Missing or corrupt ntoskrnl.exe

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by stealth1701, May 8, 2005.

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  1. stealth1701

    stealth1701 Registered Member

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    Hi
    I have a hardraive which I use for my development work on my DELL INSPIRON 8200 laptop. In order to make sure if my hard drive ever crashed that I would have a working backup, I purchased a second harddrive and a copy of trueImage 8.

    I created an image of my harddrive using TI8 and saved it to an extrenal usb dive. Next I inserted the brand new disk and attempeted to restore the Image i had created onto this new disk.

    TI8 said that the image was restored successfuly. However when I rebooted I got the following nessage

    "Windoes could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt.
    <WINDOWS ROOT>\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
    Please re-install a copy of the above file"

    I have tried creating a number of images but I always get the message above. The thing is, I know the image is OK because when restore the OS onto my original disk it works fine.
    ANyone have any ideas ehat is going on?
    Thanks in advance for any help
     
  2. jmk94903

    jmk94903 Registered Member

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    Repeat making the image and be sure that you have chosen ALL the partitions on the hard drive and not just the C partition. Dell computers often have special diagnostic partitions or backup partitions, and you need to include these in the image to ensure that when you restore the image to new hard drive it will be bootable.

    Let us know what the results are when you have done this.
     
  3. MiniMax

    MiniMax Registered Member

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    Hi stealth, I am very interested in a solution to this problem, as it tends to pop up here in the forums from time to time.

    Can you confirm that the file is indeed missing? What OS do you have? Windows 2K, Windows XP? Try booting with the Windows CD, enter the Recovery Console, and check the contents of that <WINDOWS ROOT>\system32 directory.

    Also check the contents of the C:\BOOT.INI file. Is the boot entry for Windows pointing the correct partition?
     
  4. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello stealth1701,

    Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

    Please try to restore this file follow the below steps.
    - Insert the Microsoft Windows XP CD. Please note: if you have a recovery CD or a restore CD and not a Microsoft Windows XP CD it is likely the below steps will not resolve your issue.
    - Reboot the computer, as the computer is starting you should see a message to press any key to boot from the CD. When you see this message press any key.
    - In the Microsoft Windows XP setup menu press the R key to enter the recovery console.
    - Select the operating system you wish to fix, and then enter the administrator password.
    - Type expand d:\i386\ntoskrnl.ex_ c:\windows\system32
    - You will then be prompted if you wish to overwrite the file type Y and press enter to overwrite the file.
    - Type exit to reboot the computer.

    If the problem remains please do the following:

    - Download the Acronis Report utility from http://www.acronis.com/files/support/AcronisReport.exe;
    - Run Acronis Report utility and select the "Create bootable floppy" option;
    - Insert a blank floppy disk in the floppy drive and proceed with creating the bootable diskette;
    - Boot the computer under consideration from this diskette and wait for report creation process to complete;
    - Send the 'report.txt' file from the floppy disk to support@acronis.com along with the link to this thread.

    This would provide us with detailed information on the hard disk partition structure.

    Thank you.
    --
    Irina Shirokova
     
    Last edited: May 9, 2005
  5. stealth1701

    stealth1701 Registered Member

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    Hi
    Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I will work through the last 2 this evening but I have tried Johns suggestion and included the small dell FAT partition in the image. Unfortunately this did not work either. I then tried the following:
    1/ Re-installed a basic installation of XP on the target new disk
    2/ Checked that this worked fine and booted into Windows without problem
    3/Restored the Saved image from my original hard-drive over the clean install I had made.
    4/ Tried to boot and got the same ntoskrnl.exe missing message again.

    I used a third party NTFS viewer to check if the missing file was actually there once I restored the image and it does indeed seem to be missing.

    So, It seems that TrueImage somehow omits this file (it is there on the original disk) when creating the image. This is very strange as I thought True Image copied an exact sector by sector image rather than copy individual files. The other curious thing is if I restore that same image again onto the original disk, everything is fine. ie. I restored to an earlier backup to overwrite my current configuration and then restored to this backup and the system booted normally. In conclusion, it seems to be the fact that I am restoring to a brand new disk that seems to be the problem. Is this a bug in TrueImage possibly? Has anyone tried moving their Operating System partition image to a brand new disk using TrueImage?

    I haven't tried the final suggestion from Acronis Support- but will give this a go after work this evening and let you all know the results.
    Thanks again for all the suggestions and keep them coming - I am keen to get this resolved!
    Cheers
    Mat
    p.s I am using Version 8 of TrueImage
     
    Last edited: May 10, 2005
  6. MiniMax

    MiniMax Registered Member

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    The plot thickens!!
    So did I ;) Okay, with a running Windows + True Image, can you try mounting (exploring) the image and see if the <WINDOWS ROOT>\system32\ntoskrnl.exe was included in the image? (btw. what is your <WINDOWS ROOT>?)

    And - before we put all the blame on True Image - do you have an <WINDOWS ROOT>\system32\ntoskrnl.exe for True Image to image?
    Eh? You mean a different (older) image, right?
    And if you mount/explore this older image the <WINDOWS ROOT>\system32\ntoskrnl.exe is included?
    Possibly. I can not keep wondering if the error message is correct... Is Windows really looking in <WINDOWS ROOT>\system32 for ntoskrnl.exe?

    And which part of Windows is responsible for locating and loading the kernel? I assume it is <BOOT-partition>\ntldr. And is it using the information in <BOOT-partition>\boot.ini?

    Could it be that the load path (e.g. multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS) does not match the actual partition number after a restore on a clean disk?

    Questions, questions....
    I have, but that was with Win2K and TI 6.0. And it was not really a brand new disk - but it had been throughly scrubbed by 2 different HD tool that wrote random data all over the disk, so any trace of the previous install was completely gone. And TI 6.0 worked :)
     
  7. Peter Vanlint

    Peter Vanlint Registered Member

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    Another question I'm afraid. When you back up a disk with two or more partitions, there is a tick box for the disk and one for each partition. If you tick all partitions, is that the same as ticking the box for the whole disk?

    If there is a difference, which method did stealth use when both partitions were backed up?

    Thanks
    Pete
     
  8. MiniMax

    MiniMax Registered Member

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    No. Imaging partitions, even if it includes all the partitions on the disk, only images the content of the partitions and a few other bits of information like filesystem type, partition size, etc.

    Imaging the complete disk, also includes the partition table *and* the bootstrap code embedded in the partition table (a.k.a. the MBR).

    (at least that is how I understand it)
    I don't know, but judging from the error message the Windows boot loader had begun its work, since nothing but an Windows loader would know about ntoskrnl.exe.
     
  9. Tomq

    Tomq Registered Member

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    >> No. Imaging partitions, even if it includes all the partitions on the disk, only images the content of the partitions and a few other bits of information like filesystem type, partition size, etc.<<

    >>Imaging the complete disk, also includes the partition table *and* the bootstrap code embedded in the partition table (a.k.a. the MBR).<<

    It this is true, where is it documented in the user's manual? The manual does mention "flagging" the disk if you want to image all partitions, but it doesn't state that ticking all the individual partitions is not the same thing, and if you are not careful, you may be in "deep do-do" down the road if you don't tick the entire disk button. In fact, the information is presented in such a casual manner that one would think it was just a convenience thing (ticking one box for the entire disk instead of ticking several partition buttons).

    If you are right, this is a serious flaw in a program that has been praised as easy to use for experts and novices alike. It is nothing of the sort if you can be left with useless backups over such a simple mistake.

    PS

    I'm typing this from my Solaris based workstation at work, as my home pc is pretty much a large paper weight at this point, complaining about \system32\hal.dll missing, and several attempts to restore has done nothing to fix it.

    Other than that, I have no strong feelings on the matter....
    :(

    -TomQ
     
    Last edited: May 10, 2005
  10. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Have you checked the boot.ini as MiniMax suggested?
     
  11. jmk94903

    jmk94903 Registered Member

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    Check the post by Brian K in the missing hall.dll thread for how to fix the BOOT.INI file.
     
  12. stealth1701

    stealth1701 Registered Member

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    Hi Again,
    Just some update information for you. First of all, apologies - I was mistaken. The ntoskrnl.exe file was present when the new image was restored - I guess I missed it first time when using that 3rd party tool. Anyway, I did what Acronis Suport suggested and expanded this file directly from the XP CD. It asked me if I wanted to ovewrite the existing one so I guess it was there afterall. Needless to say, this didn't cure the problem
    I then removed all the partitions on the new disk so there was just unallocated space there and then used trueImage to create the partitions itself based on what was on the image file.
    Some of you talked about the boot loader - where is this and how can I fix it? I looked at the thread for "missing hal" and tried recreating the boot.ini file as suggested.
    Unfortunately it still doesn't work!!!!
    I am going to try one final thing tonight and that is to select the whole disk as suggested here but leave out my data drives (I am restoring to a smaller new disk so can't fit some of the partitions in) I assume that by unchecking these data disks won't be a problem?
    Will keep you all posted
    THis is SOOOO Frustrating
    Cheers
    Mat
     
  13. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Do you or a friend have a BartPE disc? It would be nice to view the boot.ini to confirm that it really is pointing to your WinXP partition. You can make a BartPE disc in 15 minutes and you will have one of the best recovery tools available.

    http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/
     
  14. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    On your new HD do you have the small Dell FAT partition first then the WinXP partition second? I assume this was the order on the original HD.
     
  15. MiniMax

    MiniMax Registered Member

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    Now that we know that the ntoskrnl.exe file exists, it would be nice to know where Windows is trying to find it. Try the XP Recovery Console (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;314058) and the BOOTCFG /LIST command:
    With the help of the DISKPART and MAP commands, we should be able to figure out what the boot loader is trying to do.
     
  16. stealth1701

    stealth1701 Registered Member

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    Will try the new suggestions again after work tonight and try and send you the boot info as requested. Sorry about the red herring as far as the missing ntoskrnl.exe goes.
    BrianK, in answer to your question about the Dell partition. It is about 32K and is located at the start of the disk. I imaged it along with the other partitions using trueImage. I will have a look at the BartPE thing you suggested later.
    Once again thanks everyone for your help and suggestions.
    Mat
     
  17. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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  18. stealth1701

    stealth1701 Registered Member

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    The saga continues...
    Minimax, I tried your suggestion and did a bootcfg /LIST and giot the message "There are currently no boot entries available to display"

    Next I looked at the boot.ini file in c:\ and this is what was in the file:

    [boot loader]
    timeout=10
    default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\windows
    [operating systems]
    multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\windows="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /noexecute=optln


    Anyone any ideaso_O

    I sent the report file to Acronis but as yet have not heard back from them.
     
  19. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    stealth, this is my boot.ini.

    [boot loader]
    timeout=30
    default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
    [operating systems]
    multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

    Is your WinXP (restored) now the first or second partition? According to the boot.ini it is the second. Mine is the first although when I received the computer from Dell I had their FAT partition as number 1 and my boot.ini showed WinXP as partition 2. I have since deleted the FAT partition.
     
  20. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello stealth1701,

    Could you please let me know your Acronis request # which was sent to you in autoreply to your letter? I will find out how the investigation is going and let you know.

    Thank you.
    --
    Ilya Toytman
     
  21. Jenya

    Jenya Guest

    Check your voltage accross the 5V rail; if it's ~4.8, it's not good; if it's ~4.5, that's what is causing a problem. Replace or fix your power supply.
     
  22. MiniMax

    MiniMax Registered Member

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    Public announcement: Todays "WTF? award" goes to ... Jenya.
     
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