Boot Manager Repair

[chee]

1. disk geo:

hda1 primary, fat32, for windows xp

hda3 primary, ntfs, for windows vista

2. installation mode:

install vista directly via simulating iso as cd-rom in windows xp into hda3. so the boot files of vista reside on hda1

3. problem discription

3.1 i have installed via the same method, under the same disk geo a vista, and activated it.

then i backed up this activated vista via acronis trueimage. then i resize hda3 into 6g since vista took about 7g space, then i restore the backup vista to hda3.

3.2 when i choose windows vista from the os menulist, i got the error:

winload.exe

can't locate the entry

the application is corrupted or missing

3.3 is there a way to repair vista boot without burn the iso into a DVD?

Thanks

[jaws75]

then i resize hda3 into 6g since vista took about 7g space, then i restore the backup vista to hda3.

I don't understand how you could put a 7Gb image on a 6Gb partition.

Could you not load up XP, emulate the image again and try a bootloader repair from there?

It sounds like you need to use bcdedit.exe which is located in your Vista system32 folder. I doubt it will run from XP but you could try.

bcdedit /?

or...

bootsect.exe which is in the boot folder on the Vista DVD.

bootsect /help

read about it before you try it. not my fault if you brake it anymore. just trying to point you in a direction

good luck

Sorry if off topic but you can resize partitions and drives in Vista. It's a built in utility.

Edited December 1, 2006 by jaws75

[chee]

acronis trueimage could "pave" a 7g image into a 6g parition by recalculating the start/end CHS values on the target parition. i could boot into xp.

the error report is: entrypoint could no be found

yet: winload.exe is right in /system32

so it seams the boot record on the original hda3 has been erased during resizing.

the most wird thing is that: i never got a "boot repir (or the like) " option when emulating the iso file and click on setup.exe.

i got only two

options: "install windows" and "check compatibility online".

even if i continued to click "install windows" there is NO "boot repair (or the like)" option

It is true that only by burning this iso file onto dvd and booting from dvd-rom could i get an option like "boot manager repair"

I've tried bcdedit, it returns a list WITHOUT ANY OS

also i've tried

bootsect.exe

with parameter nt60

both failed

While one thing is confirmed, Vista don't rewrite or make changes to mbr, since ghosting xp back to hda1 will erase the original boot menu

created by vista installation and restore xp correctly. i've tried this out

[AlYum]

If you have more than 2 partitions on your hdd, when "playing" with them, you could have messed their order in mbr, so that now vista's bootmanager sees your hda3 as another letter than it was originally.

[chee]

AlYum gives the right answer: the original vista could not find an entry point after the jmp command in the mbr is executed

tonight i tried vLite and slimmed the vista installation iso file into a single vista ultimate installation file and reinstalled vista

thanks to you both

[jaws75]

On the page where it says install, on the bottom left there will be a link that says repair windows or something to that effect.

Click it and it should show the Vista instal -- click next and the top option will be to repair the boot loader.

:EDIT: I just realized that option should only be there when booting from the DVD.

DVD burners are so cheap these days why not just spend the $40 or so to get one

Edited December 2, 2006 by jaws75

[chee]

yes, but sometimes it's not desirable to install each vista on each pc, spending about 20 minutes each

i've resized the vista-residing partition,restored the acronis image 9the slimmed vista) and vista bootup got jammed again

saying that: winload.exe could not be loaded.

and vistbootpro shows no os at all

sometimes it's better to get deeper into the booting process of oses.

my practices show that:

1. for a emulated vista installation onto another primary partition, the existing mbr is UNCHANGED, the bootmanager and booting record on the target partition are SEPARATED. any change in either of these above two items would probably cause INCONSISTENCY and put vista boot into TROUBLE.

2. since vista is shipped with almost all existing drivers for hardware support, there should be no worry on restoring vista image on pc's, since a reboot would always put the needed drivers ready on the target pc's. the only thing that needs care is the BOOT RECORD.

3. i'll burn the iso into dvd and try to directly install vista on the primary partition hda3 and merge the bootmanger and bootrecord into hda3, not separated as i was troubled before

hehe

Edited December 2, 2006 by chee