bcdedit with a floppy boot?

[bluetoad]

I have a stack of IBM servers and one of them with Win 2008 R2. I imaged the server and deployed the image to the others. The pushed images all come up with the winload.exe error. I can reboot any of them to 2008 R2 DVD, goto command prompt and run the following to fix the problem:

bcdedit /set {default} device partition=c:

bcdedit /set {default} osdevice partition=c:

bcdedit /set {bootmgr} device partition=c:

I want to do this remotely without interaction.

What I tried:

just prior to rebooting to recapture an image I ran the above commands. That didn't work and it gave the same winload.exe error.

built a floppy that has BCDEDIT.exe on it. I booted to the floppy but BCDEDIT.exe cannot be run in DOS mode.

I would like to know:

1.) What do I need to do to Win 2008 R2 prior to imaging it so that the image can be deployed to other drives/chassis?

2.) Is there a boot floppy that will modify NTFS to correct the BCD to recognize the new drive?

Thanks.

[Tripredacus]

I can think of 2 options:

1. purchase licenses for NTFSDOS, might let you run this program... not sure.

2. Just use USB keys instead of floppies. I'm surprised your servers even have those.

Anyways, my deployment platform is scripted to run the following command after deployment but before reboot:

bcdboot c:\windows

[jaclaz]

1. purchase licenses for NTFSDOS, might let you run this program... not sure.

Rest assured, it won't.

BTW there are a few FREEWARE NTFS dos drivers.

Since the BCD store is actually a Registry hive, it would be interesting if someone could modify this:

http://paullee.ru/regstry.html

to run from a DOS floppy and access/edit the BCD.

To change a BOOT.INI (not a BCD) from DOS, there is this nice thingy EDITBINI:

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/downloads-free-software.htm

their Commercial BootIT NG does allow to edit a BCD (from floppy):

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/article.php?id=318

I am NOT familiar with it, thus cannot say if it can run from floppy.

jaclaz

[Tripredacus]

I never tried to run programs with NTFSDOS. Again you come through with the answer!

[jaclaz]

I never tried to run programs with NTFSDOS. Again you come through with the answer!

Well, no.

It's not a "specific" problem with NTFSDOS.

It's a "generic" problem with BCDEDIT NOT being a DOS program, you know, like:

This program cannot be run in DOS mode

jaclaz

Edited September 3, 2010 by jaclaz