Make w7 pro x64 bootable after cloning

jey69 · 26 Aug 2014

Hi I am new to this forum so welcome everyone.

I bought a Dell laptop which came with installed Windows 7 Pro but installation media is unfortunately Win 8.1... I additionally got an SSD drive and want to move the system to it.

So I did several things:

I changed the size of the original system partition (HDD)
took a snapshot of this partition using CloneZilla
partitioned SSD
my new partition for Windows is exactly the same size as the original one. And marked it bootable
restored the image to the new partition
disabled HDD in BIOS for the time being

So far so good but it didn't boot and nothing even detected it.

So I booted up a Recovery DVD I created and built a BCD store (bcdboot c:\windows) and tried all the magic I could find (bootrec /fixboot and /fixmbr). And still nothing...

When I boot windows from HDD it sees the partition on SSD and says no errors on it (same with chkdsk). Contents looks sane.

When I try to boot from SSD (HDD disabled in BIOS) I just get a blinking cursor. Windows recovery disk now sees the system and allows to try repairing it but the repair always fails (no reason given). But partition size is reported 0MB (although HDD version of windows reports it correctly).

Since this is SSD I obviously don't want to blindly write stuff on it. Is there anything more I could do to make the cloned system to boot? Any ideas appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
jey

EDIT: fixed formatting

Ztruker · 26 Aug 2014

Why not just clone the HDD to the SSD? Don't do any partitioning, just clone it.

jey69 · 27 Aug 2014

Ztruker said:

Why not just clone the HDD to the SSD? Don't do any partitioning, just clone it.

Thanks for the suggestion Ztruker. The main reason is that there is a recovery partition on HDD I don't want on SSD (waste of space).

j

jimbo45 · 27 Aug 2014

Hi there

you need BOTH the small system partition and the main "C" partition. The system partition should be set to ACTIVE.

If you only have a "C" partition (i.e no small system boot partition) then THAT partition should be set to ACTIVE.

Download a Linux live CD or a bootable version of GPARTED and set the partition as ACTIVE.

Without an ACTIVE bootable partition the system won't boot.

Cheers
jimbo

jey69 · 27 Aug 2014

Hi jimbo

C: is set to active (boot flag is on - that's what GParted says).
Additionally I believe that the original HDD doesn't have the small partition (can't check ATM) and the recovery partition might play this role there.

j

whs · 27 Aug 2014

Here is your problem. Dell puts the bootmgr on the recovery partition. You must first copy the bootmgr to C before you make the image.

Bootmgr - Move to C:\ with EasyBCD

Alternatively (if C is active), you can run startup/repair 3 times. That will create a new bootmgr.

Startup Repair

Ztruker · 27 Aug 2014

I'd clone it then delete the unwanted partition and add it's space to the boot drive.

whs · 28 Aug 2014

Ztruker said:

I'd clone it then delete the unwanted partition and add it's space to the boot drive.

That does not work because the unwanted partition (recovery partition) has the bootmgr.

Ztruker · 28 Aug 2014

Ah, thanks. Read your previous post but didn't make the connection.

Thanks.

gregrocker · 28 Aug 2014

If the PC has a UEFI BIOS then you'll need a UEFI-supported imaging or cloning App. Macrium is good.

Clone or image the Win7 partition to the SSD after moving the Bootmgr as previously suggested.

If Win7 doesn't start. confirm that C is the Partition Marked Active

then run Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times.

You can still Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 taking the opportunity to do a perfect install with the media supplied.