Acronis restore a multiboot partition

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by vader69, Nov 29, 2007.

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  1. vader69

    vader69 Registered Member

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    I am having trouble restoring an image made from a multiboot disk partition. It is a XP/Vista drive. After restoring from the image Vista cleans up the desktop icons and tells me that it's running with a temporary profile. It seems that drive letters may be screwed up. I changed the letters back the way they were before but during the very first boot, Vista may have tried to correct registry entries and continues to boot with errors.

    I have not tried to boot with XP yet. I also have not tried to fix MBR.

    Any suggestions?
     
  2. vader69

    vader69 Registered Member

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  3. vader69

    vader69 Registered Member

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    After reading the thread I mentioned above, it seems that it is NOT the issue I have.

    After restoring the image (I also used cloning with the same results), Vista boots up and immediately starts reconfiguring the desktop. I cannot cancel that. Once done I don't seem to able to reverse that back.
     
  4. Xpilot

    Xpilot Registered Member

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    Nicked from usenet.

    If you set a Vista disk in the CD tray upside down,
    you can hear SATANIC VOICES!
    But that isn't the worst of it,
    If you set it the right way, IT INSTALLS VISTA!

    Xpilot
     
  5. vader69

    vader69 Registered Member

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  6. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    Take a look at this: Multibooters - Dual/Multi Booting With Vista

    There's a lot of information there on what I think is your problem.

    When you restored the Vista partition was it ONLY the Vista partition or did you also restore any other partitions?

    Was XP installed first and then Vista?

    Was XP or Vista the Active partition?
     
  7. vader69

    vader69 Registered Member

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    I cloned 2 physical hard drives. Disk 0 - partitions C: XP D: Vista multiboot, both active. Second was a storage drive with multple partitions with several letters, which I prepared to correct as needed.

    XP was installed first, Vista second. When Vista boots, it locates itself as C: and shows XP as the first unused letter. When XP boots it does the same.
     
  8. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    If you were using Microsoft's boot loader, then Vista will be booting from the XP partition and not the Vista partition. That's what is causing the drive letter to change when Vista first boots from the restored image.

    You'll need to follow the instructions in the link I provided to change the Vista drive letter back to C: after you restore it again (start fresh). A Vista Repair will not fix the problem.

    If you have DD or another partitioning program that can hide partitions, you could also try this:
    Boot to TI and restore the Vista partition again
    Don't try and boot into Vista
    Boot to the DD CD and hide the XP partition
    Reboot the computer into Vista
    Vista should boot correctly
    Reboot back to the DD CD and unhide the XP partition
    Reboot and you should have your multi-boot setup back
     
  9. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    If it was OSS, then just make sure that on the first boot into Vista after you restore the partition, make sure that the XP partition is hidden. Also, usually the Vista partition will need to be Active, but it depends on how it was installed. If it doesn't work with XP hidden and Active, try it with XP hidden and Vista Active.

    The thing is, the partition Vista is actually installed on MUST BE the first partition recognized to be automatically reassigned the C: drive letter. Once this assignment has been made, the other partition can be unhidden without causing problems.
     
  10. vader69

    vader69 Registered Member

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    I just retracted my statement - it was usind Windows bootloader. Acronis screwed thing up for me and I repair-installed both Windows and re-set the bootloader.

    I have to check the status of the drives AFTER restoring. Thanks for all the tips.
     
  11. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    This particular problem is not directly caused by TI. It has to do with how Vista detects and assigns drives. It also seems to only happen if the booting partition (the Active partition) is not the Vista partition (in your case, the XP partition). This is because the current Active partition will always get C: when Vista reassigns it and the Vista partition ends up with a different letter.
     
  12. vader69

    vader69 Registered Member

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    Thank you very much. Hiding the XP partition before the first boot did the trick :thumb:
     
  13. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    Great! Thanks for posting back.
     
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