Interesting Puzzle

Discussion in 'FirstDefense-ISR Forum' started by Peter2150, Jun 9, 2008.

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  1. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    Did 2 different types of installs this past weekend with Vista Ultimate. Interesting FDISR results.

    Starting system point was XP Pro SP2, with 2 FDISR snapshot.

    1) Did an upgrade install. Had to start with in Windows itself but the install when fine with no issues. Obviously no format.
    When done and fully upgraded, I noticed in FDISR everything was there, but the preboot was disabled. I couldn't enable it, and rebooted quite a bit. Didn't try a uninstall reinstall as that wasn't really the point of doing this.

    2) Now the weird one. Just booted the Vista DVD to do a clean install. First thing that caught me off guard was I didn't need to load any Nvidia drivers. Once I got past that I got to the point of selecting the partition. Since the installer saw the partition as 596.1gb in size and 596.1 free, it didn't occur to me to format, so I didn't. I just continued the install. I did notice that it recognized there had been an old OS out there, but again didn't think about it. Install went fine, and I had a nice working clean install of Vista Ultimate. Now for the weird part.

    Installed FDISR. Wasn't surprised that it saw my archives as they were on another disk, but what did surprise me was it also saw my old secondary snapshot, and preboot was enabled. Tried booting to my old secondary and there it was Windows XP secondary snapshot. Booted back to the Primary and it was the good Vista Ultimate Primary.

    Any ideas.

    Pete
     
    Peter2150, Jun 9, 2008
    #1
  2. Huupi

    Huupi Registered Member

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    At install you didn't format so my guess is that old stuff (sec. XP snapshot and maybe prim.XP snapshot) are left untouched,because you did'nt partition,FDISR just saw your installed Vista as another snapshot and made the necessary links,but its a wild guess,it could be very different.
     
    Huupi, Jun 9, 2008
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  3. demoneye

    demoneye Registered Member

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    its seems like "empty snapshot" operation...i realy dont use vista nor fdisr in it :doubt:

    cheers
     
    demoneye, Jun 10, 2008
    #3
  4. Acadia

    Acadia Registered Member

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    LOL! You lost me, Peter, after "Did 2 different types of installs this past weekend..." ;)

    Acadia
     
    Acadia, Jun 10, 2008
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  5. Teknokrat

    Teknokrat Registered Member

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    Couldn't help laughing a bit when I read this. I felt EXACTLY the same.
    Must be the heat (my logic chip needs a larger fan) o_O
     
    Teknokrat, Jun 10, 2008
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  6. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    Sorry guys, don't know anyway to make it clearer. I guess it presumes you've done clean installs and upgrade installs with windows and Vista.
     
    Peter2150, Jun 10, 2008
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  7. pandlouk

    pandlouk Registered Member

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    Hi Peter,

    By your description FD-ISR worked as expected.

    1. By doing an upgrade installation the bootstrap changed. Bootstrap of Vista is very different form XP. You should have uninstalled and reinstall FD-ISR.

    From the help: "The Bootstrap and Vista
    The first 16 sectors of the boot partition is the Bootstrap. The Bootstrap loads and starts the Windows operating system loader. The Bootstrap for Windows Vista is different from the Bootstrap for Windows 2000/XP. The Vista Bootstrap runs BOOTMGR while the 2000/XP Bootstrap runs NTLDR.

    Since all FirstDefense-ISR snapshots share the same partition, the Bootstrap must be the same. However, there is a solution. If there is a copy of NTLDR named BOOTMGR, then the Vista Bootstrap will work for 2000/XP

    FirstDefense-ISR automates the process and will use the correct Bootstrap and make the copy of NTLDR as needed. Note that the copy of NTLDR named BOOTMGR is not deleted from the 2000/XP snapshot for safety's sake"


    2. By doing a clean install without formating you left the "$ISR" folder unchanged. This is similar with uninstalling FD-ISR with the option "Remove program only". Your snapshots remain intact and ready to be used again, after you reinstall FD-ISR.


    p.s. pay attention not to eliminate your Vista snapshot, or to replace it with an XP snapshot because it will lead to a corrupted/unknown ntfs partition.

    Hope it helps,

    Panagiotis
     
    pandlouk, Jun 10, 2008
    #7
  8. Teknokrat

    Teknokrat Registered Member

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    Hey, no need to aplogize. Personally the problem at my end was when I tried to imagine the steps you went through so I fully could comprehend the question.
    The description was excellent but I couldn't pinpoint what you asked for. :blink:

    cheers
    /T
     
    Teknokrat, Jun 10, 2008
    #8
  9. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    HI T

    Wasn't really asking. It was more a curiosity, and I think Panagiotis explained it exactly.

    Pete
     
    Peter2150, Jun 10, 2008
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  10. Longboard

    Longboard Registered Member

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    LOL
    FDISR snaps even survive a new OS install
    Another unlooked for magic act. ;)

    (i know, I know ..;) )

    The Vista Bootloader is a pain with many boot level tools.

    Just watch that last 'little' catch !!
     
    Longboard, Jun 11, 2008
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  11. wilbertnl

    wilbertnl Registered Member

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    Hello Peter,

    Since you didn't format the disk during each of the installations, the data in C:\$ISR was available after both actions. And FD-ISR found it.
    I would expect that installing from CD over an existing (was it XP?) installation leaves a mix of old and new folders/applications.
     
    wilbertnl, Jun 11, 2008
    #11
  12. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    I wasn't surprised at the results on the upgrade install. What caught me off guard on the clean install was the installer indicated the full partition and that the whole thing was available.
     
    Peter2150, Jun 11, 2008
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  13. wilbertnl

    wilbertnl Registered Member

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    That is certainly surprising, Peter.
    You may have uncovered a bug, sometimes also called a feature.
     
    wilbertnl, Jun 11, 2008
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  14. Longboard

    Longboard Registered Member

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    ;) Deus ex machina = :eek: MS
    or
    :D FDISR ??
     
    Longboard, Jun 11, 2008
    #14
  15. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    Wouldn't surprise me. I found a bug in the MS partition table routines. This one definitely wasn't a feature.:rolleyes:
     
    Peter2150, Jun 11, 2008
    #15
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