Windows 7: Where is my system reserved partition,please ?

AA light · 21 Aug 2011

Hello all,

@ Bare Foot Kid thank you for your link . The story comes as dsperber description . I would keep your information as reference. Thank you anyway.

Quote: Originally Posted by gregrocker

HD can only have one Active partition which should be where your System boot files for any/all OS's on the HD reside, which is XP now. If you construct the SysReserved partition it needs to be Active.

Quote: Originally Posted by dsperber

I believe it should mark your new O partition as "active" and also mark your current boot partition as "inactive". But you can use Partition Wizard to double-check this, before you re-boot.

please see in the attach file , might this affirm that the change has been done the right way?

Where is my system reserved partition,please ?-o-active-c-boot-after-bcd.jpg

However there is some error massage on launching EasyBCD after boot drive alteration, wishfully that this might not be some sort of unexpected symptom s before reboot.

Where is my system reserved partition,please ?-error-msg-after-active-o-pw.jpg

please kindly confirm,

gregrocker · 21 Aug 2011

You must write the System boot files to the new System Reserved partition before it will start or be used to Dual Boot with XP.

To do this, boot the Windows 7 DVD Repair console or Repair CD to run Startup Repair up to 3 separate times with reboots, until Windows 7 starts. This does not always work for various reasons.

Then install EasyBCD to Windows 7 and Add XP.

Remove the SysReserved drive letter in Disk mgmt or using your partition manager.

dsperber · 21 Aug 2011

Quote: Originally Posted by gregrocker

You must write the System boot files to the new System Reserved partition before it will start or be used to Dual Boot with XP.

This is precisely what "change boot drive" from EasyBCD does:

Upon selecting the "Change boot drive" you'll be prompted to select which letter you'd like to use as the new boot partition. When you confirm the selection, EasyBCD will automatically:

Install the BOOTMGR bootloader to the selected partition
Make the selected partition active
Install the bootloader to both the bootsector and the MBR of the selected partition
Copy all entries from the old boot partition to the newly-selected one
Update partition references to work with the new boot partition

It's just an "all-in-one" function that does all the things we certainly can do manually step-by-step using both EasyBCD and PW. But this "change boot drive" function is obviously all the things that need doing, wrapped up into a single-click. It's a terrific feature.

I still haven't heard more detail on what happens when "perform action" is pressed, and the dropdown list showing all available partitions is presented. If the new O "system reserved" partition really exists, then it should be in that list, and it should be selectable, and then the OK on the dialog should complete all of the above steps. And a re-boot should then work exactly as is hoped for.

dsperber · 21 Aug 2011

Quote: Originally Posted by AA light

please see in the attach file , might this affirm that the change has been done the right way?

I don't know why you're trying to make your C-partition "active", as we want to make your new O-partition "active" for the new configuration. I assume you're not actually pushing "apply" in Partition Wizard, so it's hard to know exactly what is or is not currently your state of affiars.

If/when we get this accomlished, your primary C (WinXP) partition will end up just being primary and where WinXP lives. And E will be logical and where Windows 7 lives. And your new primary O will be "active+boot" and will truly be a real "system reserved" partition, just as if Windows 7 had built it for you. And the boot manager files and menu previously on C (that allowed you to choose WinXP or Windows 7) will have been copied over to O (by the EasyBCD "change boot drive" process), so when you boot it will really look identical to how it worked before. It's just that we've moved some things around and made some changes.

You should be using EasyBCD to accomplish this. Earlier I asked what the dropdown list of partitions showed when you checked "change boot drive" and pushed "perform actions". Is your new O partition shown in the dropdown list or not??

To avoid all speculation and confusion, can you please post a screenshot from DISKMGMT. Please maximize the window and spread the columns so we can see all text, before you take the screenshot.

Thanks.

gregrocker · 21 Aug 2011

The problem is if Easy Change Boot Drive function like PW Rebuild MBR do not write the Repair Console to the F8 Advanced Boot Options Menu.

In the past the only thing that does this besides the installer is Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times

This is one advantage of having a System Reserved partition.

AA light · 21 Aug 2011

Hello all,

@ Desperber actually before change boot drive the application seems to have some sort of problem yet I still continue . hopefully you wouldn’t mind that I use your picture since I didn’t take the snapshot then ; however, the letter O did really present on the top of the list and I did selected it .

Where is my system reserved partition,please ?-easybcd_before-perform.jpg

and consequence as the figure

Quote: Originally Posted by AA light

Attachment 171438

Quote: Originally Posted by dsperber

I don't know why you're trying to make your C-partition "active", as we want to make your new O-partition "active" for the new configuration. I assume you're not actually pushing "apply" in Partition Wizard

honestly, I did really pressing "apply" and O drive did really represents in easybcd and selectable as indicated above. Also I didn’t really try to make C partition active instead I tried to follow your instruction . My purpose is would just like to affirm that if i did as you advise, would it become like portrayed in the figure? That was the real snap short before re-boot .

unfortunately , I reboot since yesterday resulting in dark screen with instruction to press Ctrl +Alt+Del and my system is freezing up to now.

The problem is XP dvd file corrupted , and I still unable to recover with any backup version , also optical drive doesn’t work ; nonetheless, usb still bootable . Wishfully that I could create bootable USB with window 7 image file.

hopefully that you all would still advise for further query,

have a nice day

dsperber · 22 Aug 2011

Quote: Originally Posted by AA light

@ Desperber actually before change boot drive the application seems to have some sort of problem yet I still continue . hopefully you wouldn’t mind that I use your picture since I didn’t take the snapshot then ; however, the letter O did really present on the top of the list and I did selected it

Ok. That's good to hear. Your new O drive SHOULD have appeared in that list, and you SHOULD have selected it and pushed OK. That's exactly the proper course of action at that step.

Quote:

and consequence as the figure

Quote:

Attachment 171438

Also looks good to me. Your C partition is no longer "active" (it now says "boot" which is fine, and implies "primary" as well) and your O partition shows "active" which is what we're looking for.

Looks bootable from this picture, if you ask me.

Quote:

unfortunately , I reboot since yesterday resulting in dark screen with instruction to press Ctrl +Alt+Del and my system is freezing up to now.

Quote:

The problem is XP dvd file corrupted , and I still unable to recover with any backup version , also optical drive doesn’t work ; nonetheless, usb still bootable . Wishfully that I could create bootable USB with window 7 image file.

If you have that standalone bootable Partition Wizard CD I had described earlier and recommended that you download and burn from their ISO, you can boot to it and examine your hard drive right now.

In absolute worst case, remember that even if EasyBCD did swap your boot drive, placing the boot manager files into O, copying the boot menu over from C to O, and marking C as non-active and O as active, then you can always revert back to what you had by reversing the "active" partitions using this standalone Partition Wizard boot CD. EasyBCD did not delete anything from your C partition in the "change boot drive" process, it only marked it inactive and marked O active.

So it seems to me you can get back to normal by booting to the PW CD, and use it to make O inactive, and make C active again. That should put you back exactly where you were before. Yes, we haven't accomplished what we wanted (yet), but at least you're back in business exactly as you were before.

Then we can review things slowly and carefully.

Now... if your optical drive is somehow defective, and you can't even read that standalone PW boot CD, well, that's a more serious problem. You wouldn't even be able to reinstall anything from scratch even if you wanted to, unless you have a working CD/DVD drive.

What do you mean "it doesn't" work? Do you mean you just can't boot from it? Is it properly inserted into the "boot device sequence" in your BIOS? Is this a new problem? Obviously it used to work, since you had installed WinXP at one time and must have booted from the WinXP installation DVD.

theog · 22 Aug 2011

Delete Partition O:, & Mark partition C: ACTIVE.
or
Reinstall Win XP & Windows 7, so that all boot files are on partition O:.

AA light · 22 Aug 2011

Hello all,

Thank you for constant advice. None of my backup could be recovered at all also - actually- the optical drive had symptom recently ; nonetheless, still be able to boot from USB drive.

wishfully, it would work,

theog · 22 Aug 2011

Quote: Originally Posted by AA light

Hello all,

Thank you for constant advice. None of my backup could be recovered at all also - actually- the optical drive had symptom recently ; nonetheless, still be able to boot from USB drive.

The query is during clean installation i delete the whole 500 GB yet i have no idea why it figured 465.8 GB , any suggestion, please?

HDD's - the Advertized size vs the Actual size.

Windows 7: Where is my system reserved partition,please ?

Where is my system reserved partition,please ? problems?