Vista/XP dual boot - OSS can't find Vista!?

Discussion in 'Acronis Disk Director Suite' started by Oddlimbs, Jan 19, 2009.

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  1. Oddlimbs

    Oddlimbs Registered Member

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    Hi,
    I have installed Vista and XP on two Primary partitions, XP works fine, but OSS can't find Vista, if I use DD to manually hide XP & set Vista as active Vista works fine too.

    I have used the OS Detection Wizard to try to discover the Vista OS on the Vista partition, but on the final sceen it says "No new operating system is found in specified partition. Try to change boot partition or boot sector file name."

    I am running DD build 2,160, which produces OSS bootable media V10.0.2117.

    Can anybody tell me what I need to do to get around this?

    Thanks!!
     
  2. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    This problem can usually be fixed easily. However, before we try anything, can you verify which build of OSS is actually installed?

    When you boot OSS and check the Help >> About menu, what build is displayed?
    If you have OSS installed in Windows, run it and check the build too. Check both the booted OSS and the Windows OSS -- they should be the same.

    Sometimes the builds can get messed up in Media Builder, but be correct in the actual program. Build 2,160 or later should be installed to allow OSS to work with Vista. If build 2,117 is really installed, then it will need to be updated.
     
  3. Oddlimbs

    Oddlimbs Registered Member

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    Thanks for your reply Mudcrab.

    The OSS was build 2117, it appears that although I had updated DD to build 2160, it was still creating DD rescue media at 2117. I uninstalled & reinstalled DD & it now creats build 2160 media!

    Whilst playing around earlier OSS showed me 2 XP OSs, so I deleted the second one, assuming that it was just a shortcut, but it appears to have actually deleted the OS! After updating OSS to build 2160, it could see Vista, but not XP (as I had deleted it), so I reinstalled XP. Now guess what! - OSS can see XP, but not Vista again!

    Any ideas?

    PS I have just deleted XP again, so that I could try to reinstall it after protecting Vista folders, but OSS still can't see or find Vista.
    I thought that I would deactivated OSS, then re-activate it to see if it would then see Vista. When I go to deactivate OSS it asks me what OS to boot from after deactivation and guess what!? It gives me Vista as an option!!!o_O
     
    Last edited: Jan 19, 2009
  4. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    Can you post a copy of the BOOTWIZ.OSS file (instructions can be found here)? Please attach the file instead of pasting the contents into the post.

    Also, let me know which partition has Vista on it.

    Does Vista still boot properly if you deactivate OSS (don't uninstall), hide the XP partition and set the Vista partition Active?
     
  5. Oddlimbs

    Oddlimbs Registered Member

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    Hi Mudcrab,
    thanks for your further reply, unfortunately I did not notice that you had replied so quickly and I kept playing until I broke it completely!!

    I've had to reinstal Vista as it would not boot manually anymore, I also deleted XP so I need to start again! I will do that later this evening (UK time), is there any order that I should do things in to make it more likely to succeed? At the moment Vista is on the first partition & XP will be on the second, unless you recommend otherwise!

    Many Thanks,
    Odddlimbs.
     
  6. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    Regardless of the order in which you do the installations, the main thing is to make sure that the partition for the OS that's being installed is set Active and the other OS partition is Hidden.

    Since Vista is installed now, you could go ahead and install OSS. It should recognize the Vista installation. Once that is working, proceed as follows:
    1. Deactivate OSS (don't uninstall) and select Vista as the default OS.
    2. Boot to the DD CD and use DD to set the XP partition Active and hide the Vista partition.
    3. Install XP.
    4. Once XP is installed and working properly, reactivate OSS. It should find XP and add it to the menu.
     
  7. Oddlimbs

    Oddlimbs Registered Member

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    Hello again Mudcrab!

    Right, I have had problems along the way, but I now have a Vista installation that will boot when manually set to active, but OSS still can't find it!

    At this point in time I have no XP inst., but I do have an empty, hidden partition ready to receive it. One other thing that may be relevant, this is Dell computer, so it has an 80MB Fat16 partition with the Dell test utility on it.

    Any ideas on how best to proceed now?!

    Cheers,
    Oddlimbs.
     
  8. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    Is OSS currently installed, but deactivated so you can boot into Vista?
     
  9. Oddlimbs

    Oddlimbs Registered Member

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    Ooops - schoolboy error!!:oops: :oops:

    After managing to get Vista working again I quickly created a TI backup using my old rescue disc, as my new one did not have TI on it, I then inadvertently used the same disc to reinstall OSS (at build 2117), hence it would not find Vista! (Old disc now destroyed & TI added to new one!!)

    Having updated OSS to build 2160 it would see & boot Vista OK. I then deactivated OSS, hid Vista, set the XP partition as active & reinstalled XP from a TI backup. Now I cannot boot either OS manually or with OSS, I get a message something like "BOOTMGR file is corrupt, unable to boot" for all! I did not restore Track 0 & MBR is that right?

    I did not explain the problems I had getting Vista to work last night as it was past my bed-time, but now I have time:
    I tried to restore Vista from a Vista "Complete PC Restore" backup, but it would only give me one restore date, which was after the date that I wanted to restore to, so I tried to reinstall Vista completely from CD/DVD. Everything went fine until it got to the Restart point about 80% through the installation, it shuts down & when it comes back all I got was a blank screen with a cursor about 3 lines down and nothing else happens. I tried again, with the same result.
    I did, however, manage to use "Complete PC Restore" to get it working again (briefly!!), trouble is that the only restore option it gives me (even if I use the "restore a different backup" option) is one that has a small problem with it. Strange thing is that if I go to make a new backup it tells me that there are earlier backups, but it won’t show them when I go to restore!?
    The problem with the Vista restore is that my accounts program (Sage) won't find it's data which is held on an NAS unit, even though the data path is correct & the network drive is mapped. This used to work OK, but seemed to stop working around the same time as Vista added a Windows "Security Shield" to Sage's Desktop shortcut! - Any idea what this means/does?
    I notice that Vista has added the same "Shield" to the TI & DD Icons too, but no others!

    Hope you can shed a bit of light on this lot!!

    Many thanks,
    Oddlimbs.
     
    Last edited: Jan 23, 2009
  10. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    The "Security Shield" on the shortcut just means that the program needs to be run as an Administrator. If you have Vista's UAC turned on, you should get the box asking if it's okay to run the program every time you start it.

    What version and build of TI are you using?
     
  11. Oddlimbs

    Oddlimbs Registered Member

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    Hi Mudcrab,
    thanks for your reply & the info on the Windows shield – strange thing is that I had the program on there for some time before the shield appeared & I had the difficulty finding the data on the network! I will try re-installing the Sage program sometime!

    Anyway, back OT, I am running TI 2009, build 9646.
    I have played a bit more & managed to get the system a bit more alive that it was:

    I restored both Vista & XP, including their respective Track 0 & MBRs, from TI backups, & both would boot manually. I installed OSS & it could see both OSs & boot XP, but not Vista, it just went to the "Windows Error recovery" screen.
    I deactivated OSS and told it to use Vista as boot OS, which didn't work either, so I went into DD where the Vista partition was set as Primary, Active & Hidden so I un-hid it, but this made no difference. I can still manually boot to XP, but not Vista.
    I have now reactivated OSS, which will still not boot Vista. I guess that your next request will be to see the bootwiz file, but therein lies another problem - I have a bootwiz folder on each partition, but neither one contains any bootwiz files!!!

    Oddlimbs
     
    Last edited: Jan 23, 2009
  12. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    Don't uninstall OSS. If it's been reactivated, deactivate it. If you did uninstall OSS, then the files will be gone.

    Boot to the DD CD and do the following: Hide the XP partition, set the Vista partition Active. Apply the changes.

    Boot to the Vista DVD and do the following: Select the Repair mode. Cancel any automatic repair offers/procedures. Start a Command Prompt. Run the following commands at prompt (<ENTER> means to press the ENTER key):
    Code:
    bootrec /fixmbr <ENTER>
    bootrec /fixboot <ENTER>
    Next, run the bcdedit command:
    Code:
    bcdedit <ENTER>
    What is shown for the {bootmgr} and {default} entries (especially, the device and osdevice values)? (You can find sample output in this thread.

    If you get an error when you run bcdedit, post back with the error message.

    I doubt the bootrec changes will allow Vista to boot, but at least I'll know the starting point.

    ---

    Do you have any other partitions on the drive? Could OSS have installed itself into one of them? Check all the partitions -- OSS has to be somewhere if it's installed.
     
  13. Oddlimbs

    Oddlimbs Registered Member

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    Thanks again Mudcrab,

    Results were:

    Windows Boot Manager
    device partition=C:

    Windows Boot Loader
    device partition=C:
    osdevice partition=C:

    You are correct, the bootwiz files are on the Dell Utility partition, I have attached the .oss file.

    Many Thanks,
    Martin.
     

    Attached Files:

  14. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    I'll look at the file.

    Did Vista boot up okay?
     
  15. Oddlimbs

    Oddlimbs Registered Member

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    Yes it did! First time I tried to boot Vista it went to the "Windows error recovery" screen, I selected "Start normally" & it booted up OK, but the boot up is very slow.
     
  16. Oddlimbs

    Oddlimbs Registered Member

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    Just worked out why the boot was slow - I had tried hiding the Dell Utility partition, the system must have wasted time looking for it, un-hid it and boot is "quick" again!
     
    Last edited: Jan 23, 2009
  17. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    Try this file. OSS may fuss at it or it may add some data back in, but see if it works.
     

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  18. Oddlimbs

    Oddlimbs Registered Member

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    OSS now sees 2 Vista OSs, I tried to boot the second one, but it keeps going round in circles & back to OSS.

    I tried the first one & it went to the "Wingows Error recovery" screen, I selected start normally & it got as far as the Login screen. I logged in & it said something like "setting up your desktop", but then came up with an error window headed "ie4uinit.exe - Entry Point Not Found" & "The procedure entry point SdbGetAppCompatDataSize could not be located in the dynamic link library apphelp.dll."

    After pressing OK (the only option) it eventually came back with another similar error screen "rundll32.exe - Entry Point Not Found" & "The procedure entry point SdbGetAppCompatDataSize could not be located in the dynamic link library apphelp.dll."

    I then got another error message, which I did not note as I thought it was going to go on for ever, it then repeated the first message & started Vista in a temporary user profile.

    I will post the bootwiz file shortly.
     
  19. Oddlimbs

    Oddlimbs Registered Member

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    Here's the bootwiz file...
     

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  20. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    Try this one. Hopefully, nothing got messed up with the previous Vista boot attempt.
     

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  21. Oddlimbs

    Oddlimbs Registered Member

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    OSS only lists 1 Vista now & it started to boot OK, but got stuck at the "Preparing your desktop" screen for a few minutes & has now gone to a blank blue screen!
     
  22. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    I think the drive letters got messed up with the previous failed boot attempt (because the Vista partition was hidden [an OSS bug]).

    I'm assuming that Vista's booting files are on the Vista partition. Can you verify this? The bootmgr file and the BOOT folder should be in the root folder of the Vista partition.

    When you get to the blank screen, can you press Ctrl-Alt-Del and then start the Task Manager from the menu?

    If so, clean out the MountedDevices Registry entry and then do a reboot and see if it will work okay.

    From the Task Manager, run Regedit. Browse to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices key. Delete all entries except for the (Default) entry. Close the Registry Editor. Press Ctrl-Alt-Del again and choose to restart the computer.

    This will force Vista to reassign drive letters and C: should be assigned to the Active partition (the Vista partition).
     
  23. Oddlimbs

    Oddlimbs Registered Member

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    I've managed to get into the Task Manager, but regedit won't run - "Windows cannot find 'E:\regedit.exe'. ........."

    Looks like you are right about the drive letters!
     
  24. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    Does c:\windows\regedit work?

    Can you run explorer or c:\windows\explorer from Task Manager? If so, you can see which drive letter is assigned to which partition.

    When you previously could boot into Vista, was C: assigned to the Vista partition? If it had a different drive letter, then it'll take a little more work to fix.
     
  25. Oddlimbs

    Oddlimbs Registered Member

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    I shut the computer down & booted to DD to check where Vista booting files were before your last reply - they are on the Vista partition.

    I hope I haven't messed things up with the bootwiz file as when I went back to boot Vista it ran the Checkdisc & did a bit of fixing!

    I got back to the blank blue screen & got into Task Manager, I tried running all of the tasks that you suggested, but it kept saying tha c: was unaccessable. Not sure if this is what did it or it just got bored of waiting, but when I ran "explorer" it let me into Vista on a temporary user profile, where I was able to see that Vista is on E:, C: is the XP partition!

    I didn't actually take note, but I'm fairly sure that before I set-up OSS Vista was on C: (Likewise when I was in XP that was on C: too).
     
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