. Note that the time zone settings may affect the backup time displayed for the recovery media version in the Active Backup for Business Recovery Wizard.

Boot recovery media:

After the recovery media has been created, a message will appear on the progress bar. Follow these steps:

  1. Click Finish to open the USB device, which should now be renamed "Syno Media".
  2. Insert the USB drive into the device intended to be restored, and then reboot the device.
  3. Press F2 to enter the BIOS mode. Note that this hotkey may vary by vendor.
  4. Navigate to the Boot tab, and prioritize Removable Devices.
  5. Exit the setup process and you'll be directed to the Active Backup for Business Recovery Wizard, which will automatically start the restoration process.

Note:

Create ISO Recovery Media

System volume of at least 2.5 GB is required for creating recovery media in ISO format because creating an ISO image itself will occupy 1 GB, and the temporary files will occupy the remaining 1.5 GB. Afterward, launch Active Backup for Business Recovery Media Creator and select ISO media.

Windows ADK and Windows PE installation:

A pop-up notification will appear if no Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (Windows ADK) or Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) is detected. Click Download and the wizard will guide you through installation process. Make sure both the Windows ADK and Windows PE are installed.

Deployment Tools and Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) are the only two features required for building recovery media. Installation may take a few minutes. If you want to download the Windows ADK and Windows PE in advance, we recommend downloading version 10.1.25398.1 (Windows ADK/Windows PE).

Note:

Specify the ISO image path:

To create ISO media, specify the location where the recovery media will be saved once it's in ISO format. Click the folder icon to browse and select the desired location.

Time zone and language settings:

Active Backup for Business Recovery Media Creator automatically applies your local time zone and language to the recovery media. If these settings can't be detected, the default time zone (Pacific Standard Time) and language (English) will be used. Note that the time zone settings may affect the backup time displayed for the recovery media version in the Active Backup for Business Recovery Wizard.

Boot recovery media:

After the recovery media has been created, a message will appear on the progress bar. Follow these steps:

  1. Click Finish to open the directory where the ISO image is stored.
  2. You can either mount the image onto the virtual machine intended for restoration or use a third-party tool to burn the image into a disk. Then, insert the disk into the device that you want to restore.
  3. Reboot the device and press F2 to enter the BIOS mode. Note that this hotkey may vary by vendor.
  4. Navigate to the Boot tab, and prioritize CD-ROM Drive.
  5. Exit the setup process and you'll be directed to the Active Backup for Business Recovery Wizard, which will automatically start the restoration process.

Note:

Cancel Recovery Media or Troubleshoot Failure

To cancel a recovery media creation that is in progress, simply close the application interface. The cancellation process may take a while because of the time required for unmounting the mounted files and deleting the unfinished pack. If a specific stage of the creation process fails, Active Backup for Business Recovery Media Creator will automatically finish the current stage, and then unmount and delete "boot.wim". However, recovery media created in USB format cannot be rolled back once the creation process has begun.

If the recovery media creation fails, open the extracted folder named "Synology Restore Media Creator". Locate the log file titled "restore-media.log" and send it to Synology Technical Support for further assistance.

Manually Create Recovery Media

Recovery media must be created manually if the device intended to be restored is running a 32-bit version of Windows or contains specific driver versions, time zones, or languages. Creating the recovery media manually is relatively more complicated, involves more instructions, and requires downloading the Active Backup for Business Recovery Wizard from the Download Center (under Desktop Utilities). You can refer to Manually Create Recovery Media for detailed instructions.