P2P Adjust OS documentation

Discussion in 'Paragon Drive Backup Product Line' started by ergolargo, Mar 5, 2010.

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  1. ergolargo

    ergolargo Registered Member

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    Hi there

    I'w wondering if anybody knows if there is any detailed documentation about the P2P Adjust OS wizard available anywhere? The user guide I have from the web site only tells me how to do it with a single example. But I have a system I need to restore for which the wizard does not seem to be behaving properly, so I need to know more about what the wizard is actually doing, to see where the conversion process is going wrong.

    Can anbody point me in the right direction - is there any technical documentation available anywhere, or more detailed scenarios for using the wizard.

    Regards
     
  2. Paragon_Tommy

    Paragon_Tommy Paragon Moderator

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  3. ergolargo

    ergolargo Registered Member

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    Thanks for that.

    The thing is, this document is more or less the same as the existing document I have - it only tells you how to go through the wizards, and doesn't tell you what the wizards are actually doing. And it is mostly about Virtual machines, so its not too useful for troubleshooting P2P problems - it assumes the wizard is going to work, which is not so in my case! Also, I am using the Adjust OS wizard in Paragon Backup and Recovery Suite 10, and the documentation you suggest seems to be for the Adaptive Restore option for the previous Paragon versions. Are they essentially the same thing? Do they work in the same way?

    Really I need to see some sort of technical documentation to see which part of the process is going wrong, and what changes the wizard makes.

    Cheers
     
    Last edited: Mar 10, 2010
  4. SIW2

    SIW2 Registered Member

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    It adjusts the registry so all the drivers that are already contained in the o/s are made available - exactly the same as if you just installed the o/s on the new hardware.

    If you have a problem - you would probabaly get exactly the same problem if you installed that o/s to the new hardware. Missing drivers perhaps?

    They won't give too much detail about how it's done - otherwise nobody would need to buy the program - obviously.

    What precisely is not working and what error messages do you get?

    Hope it helps.
     
  5. ergolargo

    ergolargo Registered Member

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    I'm trying to setup a backup test system for backups I make using Drive Backup. I made a backup of a single Windows XP partition from one computer onto a USB drive, and then restored it to a second partition on another computer using the Paragon Recovery disk. The plan was to test if I could make the destination computer dual boot from two different XP partitions, with one of the partitions being an existing XP partition, and the other being the restored partition. I ran the P2P Adjust OS conversion wizard on the new restored installation on the second partition. But the restored partition cannot boot to XP, I get the infamous error:

    Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
    <Windows root>\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
    Please reinstall a copy of the above file.

    The thing is I'm pretty sure it's not because of the standard problem with ARC paths in boot.ini, I've spent a lot of time trying different partition(x) combinations. I'm starting to think the error itself might be misleading, and that the problem is more to do with the way Ntldr looks for the new partition. Interestingly I get exactly the same problem regardless of whether I create the partition manually or let Paragon do it - NTLDR on the system partition just cannot find NTOSKRNL on the restored partition, probably because it cannot see the partition or the OS at all. I've checked all the obvious things, like ensuring I have only one active partition, and rebuilding the MBR and boot sectors, but nothing I've tried makes any difference. What is it that should make the difference about the restored OS?

    I suspect that Paragon is not carrying out all of the necessary updates of the MBR or partition table during the Adjust OS wizard, and that as a result, the partition is not recognized as an NTFS partition - I can't think of anything else that Paragon could be omitting that would mean the restored partition was invisible at boot time, but not invisible once another Windows installation on the same disk had booted successfully. That's why I was trying to find out more details about what the wizard did, in case it was doing something that hadn't occurred to me already.

    Thanks for any advice.
     
  6. SIW2

    SIW2 Registered Member

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    If you can boot into the first XP partition - the mbr executable code appears to be working fine.

    If the restored partition shows up when booted into the first XP partition , then the partition table also appears ok.

    Did you try running checkdisk to see if that shows anything?

    It may be the error message is misleading. It might be finding ntoskrnl , but ntoskrnl itself is unable to continue - I don't think there's an error message for that scenario.

    Try Paragon Boot Corrector function , select "Correct drive letters in system registry", select the restored Xp partition - see if it it is listed with the correct letter in it's own registry.

    I assume the XP you restored used to declare itself as C when you booted into it?

    Make sure it now sees itself as the same letter as when you used to boot into it in it's original location.
     
  7. ergolargo

    ergolargo Registered Member

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    Hi there

    Thanks for that tip. I have the Paragon Recovery Disk version 10, which doesn't seem to include that exact option unfortunately. However, it is probably worth mentioning that when the Boot Corrector runs its inventory of Windows installations, it shows both installs, both the original clean install, and the restored install on the second partition, to be both located at Disk(0) Partition(0) - presumably this is incorrect because the restored install was ORIGINALLY at Disk(0) Partition(0) on the original machine, but has not yet been updated to Disk(0) Partition (1) for its new location. The boot corrector doesn't seem to be able to correct this problem though, the new install remains at Disk(0) Partition (0) even after the 'correction' has been applied. So is this info 'tatooed' into the restored installs registry, and if so, how would it be possible to correct the restored install to boot correctly in its new location? I can't run a repair install, that also fails with the NTOSKRNL missing error, though I can see that you are probably right that this error is misleading, and that NTOSKRL can be found, and only fails when the registry inconsistencies become apparent to Ntldr

    Thanks for the help so far, but does this need to be a new thread now?!

    Regards
     
  8. ergolargo

    ergolargo Registered Member

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    PS Also forgot to mention that I also tried the JustBoot Boot Corrector, but that didn't even find the restored installation.
     
  9. SIW2

    SIW2 Registered Member

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    I'm not sure which version of boot corrector you are running.

    On my system ( I don't have XP - all my installations are NT6 ),


    I wouldn't worry too much about how the drive letters look from WinPe, it reads the partition table and lists the partitions in the order they are found, Primaries first, by convention starting with letter C . That may be different from the letters assigned in the installed o/s registry.

    It will also show WinPe itself ( i.e. the X: drive you are booted into now - that is Ram ) as Disk 0 Partition 0 System.

    That's why this looks different from when you are booted into windows.

    The boot corrector shows you the installed o/s

    Highlight the one you want and Click Next:

    BOOTCORRECT-1-2010-03-29_183251 (Small).jpg

    It loads the mounted devices from the windows installation you selected and shows the drive letters in the selected o/s registry.

    This is where the trouble may be. Windows has a habit of changing them around - particularly if you restore to a different partition.

    Make sure the letter XP sees itself as is the same as the original installation ( probably C - but it depends how you set it up originally).

    If it is wrong, change it in the drop down to the Correct letter

    BOOT-CORRECT-2-2010-03-29_183423 (Small).jpg


    Click Next, Tick "Yes, Apply the changes physically" and click Next again.


    BOOT-CORRECT-3-2010-03-29_183455 (Small).jpg
     
    Last edited: Mar 29, 2010
  10. ergolargo

    ergolargo Registered Member

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    Hi there

    The thing is, I already have a C: drive installation there on the disk, as a sort of 'admin' install for this backup testing machine I've been talking about. I can run Paragon from this C: install whilst manipulating the rest of the disk, e.g. resizing partitions etc, without having to boot from different recovery CDs all the time.

    The idea is to restore a test backup into a new partition in the spare space on the disk. So the objective would be to take a backup taken from another machine, and then to periodically run a test restore into Disk(0) Partition(1) on the testing system to verify a backup of the other machine - I assume that adjusting the restored OS would need to involve changing the HAL and other such system files, but also amending the registry to accommodate a different drive letter, for example, changing the restored install to boot from a nominal drive D: on Disk(0) Partition(1) rather than its original drive C: on Disk(0) Partition (0) on the original machine.

    But its looking like Paragon Adjust OS wizard only amends the hardware specific components - I was looking for something that could also manipulate the restored XP installation to account for a different partition location on the destination disk in the testing system.

    Does any such tool exist?!

    Regards
     
  11. ergolargo

    ergolargo Registered Member

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    PS

    Or alternatively, does it really not matter about drive letters being consistent across dual boot installations, i.e., could I set each installation to be C: drive without affecting each other? Are drive letters completely independent between installations and just accounted for on a per-installation basis?
     
  12. SIW2

    SIW2 Registered Member

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    Yes, they are independent.

    Each o/s has the letters stored in it's own registry completely independent of any other o/s you have installed.

    Typically , in a dual boot , each o/s you boot into will declare itself as C.

    If your original installation of XP saw itself as C , then it must also see itself as C in the restored partition.

    If that letter is different form the original installation , the registry paths will be wrong and it won't start up.

    That is why the Paragon Boot Corrector is so good.

    It allows you to change the letter only in that o/s registry, without affecting any other o/s you have installed.
     
  13. ergolargo

    ergolargo Registered Member

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    I'm still not having any success in booting from my restored partition. As has been suggested, I've used Paragon Boot Corrector to set the restored partition to C:, but I'm not sure this should strictly be necessary, as C: seems to be the default, and surely the Windows registry on the partition would still think itself on a C: as on the original system - from what has been said, it seems drive letters don't come into it until Windows starts to boot, and I'm not getting as far as a blue screen with the restored installation, just the wretched NTOSKRNL missing error.

    What is the recommended order for running the Boot Corrector and the Adjust OS wizard? Or shouldn't this matter?

    Interestingly, if after the Boot Corrector, I run the the Paragon Adjust OS wizard, this chooses E: as the drive letter, presumably as it sees the original partition at Disk(0) Partition(0) and decides this should be C: These drive letters in the OS wizard cannot be changed. Do these drive letters in the OS wizard have any bearing on the processes that the wizard carries out?

    Additionally, I have the 'JustBoot Boot Corrector' boot CD, and this cannot see the restored partition at all, only the original partition natively created from the Windows installation disk.

    Does anybody have any ideas about this situation?
     
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