User guide

Table Of Contents

2.6.2 Acronis Universal Deploy in Windows

Automatic HAL and mass-storage drivers selection

Acronis Universal Deploy searches the Windows default driver storage folders (in the master image

being deployed) for HAL and mass-storage device drivers and installs drivers that better fit the target

hardware. You can specify a custom driver repository (a network folder or a CD) which will also be

used for driver searches.

Tip: The Windows default driver storage folder is determined by the DevicePath value in the

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion registry key. This storage folder is

usually WINDOWS\inf.

Manual selection of mass-storage device driver

If the target hardware has a specific mass-storage controller (such as a SCSI, RAID, or Fibre Channel

adapter) for the hard disk, you can install the appropriate driver manually, bypassing the automatic

driver search-and-install procedure.

Installing drivers for Plug and Play devices

Acronis Universal Deploy relies on built-in Plug and Play discovery and configuration process to

handle hardware differences in devices that are not critical for the deployed system startup, such as

video, audio and USB. Windows takes control over this process during the logon phase, and if some

of the new hardware is not detected, you will have a chance to install drivers for it later manually.

2.6.3 Acronis Universal Deploy in Linux

Acronis Universal Deploy can be applied to Linux operating systems with a kernel version of 2.6.8 or

later.

When Acronis Universal Deploy is applied to a Linux operating system, it updates a temporary file

system known as the initial RAM disk (initrd). This ensures that the operating system can boot on the

new hardware.

Acronis Universal Deploy adds modules for the new hardware (including device drivers) to the initial

RAM disk. As a rule, it finds the necessary modules in the /lib/modules directory of the operating

system you are deploying. If Acronis Universal Deploy cannot find a module it needs, it logs the

module’s file name.

Acronis Universal Deploy may modify the configuration of the GRUB boot loader. This may be

required, for example, to ensure the system bootability when the new machine has a different

volume layout than the original machine.

Acronis Universal Deploy never modifies the Linux kernel.

Reverting to the original initial RAM disk

You can revert to the original initial RAM disk if necessary.

The initial RAM disk is stored on the machine in a file. Before updating the initial RAM disk for the

first time, Acronis Universal Deploy saves a copy of it to the same directory. The name of the copy is

the name of the file, followed by the _acronis_backup.img suffix. This copy will not be overwritten if

you run Acronis Universal Deploy more than once (for example, after you have added missing

drivers).