How to Create a Recovery USB using VMware Player

Or, Using Acer's Recovery DVD without wiping your secondary harddrive

(I'm not absolutely sure where this guide should go. Although a Windows PC and Windows software are used as an example, what's being described is about recovering a Linux version of the One. So, I suppose that makes it Linux related. I'm open to suggestions, though.)

There have been a number of reports of AAO owners who have inadvertently wiped their secondary harddrives when trying to create a Recovery USB using the Recovery DVD that Acer supplies.

It is not clear whether this was due to a problem with the Recovery program, or with the way it was being used. Nevertheless, one way to reduce the risk of data loss, is to use virtualisation technology to isolate the application from the system on which you are using it. The idea is that rather than booting the Recovery DVD on your PC, leaving its harddisks vulnerable to accidental erasure, you boot an image of the Recovery DVD in a virtual machine running on your PC.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to guarantee that you won't suffer data loss using this method. For instance, if you have a USB attached external disk drive, the Recovery program could still mistake it for the USB drive you want to use to make your Recovery USB drive. However, it does reduce the risk.

The software tools that are needed are all available from reputable sources. However, I have not included a link to a source for the Recovery DVD ISO image. Partly, this is due to copyright issues, but also because you must be confident of the source of the image. In the absence of an official Acer download, the only way of being sure that the ISO image that you use hasn't been tampered with, is to make your own from the actual DVD that Acer supplied with the One.

For the purposes of this guide, I used Nero's disk copying facility to create an ISO image. For what it's worth, the MD5 checksum of the resulting ISO image was

Code:

2e433a65c819275195460ad4fe089fa8

(see here) If this happens to match the checksum of an image that you download, then I'd say you're good to go. If there's a difference, it could just be down to disk localisation (i.e. it's in a different language) or the imaging tool that was used to create it. But it could also indicate that the image has been tampered with. You must decide whether or not it's safe to use in such a case.

Although some prior knowledge of downloading, virus-testing, unzipping, installing and launching applications is assumed, this is still a fairly complete step-by-step guide, suitable for even novices to contemplate performing, though they should pay particular attention to any highlighted bear-traps below.

As always, it's a good idea to read through these instructions thoroughly before attempting them. And it should go without saying, that they are offered "as is" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. The entire risk of undertaking them lies with you.

What's needed

• A "host" PC, either Windows or Linux, with web access and a spare USB port.[/*:3ijr4z8m]
• A copy of VMware Player compatible with your "host" PC's operating system (XP/Vista direct download link)[/*:3ijr4z8m]
• A copy of the VMware LiveCD Virtual Appliance also known as LiveCD Player (see also here) (direct download link)[/*:3ijr4z8m]
• An ISO image of the Acer Recovery DVD disk[/*:3ijr4z8m]
• A blank USB drive (suitable devices are discussed here)[/*:3ijr4z8m]

Obviously, if you're going to create your own ISO image your PC will also need a DVD drive, and you'll need some DVD imaging software.

Install VMware Player

*** BEAR-TRAP-AHEAD WARNING *** Always virus-test anything you download, even if it comes from a reputable source.

Download and install a copy of the free VMware Player.


Click Next


Change the installation destination, if you want, then click Next


Click Next


Click Install


Click Finish

Unpack the LiveCD Virtual Appliance

Download a copy of the free LiveCD Virtual Appliance archive. Use a suitable decompression tool to inflate it. Unless you want to keep the appliance long-term, choose a temporary location, like C:\Temp, in Windows. If the option is available, choose to show the extracted files when complete.


Inflate the virtual appliance

Notice that the appliance folder includes a dummy ISO image file of 0 bytes in length, livecd.iso.


View the inflated archive contents

You must delete this placeholder, and replace it with the Acer Recovery DVD ISO image file, renamed as livecd.iso.


Replace dummy ISO image with Acer Recovery DVD ISO image

Create the Recovery USB drive

Launch the VMware Player. For example, in Windows select All Programs > VMware > VMware Player from the Start button.


Select the "accept the terms in the license agreement" option and click OK


Click on the Open icon in the Commands section

Navigate to the contents of the inflated LiveCD Virtual Appliance folder. Select the VMware Configuration File that it contains, vmwarez.com-Generic-LiveCD-Virtual-Machine.vmx.


Click Open

The first time you open the LiveCD Player, just accept the default "I copied it" response.


Click OK

The virtual machine will boot. Use the up and down cursor keys to highlight the second of the available three options, Create Recovery USB Drive.

*** BEAR-TRAP-AHEAD WARNING *** The screen will timeout if you don't press any keys, and default to the first option, Install - Acer Aspire One. If selected this option looks very similar to the Create Recovery USB Drive choice. Crucially, though, if you proceed with it, it will try to install the AAO operating system to an available harddrive. If you're lucky, it will be the virtual harddrive of the virtual machine. If you're unlucky it may be an actual harddrive on your "host" PC. Big mistake.

If you find the virtual machine has booted to the Install option, or you chose it by mistake, simply close the VMware Player application. Then start over.


Select the Create option and press the Enter/Return key

When you use a virtual machine, you need some means of directing your pointer and keyboard input to either it or your "host" PC. Press Ctrl+G to direct input to the virtual machine. Press Ctrl+Alt to return control to the "host" PC.

Plug the USB drive you want to use into an available port. It should be recognised by the virtual machine. If you're using a Linux "host" PC, you may need to plug the USB drive in before launching VMware Player, though I haven't confirmed this.


Press Ctrl+G and use your pointer device to click the [>] button

*** BEAR-TRAP-AHEAD WARNING *** It is vitally important to verify that the Recovery Management application is targeting the USB device that you want to use. Hopefully it will be the one that you've just plugged in. Check the size of the device that the program reports. The figure shows that I used an 8GB drive. It was all I had handly. A 2GB drive would be plenty. You might even get away with a 1GB drive. Whatever, if the size of the selected drive is different from that of the device you plugged in, especially if it's a lot bigger, DON'T PROCEED.

If more than one USB device is listed, make sure the blue selection button marks the one you want to use.


Click the [>] button to proceed

*** BEAR-TRAP-AHEAD WARNING *** Don't ignore the following warning. The entire contents of the selected device will be overwritten. Check that there's nothing on it that you want. And double check that the device is the correct USB drive.


Only click the [OK] button if you're certain

There will be an extended pause, while the data is copied to the USB drive.


Click the [Exit] button to finish

Unplug USB device.


Clicking the [OK] button will reboot the virtual machine

Press Ctrl+Alt to return control to the "host" PC and exit the VMware Player application.

Using the Recovery USB drive

*** BEAR-TRAP-AHEAD WARNING *** Actually using the Recovery USB to restore the One to its factory settings, should be an option of last resort. Even if you backup all the data you've amassed, you'll still lose all the settings you've carefully customised, all the updates you've applied, and all the applications you've installed.

But if you have got your One into such a state that only the "big-reset" will save you, then here's what to do.

Backup any data that you still have access to, and make a note of any settings and installations that you're likely to want to recreate post-tsunami. Then, if you're sure that there's no alternative, insert your Recovery USB into a free port and reboot your One, holding a finger over the F12 key so you can press it as soon as you see the following splash screen.


Press F12 when prompted


Highlight the USB HDD option and press the Enter/Return key

The One will eventually boot to a strangely familiar screen. The only differences between this and the Acer Recovery Management screen that we saw earlier are a slight change to the wording, and that the bottom left corner image of a USB drive has been replaced with that of a One. Still, you should know what to do next.


Click the [>] button to proceed

It's plain sailing, from now on. There shouldn't be any question about what partition to select. There's just the one.


Click the [>] button again

There are a few more confirmation buttons to press, which you'll be familiar with from creating the Recovery USB drive earlier. The only difference being that this time the data is being written to the One's SSD/HDD.

So, "it's second to the right, then straight on 'til morning."

This feature presentation would not have been possible without the DNA of HMRAAO, a meiosis co-production.

Many thanks for all the kind comments that my previous guides have attracted and for the helpful suggestions that they have garnered

Good night, and good luck.

Copyright © 2008 HmrQtr

All guide contents is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.

 

Why can't you just yank out your HDD cables?

 

Certainly, that would be the only way to guarantee secondary drive safety. A very good suggestion. Thought, I never claimed that virtualisation is the only way to protect them.

However, there are still reasons why owners might nevertheless want to use virtualisation for this task. So I hope my posting is not a complete waste of time

 

I cant get the recovery disk to find my USB stick, i bougth it specially for it to use here.
Can anyone give a hint, maybe format it on a special way (FAT 32, FAR or NTFS and at which speed)?

 

There is no need to format the USB drive, the Acer Recovery Management application will handle that.

If you plug the USB drive in before launching VMware Player, it might not be detected. So it's important to get the sequence right, that is:

1. Launch VMware Player[/*:19z1tgo3]
2. Open the vmwarez.com-Generic-LiveCD-Virtual-Machine appliance[/*:19z1tgo3]
3. Highlight the Create Recovery USB Drive option, in order to interrupt the auto-selection time-out, but without pressing Enter[/*:19z1tgo3]
4. Plug in your USB stick, VMware Player should detect it as a new device - there should be a system-tray popup message[/*:19z1tgo3]
5. Then press Enter, to start the Acer Recovery Management app[/*:19z1tgo3]
6. ...[/*:m:19z1tgo3]

If the USB drive still doesn't appear in the list of available partitions to select, check that it's suitable by searching for it in the viewtopic.php?f=4&t=540 topic. Actually, you should probably do this first

Even if you're using the Recovery DVD (LiveCD) directly (i.e. not using VMware) you need to plug the USB stick in before reaching the Select Partition stage of the process.

 

Thank you Hmraao for the help listed, you made a very clear post on the steps to follow.
Too bad this also didnt work and my USB stick isnt listed in the topic.
The first time i used it it did work, but then i had the linplus error destroying my second harddisk (like it did at my fathers pc, he is recovering it now).
On some wierd way i got it to recognise once again today and i made the recoverydisk and used it for the install on my Acer, but it stops at 30% and now i cant use the Acer at all.
Im going to try and get OneLinux on it, was already impressed by the screenshots i saw and i figured it would be nice to try that one out before bringing it back to the store.

 

I'm a complete newbie to linux (as you can see, this is my first post here and my last encounters with line commands were in the early 90's with DOS), so my question might sound very dumb: why go to such length with VMware etc?

With my (yet unsuccessful) attempts to configure my AAO to access my M$ Windows shared folder through the network, I apparently "damaged" my linpus linux and had to reinstall my AAO. So I used another computer (under XP, with 2 partitions): plugged in a USB key (4GB), inserted the AAO recovery CD, turned on the computer (boot up on CD/DVD player), followed instructions and my USB key was ready to use within 10 minutes. Used it on my AAO and worked perfectly to reinstall Linux.

As mentioned, my knowledge is more than limited, so it's possible I missed something in the reason behind using VMware. For now, all I have managed is to install FF3, my network printer and... that's all

Now... back to attempting to make my AAO access network folders...