Prepare machines for remote installation of Acronis Backup Advanced components

Preparation

• If you are running Windows XP, disable the following option on the machine:

  Control panel -> Folder options -> View -> Use simple file sharing

• If you are running Windows Vista or a later version and you are not in domain environment, disable User Account Control (UAC) on the machine:
  
  Disable UAC (involves machine reboot):

  Windows Vista

  1. Click Start -> Control panel:

     

  2. Click User Accounts:

     

  3. Click User Accounts again:

     

  4. Click Turn User Account Control on or off:

     

  5. Uncheck the box and click OK:

     

  6. Reboot the machine:

     

  Windows 7

  1. Click Start and type in user account control. Select Change User Account Control settings:

     

  2. Drag the bar down to Never notify:

     

  3. Reboot the machine.

• File and Printer Sharing must be enabled on the remote machine:
  • Windows XP, Windows 2003 Server: Control panel -> Windows Firewall -> Exceptions -> File and Printer Sharing
  • Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7: Control panel -> Windows Firewall -> Network and Sharing Center -> Change advanced sharing settings
• Acronis Backup uses TCP ports 445 and 25001 for remote installation. Make sure that these ports are added to exceptions in the firewall settings on the remote machines. TCP port 445 is added to exceptions automatically by Windows Firewall when you enable File and Printer Sharing.

  To add a port to exceptions:

  • In Windows XP, Windows Vista: Control panel -> Windows Firewall -> Exceptions -> Add Port
  • In Windows 7: Control panel -> Windows Firewall -> Advanced settings -> Inbound Rules -> New Rule -> Port

    If the remote machines are members of an Active Directory domain and use no firewall other than Windows Firewall, you can add TCP port 25001 to exceptions by using Group Policy. On a domain controller, create a Group Policy object, then go to Administrative Templates -> Network -> Network Connections -> Windows Firewall -> Domain Profile -> Windows Firewall: Define port exceptions (or: Define inbound port exceptions), and then add the following port exception:

    25001:tcp:*:enabled:Acronis remote install

• The hidden Admin$ share on the target machine should be accessible (i.e. not disabled).

  In addition to MSI files, Acronis Backup copies two files to the Admin$ share on the remote computer (e.g. \\computer_name\Admin$):

  • msi_setup.exe
  • acroinst.exe

  (!) By default the Admin$ share is set to C:\Windows, but it can be reconfigured to a different folder or even deleted completely. One can check whether Admin$ share exists and what folder it is set to it with the use of the net share command in the Windows Command Line interface.

  If you get an access denied error when connecting to the Admin share, do the following to resolve the issue:
  1. Open Windows Registry: Start -> Search -> regedit.exe
  2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
  3. Create a DWORD called LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy and set its value to 1.