image nightmare?

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by bkw, Dec 26, 2004.

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  1. bkw

    bkw Registered Member

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    just made adisk image of my xp system. used the sysprep utility.
    it got half way through and stop with an error mess that read the problem might be faulty media. was writing to a firewire drive which has never given me any trouble.
    now i go to restart my computer and the xp installation wizzard appears. i went forward untill it asked me for lic key and then i shut down.
    i hope i can get it back. can anyone assit me.
     
    bkw, Dec 26, 2004
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  2. LowWaterMark

    LowWaterMark Administrator

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    You should definitely explain more about what you were doing. sysprep is a Microsoft utility that can be used in combination with Acronis True Image to make cloan-able copies of systems. There is the prep phase, the imaging phase and the restore phase. There is an FAQ at the Acronis site that links to the Microsoft article and utility:

    http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/faq.html#17

    Without knowing exactly what you did and what step you were on, it'll be hard for people to help you.

    I notice from your previous post you were trying to cloan a system, which is why I assume you were involved in the steps noted above:

    https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?p=332057#post332057
     
    LowWaterMark, Dec 26, 2004
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  3. bkw

    bkw Registered Member

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    yes i read the sysprep article and thought i followed it.
    halfway through the imaging process and i got that error. i took out the true image disk and rebooted to find xp install wizzard. i dont care much about failure to create the image i just want my system up and running.
    thank you for your help
     
    bkw, Dec 26, 2004
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  4. rrockingb

    rrockingb Registered Member

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    Hi bkw,

    You don't say what type of computer you have but if you have a regular XP disc you could do a repair of your system this would keep all your personal info and programs but you will have to re-install all updates for XP...

    Hope this helps you some.
     
    rrockingb, Dec 26, 2004
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  5. Fuzzy John

    Fuzzy John Registered Member

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    What is stopping your system from going thru the setup steps? Are you missing the XP Product ID Code?
    Sysprep did exactly what it was supposed to do.
     
    Fuzzy John, Dec 26, 2004
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  6. LowWaterMark

    LowWaterMark Administrator

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    I don't think I'd start by doing a repair install from the XP CDs, especially if this is the case...

    Indeed. Isn't this what sysprep does? It removes from the 'source system' several unique identifiers, which should include the license key among other things. It does that just prior to making the image so any PC restored from that image would need to request that same information again to "complete" its configuration.

    Because the source system is altered, it would need its unique identifiers re-entered, right? The imaging media error mentioned above is not related to the license key request at all. Whether the error occurred or not, the source system would still be altered, and the unique system specific information removed.

    I've never used it, but it does sound as if you simply need to give it the requested information, and the system gets set back to how it was?

    Has anyone here actually gone through the process before?
     
    LowWaterMark, Dec 26, 2004
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  7. Fuzzy John

    Fuzzy John Registered Member

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    I am using Sysprep (Windows 2000) routinely in conjunction with Norton Ghost 7.5 at work to deploy laptops. When you first start a system that was cloned with Sysprep you will go thru the steps that you probably went the first time you turned on your machine purchased from Dell, Gateway and many other OEMs.
     
    Fuzzy John, Dec 26, 2004
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  8. bkw

    bkw Registered Member

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    so i panicked and did the repair and had to update sp2 ect.
    assuming that if i answered the setup questions everything would have come back to normal on source machine.
    then on new machine i would answer the same setup qestions and enter the same lic key ? and have 2 machines on 1 lic key ?
     
    bkw, Dec 27, 2004
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  9. Fuzzy John

    Fuzzy John Registered Member

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    That is correct. But since you have Windows XP, how will you handle the product activation with only one license key? Unless you have a volume license for Windows XP or maybe one of those cracked copies "off the street" Microsoft will start asking questions.
     
    Fuzzy John, Dec 27, 2004
    #9
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