topic Re: Ghost 15 (installed today)--cloned "C" Drive but Profiles never load in Other Norton Products

Ghost 15 (installed today)--cloned "C" Drive but Profiles never load

seant — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 20:45:59 GMT

WIndows 7 -32bit

After I copied my C drive with all the options to make it bootable (MBR and set active for booting) my profiles won't load on cloned disk. I can see all of them but after I select one I get the setting your desktop msg then it goes blank and stays blank.

I tried to clone the drive twice now and I really don't know what else to do. Please help if this sounds familiar.

Re: Ghost 15 (installed today)--cloned "C" Drive but Profiles never load

Brian_K — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 20:53:51 GMT

seant,

Can you post a screenshot of Disk Management?

http://community.norton.com/t5/Forum-Feedback/Forum-Tip-How-to-post-screenshots-in-the-forum/td-p/254415

You said, "my profiles won't load on cloned disk". I don't understand what this means. Does Win7 load and you can't use it?

Re: Ghost 15 (installed today)--cloned "C" Drive but Profiles never load

seant — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:00:03 GMT

The OS appears to completely load with all the user profiles on the desktop. After I select any of the available profiles I see the normal message (loading your profile). When than goes away normally I would see my desktop profile. But the profile never loads, the screen just goes bank.

I cannot get a screen shot because I don't have a desktop to get it from (screen is blank).

If I put my drives in their original config I can send you my drive config. If that what you need?

Re: Ghost 15 (installed today)--cloned "C" Drive but Profiles never load

Brian_K — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:09:50 GMT

Yes, a screenshot from the source OS showing the original HDs.

You problem is interesting, I can't recall seeing that one but the screenshot will be a big help. Can you also post it on Photobucket or the like. Sometimes screenshots take a while before we can see them as they have to be approved. You can see it but we can't.

Edit... it just hit me. I know the answer and it can be fixed. Stand by.

Re: Ghost 15 (installed today)--cloned "C" Drive but Profiles never load

Brian_K — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:14:20 GMT

We still need the screenshot but a few questions.

Desktop or laptop?

Was the new HD installed internal or USB when you did Copy Drive?

How did you prepare the new HD prior to Ghost Copy Drive? Partitions?

Did you remove the old HD prior to the first boot from the new HD?

Re: Ghost 15 (installed today)--cloned "C" Drive but Profiles never load

seant — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:19:33 GMT

Working on screen shot.

Desktop--Internal drive

Did nothing special to prepare..Installed new drive and created the partitions (new drive) with quick format.

I have two harddrives in the system (one to boot and the other data). I did not remove the data disk prior to the bringing up the new OS disk. But the origial OS was not installed.

These are SATA drives

Re: Ghost 15 (installed today)--cloned "C" Drive but Profiles never load

Brian_K — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:21:41 GMT

Thanks. What sizes are the old and new HDs?

Re: Ghost 15 (installed today)--cloned "C" Drive but Profiles never load

seant — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:31:40 GMT

Re: Ghost 15 (installed today)--cloned "C" Drive but Profiles never load

seant — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:34:10 GMT

Re: Ghost 15 (installed today)--cloned "C" Drive but Profiles never load

seant — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:37:47 GMT

Disk 1 (partitions included) are a direct copy of Disk 0

Im trying to make Disk 1 bootable.

Re: Ghost 15 (installed today)--cloned "C" Drive but Profiles never load

Brian_K — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:50:48 GMT

Thanks. I can see your first but not the second screenshot. I just wanted to confirm you didn't have a SRP.

You did well and made only one mistake. But it was a big one and one we see very frequently. You copied into a partition with a drive letter. This is a no-no as Win7 is now trying to load using that incorrect drive letter instead of the C: drive letter. You should have copied into unallocated space.

To fix it you have to make Win7 forget all drive letter assignments. It will then load as C: drive. There are several ways to fix this problem and here is one I wrote last week.

Boot into Safe Mode
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del when you see "Preparing your Desktop"
Click Start Task Manager
Applications tab, New task
Type "regedit" (without the "") and put a tick in Create this task with administrative privileges.
OK
Locate the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices
Select all values in the right hand pane and press Delete on the keyboard
Yes
Close Registry Editor and Windows Task Manager
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del
Click Shutdown
Power on and boot into Win7

All fixed?

Re: Ghost 15 (installed today)--cloned "C" Drive but Profiles never load

seant — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:50:04 GMT

Awesome. I believe I can follow this. I really appreciate the help!!

Re: Ghost 15 (installed today)--cloned "C" Drive but Profiles never load

Brian_K — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 22:09:42 GMT

The above method works in Safe Mode but not from a "normal" Win7 boot. If you do it at Preparing your Desktop from a normal Win7 boot you can't get into Regedit.

You can do it from a Win7 disk but it's a little more complicated.

Boot from the Win7 disk
At the "Install Windows" screen press SHIFT F10 to get a command window
Type "regedit" (without the "") and press Enter
Click to Select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Click File, Load Hive
Click the drop down arrow in "Look in"
Browse to C:\Windows\System32\config
Select SYSTEM and click Open
In Key Name type "letter"
OK
Click the + next to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE in the left pane
Click the + next to "letter" in the left pane
Select MountedDevices in the "letter" group
Select all values in the right hand pane and press Delete on the keyboard
Yes
Select "letter" in the left hand pane
Click File, Unload Hive
Yes
Close Registry Editor and the Command Window
Close the "Install Windows" screen
Yes
Remove the Win7 disk and boot into Win7 which will assign drive letters.

Re: Ghost 15 (installed today)--cloned "C" Drive but Profiles never load

Brian_K — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 22:38:55 GMT

The following doesn't apply to Seant. It is for those who have a non C: drive OS who get a drive letter issue. Deleting MountedDevices will only fix a C: drive OS.

Works for a non C: drive OS that fails to load
Boot into Safe Mode (doesn't work from main Win7. Can get Command Prompt but not regedit)
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del when you see "Preparing your Desktop"
Click Start Task Manager
Applications tab, New task
Type "cmd" (without the "") and put a tick in Create this task with administrative privileges.
OK
You will see your incorrect drive letter. eg H:\Windows\system 32
Type "regedit" (without the "") and press Enter
OK
Locate the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices
In the right hand pane select "\DosDevices\H:" (or whatever incorrect drive letter you have noted)
Right-click \DosDevices\H: and then click Rename
Rename it to \DosDevices\E: (basically change H to E, assuming your OS should have been E:)
Close Registry Editor, the Command Window and Windows Task Manager
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del
Click Shutdown
Power on and boot into Win7

Re: Ghost 15 (installed today)--cloned "C" Drive but Profiles never load

seant — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 22:47:32 GMT

WORKED LIKE A CHARM!!!!!

Re: Ghost 15 (installed today)--cloned "C" Drive but Profiles never load

Brian_K — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 22:48:16 GMT

Excellent!

Re: Ghost 15 (installed today)--cloned "C" Drive but Profiles never load

Brian_K — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 22:53:14 GMT

Another method using tbosdt. I don't expect anyone will be interested in this one. I like it because it can be scripted to run automatically from a flash drive.

TBOSDT
OPEN FS 1: 1 0x01
OPEN REG 2 1:WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM
OPEN KEY 3 "" 2
LIST KEYS 3
DEL KEY 3 MountedDevices
LIST KEYS 3
CLOSE KEY 3
CLOSE REG 2
CLOSE FS 1:
EXIT