Restoring WinXP Partition using ShadowProtect
I am trying to take a full backup of a WinXP partition working on an Intel-based PC and restore it to a new AMD based PC using ShadowProtect. Unfortunately, I am having problems getting the restored WinXP partition to boot on the new PC. The best I can come up with is one of the two following errors:
The infamous:
Invalid BOOT.INI file
Booting from C:\windows\
NTDETECT failed
Or, depending on the steps I take, the good old:
Windows Boot Manager
Windows failed to start
File: \NTLDR
Status: 0xc000000f
Info: The selected entry could not be loaded because the application is missing or corrupt.
I have gone through the normal fixes and I’m still having problems. Can someone just sanity check what I have done and let me know if I’m making a dumb mistake?
My original PC consists of a dual boot, Intel-based system with three partitions:
Win2003 NTFS
WinXP NTFS
General NTFS
I installed Win2003 after WinXP – which I believe resulted in the WinXP and General partitions converted to Logical Partitions. From what I understand, this should not affect ShadowProtect. What it does mean, obviously, is that the boot loader files (ntldr, NTDETECT.COM and boot.ini are in the system root directory of the Win2003 partition, and not on the WinXP partition I am backing up.
I install ShadowProtect on the WinXP
Successfully make full backup to external USB HD
I then try to restore to a different, AMD-based, PC with two partitions:
New Vista OEM install NTFS
Blank NTFS partition NTFS (slightly larger than original WinXP partition)
I use the ShadowProtect Recovery CD, and load the appropriate storage driver and refresh the volumes. I then restore the image using the HIR option, making sure to load the storage driver under the “Advanced HIR” option.
I have tried setting the final, restore, but with no success:
Leave MBR unchanged
Use HIR
I think I get the first “invalid boot.ini” error.
If I set the final, restore options as:
Set partition active
Restore original Windows XP MBR
Restore Disk signature
Restore hidden tracks
Use HIR
I believe I get the second “Windows Boot Manager” error.
After each restore, I copied the ntldr, NTDETECT.COM and boot.ini files over to the WinXP partition. I then boot up Vista and use EasyBCD to add the WinXP partition to the BCD boot list.
I have tried multiple changes to the boot.ini files and to the BCD entries, with no luck.
I have tried multiple, different versions of the ntldr and NTDETECT.COM: From original Win2003 partition; From WinXP CD; From neosmart download.
When I got the second “Windows Boot Manager” error, I booted into the WinXP Recovery environment and did the normal tricks:
Try to rebuild the boot.ini file
-------------------------------------
> bootcfg /list
“There are currently no boot entries available to display.”
This seems very odd.
Check and correct disk problems
--------------------------------------------
> chkdsk E: /P /R
No errors but still no boot entry listed when bootcfg /list is used so I can’t use bootcfg /rebuild.
Q. Do I need to convert the WinXP partition to a Primary Partition before backup?
Original Computer
- Intel-based PC with RAID 5 and four hard-drives.
- RAID 5 configured into 3 partitions
- System is dual-boot with WinXP configured as the default OS
DISKPART Information
DISKPART> list disk
Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ---------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 335 GB 0 B
DISKPART> select disk 0
Disk 0 is now the selected disk.
DISKPART> list volume
Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
Volume 0 D DVD-ROM 0 B
Volume 1 C Win2003 NTFS Partition 49 GB Healthy System
Volume 2 F WinXP NTFS Partition 78 GB Healthy Boot
Volume 3 H General NTFS Partition 208 GB Healthy
Volume 4 G FAT Removeable 125 MB
DISKPART> list partition
Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
Partition 1 Primary 49 GB 32 KB
Partition 2 Extended 287 GB 49 GB
Partition 3 Logical 78 GB 49 GB
Partition 4 Logical 208 GB 127 GB
DISKPART>
Boot.ini File
[boot loader]timeout=10default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS[operating systems]multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetectmulti(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows Server 2003, Enterprise" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptOut
New Computer
- AMD-based PC, with RAID 1 and two hard-drives
- RAID 1 has two partitions: Vista OEM and second blank NTFS
- Intend to have dual-boot Vista and WinXP PC
DISKPART Information (Taken from Vista)
DISKPART> list disk
Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ---------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 466 GB 352 GB
DISKPART> select disk 0
Disk 0 is now the selected disk.
DISKPART> list partition
Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
Partition 1 Primary 34 GB 1024 KB
Partition 2 Primary 79 GB 34 GB
DISKPART> list volume
Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
Volume 0 C VistaOEMPre NTFS Partition 34 GB Healthy System
Volume 1 E WinXP NTFS Partition 79 GB Healthy
Volume 2 D DVD-ROM 0 B No Media
BCD Configuration (Vista partition)
BCD Overview
============
There are a total of 2 entries listed in the Vista Bootloader.
Bootloader Timeout: 30 seconds.
Default OS: Microsoft Windows Vista
Entry #1
Name: Microsoft Windows Vista
BCD ID: {current}
Drive: Active Boot Partition
Bootloader Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Windows Directory: \Windows
Entry #2
Name: Windows XP
BCD ID: {d5a43dbc-084c-11dd-a34d-001d7dc589d0}
Drive: E:\
Bootloader Path: \NTLDR
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BCD Debug View
==============
Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {9dea862c-5cdd-4e70-acc1-f32b344d4795}
device boot
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {7ea2e1ac-2e61-4728-aaa3-896d9d0a9f0e}
default {2e599709-0597-11dd-a050-9bdf389ca738}
displayorder {2e599709-0597-11dd-a050-9bdf389ca738}
{d5a43dbc-084c-11dd-a34d-001d7dc589d0}
toolsdisplayorder {b2721d73-1db4-4c62-bf78-c548a880142d}
timeout 30
Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {2e599709-0597-11dd-a050-9bdf389ca738}
device boot
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Microsoft Windows Vista
locale en-US
inherit {6efb52bf-1766-41db-a6b3-0ee5eff72bd7}
osdevice boot
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {2e59970a-0597-11dd-a050-9bdf389ca738}
nx OptIn
Boot.ini File (Taken from WinXP partition)
[boot loader]timeout=10default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS[operating systems]multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetectmulti(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(0)\WINDOWS="Windows Vista Premium" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptOut
Also tried:
[boot loader]default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS[operating systems]multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Vista" /fastdetectE:\ = "Microsoft Windows XP Professional"
I have also tried the following, “catch all” boot.ini:
[Boot Loader]timeout=30Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Windows[Operating Systems]multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Windows="Partition1" /fastdetectmulti(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\Windows="Partition2" /fastdetectmulti(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\Windows="Partition3" /fastdetectmulti(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\Windows="Partition4" /fastdetectmulti(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\Windows="Partition5" /fastdetectmulti(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(3)\Windows="Partition6" /fastdetectmulti(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\Windows="Partition7" /fastdetectmulti(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(4)\Windows="Partition8" /fastdetectC:\="Partition9"D:\="Partition10"E:\="Partition11"F:\="Partition12"