partition mess up under win7 ultimate help needed

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by demoneye, May 4, 2010.

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  1. demoneye

    demoneye Registered Member

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    hi all

    i install win 7 ultimate with its 100mb reserve partition , after that i try to remove it from some help site i visit and i MESS IT UP

    as u can see system+active remain on drive d:\ when i boot (and os ) is over c:\ drive

    can someone help me set c:\ active + system back?
     

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  2. Woody777

    Woody777 Registered Member

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    Partitioning software usually allows you to set the bootable partition. I've never done it however. Paragon may have versions of their partitioner available for free. Someone in the Paragon forum might be able to help. Acronis Disk Director also comes to mind. Unfortunately that forum has ended here and moved.
     
  3. demoneye

    demoneye Registered Member

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    i try to deal with it using EASEUS Partition Master v5.8.1 Server Edition with no luck....:'(
     
  4. Sully

    Sully Registered Member

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    I had this happen.. only once. I used easybcd and had it transfer the boot files to the c: drive. It worked without much effort. The whole BCD thing is a PITA and I wish they would have stayed with the boot.ini method, but they did not so we have this.

    Sul.
     
  5. demoneye

    demoneye Registered Member

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    sully can u tell me step by step how to over come this problem?

    10x
     
  6. doktornotor

    doktornotor Registered Member

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    Riiight. Part 5 of "t3h noes I no wanna t3h hidden partition forced by M$ on me" excercise. See, I have already told you couple of times to stop messing with something you are not familiar with for no good benefit and this is the result. :rolleyes:
     
  7. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    demoneye,

    I've helped friends do this a few times...

    Start an Administrator mode Command Prompt. To do this, click on the Start button, then All Programs, then Accessories. Right-click on the Command Prompt item and select Run as administrator from the pop-up menu. If a UAC prompt is displayed, click the Yes button.

    Unload the BCD registry hive by running the following command:
    reg unload HKLM\BCD00000000

    Copy the bootmgr file from the D: drive to the Windows 7 partition. Run the following command:
    robocopy d:\ c:\ bootmgr

    Copy the Boot folder from the D: drive to the Windows 7 partition. Run the following command:
    robocopy d:\Boot C:\Boot /s

    The booting files have now been copied. If you wish to verify that they were copied correctly, run the following command:
    dir c:\ /ah

    If the bootmgr file and the Boot folder show up in the list, the procedure was successful.

    In Disk Management, right click the C: drive, click Mark Partition as Active, Yes.

    Restart the computer with a BING CD in the drive. (You can create a trial CD)
    In BING, do a BCD Edit on Win7.
    http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/article.php?id=318

    Edit.... Instead of using BING you can do two repairs from a Win7 DVD. You choose Startup Repair from a large menu on the second repair attempt.
     
  8. wat0114

    wat0114 Guest

    demoneye,

    can't you just boot off the Win7 disk and run the Repair utility? It doesn't have to be so complicated. Next time do use some kind of imaging product - the free Macrium Reflect is excellent - to image your system disk first.
     
  9. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    wat0114,

    There are several methods to copy the booting files into the C: drive. The above method is the easiest in my experience.
     
  10. wat0114

    wat0114 Guest

    Sorry, I fail to see where it's easier than simply booting off the Win7 disk and running the Repair option. Actually, in demon's case, the "C" part may have to be deleted first, then run the repair option after booting off the Win7 disk. All the "D" part is missing is the boot and page file. But maybe I'm missing the boat and your method is easiest. I'd rather just have the disk do it for me.
     
  11. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    wat0114,

    This is the trap. The C: drive is Win7. So you can't (and you don't want to) delete it. The D: drive is NOT the OS partition even though it says Active, System. Here it is probably just a data partition but it contains the booting files. That's what makes a System partition. One that contains the booting files. A Boot partition contains the Windows folder.

    Are we now in agreement? The Microsoft definition of a Boot partition can take a while to sink in. It did for me.
     
  12. demoneye

    demoneye Registered Member

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    10x for all the help ...nothing much work :( so i reinstall win 7 again , this time i del this damn 100mb partition at the start of win 7 define partition :)
     
  13. wat0114

    wat0114 Guest

    Good you're back in business but too bad it took a re-install. Now I'm at a "need to know" phase, so I will later install Win7 on an unpartitioned spare h/drive of mine, delete the 100 mb part and see what it takes to recover lost functionality.
     
  14. doktornotor

    doktornotor Registered Member

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    For future reference:

    - assign the "reserved" partition a letter
    - copy over all the files to the other W7 partition there (no, not via explorer and drag and drop, use something decent that can work w/ hidden files or xcopy)
    - then set the main W7 one as active
    - reinstall the bootloader on it and fix the bootsector
    - and then delete the "reserved" partition.
    - after reboot you can resize the main partition to fill the free space
    - if you screwed any of the steps above, you'll need W7 install DVD to recover

    If you don't understand what's the above about, then either do the required reading first or just leave it alone.
     
  15. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    wat0114,

    This is where your earlier suggestion will work. You can delete the SRP (but not from Windows), make Win7 Active, do two repairs from the Win7 DVD and Win7 will boot. You can also prevent the SRP from being created by installing Win7 into a partition and not into unallocated space. Please try all the combinations and let us know your findings.



    demoneye,

    What problems did you have with the method I posted? I've used it over twenty times. It has never failed.
     
  16. wat0114

    wat0114 Guest

    Thanks Brian! This is what I have suspected all along as being possible, so I can't help but wonder what procedure demoneye used in an attempt to remove the 100 mb hidden part? Partition Wizard free boot disk or even GParted boot disk (though I think Partition Wizard is ore reliable?) should do the trick to remove the hidden part, after which the system partition can even be moved to the left to occupy the space formerly occupied by the 100 mb part, then finally the repair process with the Win7 disk. You mention two times running it and come to think of it I've at times had to run it more than once to complete the process.

    I can't possibly remember the number of times throughout experimenting with partition movements, rezizes, additions, deletions, including extended parts to get around the 4 part limitation so I could add a Linux distro dual-boot w/Windows, that I've had to fix the Win7 boot part using the Repair option on the disk. This by no means makes me expert, but I'm confident if the right tools and steps are taken, it's not such a big deal. Of course I've always got a latest reliable image on hand in case the boot restore steps fail ;) Maybe this weekend, possibly sooner, I'll have the results of my test.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 5, 2010
  17. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    wat0114,

    Sounds good. Remember to set the Win7 partition Active. I don't think the two repairs work if Win7 isn't active.
     
  18. wat0114

    wat0114 Guest

    Seems right, otherwise the repair option maybe does not detect the System part. Okay, I'll keep that in mind.
     
  19. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    wat0114,

    You will have a lot of fun with that spare HD.
     
  20. wat0114

    wat0114 Guest

    You're right, and I'm done testing already because I couldn't wait :D

    The results are positive and it did take, as you stated, two repair procedures. Some screenshots including:

    Test_01:
    • The partition layout as expected after installing Win7 Ult on an unpartitioned h/drive, with 100 MB reserve part in place.

    Test_02:
    • The Partition Wizard boot disk's "resize" procedure after I deleted the 100 MB reserve part

    Test_03:
    • The final partition layout after Partition Wizard moved the O/S part to the left, occupying the space that was taken by the now removed reserve part' **Note** here is where I then set this partition to "Active".

    Test_04
    • OMG!! The dreaded "Bootmgr is missing" message after rebooting :D

    Test_05:
    • After booting off of Win 7 install disk, the Repair option (1st repair) in action. Some details of this repair:
     

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    Last edited by a moderator: May 6, 2010
  21. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    wat0114,

    Nice testing. Thanks for the detailed post.
     
  22. wat0114

    wat0114 Guest

    The final two screenshots, the last of which is the single partition layout of the successful reboot into Windows after the second and last repair procedure. Details of this repair (not shown, sorry):

    Thank you Brian. You clearly are an expert in this area of computing and no doubt elsewhere too :) Sorry for any exasperation I may have caused you with my earlier posts. I felt sure it was possible, have done this before, but I had not remembered the exact steps involved so this was a nice reminder. Thank you for your help!
     

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    Last edited by a moderator: May 5, 2010
  23. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    wat0114,

    Some Dell computers I've seen recently have a setup similar to demoneye's Disk Management.

    They have no 100 MB SRP. The booting files are contained in a 10 GB restore partition so you can't simply delete the partition as you will delete the restore image. The restore partition is System, Active. The method I described above will copy the booting files to the Win7 partition. Then you only have to image and restore one partition, not two.
     
  24. wat0114

    wat0114 Guest

    The H. Packard laptop I received from my isp for signing long-term has a 13.9 GB part with the recovery image. I left it intact. It also had a 100 MB part at the beginning even though it's Win 7 HP.

    In not necessarily this order I created: a set of 3 recovery disks (allowed one set)' purged all the H. Packard crap, basically got the machine set up to my liking, created an image using Macrium and another using the Windows built-in backup, tested image - it worked, then I used Partition Wizard boot disk to delete the 100 MB part, filled that space with remaining O/S part, set it active, then ran the repair procedure off the Windows disk.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 6, 2010
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