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Minimax2000
August 22nd, 2008, 05:45 PM
Hello everyone

I spent some time yesterday trying to install Vista x64 Home Premium.
I created an empty snapshot under Windows XP and installed Vista into it.
Under Vista I then installed FD-ISR (Latest Build 233) and created an archive of the Vista snapshot afterwards.
FD-ISR showed the newly created Vista snapshot as active. So far so good.

After rebooting into my Windows XP snapshot I tried to boot back into my Vista snapshot but got the infamous "NTLDR missing" message.
By the way FD-ISR displayed under Win XP for the Vista snapshot use a size of 0.0 GByte.???

Finally I checked that the boot order in the bios is correct.

Perhaps someone can enlighten me and can give me some hints on how to solve this installation problem.:P

Thanks

Frank

I followed exactly these guidelines (found in a different thread at wilders):
{QUOTE->
These are the instructions how to install an OS in an "Empty Snapshot".
I never used an "Empty Snapshot", but other users have done it in practice, so it should work.
Don't use it for any other OS, than mentioned in this thread. So NO Linux. For Linux you have to create another PARTITION.
WARNING: Backup your complete system first as a precaution, BEFORE you start fooling around with an "Empty Snapshot".

Create an Empty Snapshot

To create a "new install" of a Windows operating system without disrupting your current snapshot, it is very important to
follow the steps outlined below in the order given:

1. Within the FirstDefense-ISR interface, select the ‘Tools' pull-down menu; select “Create Empty Snapshot”.
Follow the instructions given in the Wizard (Select a name meaningful to you, i.e. “My Vista Build”). Click
Finish to create the new empty snapshot. The new snapshot will then appear with the other snapshots.

2. Right click on “My Vista Build” and select “Boot to Snapshot”; follow the prompts to boot the system.

3. During the re-boot, you will see a message on your screen as follows: "NTLDR is missing". This is normal since
there are no operating system files in this newly created empty snapshot.

WARNING: If you do not see the “NTLDR is missing” message, an installation of an operating system will
overwrite your current operating system.

Install Windows 2000/XP/Vista

1. Locate your Windows 2000/XP/Vista CD/DVD and place it in the CD/DVD drive. Reboot your system again. If
you see the message, "NTLDR is missing" again, you will need to enter the system BIOS and set the boot
sequence to boot from your CD/DVD drive first.

2. From the Windows installer, you will be asked if you want to format the NTFS partition. Answer NO, since you
do not want to disrupt your current Windows installation.

WARNING: Do not format the NTFS partition... Doing so will erase all data from this partition.

3. Proceed with the "new install" of Windows.

Install FirstDefense-ISR

1. After installation of the new operating system, you will not have access to the FirstDefense-ISR pre-boot menu.
This is expected since Windows overwrites the entire boot process. Install FirstDefense-ISR to access the user
interface and its functions.

2. At this point, the system is available to download Service Packs, install applications, perform tests, etc. <-QUOTE}

alloucho
August 24th, 2008, 08:21 AM
Try this:
1. delete the two snapshots.
2. install windows vista first or restore from image if available.
3. install FD-ISR on vista.
4. create second snapshot an restore xp archive on it.
5. boot to xp, install FD-ISR, delete primary snapshot and restore vista archive.
Hope it works:)

Minimax2000
August 24th, 2008, 10:27 AM
Hello alloucho

I will try your suggested sequence as last resort measure and report back.
I had previously installed Windows XP into an empty snapshot and thought
the installation of Vista would be as easy as the XP installation. But Vista
has introduced a new Windows Boot Loader making things more complicated.

Thanks
Frank

Minimax2000
August 26th, 2008, 06:47 PM
The solution :

The Vista boot mamager and the loader were divided
among my System partition on drive C: and my data partition on drive D:.

EasyBCD displayed this configuration:

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
device partition=D: <------------------
description Windows Boot Manager
timeout 3

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
device partition=C: <----------------------
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Microsoft Windows Vista
osdevice partition=C:
systemroot \Windows
nx OptIn


After unplugging my non-OS drive D: and repeating the installation
EasyBCD shows this:


Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
device partition=C:
description Windows Boot Manager
timeout 30

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
device partition=C:
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Microsoft Windows Vista
osdevice partition=C:
systemroot \Windows
nx OptIn

This is consistent, both are on the same boot partition now.


Frank