After Clone System won't boot

I cloned my hard drive which contains 5 partitions. Two of the partitions contain Windows XP OSs. The system in the primary partition is working ok but when I try to boot the system in one of the logical partitions it gets as far as the windows splash screen - where it would normally say "loading personal settings" - and it just sits there until I turn the computer off.

I also tried imaging the entire drive and performing a restore with that image. Same exact behavior.

My next step was to attempt a Windows XP repair installation. This freezes at the point where it asks whether or not to turn on automatic updates. I actually did the whole installation twice, answer yes once and no once. Both froze at the same point.

The original disk boots into either system fine.

The clone asks which I want and if I choose the system in the logical drive it hangs at the splash screen. I have mouse and keyboard control but just can't get past that first screen. No user accounts are displayed. Just the windows logo.

Help!

 

Tman777,

That's annoying.

That screen where Windows freezes, is it the pale blue one with the small WinXP logo. But the "loading personal settings" or "Windows is loading" text is missing?

Which boot manager are you using?

Could you confirm that the Windows XP OS in the logical partition is in a logical partition inside an Extended partition? Just so we understand each other.

 

Brian,

Yes the splash screen is pale blue with a small windows logo and yes, the Loading Windows and Loading Personal Settings text is missing. Also, yes, the Windows XP OS that won't boot is in a logical partition within an extended partition.

Todd

 

Todd, it shouldn't have happened but your second WinXP partition has a drive letter issue. The following thread has the answer. I think!

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=174958

Especially Post #20. Please let us know what you find and do.

Are you dual booting the "Microsoft Way"?

http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/principles.htm

 

Hi Tman777,

You forgot something. When you clone the Hard Drive, you added another Hard Drive and you booted the computer up with two Hard Drives.

Did you remember to change the Hard Drive Boot Order Priority? I bet you didn't think of this. You need to change the Boot Order, if you wish to use the new Cloned Hard Drive as your Boot Hard Drive.

 

Creator,

After I cloned the original hard drive I removed it from the box and put the cloned one in its place. I wish it was that simple a fix!

Todd

 

Todd,

I'm guessing you are dual booting the Microsoft Way and you cloned to a larger HD. Then the starting sector of the second WinXP will have changed and a new partition signature would have been calculated for this partition and a new drive letter assigned which is not the same as the original drive letter. The above thread shows how to correct the drive letter.

 

Hi Todd,

Repairing does not work after cloning. With 2 operating system, are both needing to be repair, or is one operating system working?

Can you post your Boot.ini file here?

[boot loader]
timeout=6
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\windows
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\windows="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition E" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptOut
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition G" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

The above is mine. Working fine. I have Two Hard Drives installed, though. Only one contains both operating systems.

Check yours.

 

Brian,

Yes, I am booting the MS way and I did clone to a larger hard drive and the drive letter changed.

I have partition magic which will allow me to change the drive letter but only in the bootable OS. So that probably won't help.

Would using a different boot manager solve the problem?

I am reading over the thread about how to change the drive letter now.

THANKS!

 

Todd, unfortunately PM won't help you. You need to change the drive letter in the Registry of the second OS.

No.

 

OK. I will put the new drive back in, boot to the working OS and see what I can do!

 

OK. Good luck.

 

If you had paragon partition manager 9.0 you might be able to fix it. It has a bootcd with a "boot corrector", it's what I have been using to fix "partition ID" drive letter problems on windows xp. Also "avanquest partition commander" has an older build of the "boot corrector".

With dual boots it could be other problems too. I've never had to use a "boot corrector" on a dual boot but I think it might be useful. When it boots up your computer,. you will be able to see all the operating systems on your hard drive. From there just choose the system that won't boot and change the "partition ID", so it matches the "mounted devices" drive letter for that OS.

The problem you describe with windows hanging at the "splash screen" points to a "boot.ini" or "partition ID mismatch" problem. The windows registry is looking for the next startup files in the wrong partition. In most cases this is an easy fix with the right utilitys.

Some people have had success doing a sector by sector clone.

 

Yippee!!!

Need I say more?

The regedit tip did the trick.

Thank you very much I would never have come up with that in time to be working again in the morning. Ah, now I can sleep in peace.

 

Todd, thanks for reporting back. You are the second person to report this issue. That I've noticed. I'd expect it to happen to all Microsoft Way multi-boots so it's surprising we haven't seen more reports.

All the best.

 

Brian,

You saved my butt and I thank you muchly for that. It's possible I might have eventually entered the correct search terms to find MAD64's post from what, two years ago? The chances that I would have been bleary eyed, pissed off and unable to understand that I'd found the solution by that time are probably somewhere around 95%.

Thanks again,

Todd