Multibooters, Vista Dual and Multibooting. Possible partition issues - Preparing the BCD. Fix the BCD while working from another OS or the Vista DVD. Hibernation issues - Backup the BCD - Whole drive cloning. The information on this page also applies to Windows 7 - except where indicated. Vista is similar enough to previous versions of the NT operating system that many current cloning tools can still be used for Vista. The problems arise mostly from the new Vista boot files bootmgr and BCD, the way they use the Disk Signature, and the new Vista partitioning rules. If these factors are taken into account and adjusted for then the majority of pre- Vista tools are perfectly capable of doing the job. Of course many cannot be installed inside Vista, but they can be run from another OS or boot disk. Third party vendors of such tools are releasing Vista compatible versions, but some still have issues that have not been fully addressed. Cloning any Win. NT OS requires adherence to certain rules to get a clean booting and independent clone that is not in some way cross- linked with the parent install. When using the Microsoft bootmanager with its reliance on separate system and boot partitions and non- default drive letters there are extra variables that can make successful cloning more tricky. I have tried to provide some information relevant to the MS bootmanager, but please be aware that the information here is mainly aimed at systems where the Windows installs are independent with all their boot files on their own partition and see themselves as the C: drive and their partition as both system and boot. If you don't know what I mean by 'independent', or you are using the MS bootmanager and don't understand how it operates, then you should read this guide before attempting to multiboot clones. If you have used either of these apps to configure boot options then you are using the MS bootmanager). Off Boundary Partitions. The first and most potentially troublesome issue to be aware of is that Vista created partitions are different, so many pre- Vista cloning tools will either just not recognise them as valid partitions, or worse still try and correct what they see as errors. If you have allowed Vista to create its own partition during install, or used any Vista tools such as Disk Management or Diskpart to create or resize any of the partitions on the computer, then you would be advised to be extremely cautious in using a pre- Vista cloning, imaging or partitioning tool. Not all tools will baulk at the Vista partitions and some will clone and image them, but none will keep the structure of the Vista partition for the newly created clone or restored image, (unless you are doing a whole- drive sector- by- sector clone, see section below). Powerquest's Drive Image and Partition Magic will not work with Vista partitions and their attempts to 'repair' things will damage Vista. As long as all partitions on the computer are old style then you have at least a fair chance of success, but more importantly you have much less of a chance that you will do any damage. If your cloning tool seems happy working with a Vista OS and goes to work without reporting any errors, then you should be okay. It's very similar to how the boot. BCD in Notepad. Correcting the BCD in clones is possible and not particularly difficult, but it is more of a hassle than opening Notepad and changing a digit or two. What would be ideal is if the BCD could be made to just point to the winload. This would allow a new clone to boot without having to make any corrections to the BCD. Fortunately there is a way to do this and it makes cloning Vista almost easier than any previous NT operating system. Thanks for this edit to the BCD goes to the man who first reported it. It's still not exactly clear what happens in the Vista bootmgr when this edit has been applied, but it has been used by a lot of people since 2. UPDATE: This tutorial will also work in Windows 8.1 and later. You're a little curious about this new Windows 8.1. But you're also a bit scared at the same time, since you've heard that it's such a big adjustment from good old. How to dual boot Linux and Windows - Step by step installation instructions. If you want a PC where you can use both Linux and Windows, a dual boot PC using one hard. DClean is a fast and light cleaning system software, it can free up several Gigabytes of disk space. The program has no interface and is very fast, so, it may even. Linux vs Windows has been a subject of debate since the inception of computers. This article highlights the pros and cons of both the operating systems, given a set. It is not a published Microsoft fix, but it appears to be exactly the same edit as applied by Microsoft's own sysprep utility. The sysprep tool is designed to allow computer suppliers and IT pros to easily deploy Vista to numerous computers, by letting them install Vista once and then copy it to the other machines. That single install has to be 'generalized' so that when it is rebooted for the first time on another machine it is able to adapt to its new surroundings. My examinations of the 'generalized' BCD of a syspreped Vista install has shown that it employs the same edit as described here. If it's how Microsoft do it, then I think we can be fairly confident that it is a valid approach. If you don't want to generalize a BCD but just reset one to its new surroundings, then see the section below, Re- Specialize a BCD. Prepare the BCD. To make this change to the BCD you have to use the command line BCDEdit. BCD and the correct boot entry in your BCD. If you are using a third- party bootmanager and have more than one Vista based OS then you will have more than one BCD on the computer and so BCDEdit. BCD. If you are using the MS bootmanager to dual or multiboot with any other OS then you will have more than one boot entry (Object) in the BCD and so the Object 'identifier' you need to use (the word between the squiggly brackets) may need to be specific for your set up. If you only have one Vista based OS and you are not using the MS bootmanager then you can skip the rest of this paragraph. If you do have the MS bootmanager configured to boot other OSes then be aware that using the . When running BCDEdit. Windows the . If BCDEdit. Update: now read our full Windows 7 review. Buying a Windows OS used to be so simple. A new version appeared, most people agreed it was better than the last one and. BCD then the . It will depend on whether the bootmanager being used is fully compatible for Vista on second or higher hard drives and logical partitions. If you don't know if yours is compatible, then you should always check that BCDEdit. BCD you intended. See - BCD is Always Open (If you do have trouble targeting the correct BCD then you can point BCDEdit. BCD with the commands shown in the section below, Generalize a BCD While Working From a Different OS). If you don't have the MS bootmanager configured to boot other OSes and the Vista you want to generalize is on a primary partition on the boot hard drive, then the easiest way to apply this change to its BCD is to boot into that OS and open a command prompt window, (how to do it from another OS or the Vista DVD is covered below). You might have to open the command prompt with elevated privileges by right clicking and choosing 'Run as administrator' then just type these separate commands, pressing Enter after each one. You should get a message after each. If you get an error message from either of the first two commands then something is wrong with your set up and you may not be in a boot drive primary, or you might have the MS bootmanager configured, so you should go back and read the whole of the previous paragraph. Using the . There should be one space between each block of characters. Once you have applied the first command you can use the up and down arrow keys to scroll through the previous commands you have entered, then back- arrow and edit, instead of re- typing much of the same again. Or you can copy and paste from this page. The parent Vista will continue to function normally and I have yet to find a reason to return its BCD to the original condition. If you do restore the BCD then you will have to generalize it again before future cloning operations. You will also be more prone to boot problems if anything changes the hard drive disk signature or the partition offset. It's only when using the MS bootmanager that the BCD might have to point to a winload. When you are using a third- party bootmanager the BCD always needs to point to its own partition, so there is no need for specific drive and partition information. In fact this is also true if you only have one Windows, so why didn't MS make this the default behaviour until such time as their bootmanager was configured? Perhaps there is a reason yet to be discovered. Microsoft's sysprep tool does re- specialize the BCD during first boot of a generalized Vista. If you do want to 'un- generalize' your original BCD, or the one in the new clone, then see the section below, Re- specialize a BCD. Or you could make a backup of your original BCD before you start so that you can restore it after cloning. If you can't do this from another OS or boot disk then it can be done from within the OS with BCDEdit. Backup and Restore a BCD with BCDEdit. Shadow Copy (also known as Volume Snapshot Service, Volume Shadow Copy Service or VSS) is a technology included in Microsoft Windows that allows taking manual or. Home: Vista Quirks and Bugs: Vista's new Partitioning Rules: Vista's MBR DIsk Signature: Vista's Boot Files bootmgr and BCD: Installing Vista: Cloning Vista. Create a bootable Windows 8 USB drive. Naturally, to create a bootable USB drive, you'll have to insert one and it needs to be 4GB or larger. Install the Windows 7. Dual Boot PRO for setting up a dual boot of Windows 8 or Windows 7 with Windows Vista or XP. Easily edit and modify your dual boot operating system registry entries. If you also keep a backup of the generalized BCD then it can be used to replace the BCD in any future clones you make, although it will mean an extra step before you can boot the clone for the first time. A generalized BCD can also be used to replace the one in any Vista install on any computer that is proclaiming . This is however dependent on hibernation being turned on in Vista and so it will not happen if hibernation has been completely turned off. If you are having trouble with hibernation or hybrid sleep then it is more likely because of a particular issue with third- party bootmanagers that are not fully Vista compatible. There's more about this below in the section, Manually set the Hibernation Object and full details here, BCD is Always Openntldr.... Is Missing.(For Windows 7 see- The ntldr boot Object in the BCD)If you think you might ever want to use a Vista clone in a dual or multiboot arrangement using the MS bootmanager(?), then you can add this next command. Only necessary if the clone is going to be the System partition and you will have legacy Windows OSes. You don't have to run this command before you clone. It can be done any time later using BCDEdit. Perhaps MS figured that because you can't natively install XP after Vista then there was no need, however it is not difficult to add XP yourself and get it working. So if you have a machine that came with Vista pre- installed and you tried adding XP and all you got was, ntldr... Don't be fooled. If you try to boot a moved clone of XP etc.
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