TrueImage 11 and Vista HP 64-bit

Hi, I use TrueImage 11.0 (build 8053) from the recovery CD that TrueImage created.

I have a dual boot system on two 32GB primary partitions (C & D – depending on which OS is booted). The first partition contains Windows XP Pro (32-bit) and the second partition Windows Vista Home Premium (64-bit). There are a few other extended partitions after that.

I've been making regular full backups of both systems and saving the files to another partition. The backup files have always verified successfully. I have recovered my WinXP system without trouble.

Recently I needed to recover my Vista system for the first time (both the partition and the MBR), but I can’t get Vista to boot correctly from any of the backups I’ve made.

Before Vista launches to the desktop it brings up a "Preparing Your Desktop" message. Then I get a Rundll32.exe error. Eventually it launches to the desktop but says that my User Profile failed to load correctly. The installation seems totally screwed!

I can still boot into my WinXP installation okay.

I've scanned for boot problems using the Vista Startup disc and have also run chkdsk from the startup disc (before running Vista) to test the recovered partition and it reports all is okay.

This is not good. When I use partition imaging software that verifies the backup is okay and I recover that partition, I expect it to work exactly as it did. I don't expect it to start jumping through hoops and throwing a wobbly! I'm not impressed.

 

Monkfish:

Restoring dual-boot systems is potentially tricky if the two operating system partitions are not hidden from each other. This is due to the way Windows works and would probably have happened with any imaging software.

If you had hidden the XP partition while restoring the Vista partition then you probably would have been successful on first try. However, the fix is easy. All you need to do is to swap drive letter reservations in the Vista registry. You can do this from XP.

Could you boot into XP and start the Registry Editor. Navigate to the key HKEY_Local_Machine\System\MountedDevices. Scroll to the end of the list until you can see the keys for DOS\Devices as shown here:



Copy down the string of hex digits and the Drive Letter associated with your:
1. XP Partition (C:, I presume)
2. Vista Partition as seen when XP is running (D:, I presume).

Consult XP Disk Management or My Computer to verify the drive letters XP has assigned to the two partitions.

If you could post those here then one of us can help you swap drive letters in the Vista registry. After swapping the drive letters then Vista will start working correctly again.

The procedure will be to "mount" the Vista registry while you are running XP and navigate to Vista's MountedDevices registry entry, find the drive letters that Vista has assigned to the two partitions (XP and Vista), figure out what the incorrect letter assignments are, then fix them. Probably Vista sees the two backwards; C: for the XP partition and D: for the Vista partition.

 

Hi Mark, here you go...

"\\DosDevices\\C:"=hex:5d,93,01,26,00,7e,00,00,00,00,00,00
"\\DosDevices\\D:"=hex:5d,93,01,26,00,e0,47,d0,07,00,00,00

C=WinXP
D=Vista

(as seen from WinXP)

Here's the full entry for the MountedDevices key:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices]
"\\??\\Volume{47035f1c-2864-11de-a702-806d6172696f}"=hex:5c,00,3f,00,3f,00,5c,\
00,46,00,44,00,43,00,23,00,47,00,45,00,4e,00,45,00,52,00,49,00,43,00,5f,00,\
46,00,4c,00,4f,00,50,00,50,00,59,00,5f,00,44,00,52,00,49,00,56,00,45,00,23,\
00,35,00,26,00,31,00,63,00,36,00,63,00,36,00,34,00,34,00,26,00,30,00,26,00,\
30,00,23,00,7b,00,35,00,33,00,66,00,35,00,36,00,33,00,30,00,64,00,2d,00,62,\
00,36,00,62,00,66,00,2d,00,31,00,31,00,64,00,30,00,2d,00,39,00,34,00,66,00,\
32,00,2d,00,30,00,30,00,61,00,30,00,63,00,39,00,31,00,65,00,66,00,62,00,38,\
00,62,00,7d,00
"\\??\\Volume{47035f1d-2864-11de-a702-806d6172696f}"=hex:5c,00,3f,00,3f,00,5c,\
00,49,00,44,00,45,00,23,00,43,00,64,00,52,00,6f,00,6d,00,5f,00,4e,00,45,00,\
43,00,5f,00,44,00,56,00,44,00,5f,00,52,00,57,00,5f,00,4e,00,44,00,2d,00,33,\
00,35,00,34,00,30,00,41,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,\
5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,31,\
00,2e,00,30,00,33,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,23,00,35,00,26,00,31,00,35,00,\
34,00,61,00,35,00,32,00,32,00,30,00,26,00,30,00,26,00,30,00,2e,00,30,00,2e,\
00,30,00,23,00,7b,00,35,00,33,00,66,00,35,00,36,00,33,00,30,00,64,00,2d,00,\
62,00,36,00,62,00,66,00,2d,00,31,00,31,00,64,00,30,00,2d,00,39,00,34,00,66,\
00,32,00,2d,00,30,00,30,00,61,00,30,00,63,00,39,00,31,00,65,00,66,00,62,00,\
38,00,62,00,7d,00
"\\??\\Volume{47035f1e-2864-11de-a702-806d6172696f}"=hex:5d,93,01,26,00,7e,00,\
00,00,00,00,00
"\\??\\Volume{47035f1f-2864-11de-a702-806d6172696f}"=hex:5d,93,01,26,00,3e,90,\
a0,0f,00,00,00
"\\??\\Volume{47035f21-2864-11de-a702-806d6172696f}"=hex:5d,93,01,26,00,5c,ab,\
4f,27,00,00,00
"\\??\\Volume{47035f22-2864-11de-a702-806d6172696f}"=hex:5d,93,01,26,00,16,e2,\
2f,56,00,00,00
"\\DosDevices\\C:"=hex:5d,93,01,26,00,7e,00,00,00,00,00,00
"\\DosDevices\\A:"=hex:5c,00,3f,00,3f,00,5c,00,46,00,44,00,43,00,23,00,47,00,\
45,00,4e,00,45,00,52,00,49,00,43,00,5f,00,46,00,4c,00,4f,00,50,00,50,00,59,\
00,5f,00,44,00,52,00,49,00,56,00,45,00,23,00,35,00,26,00,31,00,63,00,36,00,\
63,00,36,00,34,00,34,00,26,00,30,00,26,00,30,00,23,00,7b,00,35,00,33,00,66,\
00,35,00,36,00,33,00,30,00,64,00,2d,00,62,00,36,00,62,00,66,00,2d,00,31,00,\
31,00,64,00,30,00,2d,00,39,00,34,00,66,00,32,00,2d,00,30,00,30,00,61,00,30,\
00,63,00,39,00,31,00,65,00,66,00,62,00,38,00,62,00,7d,00
"\\DosDevices\\H:"=hex:5c,00,3f,00,3f,00,5c,00,49,00,44,00,45,00,23,00,43,00,\
64,00,52,00,6f,00,6d,00,5f,00,4e,00,45,00,43,00,5f,00,44,00,56,00,44,00,5f,\
00,52,00,57,00,5f,00,4e,00,44,00,2d,00,33,00,35,00,32,00,30,00,41,00,57,00,\
5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,\
00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,33,00,2e,00,30,00,37,00,5f,00,5f,00,\
5f,00,5f,00,23,00,35,00,26,00,31,00,35,00,34,00,61,00,35,00,32,00,32,00,30,\
00,26,00,30,00,26,00,30,00,2e,00,30,00,2e,00,30,00,23,00,7b,00,35,00,33,00,\
66,00,35,00,36,00,33,00,30,00,64,00,2d,00,62,00,36,00,62,00,66,00,2d,00,31,\
00,31,00,64,00,30,00,2d,00,39,00,34,00,66,00,32,00,2d,00,30,00,30,00,61,00,\
30,00,63,00,39,00,31,00,65,00,66,00,62,00,38,00,62,00,7d,00
"\\??\\Volume{47035f24-2864-11de-a702-806d6172696f}"=hex:5d,93,01,26,00,e0,47,\
d0,07,00,00,00
"\\??\\Volume{2ba1415e-285e-11de-b54c-c4a582f77674}"=hex:5c,00,3f,00,3f,00,5c,\
00,53,00,54,00,4f,00,52,00,41,00,47,00,45,00,23,00,52,00,65,00,6d,00,6f,00,\
76,00,61,00,62,00,6c,00,65,00,4d,00,65,00,64,00,69,00,61,00,23,00,37,00,26,\
00,31,00,66,00,65,00,61,00,35,00,64,00,34,00,64,00,26,00,30,00,26,00,52,00,\
4d,00,23,00,7b,00,35,00,33,00,66,00,35,00,36,00,33,00,30,00,64,00,2d,00,62,\
00,36,00,62,00,66,00,2d,00,31,00,31,00,64,00,30,00,2d,00,39,00,34,00,66,00,\
32,00,2d,00,30,00,30,00,61,00,30,00,63,00,39,00,31,00,65,00,66,00,62,00,38,\
00,62,00,7d,00
"\\??\\Volume{be2b085a-2860-11de-b54e-e1d88d19898f}"=hex:5c,00,3f,00,3f,00,5c,\
00,53,00,54,00,4f,00,52,00,41,00,47,00,45,00,23,00,52,00,65,00,6d,00,6f,00,\
76,00,61,00,62,00,6c,00,65,00,4d,00,65,00,64,00,69,00,61,00,23,00,37,00,26,\
00,31,00,33,00,61,00,30,00,61,00,32,00,66,00,39,00,26,00,30,00,26,00,52,00,\
4d,00,23,00,7b,00,35,00,33,00,66,00,35,00,36,00,33,00,30,00,64,00,2d,00,62,\
00,36,00,62,00,66,00,2d,00,31,00,31,00,64,00,30,00,2d,00,39,00,34,00,66,00,\
32,00,2d,00,30,00,30,00,61,00,30,00,63,00,39,00,31,00,65,00,66,00,62,00,38,\
00,62,00,7d,00
"\\??\\Volume{0f1d0c8e-2a7f-11de-b57f-001fc6e603dd}"=hex:5c,00,3f,00,3f,00,5c,\
00,53,00,54,00,4f,00,52,00,41,00,47,00,45,00,23,00,52,00,65,00,6d,00,6f,00,\
76,00,61,00,62,00,6c,00,65,00,4d,00,65,00,64,00,69,00,61,00,23,00,37,00,26,\
00,31,00,34,00,64,00,38,00,30,00,63,00,63,00,62,00,26,00,30,00,26,00,52,00,\
4d,00,23,00,7b,00,35,00,33,00,66,00,35,00,36,00,33,00,30,00,64,00,2d,00,62,\
00,36,00,62,00,66,00,2d,00,31,00,31,00,64,00,30,00,2d,00,39,00,34,00,66,00,\
32,00,2d,00,30,00,30,00,61,00,30,00,63,00,39,00,31,00,65,00,66,00,62,00,38,\
00,62,00,7d,00
"\\DosDevices\\E:"=hex:5d,93,01,26,00,3e,90,a0,0f,00,00,00
"\\DosDevices\\F:"=hex:5d,93,01,26,00,5c,ab,4f,27,00,00,00
"\\DosDevices\\G:"=hex:5d,93,01,26,00,16,e2,2f,56,00,00,00
"\\DosDevices\\I:"=hex:5c,00,3f,00,3f,00,5c,00,53,00,54,00,4f,00,52,00,41,00,\
47,00,45,00,23,00,52,00,65,00,6d,00,6f,00,76,00,61,00,62,00,6c,00,65,00,4d,\
00,65,00,64,00,69,00,61,00,23,00,37,00,26,00,31,00,33,00,61,00,30,00,61,00,\
32,00,66,00,39,00,26,00,30,00,26,00,52,00,4d,00,23,00,7b,00,35,00,33,00,66,\
00,35,00,36,00,33,00,30,00,64,00,2d,00,62,00,36,00,62,00,66,00,2d,00,31,00,\
31,00,64,00,30,00,2d,00,39,00,34,00,66,00,32,00,2d,00,30,00,30,00,61,00,30,\
00,63,00,39,00,31,00,65,00,66,00,62,00,38,00,62,00,7d,00
"\\??\\Volume{3f914f26-2de8-11de-b4ff-001fc6e603dd}"=hex:1b,d3,88,9f,00,00,50,\
d0,07,00,00,00
"\\??\\Volume{5bb02d1c-33f6-11de-a162-806d6172696f}"=hex:5c,00,3f,00,3f,00,5c,\
00,49,00,44,00,45,00,23,00,43,00,64,00,52,00,6f,00,6d,00,5f,00,4e,00,45,00,\
43,00,5f,00,44,00,56,00,44,00,5f,00,52,00,57,00,5f,00,4e,00,44,00,2d,00,33,\
00,35,00,32,00,30,00,41,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,\
5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,31,\
00,2e,00,30,00,34,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,23,00,35,00,26,00,31,00,35,00,\
34,00,61,00,35,00,32,00,32,00,30,00,26,00,30,00,26,00,30,00,2e,00,30,00,2e,\
00,30,00,23,00,7b,00,35,00,33,00,66,00,35,00,36,00,33,00,30,00,64,00,2d,00,\
62,00,36,00,62,00,66,00,2d,00,31,00,31,00,64,00,30,00,2d,00,39,00,34,00,66,\
00,32,00,2d,00,30,00,30,00,61,00,30,00,63,00,39,00,31,00,65,00,66,00,62,00,\
38,00,62,00,7d,00
"\\??\\Volume{500085a6-33f7-11de-8e36-806d6172696f}"=hex:5c,00,3f,00,3f,00,5c,\
00,49,00,44,00,45,00,23,00,43,00,64,00,52,00,6f,00,6d,00,5f,00,4e,00,45,00,\
43,00,5f,00,44,00,56,00,44,00,5f,00,52,00,57,00,5f,00,4e,00,44,00,2d,00,33,\
00,35,00,32,00,30,00,41,00,57,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,\
5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,33,\
00,2e,00,30,00,37,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,23,00,35,00,26,00,31,00,35,00,\
34,00,61,00,35,00,32,00,32,00,30,00,26,00,30,00,26,00,30,00,2e,00,30,00,2e,\
00,30,00,23,00,7b,00,35,00,33,00,66,00,35,00,36,00,33,00,30,00,64,00,2d,00,\
62,00,36,00,62,00,66,00,2d,00,31,00,31,00,64,00,30,00,2d,00,39,00,34,00,66,\
00,32,00,2d,00,30,00,30,00,61,00,30,00,63,00,39,00,31,00,65,00,66,00,62,00,\
38,00,62,00,7d,00
"\\??\\Volume{a68958a4-3f9f-11de-8e54-001fc6e603dd}"=hex:c0,be,9a,d7,00,7e,00,\
00,00,00,00,00
"\\DosDevices\\D:"=hex:5d,93,01,26,00,e0,47,d0,07,00,00,00

 

Good. Here is how you can fix Vista to boot properly. You need to edit Vista's registry so that the ID for the Vista partition, 5d,93,01,26,00,e0,47,d0,07,00,00,00, is assigned to \\DosDevices\\C: and the ID for the XP partition, 5d,93,01,26,00,7e,00,00,00,00,00,00, is assigned to \\DosDevices\\D:, as viewed by Vista. You can do this by booting into XP and running Regedit and "Mounting" the Vista registry hive. The general procedure for mounting a registry hive is detailed in this post. Start with step 3 but make the following changes to the procedure to fit your situation:


a) In step 6, select drive D: on your disk
b) In step 7, browse to Vista's "Windows" folder at D:\Windows\System32\config
c) In step 10, name the key "Vista" (the name is temporary so it really doesn't matter what you call it)
d) Stop at step 12 and continue below:

Look at how Vista has listed the assignments under \DosDevices\. Find the two that match the partition IDs listed above. I suspect you'll find that they look the same as they do in XP (Vista has assigned C: to the XP partition and D: to the Vista partition). I'll use C: and D: in the example below. If you find something different then modify this procedure to assign C: to the Vista partition ID, no matter what letter it is currently (it may not be D. Here's how to swap C: for D:

1) Right-click on the key that has the C: designator and choose "Rename".
2) Change the C: to something temporary like X:
3) Rename the key with the D: designator to C:
4) Finally, rename X: to D:

You should end up with:

Code:

\DosDevices\C:     REG_BINARY   5d 93 01 26 00 e0 47 d0 07 00 00 00
and
\DosDevices\D:     REG_BINARY   5d 93 01 26 00 7e 00 00 00 00 00 00

Finally, Unload the Hive by clicking on Vista to highlight it, selecting the File menu and then selecting Unload Hive... Click Yes and then close the registry editor.

Reboot the PC into Vista to see if it worked. If the letters for any of your other drives are incorrect in Vista, just use Vista Disk Management to rearrange them. Make an image of the Vista partition after getting everything working again. In the future you will be able to restore this and any future images of the Vista partition to the same hard disk without seeing this problem again.

 

Thanks for the info, I'll print out a copy in case I get into serious trouble in the future.

Instead of changing the drive letters manually, I used Paragon Partition Manager Start-Up CD. This includes many features, including the ability to change the drive lettering in each registry while booted from the CD, which was a lot easier.

One problem I still have is that Vista seems intent on placing BootMGR on my WinXP D-drive partition. I don't know of a way to force it to use my Vista partition. Maybe it does this because my WinXP partition is the first on the drive? I suppose I could delete the XP partition temporarily and make sure that there is no "D" partition present. This should cause Vista to fail to find BootMGR and I can then use the Vista installation disc to repair the boot process, which should force it to setup BootMGR on my C:Vista partition. Then I can recover my XP partition.

Maybe there is a BCDedit option that will force Vista to load BootMGR from the C:Vista partition?

 

This is the nature of dual-booting "The Microsoft Way". When you installed Vista, the installer is programmed to put the boot files on the Active partition, which was your XP partition. It also adds an entry to Vista's BCD so that you can boot XP from Vista's boot menu.

Are you wanting to remove XP and have only Vista, booting from its own partition? If so, you could do this by copying bootmgr and the folder \boot from the XP partition to the Vista partition, making the Vista partition active, and then adjusting the entries in the BCD to point to their correct locations. It's a little involved but it can be done.

Or, are you wanting to maintain the dual boot configuration yet have each OS completely self-contained and booting from its own partition? If so then you need a third-party boot manager, which is the preferred way to set up dual-boot systems. The "Microsoft Way", with each OS visible to the other, is fraught with problems. You just experienced one of them. Another is that each time you boot into XP it will destroy Vista's restore points.

 

Thanks for all the info

Actually I want to keep my dual-boot setup. I tend to disable "Rollback" and rely on Acronis for safeguarding my system. I'm a bit paranoid and keep my backups on about 3 different physical drives.

It would be nice if TrueImage could sort out backups on dual-boot systems. Does Acronis do a boot manager? I must admit I haven't looked. I was impressed by the tools supplied by Paragon Partition Manager. I guess they are Acronis' main competitor.

 

It would be, but this is a tall order with so many different ways of setting up dual-boot systems. It's difficult to imagine covering all of the bases. However, you won't experience the original problem in your post #1 any more, so you should be good to create new images of your current dual-boot setup and restore them.

A word of explanation about what happened to you - when you first installed XP, the partitions were set up by the XP installer to conform to the established partitioning rules of the day; in other words the first primary partition was created with an offset of 63 sectors from the beginning of the disk. When you installed Vista, its partition was set up by the Vista installer to conform to Vista's newer rules for partitioning; an offset of 2048 sectors. So far, so good.

Along comes TI which follows the establish partitioning standards. When you restored your XP partition it was restored to the exact same location on the disk. Same location = same partition hex ID. When you restored your Vista partition, TI restored it using the older 63-sector offset rules, so the partition's starting sector after restoration is different than before restoration. New location on the disk = new partition hex ID.

Upon booting into XP nothing changed. The XP registry already contained drive letter reservations for all of the partitions as-is. But when you booted into Vista for the first time after a restore the partition ID for Vista (C in its old location was no longer valid (the partition's starting sector was now different). Windows could not find a valid partition that matched the drive letter reservation for C: and thus it assigned the Vista partition a new drive letter according to its predefined heirarchy, which always assigns C: to the active partition. Thus Vista got assigned a new and incorrect drive letter.

So that's what happened to you. But now that the Vista registry has a reservation for C: matched to the Vista partition in its new location, you can now back up and restore the Vista partition without issue.

Yes, Acronis has OS Selector, which is part of Acronis Disk Director. However, I would wait until version 11 is released because the current version 10 has a lot of difficulty correctly recognizing some Vista installations. There are other boot managers available; probably not fair to bring them up on an Acronis forum...

 

Thanks for the explanation Mark, that was a lot clearer than trying to work things out from all the info floating around on the subject.

Is it not possible for a future version of TI to restore a Vista partition exactly as it was using Vista rules? Like me, I'm sure most people use drive imaging software because they like the idea of everything being put back exactly as it was before (including offsets, etc). If TI could do this, I'd upgrade straightaway.

 

Possible, yes. Acronis would have to keep track of, in the image file, the former partition boundaries and offsets and then use this information when creating new partition table entries. They would also have to modify their partitioning code to allow creation of partitions using both old and new rules. Hopefully they will do this in the future.

The current TI versions do allow for restoration while preserving the original offsets in a limited way. If you make a backup of your entire disk and then restore the entire disk, the original partition table will be preserved including its offsets. But when you restore individual partitions, new table entries are written that conform to the older rules.

The 2048-sector offset is relatively new and was introduced with Vista. The established 63-sector offset has been around forever, and virtually all partition management software uses it. But times are changing...

 

I'll have to keep my fingers crossed for TI 12