Cannot create Acronis secure zone

Yes. I deleted the Vista partition with DD. Undeleting the partition also deactivated the ASRM.

I'm pretty sure it is.

I assume it would know it's activated and wouldn't allow multiple activations, but I haven't tested it. I would also assume that it would default to the currently booted Windows since that would seem the logical place. However, both of these assumptions don't mean much in the "Acronis" world.

---

With the ASRM implemented this way, if the restore of the system partition goes wrong or is canceled, you can't reboot and get back into the the ASRM. You'd better have a TI CD available.

 

Ok, I will not doing anything until you are ready with the plan.

Quick question though.(no need to answer now though if it does not have a simple answer) In a hypothetical scenario of a hard drive failure, Edit: If I were to restore my most recent backup to a new hard drive, I would end up with only a C: partition with no boot files. Hopefully though at that point I could use the Vista Repair disk to add the boot files. Does that sound like it would likely work out ok? In an emergency I mean.

 

No, you will be able to restore everything on the disk providing that you created a backup of the entire disk that includes all partitions.

The problem with multiboot installations, or ones like yours (and mine!) that use a separate boot partition is that if you restore them, it is possible that Windows will screw up the drive letter assignments on first boot unless you understand how Windows assigns drive letters and you force it to assign drive letters the way you want by restoring one partition at a time in the proper sequence. If you have a simple layout with Vista and its boot files on the Active partition, like most people do, you can restore the whole disk and the outcome is almost always correct.

 

Oh ok, except I did not select mutiple partitions for the backup. I suppose though that the options might have been by disk number rather than partition though.
I do not remember... I guess I will start another backup now, so I can report back with better details on what my selection details were.

Edit: Ok, I'm back to update this. --- I have only used the Acronis One click protection, and by reading the brief description it gives, combined with how small the size of the backup is Edit: I am very sure that it could not be a backup of all of all my partitions. Edit: In fact I am 100% sure now, because I have done a backup the same way on my second computer and preformed a restore,, it has two partitions and the second was not affected. Edit: When doing the One Click Protect backup the very first time, I do not remember clearly, but I have some recollection that during that first running, (and not subsequently), Acronis TI directs the user to select the partitions to backup. I am though 100% sure that I would only have selected C:

Edit: My goal really is only to back up the C: partition.(Edit:and of course to have the boot files there...) All my data on the other partitions I backup externally as data files and folders only.

Edit: Admittedly when I asked the question in post #66 about possibly restoring a backup; I was thinking then and until now that the backup was of all the partitions. In fact i a couple of my more recent posts I had said that I made a backup of everything, so all of those comments quite properly lead you to your believe that my backup was of everything.. But now I have come to realize that it was only a backup of C: (and that is what I want.) ** Sorry for the misinformation. - Would you be inclined at this point to advice that I do run a backup now, that does include everything?

 

Yes, that would be advisable. If something goes wrong when we move your boot files then you need a backup of the D: partition also. For convenience, back up the entire disk as-is. In the backup wizard, put a checkmark next to the disk; this will select all of the partitions on the disk for backup. Make sure to do a "My Computer" type of backup. Back up to your external USB drive if possible. If not, back up to your I: partition.

Before you do that are you able to determine the answers to post #74 questions? If you can post these I will work on the instructions while you are running the backup.

 

I managed to miss your post #74. And being the last post on the previous page caused me to continue not to see it. I will be running the FULL disk back up shortly, but I will be gone for about 90 minutes, so at that time I will work on following your post # 74 instructions and will let you know.

Thanks

 

I'm back..

I cannot stay now and did not yet work on the cmd prompt commands.

At least I accomplished creating the FULL DISK backup on my new 300gig external USB drive. Except I did not include the secure zone, because TI advised against that.

I know it's near sleepy time there, so I'll work on the rest sometime within the next several hours and leave my progress report for you to see in your morning

 

Hello Mark,

I'm only here for a few minutes. Long enough to post the results of those two cmd's and I will also boot to the Vista Repair disk and come nack to post the comparison that you asked for. After that I'll be gone for about 8 hours. Then will start doing my job related email work, while periodically checking to see if you arrive.

I did the above, except the Partition letters in question were C: and E:

The image below is the result when I was booted into windows, not the results from Vista Repair Disk, as I did not know how to make an image of that.
A hyperlink to the text file with the "bcdedit enum all" results while booted into Windows, is underneath the image.
What is D: in Windows, (where the BOOTMGR file is), now is C: from the Vista Repair Disk, and what is C: in Windows, is now E: (where the Windows boot loader is located)

Edit: Reworded the steps that I took and the results, as to be more clear.

 

Excellent - that's why I had you check this.

Ready to go? First, forum member MudCrab has an excellent illustrated guide on his website. The guide shows a similar process but it's for separating a Vista/XP dual-boot system. You can see some of the screens here. Look specifically at the section between Figures 5.9 to 5.15, but keep in mind that you need to use different drive letters and partition numbers than the ones shown in his guide. So have a look to know what to expect, but use the specific commands below.

OK, here we go. Comments are in blue.

1. Boot into Vista to fix two entries in the BCD before moving the BCD file to the Vista partition. Start an elevated command prompt by right-clicking on Command Prompt and choosing "Run as administrator". Then enter the following sequence of commands, following each by the "Enter" key. Type each exactly as shown, including the curly braces{}, but don't type the comments in blue:

Code:

bcdedit     [color=blue]List the current BCD[/color]
[color=blue]            Link the boot manager and memory diagnostic to the active (boot) partition[/color]
bcdedit /set {bootmgr} device boot
bcdedit /set {memdiag} device boot
bcdedit     [color=blue]List the new BCD and note the changes (compare to your saved picture)[/color]
exit        [color=blue]Done with the BCD[/color]

Next we'll move Vista's boot files from the boot partition to the Vista partition. This must be done from the Vista repair CD because Windows locks them against changes when it is running. Remember that when booted to the CD the boot partition is C: and the Vista partition is E:!

2. Boot to the Vista repair CD and start a command prompt. The files to be moved are hidden, system files so to copy them you'll need to unhide them, copy, then re-hide them.

Code:

e:
cd \
c:
cd \                      [color=blue]Set both the E: and C: drives to their root directories[/color]
                          [color=blue]Get ready to copy the bootmgr file[/color]
attrib –h –s –r bootmgr   [color=blue]Unhide it[/color]
copy bootmgr e:           [color=blue]Copy the file[/color]
e:                        [color=blue]Switch to the Vista partition[/color]
attrib +h +s +r bootmgr   [color=blue]Re-hide the copied file[/color]
c:                        [color=blue]Switch back to the Boot partition[/color]
ren bootmgr bootmgr_old   [color=blue]rename the old bootmgr file[/color]

e:                        [color=blue]Switch to the Vista partition[/color] 
md boot                   [color=blue]Make a new [b]Boot[/b] folder on the Vista partition[/color]
cd boot                   [color=blue]Enter the folder[/color]
c:                        [color=blue]Switch back to c:[/color]
cd boot                   [color=blue]Enter the C:\Boot folder[/color]
xcopy /s /h *.* e:        [color=blue]Copy all the files in the boot folder to the Vista partition[/color]
dir                       [color=blue]Make sure the files are there[/color]

e:
cd \                      [color=blue]Back to the root directory[/color]
dir                       [color=blue]Verify that you see the new boot directory[/color]
attrib +s +h boot         [color=blue]Now make it a hidden, system directory[/color]
c:                        [color=blue]Switch back to the boot partition[/color]
attrib -h -s -r boot      [color=blue]Un-hide the old boot folder[/color]
ren boot boot_old         [color=blue]Rename the old folder[/color]

3. Next we need to set the Active flag on the Vista partition:

Code:

diskpart                 [color=blue]Start the command-line disk partitioner[/color]
list disk                [color=blue]find the correct disk number (should be only one disk, disk 0)[/color]
select disk 0            [color=blue]Use the disk number found above in this step[/color]
list partition           [color=blue]Find your Vista partition (should be partition 1; verify by size)[/color]
select partition 1       [color=blue]Use the partition number for the Vista partition here[/color]
active                   [color=blue]Make the Vista partition active[/color]
list partition           [color=blue]verify that Vista partition is active (has a *)[/color] 
exit                     [color=blue]Exit the command-line disk partitioner[/color]
exit                     [color=blue]Exit the command prompt[/color]

4. Remove the Vista repair CD and reboot the computer. It should start into Vista.

5. Fix the remaining two entries in the BCD once booted back into Vista. Start an elevated command prompt:

Code:

bcdedit   [color=blue]List the current BCD[/color]
[color=blue]          Link both the boot loader and OS loader to the active partition[/color]
bcdedit /set {default} device boot   
bcdedit /set {default} osdevice boot
bcdedit   [color=blue]List the new BCD and note the changes (compare to your saved picture)[/color]
exit      [color=blue]Done with the BCD[/color]

Reboot again. At this point Vista should be booting entirely from its own partition. With the changes made to the BCD you can now freely move the Vista partition around without needing to repair it. This technique is called "generalizing" the BCD; i.e. the BCD does not contain any pointers to specific partition drive letters.

Let me know how this works and then we'll put the finishing touches on your partition layout.

 

I noticed that most of the files that are in D: from Windows are already on on C: in windows. Below are two image using a program called beyond compare to shows the similarities and differences. The first image shows the similarities and differences with BOOT Folder and the second image shows that the BOOTMGR File is exactly the same in both locations. and it is being accessed at the same time as well. . I'll be back in about 4 to five hours from now, but in the mean time I thought you might find this interesting.

Black = Exact Match
Red = Newer or mismatch
Gray = Older
Blue = Orphan (does not exist on other side)

Edit: Because it's not obvious, I thought that I should add that all the files within the boot folder are viewable in the image.

Edit: Mark - After studying the details of the comparison's shown in the 2 images I am now wondering if those boot files in D: might only be backup copies.
Keep in mind that the D: partitions original volume name was "Recovery", as created and named by HP[/B]. I then later changed it's name to "Boot Windows", because it seemed like a more logical name after I deleted most of the HP Recovery files... Would you say that what we've done so far actually proves that Windows is booting from the D: Partition?

 

Yes, Windows is really booting from the D: partition. The PC will boot to the Active partition, which is D: in your case.

That will make this process really, really simple. If the BCD on the Vista partition is set up correctly then all we need to do is to switch the Active flag to the Vista partition.

Let's first check whether the BCD on C: is correct. Run the following command in an elevated command prompt:

Code:

bcdedit /store c:\boot\bcd /enum  all   [color=blue]List contents of the BCD on the Vista partition[/color]

Please copy/paste the output into a text file and attach it to your next reply. I have the previous file from the D: partition, so I can compare them to see if any modifications are needed.

*Edited to make this easier*

 

You will see that I typed in the commands for both C: (the results in the first image) and D: (The results in the second image)

I have to rush out of here, to go handle a pressing matter with my work.

I really appreciate all that you've been doing.

 

Understand. I was editing post #86 while you were typing post #87. Ignore what it says to post; I see enough of the BCD in your posted images to think that a simple change will make this work. Let's do this instead:

1. Remove the entries in the BCD on C: that used to link to the HP recovery partition. From an elevated command prompt:

Code:

bcdedit /store c:\boot\bcd {default} /deletevalue recoverysequence
bcdedit /store c:\boot\bcd {default} /deletevalue recoveryenabled

2. List the modified BCD contents:

Code:

bcdedit /store c:\boot\bcd /enum all

Attach the text of this output to your next post.

 

To all viewers: It should be noted to anyone who likes to copy paste, rather than type commands. If you wish to do that, I highly suggest to copy/paste the command into notepad first, to make sure the result is (character for character) exactly identical to what you expect it to be
Edit: Removed some misinformation.
----------------------------------------------------------
Mark - as you will see in the posted image, bcdedit /store c:\boot\bcd /deletevalue recoverysequence resulted in an error that the file could not be found.

I just looked at the first image in my post# 85 and the bcd file is colored gray in the C: partition, which indicates that it is older than the version that is highlighted in red, in the D: partition. Plus if you look at the size of the version on C:, it is only a little more than half of the size of the newer version residing on D:

So I'm guessing that the next step might be to copy that newer larger version of the BCD file from D: to C: (Is that what you want me to do next?)

 

In the command that you entered you are missing {default}. It should look like this:

Code:

bcdedit /store c:\boot\bcd [COLOR="Red"]{default}[/COLOR] /deletevalue recoverysequence

 

Oh ok, I guess I'm blind. I will edit out the incorrect information that I wtrote in post# 89.

Now I tried bcdedit /store c:\boot\bcd {default} /deletevalue recoverysequence and received the invalid parameter message shown in the image below.

 

Blasted help file for bcdedit is so obtuse...

I think I have the parameter order incorrect. Try these:

Code:

bcdedit /store c:\boot\bcd /deletevalue {default} recoverysequence
bcdedit /store c:\boot\bcd /deletevalue {default} recoveryenabled

 

Cool... That all worked and I created and attached the bcdedit /store c:\boot\bcd /enum all results in a text file.

 

See the differences between the BCD on your boot partition versus the one on your Vista partition? The one on your boot partition is abbreviated and is missing a lot of the entries that are usually included in the BCD right after installing Windows. Yours now looks pretty much identical to mine. There is still one orphaned entry pointing to the former HP recovery partition. Try deleting it:

Code:

bcdedit /store c:\boot\bcd /delete {572bcd55-ffa7-11d9-aae2-0007e994107d}

Now for the finishing touches. You don't have to do these but I recommend that you do. While the BCD on your Vista partition is correct and will work, let's generalize it before trying to boot with it. Doing this will allow you to move the partition without needing to repair it. From an elevated command prompt:

Code:

bcdedit /store c:\boot\bcd /set {bootmgr} device boot
bcdedit /store c:\boot\bcd /set {memdiag} device boot
bcdedit /store c:\boot\bcd /set {default} device boot
bcdedit /store c:\boot\bcd /set {default} osdevice boot
bcdedit /store c:\boot\bcd /enum all

The last command will list the modified BCD, where you should be able to observe that all of the partition=C: entries have been replaced with boot instead. The designator boot means "the active partition". So no matter where your active partition is located, its BCD pointers will be correct. The above steps are optional but recommended if you intend to adjust partition sizes and locations later on and want to avoid having to drag out the Vista repair CD to fix the BCD.

 

Hi again Mark,

All of those commands were successful. And I did perform all of the final touches that were optional. thanks so much for the detailed concise efficiently written explanations of what have been accomplishing at each stage; as well supplemental explanation's pertaining to the overall task.

I've attached the new enum all file
bcdedit /store c:\boot\bcd /enum all

So are we near ready to try to boot?

 

Yes you are! It's time to try it out. Currently your boot partition is active. All you need to do is to make the Vista partition active.

Boot into Vista and open Disk Management console. Right-click on the first (Vista) partition and choose "Mark Partition as Active".



Now Vista is the active partition. Try it out -- reboot to see if it all works.

 

After the reboot, check Disk Management and make sure that System, Boot and Active are all listed for the C: partition.

 

Yes, good thought. Also, typing just "bcdedit" from an elevated command prompt should then list your Vista BCD instead of the boot partition's BCD.

 

Hopefully.

I've seen quite a few setups (including some of mine) that don't do that when there are multiple BCD files found. It seems to confuse it. Using /store was the only way to access a certain BCD file and be sure of which one was being accessed.

 

Ok, I made C an Active partition in Vista Disk Management
I made sure that System, Boot and Active are all listed for the C:
And I ran bcdedit from an elevated prompt. (2 Images to show all of that are attached)

In the end I prefer to have only two Partitions, plus the secure Zone. And I am planning to only keep two versions of a Full Computer backup stored in the 2nd partition, or within the secure zone(I'm still a little confused about where those should be stored) - I only want two backups stored locally, for use if I were to have a failure on the road. The size of a full pc back up now is at 64.3 gigs, but I do not expect that to ever really grow much, as I plan to keep most of my files stored externally. (Other versions of Acronis backups I will keep on the USB 300 gig external)

I am a little torn about whether or not I want to keep that copy of the Boot Folder and the BOOTMGR file, store in D:, or anywhere.

I may or may not be around for quite awhile after this, as I very likely will have to run a work errand at a moments notice, with no time to post that I'm leaving. It will be cool if you leave me some tasks to perform for when I get back, after you are asleep. but if not, that's no problem either.
Thanks again for the all of the awesome help. (Thanks to you also MudCrab)