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[daiyue]

hi, all, I used Norton Ghost 15 to clone my old 320GB, which was originally installed in my EDGE15, to a new HDD (500GB). The clone process is fine, but the problem is after i installed the new HDD, and boot it into windows7 desktop, there is a line saying that "this is not a genuine copy of windows 7", and the desktop is blank (no icons and start-up menu) with blue background. so i wonder how to solve this thing, theres a win7 SN printed in the battery bay, but i dont know how to use it to verify the new HDD.

ps.  i tried open task Manager and start the explorer from there, and it did work somehow, meaning that a temporary win7 account is activated, but if i clicked "computer" in the start-up menu, a error message popped up "no such interface supported"; and if i right clicked "computer", nothing responsed, nothing show up.

cheers

[Brian_K]

daiyue,

Unfortunately, we see a post like yours almost every week. I blame the userguide which gives misleading instructions. Did you create a partition on the 500 GB HD before you performed Copy Drive?

Edit   .. Do you have a Win7 DVD? 32 or 64 bit?

[Brian_K]

Where was the 500 GB HD during the Copy Drive process? USB or eSATA?

[daiyue]

yea, i created two partitions one for the Lenovo system partition, another one for recovery, coz there are two partitions on the original drive. both have been NTFS formated. the OS is win7 pro 64 bit on the old drive.

[daiyue]

yea, i put it in a HDD enclosure, through an USB connecting to the laptop.

[Brian_K · Accepted solution]

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daiyue wrote:

yea, i created two partitions one for the Lenovo system partition, another one for recovery, coz there are two partitions on the original drive. both have been NTFS formated. the OS is win7 pro 64 bit on the old drive.

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daiyue,

That's what isn't in the userguide. You MUST NOT create partitions with a drive letter on the target HD. You should copy into unallocated space. When you copy the C: drive to the target HD the OS takes on the drive letter of the target partition. Let's say your target partition was F: drive. Now your Win7 is attempting to boot as F: drive and not as C: drive. Your description of "there is a line saying that "this is not a genuine copy of windows 7", and the desktop is blank (no icons and start-up menu) with blue background." is classical of a drive letter issue.

Easy to fix. You need to make Win7 forget its incorrect drive letter and assign C: drive to itself.

Boot from the Ghost 15 CD
Analyze
Open Command Shell 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"
You will see your Windows partition has a non C: drive letter. Lets say the drive letter is F:
Browse to F:\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
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
Exit Ghost 15 and remove the CD
Boot into Windows

Please let us know what happens.

[Brian_K]

daiyue,

Any news for us?

[daiyue]

hi, sorry for the delay, i couldnt find my ghost CD, i think i may have lost it, but i have installed it on my pc, so any other way that doesnt need to boot from cd. i think your last post may be a solution, and i will buy another ghost cd, and try it out, i can mark it as answer, but if i confirm it is not working, ill come back post smething new again for help.

cheers

[Brian_K]

Stand by. I'll post a method that doesn't need the Ghost CD.

[Brian_K]

Two methods. Take your pick.

From Safe Mode...

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

From a Win7 DVD...

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.