I used Acronis True Image to create an image of one PC then apply it to an identical PC with the same specs and same model HDD. Now it blue screens at boot with an inaccessible boot device stop error.
When I enter Windows RE via Windows DVD, automatic startup repair fails. Using the command prompt, I attempted to change the attributes of the BCD before renaming it and recreating it with bootrec /rebuildbcd. With attrib c:\boot\bcd -s -h -r, it returns an error saying c:\boot does not exist.
I next tried bcdboot c:\windows /s c: which gives me this error BFSVC: Failed to create a new system store. Status = [c000003a]. I also tried bcdboot d:\windows /s c: thinking it could pull off the Windows DVD I had booted from and instead got "Failure when attempting to copy boot files."
I am concerned about C:\boot not being present and can't figure out why that would be the case.
Also, the machine will not enter safe mode or Win RE without an install DVD. HW diags all pass.
I don't understand why this would be an issue with two identical model/spec PCs with the exact same HW. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Rules didn't specify requests for help are against the rules but apologies if these threads aren't wanted.
So I actually had this scenario happen at work a while back. Blue screens in this scenario mostly relate to the storage controller. Windows is extremely picky about it.
I am assuming you are syspreping the image as per MS's recommendations. Not doing this means imaging Windows is unsupported. Try to stick to supported configurations if you would like things to actually work btw.
I am also assuming you are using file-by-file based imagine technology, such as the WIM format officially supported by MS, as opposed to the difficult to use byte-per-byte based technology, which is both harder to use and prone to configuration mistakes. Try to stick to supported configurations if you would like things to actually work btw.
As long as the image is syspreped and you really are dealing with actually identical storage controllers with file by file based technology, then my recommendation is to check the HD controller mode. It should be either IDE, AHCI or RAID. Check to make sure this setting is the same on both systems. After that, check to make sure you are plugging the HD sata cable into the same port on both systems.
- Some motherboards have multiple sata storage controllers, and transfering a syspreped image from one storage controller to another (in any mode) is not supported unless you install the appropriate driver for that different storage controller prior to first boot after imaging.
- If one computer was set to IDE and then another identical hardware machine was configured with the storage controller in a different mode, then you should expect a blue screen because controller modes are not meant to be cross compatible. (Although, AHCI and RAID are basically, internally, the same mode and require the same driver due to how the hardware/software is actually engineered but you are not supposed to know that. Nor can you reasonably count on it.)
- In the early days of AHCI, or if you did not sysprep the image, it may blue-screen anyway despite storage controller modes being identical because the sata cable port used in the different systems was not the same. AHCI, as configured on that specific Windows instance, ended up being port specific for w/e reason (likely the internal AHCI driver itself or the implementation details of the physical controller).
IDE should be the most compatible as the Windows driver for that is most generic but also reduces the speed of the computer because IDE mode does not support advanced features like NCQ. For that reason, I would strongly recommend sticking to AHCI mode to keep performance reasonable. Don't do RAID. Too much work.
For AHCI, remember that you can extract out the driver by updating it post a vanilla install (RTM image) and extracting it with tools like driver magician lite or the dism tool or just by downloading it from the manufacturer. To install the AHCI drivers onto the image.wim specifically, mount the image and use the dism tool:
dism /image:c:\mount /add-driver /?
dism /image:c:\mount /add-driver /drivers:C:\users\user\downloads\dell\e6330\win7\x64 /recurse
Also:
- The bootrec command fixes the MBR of a MBR partition table formated disk and should not be used with either GPT disks or anything really. Just create the disk structures dynamically instead. Seriously. MS has diskpart scripts. Just copy/paste them.
- The bcdboot command creates the Windows boot files for a specific Windows instance. If you are bluescreening, this means the files already exist and are functioning normally. bcdboot cannot fix a bluescreen, only "OS not found" type errors.
- Letters are dynamic and do not specifically refer to any given partition, including C:, with some expections. To know which letter corresponds to which partion check diskpart:
diskpart
sel disk 0
list disk
list part
list volume
- Read up on GPT and UEFI style booting btw. The rEFInd pages are a good start.
1 Like
Thankfully, it was just me being an idiot. Previously, in BIOS, I had loaded defaults which switched into RAID mode. Switching back to AHCI got it to boot. I had previously tried alternate SATA ports.
Thank you, however, for the detailed and informative response. I am essentially level 1 support as I recently changed careers into IT. My organization does not use sysprep. We are using Acronis True Image to create a handful of non-generalized images. I will definitely read up on the topics you mentioned (if only for my own improvement) and see if sysprep would benefit what we're doing. I get the sense there's a lot we could alter/improve.
I'd have to check if Acronis is going file-by-file or byte-by-byte. I'm almost positive it creates a new SID.
Thanks again.