Deployed image of windows xp, won't boot

[vrej]

Ok, I'll try to make this short and sweet.

I have a windows xp sp2 system with 2 drives, windows xp is on C:, D: is just storage.

-C: (160GB) and

-D: (74GB)

I booted a completely default WinPE to then image C: and swap D: with C: (C: drive was failing). Effectively transfering the OS to the other drive and making original C: into a storage drive.

Diskpart says C: is Disk 0, and D: is Disk 1.

I then image C:, F: drive is a usb storage drive.

-imagex /compress fast /capture C: F:\frankimage.wim /verify

I then wipe C: and turn it into D:

-diskpart

-sel disk 0

-clean

-cre par pri

-sel par 1

-format fs=ntfs quick

-assign letter=D

I then format D: and turn it into C:

-diskpart

-sel disk 1

-clean

-cre par pri

-sel par 1

-format fs=ntfs quick

-assign letter=C

-active

I then deploy the image:

-imagex.exe /apply F:\frankimage.wim 1 C:\

It finishes, then I restart and get a "insert boot media" as if nothing is there.

Thinking it is the mbr I go back to WinPE with MBRfix.exe

-mbrfix /disk 1 fixmbr /yes

Presents a "BOOTMGR is missing" error.

I then go into the windows xp recovery console and:

-fixmbr

-fixboot

It then boots with NTLDR is missing error.

I am not sure what to do at this point...

Thank you for any information you can give.

UPDATE:

I used the USB solution outline here.

I selected the "2ND TRY THIS essayez ceci en deuzieme"

And I was able to boot into windows...

Now...what exactly did I do wrong originally? And how do I not make that same msitake again in WinPE?

Edited January 15, 2009 by vrej

[Tripredacus]

I am going to guess that you didn't modify the boot.ini after redeploying your image to the new C drive. The boot.ini boots an OS based upon the physical connection (drive 0, drive 1, etc). So if you didn't change that, when Windows tried to start, it read the boot.ini and said (ok, Windows is located on disk 0) and went to look there, but obviously you formatted that drive. Here's a summary:

Prior to imaging, boot.ini had OS located on disk 0

disk 0 = c: (has OS)

disk 1 = d: (empty)

you did your stuff.

boot.ini still said OS is on disk 0

disk 0 = d: (empty)

disk 1 = c: (has OS)

I had this issue once when trying to swap an OS volume and a recovery volume until I figured it out.

Now, in order to edit the boot.ini in the WinPE, you are going to have to use attrib to be able to modify it. Try the following script:

attrib -R +A -S -H

notepad boot.ini (edit and save)*

attrib +R -A +S +H

R = read only

A = archive

S = system (protected)

H = hidden

* you can also keep a "reversed" boot.ini somewhere in x:\ and do a file copy instead of manually editing the file itself. Notepad is included in the WinPE already. You may have to use the full path to the boot.ini, as the OS' PATH variables won't be loaded.

[jaclaz]

This may help too:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=25365

the GUI tool is not online anymore, but it can be found on the Wayback machine:

http://web.archive.org/web/20061207205837/...ADS/BOOTINI.zip

Usual "final 00" patching is needed with some zip utilities:

http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?...=2681&st=24

jaclaz