Windows 7: Windows 7 doesn't boot after moving partition

Frostypanda · 25 Sep 2009

NOTE: Basic problem (not drawn out story) at bottom.

So heres my problem: I installed Win 7 on a drive a while back and earlier today I decided that I needed more hard drive space. I saw that I had 100gb of unallocated space on the drive, but it was behind my Windows 7 partition, making it impossible to resize that partition. So I defragged with Perfect Disk 10 which moves all the files to the back of the partition, cleaned up, disabled all the usual things, ran defragger again, and then booted into a live cd of GParted. I then proceeded to move my Windows 7 partition behind the unallocated space so I could extend the volume. Unfortunately, something went wrong and now I get the error message "Disk boot failure, please instert system disk and hit enter." So I followed the directions and ran startup repair, tried manually creating the bootmgr, and ran all the tests, but it still doesn't work. Luckily for me, I was able to reinstall Windows 7 on the unallocated space so I can at least get to the files on my other drive, which I discovered are all perfectly fine. I'm hoping this will be a quick fix since it seems like all the files are ok. What should I do so that I can boot back into that partition?

Long story short, I tried moving the partition, and something went wrong, and now I can't boot into that drive. I installed another copy of Win 7 on another partition and all the files are ok. What do I need to do to the original partition to get it to boot again?

sup3rsprt · 25 Sep 2009

hello,

can you attach a screenshot of your disk management?

Frostypanda · 25 Sep 2009

Quote: Originally Posted by sup3rsprt

hello,

can you attach a screenshot of your disk management?

I'm really confused as to why this happens. If it was a simple bootmgr issue, I would have been able to fix it in cmd prompt, but that didn't happen. All of my files are safe and intact. Is it possible that I just need to tell the boot loader/mgr/whatever its called to boot from a different physical area of the disk?

sup3rsprt · 25 Sep 2009

That "System Reserved" partition is where the boot manager must exist (because it's the partition that is set "active"). If your system is booting from your new Windows 7 install, then you'll need to fix or create a boot entry for the old one. Open an elevated command prompt and show us the output of bcdedit /enum ALL command

Frostypanda · 25 Sep 2009

do you want a picture of the elevated cmd? or a text file?

sup3rsprt · 25 Sep 2009

just mark copy/paste is fine. maybe enclose it in [ code ] tags when you post it, to keep it legible

Frostypanda · 25 Sep 2009

I did the C: partition (current, temporary, backup partition) first and the D: drive (the one that doesn't boot) second. D Starts about halfway down. I'm not sure if there's any difference between the two, but I thought I'd post both just in case.

Code:

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7600]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.
C:\Windows\system32>bcdedit /enum ALL
Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier              {bootmgr}
device                  partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume2
description             Windows Boot Manager
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {globalsettings}
default                 {current}
resumeobject            {14292510-aa2b-11de-9bbc-c349484140f0}
displayorder            {current}
toolsdisplayorder       {memdiag}
timeout                 30
Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {current}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows 7
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence        {14292512-aa2b-11de-9bbc-c349484140f0}
recoveryenabled         Yes
osdevice                partition=C:
systemroot              \Windows
resumeobject            {14292510-aa2b-11de-9bbc-c349484140f0}
nx                      OptIn
Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {14292512-aa2b-11de-9bbc-c349484140f0}
device                  ramdisk=[C:]\Recovery\14292512-aa2b-11de-9bbc-c349484140
f0\Winre.wim,{14292513-aa2b-11de-9bbc-c349484140f0}
path                    \windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows Recovery Environment
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
osdevice                ramdisk=[C:]\Recovery\14292512-aa2b-11de-9bbc-c349484140
f0\Winre.wim,{14292513-aa2b-11de-9bbc-c349484140f0}
systemroot              \windows
nx                      OptIn
winpe                   Yes
Resume from Hibernate
---------------------
identifier              {14292510-aa2b-11de-9bbc-c349484140f0}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \Windows\system32\winresume.exe
description             Windows Resume Application
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {resumeloadersettings}
filedevice              partition=C:
filepath                \hiberfil.sys
debugoptionenabled      No
Windows Memory Tester
---------------------
identifier              {memdiag}
device                  partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume2
path                    \boot\memtest.exe
description             Windows Memory Diagnostic
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {globalsettings}
badmemoryaccess         Yes
EMS Settings
------------
identifier              {emssettings}
bootems                 Yes
Debugger Settings
-----------------
identifier              {dbgsettings}
debugtype               Serial
debugport               1
baudrate                115200
RAM Defects
-----------
identifier              {badmemory}
Global Settings
---------------
identifier              {globalsettings}
inherit                 {dbgsettings}
                        {emssettings}
                        {badmemory}
Boot Loader Settings
--------------------
identifier              {bootloadersettings}
inherit                 {globalsettings}
                        {hypervisorsettings}
Hypervisor Settings
-------------------
identifier              {hypervisorsettings}
hypervisordebugtype     Serial
hypervisordebugport     1
hypervisorbaudrate      115200
Resume Loader Settings
----------------------
identifier              {resumeloadersettings}
inherit                 {globalsettings}
Device options
--------------
identifier              {14292513-aa2b-11de-9bbc-c349484140f0}
description             Ramdisk Options
ramdisksdidevice        partition=C:
ramdisksdipath          \Recovery\14292512-aa2b-11de-9bbc-c349484140f0\boot.sdi
C:\Windows\system32>D:
D:\>bcdedit /enum ALL
Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier              {bootmgr}
device                  partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume2
description             Windows Boot Manager
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {globalsettings}
default                 {current}
resumeobject            {14292510-aa2b-11de-9bbc-c349484140f0}
displayorder            {current}
toolsdisplayorder       {memdiag}
timeout                 30
Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {current}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows 7
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence        {14292512-aa2b-11de-9bbc-c349484140f0}
recoveryenabled         Yes
osdevice                partition=C:
systemroot              \Windows
resumeobject            {14292510-aa2b-11de-9bbc-c349484140f0}
nx                      OptIn
Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {14292512-aa2b-11de-9bbc-c349484140f0}
device                  ramdisk=[C:]\Recovery\14292512-aa2b-11de-9bbc-c349484140
f0\Winre.wim,{14292513-aa2b-11de-9bbc-c349484140f0}
path                    \windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows Recovery Environment
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
osdevice                ramdisk=[C:]\Recovery\14292512-aa2b-11de-9bbc-c349484140
f0\Winre.wim,{14292513-aa2b-11de-9bbc-c349484140f0}
systemroot              \windows
nx                      OptIn
winpe                   Yes
Resume from Hibernate
---------------------
identifier              {14292510-aa2b-11de-9bbc-c349484140f0}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \Windows\system32\winresume.exe
description             Windows Resume Application
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {resumeloadersettings}
filedevice              partition=C:
filepath                \hiberfil.sys
debugoptionenabled      No
Windows Memory Tester
---------------------
identifier              {memdiag}
device                  partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume2
path                    \boot\memtest.exe
description             Windows Memory Diagnostic
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {globalsettings}
badmemoryaccess         Yes
EMS Settings
------------
identifier              {emssettings}
bootems                 Yes
Debugger Settings
-----------------
identifier              {dbgsettings}
debugtype               Serial
debugport               1
baudrate                115200
RAM Defects
-----------
identifier              {badmemory}
Global Settings
---------------
identifier              {globalsettings}
inherit                 {dbgsettings}
                        {emssettings}
                        {badmemory}
Boot Loader Settings
--------------------
identifier              {bootloadersettings}
inherit                 {globalsettings}
                        {hypervisorsettings}
Hypervisor Settings
-------------------
identifier              {hypervisorsettings}
hypervisordebugtype     Serial
hypervisordebugport     1
hypervisorbaudrate      115200
Resume Loader Settings
----------------------
identifier              {resumeloadersettings}
inherit                 {globalsettings}
Device options
--------------
identifier              {14292513-aa2b-11de-9bbc-c349484140f0}
description             Ramdisk Options
ramdisksdidevice        partition=C:
ramdisksdipath          \Recovery\14292512-aa2b-11de-9bbc-c349484140f0\boot.sdi

sup3rsprt · 25 Sep 2009

the output from c: and d: are the same. That much is normal. Because the BCD doesn't exist on C: or D: but rather the "System Reserved" partition (the bcdedit command is not looking in C: or D:)

You only have one entry for Windows 7 (the one on C:) so what you'll need to do is create another boot manager entry for your other install.

It will be something like bcdedit /copy {current} /d "Windows old"

or to make life easier use some tool like EasyBCD or VistaBootPro which has a graphical interface to add boot entries.

Frostypanda · 25 Sep 2009

So by merely adding another boot partition, I'll be able to boot my original drive? I wonder if I accidentally erased a previous boot partition when I moved stuff around.... Thanks a TON for your help! I'll post back in a few mins when I'm done creating a new boot partition.

Also, will these two apps work with Windows 7? I would assume so since the architecture is very similar to vista, but I just want to make sure.

I'm also running 64 bit. Will these work?

sup3rsprt · 25 Sep 2009

no I'm not talking about creating a new boot "partition". I said boot manager entry. Boot manager entries go into the BCD.

edit - nevermind maybe I just misunderstood what you meant.

Yeah those apps will work in 64-bit

Windows 7: Windows 7 doesn't boot after moving partition

Windows 7 doesn't boot after moving partition problems?