Windows 7 Backup and Restore missing/lost/destroyed

[Remi]

Short story: Try to run Windows 7 Backup (x64) and get a blank page with the helpful message "page missing". Acronis is responsible, but I want to know how to get it back.

Background:

I decided to try the Acronis Home 2012 backup software. Huge, huge, huge mistake.
After installing it, I discoverd that it replaces Windows' Backup Software. Yes, that is right. After you've installed Acronis, when you select Backup and Restore, you get Acronis, not Windows. (And when you check a file's properties, it is Acronis not Windows, that is in the tab for recovering a file.) All this without asking or telling you.

Now Acronis does give you the option to go back to Windows' own Backup, so I did that. All seemed well.

But after discovering the above and testing the backup options, I decided Acronis was not for me. (I am inherently suspicious of any program that inserts itself so thoroughly into the OS: the liklihoold of future problems - due to changes in the OS or the SW - is probably close to 100%.)

So, using Control Panel, I ran the uninstall. And, beat me, beat me, did not set a restore point first. It failed. No error message. Just "didn't complete". Well, one part completed: it's no longer in the list of files that can be uninstalled through the control panel. The program remains in the Start Menu and runs when you select it. So, I found the uninstall.exe in the program directory and ran it. Same failure message.
It's a trial version so getting help from Acronis is likely to be next to impossible but I am trying.

Then, separate matter, I went to run the Windows' Backup and Restore and got the blank page. I tried accessing it through the Help menu - just in case there was some weird problem with the shortcut in the Start Menu, but no go.

Any ideas? Please don't tell me to reinstall Windows. This system is a couple years old so the installation disks are way out of date.

 

[davehc]

I cannot offer advice. But, I have been using Acronis for years, latterly 2012. I have never experienced the issue you have. I cannot see any function of Acronis, that would make it overwrite anything on your computer, unless you chose to save the image to a vulnerable location. I have it installed on my computer, and have an autoboot disk also. Unless I choose to run it, I remain totally unaware of its presence. But. One quicky, Acronis is running in the services, and also in the startup options (Msconfig) If you untick the latter and, if they should be present, disable the service(s), you should not have any difficulty with a complete uninstall.
fwiw. The installation disk will not be "out of date", but a new installation will require your own customisation again.

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

I have both Acronis and Windows Backup working with no problems.

Try downloading and running Revo Uninstaller and see if that will get rid of it.
Download Revo Uninstaller Freeware - Free and Full Download - Uninstall software, remove programs, solve uninstall problems

You can check this out too....

Acronis True Image Home 2012 Cleanup Utility | Knowledge Base

Mike

 

[Remi]

RE Acronis:
all I did was install the trial version of Acronis to a directory of my choosing. I did a simple backup of my data drive, which went fine. Then I tried to backup my OS drive and the backup failed. I closed the Acronis application and shut down Windows - but Windows did NOT shutdown. I got a "processing message" - akin to what you see sometimes when you apply patches - and after an hour did a hard shutdown (pulled the plug). When I restarted, I got a message about an improper shutdown (very different from the usual situation with a hard hang - where one simply gets the boot menu and its options) and a recommendation to use safe start. I did that, shut down, rebooted, chose "last good configuration" and all seemed fine.

I'm honestly not sure at what point in my testing process I discovered that Acronis replaced Windows Backup (have you tried to run Windows Backup?) and rolled that function back. I think it was after this first problem, but it could have been before I tried backing up my OS partition. (Acronis is installed on an application partition; the one successful backup on an external drive.) But I've tried to uninstall Acronis three times: once with the standard Control Panel uninstall, once with the uninstall.exe in the Acronis directory without either of the two Acronis processes in memory and once, again with the uninstall.exe in the Acronis directory but with the two Acronis processes active.

It was only after the first uninstall attempt that I tried to access the Windows backup so - again - I don't know where in the process something went wrong but since Acronis inserted itself in place of the Windows Backup in the first place, and I'd not installed any other backup software, I think it fair to blame Acronis. (Quite frankly, I can't believe that a product designed for home users would replace the Windows Backup. It's absurd. Come to think of it, can't even imagine a network backup application doing such a thing.)

Revo doesn't work for the same reason that I can't uninstall via the Control Panel: Acronis no longer appears in the list of registered applications and Revo relies on the same source as the Control Panel uninstaller.

Anyways, the Microsoft.BackupAndRestore no longer exists an option in the control panel.

Getting help from Acronis so far has been hopeless. No help in the Knowledge Base. I have been unable even to submit an email form describing the problem. It just hangs.

Microsoft Backup Problem
Re Microsoft, what I need is a way to reinstall the Windows Backup software. I assume that a .cab or .exe program must exist somewhere.

And, yes, I suppose I should have down two full backups of the OS drive w/ two different backup programs right before installing Acronis and set a restore point so I could rollback but, good grief, it was a trial version of a home product.

I've dealt with a lot of backup software over the years, on multiple platforms from mainframe to PC, almost all of which had faults, but nothing ever did this much harm from just a simple installation, test run, and uninstallation.