Failed boot into Windows 7 after converting from dynamic to basic disk

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  1. Posts : 6
    Windows 7 Professional 64 bit
       #1

    Failed boot into Windows 7 after converting from dynamic to basic disk


    This is my first post, but I've been a long time lurker on the Seven forums; and they've provided a great deal of help. I googled for hours and could not find a solution to my specific problem. Wiping and re-installing is my last resort option, but I understand that it's entirely doable.

    So I have what I believe is quite a unique situation. I got my new Crucial M4 64gb ssd a few days ago, installed windows to it, updates, etc. Prior to that I had Windows 7 Professional x64 installed to my Seagate Barracuda 1tb drive. Given the limited capacity of my ssd, I had partitioned 50gb of space (named it G:\) on my Seagate through the original install for the purpose of installing programs to it for the new Windows installation on my SSD. After getting the SSD all set up, I quickly noticed that 50gb was not enough space.

    Before this mess occurred, dual booting was not a problem with the multiple partitions and whatnot.

    So after taking a nap, I tiredly booted into the SSD and shrunk what was the C: volume on the other installation (and was now E or something) with the intent of extending the G partition into the unallocated space. Upon trying to extend it, Windows popped up warning me that it needed to convert the disk to a dynamic one (even though it didn't do this while in the Windows install from the Seagate, before I had the ssd) and that I'd lose the ability to boot from it. So I decided to cancel it. Then, since I had just woken up, I stupidly decided to re-attempt it and figured I'd just hit yes, forgetting that I had a Widnows install on that HDD.

    So it converted it to dynamic, and I noticed the greenish-brownish bar across the top of all the partitions which instantly woke me up, questioning what I had just done. Sure enough, I was no longer able to boot into the HDD as it would simply BSOD. I googled a little bit to see how to convert a dynamic disk back into a basic disk without data loss and landed on EaseUS' Partition master Home edition. So I installed that to the windows on my SSD, used it to convert E and G back to a basic disk, rebooted to finish. So at this point I thought I had fixed it.

    However, I did not notice that under Disk management, the System Reserved 100mb partition had stayed as a primary basic disk, but E and G were both sub-partitions in an extended partition (basic disk) due to EaseUS' handling of the conversion...until later. So I tried to boot from the HDD once again, with no luck. I popped in my Windows 7 Pro disk to launch the recovery utility, and it said it found problems and whatnot to fix. Still no luck. I booted back into the SSD, and found that the partitions were extended, so I switched E to primary using the EaseUS software, forgetting about G. I booted back into the HDD, this time it went into my lock screen (which looked normal with a custom background I had applied) and typed in my password to log in.

    "Preparing your desktop" followed for a few minutes. Finally, it finished and basically took me to a light blue screen with nothing on it other than "version of Windows is not genuine" and "Version 7601" in the bottom right corner. It reminds me of safe mode, but it isn't. I hit ctrl-shift-esc to open Task manager, and ran explorer.exe. I got a start menu after a while but I couldn't do much. I couldn't run programs, or open folders with the error saying "No such interface is supported." I booted into the Windows 7 disk, ran the recovery, it said it found and fixed problems. Yet somehow, after the windows recovery utitility ran, it had associated the G partition as my Program files (or C drive) and installed the basic Windows programs (Like Windows NT, Internet Explorer, etc) to it, rather than running the programs off the actual C drive.

    I booted back into my SSD, uninstalled my programs from the G partition, formatted it, and merged it with the E (original C) drive, in an attempt to reverse that association. No luck still, still a light blue screen background. I popped in my disk again while in that weird semi-safe mode OS and navigated to it using Task Manager's run command. I hoped that I could just run my W7 Pro upgrade off the setup disk so I'd keep my programs and files and it would re-install the OS. No luck, it came up saying that my Program files, page file, user files, etc. all had to be on the same partition (which should've been C). But they weren't. This made me find out after running diskmgmt.msc that my C drive had apparently become D now, and I had no C drive; where obviously my whole registry pointed to for all my programs. So I thought that was the problem.

    I booted again from the repair disc, opened command prompt, ran diskpart and re-assigned the System Reserved (which was C there) to D, and Local Disk from D back to C. Exited, closed it, rebooted. Still no luck, I got the same light blue background screen. I ran chkdisk from the recovery utility, it fixed problems that it found, but didn't help. I ran sfc /scannow multiple times, fixed problems, no luck. I ran the startup repair, which sometimes found problems and sometimes didn't, no luck. One time my HDD failed to boot saying that bootmgr.exe was missing, but I ran Startup recovery yet again and it fixed that. But I went back into the light blue screen semi-safe mode thing.

    Then I found out that under the Windows recovery utility, it listed my partitions as C and D the way I had labelled them, but under the semi safe mode after running diskmgmt.msc it still showed Local Disk as D and System reserved as no drive letter.

    So this is where I am currently. Sorry for the huge post, but I tried to be as specific as possible and even then I may have missed a few things of what I did since it's been going on for the last 2 days. I know I could just wipe the HDD and be done with it, but it's got MS office installed to it as well as Autocad and a bunch of games and other programs that would be hard to replace if I wiped it.

    Thanks, and I really appreciate any help you guys could give me out there. If you need any more info, let me know. Also, sorry for any typos i didn't catch, this is quite a long post.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 10,200
    MS Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit
       #2

    It may be too late, but you can take a look at using PartitionWizard to get your hdd up and running again. Don't remember whether you can do this kind of thing with the free version.

    Incidentally, 64 GB SSD is big enough to hold Win 7 and your programs. You will want to put your big profile folders, e.g., Documents, Videos, Music, Pictures on your HDD.
      My Computer

  3.    #3

    Since we have this problem come up several times per week it would be good to bookmark pw422.zip ISO - Windows Live which is the last version of Partition Wizard bootable CD which featured free conversion from Dynamic to Basic. This is courtesy of SIW2.

    Burn the ISO to CD with Windows Img Burner or ImgBurn, boot CD, select 1 for screen Res, rightclick on the last partition you added which caused conversion to Delete, click OK.

    Then click on the HD # to highlight it, from Disk tab select Convert Dynamic to Basic, click OK, Apply all steps.

    In the future post up a screenshot of your Disk Mgmt drive map and listings to ask advice on partitioning issues before acting randomly, and please keep your posts short enough so that they will be read.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 6
    Windows 7 Professional 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       #4

    Hi guys thanks for the responses. What would you recommend I do with Partition Wizard though? The drive had already been converted back to a basic disk with the EaseUS tool. Oh and karlsnooks I apologize for not clarifying, but what I was doing was installing Steam and such, which was already 30gb (with my games) on its own. For most lightweight programs I just install them straight to the SSD.

    So gregrocker do you recommend setting the disk to convert from basic...back into a basic disk then? And also I'd like to post a screenshot, but with the way the OS runs It's impossible to manage any files or anything, the best I could do would be to take a picture of the screen with a camera.

    So I could boot into Partitition Wizard then, and it'll force the change from D back to the C drive, since the "assign letter = C" command only worked in the recovery utility, but not Windows itself?
      My Computer

  5.    #5

    I'm sorry I've tried to read your post several times but it is the biggest mess I've ever seen posted here in three years. If you'll post back a screenshot of a camera snap you take of the maximized PW drive map with listings, tell us in a simple sentence what is wrong, then in another sentence or two what is on each partition, we can help you much better than trying to make sense out of all that.

    You cannot judge what drive letters are by how they list in WinRE as they may be different.

    However there is a situation which arises sometime with a blue screen Non-Genuine lockout in which the drive letter slips during repairs or reimaging. For this you need to Use FREE Rescue Kit Express | PARAGON Software Group

    Boot the Paragon CD - select Normal Mode , then Boot Corrector.

    Correct drive letters in the system registry.



    Release the incorrect letter first, if necesssary.

    If this fails you might be able to insert your Product Key from the System Recovery Options Command Line: SLMgr Commands and Options

    If this fails you'll need to boot the Windows 7 installer to Clean Reinstall.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 6
    Windows 7 Professional 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       #6

    Well...


    I tried that and unfortunately it did not work as well, so I just sacked up and did a full format on the HDD, and re-installed. I copied the programs to an external HDD so at least that way when I re-install them I can point them to the folder to speed the process up a bit. And yeah, I apologize for the mess but I was trying quite a few things out of desperation. I'll mark the thread as solved. Thank you.
      My Computer

  7.    #7

    You would not under any circumstances point programs you're reinstalling to backed up Program Files on an external. I've never heard of anything so farfetched. If this is indicative of what you do to your installs then there's no wonder you had such a mess.

    You're best advised to follow the steps in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 exactly to set up and maintain Win7 - doing nothing more or less if you want to get and keep a perfect install.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 6
    Windows 7 Professional 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       #8

    Oh no I meant, for example, I copied my Steam folder from the x86 folder, onto an external. Then, wiped the drive, re-installed windows 7, and copied it from the external back into the new x86 folder. When I pointed the Steam installer to that folder, it finished the operation in seconds, and all my games and settings were already there. I didn't mean to sound like I installed programs to an external HDD. I did the same thing with the Tribes: Ascend folder and it worked just as well.
      My Computer

  9.    #9

    Some games like Steam I have heard don't require reinstall but I doubt many will work like that. Best to reinstall them from scratch, starting with new uncorrupted settings.
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 6
    Windows 7 Professional 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       #10

    Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. The only things I was planning on doing that were the programs that required lengthy downloads (over college internet), otherwise quicker programs I'd just install normally.
      My Computer


 
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