Windows 7 Reboots during Safe Mode boot up

[SparkyNZ]

I've just cloned a drive for a new PC so I know my drivers are wrong for the target machine. Yesterday the PC booted just fine with the usual low-res desktop. Today, the machine gets as far as the "Starting Windows" animation with the coloured moving balls and then reboots - and it does the same in Safe Mode too.


How can I get it to boot into Safe Mode so I can install the correct drivers?

 

[townsbg]

Before windows starts to boot hit F8 and keep hitting it until the advanced boot options menu comes up. Select the option disable automatic restart on system failure. Then proceed with the safe mode boot up and let us know which driver it stops booting at.

Where did you get the Windows install? Did it come on another computer from a manufacturer such as HP or Dell? If so the copy is likely OEM and if so you won't be able to activate it on the other computer. It is a violation of Microsoft's terms of use to put it in another computer. Only retail copies can be transferred to another computer. Never the less Windows isn't designed to be transferred to another computer. There are drivers and registry settings specific to the computer it was installed on.

 

[SparkyNZ]

Before windows starts to boot hit F8 and keep hitting it until the advanced boot options menu comes up. Select the option disable automatic restart on system failure. Then proceed with the safe mode boot up and let us know which driver it stops booting at.

Thanks for that. Just tried and got BSOD. Not very informative - no driver filename mentioned:
*** STOP: 0x0000007B (0xFFFFF880009A97E8,0XFFFFFFFFC0000034,0x0000000000000000,0
x0000000000000000)

Where did you get the Windows install? Did it come on another computer from a manufacturer such as HP or Dell?

It's an MSDN Window 7 Ultimate copy that I installed on my laptop so it isn't an OEM copy.



Yeah this is the first time I've ever tried cloning Windows. I've been quite lucky since Windows 7 and with a few machines over the past couple of years - been able to swap a drive from one machine to the next and only install the drivers afterwards. As I said in the first post though, it did boot up fine lastnight - obviously Windows must have tried recognising some hardware when it did causing these boots to fail.


I ran the "repair automatically" option too but that did nothing - said it couldn't be repaired. Maybe I can somehow do a "confirm each action" boot and see what's causing the BSOD now?

 

[SparkyNZ]

Aha! "Last Known Good Configuration".. that worked!

 

[file3456]

You really should use the sysprep command and remove the drivers from the computer prior to a clone in preparation for the move to the new computer. I have done this and it worked without issue. Although, I had no USB so I had to use an old PS/2 mouse to navigate to my USB 3.0 driver and install it for all the USB ports to work. I don't know why that was. This was the PC in my Sig and using Win 7. Next time I may just make a Win 7 DVD with a slipstream of my USB drivers.

 

[SparkyNZ]

You really should use the sysprep command and remove the drivers from the computer prior to a clone in preparation for the move to the new computer.

Can you use sysprep to remove drivers on a cloned disk once you boot back up with it on a new machine? (ie. remove all the drivers and start again) I take it you'd have to do this from Safe Mode though?


The reason I ask is that the new machine is running terribly slow.

 

[file3456]

Hmm, I think the damage is done to be honest. You could try removing most if not all the main drivers in safe mode, rebooting and reinstall the drivers again. With audio and GPU drivers I would use Revo Uninstaller in safe mode.

If after that it's still slow try sfc /scannow in command prompt running as Admin. If still slow try a repair install with the Windows disk. How to Repair a Corrupt Windows 7 Installation | PCWorld

 

[Megahertz07]

On a new computer you should do a clean install.
Your old and new computer has different hardware that requires different drivers. Not to mention that old installations has a lot of trash.
Soon or latter you're going to have BSOD's and do a clean install.
So, do clean install now.

 

[townsbg]

On a new computer you should do a clean install.
Your old and new computer has different hardware that requires different drivers. Not to mention that old installations has a lot of trash.
Soon or latter you're going to have BSOD's and do a clean install.
So, do clean install now.

I agree.