Solved Restore Win7 Image to Advanced Format Disk - Not Genuine Windows

[swbca]

I bought some new Seagate hard drives that happened to have this feature . . . but I wasn't reading the fine print when I bought them.

"Seagate SmartAlign™ technology1 provides a transition to 4K sectors without the need for software utilities"

When restoring Windows 7 disk images to these drives from a disk image that is fully setup for our business, the resulting installation would get flagged as Not Genuine Windows. We were just changing drives, not the computers so the installations were still Activated, but they were no longer Genuine. We tried activating with a new unused key and it would still be flagged as Not Genuine.

MGADiage.exe would report a list of about 10 altered files on the restored drives.

Finally I tried an in-place upgrade with Windows 7 SP1 Pro media to fix the problem while saving the drive setup. Toward the end of the installaton, the pop-up "Windows Setup could not configure Windows to run on this computer's hardware" and setup quite and ran a Rollback, undoing the upgrade process. I did this twice after restoring two different images to the computer.

The message above led me to the "Advanced 4kb Formatting of the drives as the probable source of the problem.

I tried a clean install of Windows 7 on the same Lenovo T500 with the new drive and that works fine, but it would take a couple of days and some licensing hassles with other applications to do a completely new install instead of using the image. (remember we are just changing drives not change computers, but some of our apps won't reinstall without new licenses)

The Question:

Is there a way to make our deployment images work on the new drives ?

 

[gregrocker]

Have you tried using the premium Acronis cloning/imaging app which comes free with Seagate? Seagate Acronis cloning free util

I'd try a direct clone between drives first. The manual is easy to understand and on the download page.

 

[swbca]

Have you tried using the premium Acronis cloning/imaging app which comes free with Seagate? Seagate Acronis cloning free util

I'd try a direct clone between drives first. The manual is easy to understand and on the download page.

I just downloaded the Seagate Disk Wizard - Powered by Acronis from this page.

http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/

(by the way, you helped on another thread a couple of days ago concerning "Genuine" issues. All of the problems I had were actuallly caused by this particular imaging issue, nothing do to with licensing or media types. I though that thread was too long to amend however)

 

[gregrocker]

What imaging app are you using now? Acronis always works for me.

 

[RALPH BOLTON]

try this--

Hi, its just possible that you are having the same problem as i have had,, if you look at my post of a few minutes ago, it may help you

I bought some new Seagate hard drives that happened to have this feature . . . but I wasn't reading the fine print when I bought them.

"Seagate SmartAlign™ technology1 provides a transition to 4K sectors without the need for software utilities"

When restoring Windows 7 disk images to these drives from a disk image that is fully setup for our business, the resulting installation would get flagged as Not Genuine Windows. We were just changing drives, not the computers so the installations were still Activated, but they were no longer Genuine. We tried activating with a new unused key and it would still be flagged as Not Genuine.

MGADiage.exe would report a list of about 10 altered files on the restored drives.

Finally I tried an in-place upgrade with Windows 7 SP1 Pro media to fix the problem while saving the drive setup. Toward the end of the installaton, the pop-up "Windows Setup could not configure Windows to run on this computer's hardware" and setup quite and ran a Rollback, undoing the upgrade process. I did this twice after restoring two different images to the computer.

The message above led me to the "Advanced 4kb Formatting of the drives as the probable source of the problem.

I tried a clean install of Windows 7 on the same Lenovo T500 with the new drive and that works fine, but it would take a couple of days and some licensing hassles with other applications to do a completely new install instead of using the image. (remember we are just changing drives not change computers, but some of our apps won't reinstall without new licenses)

The Question:

Is there a way to make our deployment images work on the new drives ?

 

[swbca]

What imaging app are you using now? Acronis always works for me.

I have been using Windows 7 and Server 2008 imaging almost daily since they came out. I have transferred installations between workstations and servers many times and have never had an problem. I am pretty sure the target drive 4k sector design is the issue since Genuine Windows validation failure happened with two target drives and two source images. (this never happen before with other image transfers)

At your recommendation, I tried the Seagate/Acronis utility, but I could not get Acronis to clone a 60G Partition on a 500G drive to a 320G drive. The rest of the source 500G drive was unallocated. Windows 7 imaging let you go to a smaller drive if the source partition fits on the smaller drive and the rest of the source drive is unallocated. I bought and downloaded the full version of Acronis but it also will not let me go to a smaller drive. Maybe Acronis partition backup / recovery could be used to get to a smaller driver but I haven't tried that yet.

So I used Windows 7 to transfer my source 60G partition to a 160G drive so I could then clone it using Acronis to the 320G drive. As I was cloning to my final 320G drive, the power supply for the USB/SATA adaptor went-nuts and destroyed my 320G drive. While trying to figure out what happened I detroyed a second hard drive with the USB/SATA adaptor.

So I never found out if if Acronis will get around the problem of imaging to the 4K sector hard drive. I will get back to this when I replace the USB/SATA adaptor.

 

[swbca]

Hi, its just possible that you are having the same problem as i have had,, if you look at my post of a few minutes ago, it may help you

Interesting about the two OEM keys, but that isn't the cause of my problem. In my case imaging is causing a Genuine validation failue with a Retail or OEM installation . . and will still come up as Non-Genuine after activating with a new unused retail key on a retail installation. It only happens when I attempt to image to the 4kb Advanced Format drives. The same images have no problem when restored to other drives.

I know this sounds strange to anyone who uses imaging on a daily basis, but the MGADiag.exe http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=203456 tool shows exactly the same list of altered files each time I restore to the 4kb sector drives . . and that causes the Genuine Validation failure

 

[gregrocker]

Can you use the Acronis boot disk to reimage the HD in it's own machine, rather than connected elsewhere using an adapter? If this is how you're imaging then it may well be your problem.

 

[swbca]

Can you use the Acronis boot disk to reimage the HD in it's own machine, rather than connected elsewhere using an adapter? If this is how you're imaging then it may well be your problem.

The Not Genuine problem has always been where I used Windows 7 imaging and the target drive was in the machine. The source image is on a USB drive. I just got back from Micro-Center to replace my fried drives. I just restored 3 images to 3 systems and all is good. I did not get drives that use 4K sectors.

I haven't yet completed any imaging with Acronis because my adaptor detroyed the drive before the image was complete.

This is my first exposure to Acronis and I know it is the best way to go. I am looking forward to leaning more about how to use it. I was wondering if it had a boot disk . . that good.

 

[gregrocker]

I was wondering if it had a boot disk . . that good.

Yes you'll want to read the Manual on the WD Dowloads page which is quite easy to understand and contains Section 11 on Creating Bootable Rescue Media: http://support.wdc.com/download/notes/ATIH2010WD_userguide_en.pdf

 

[gregrocker]

I was wondering if it had a boot disk . . that good.

Yes you'll want to read the Manual on the WD Downloads page which is quite easy to understand and contains a section on creating bootable Rescue media: http://support.wdc.com/download/notes/ATIH2010WD_userguide_en.pdf

 

[swbca]

"Genuine Windows" problem caused by disk imaging

I found the solution - at least for my comuter - to solve the Genuine Windows problem caused by disk duplication to replace a disk on a computer.

The non-Genuine installation on the new replacement drive became Genuine after installing updated drivers for Intel® Rapid Storage Technology.

I ran the this driver update and rebooted twice and now it is Genuine.

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?ProductID=2101&DwnldID=20624

 

[Volrath]

Hi, if you get "Windows Setup could not configure Windows on this computer’s hardware." error while installing Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2, the problem is with the HDD drive. Actually its format.
If you get this error, you probably have an AF (Advanced Format) HDD and your BIOS drives it with RAID (as vendor default) and Windows setup does not recognizes it after it copies setup files (funny eh?). Windows searches AHCI driven AF disk to continue. So you get this error message.
Don't worry, it has solution.
　
Here is how to do it:
　
Option 1: (as Microsoft tells, http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2466753/en-us)
-Configure your BIOS, change control method RAID to AHCI or IDE/ATA
-Get your chipset AHCI drivers from intel and load them when setup asks (at the screen that you choose where to install windows, there is a button labeled as "Load Drivers")
　
Ok, pretty easy, isn't it? NOPE,
You may have a BIOS that can not be configured by user. And you may download AHCI drivers from intel but WHICH ONE? (first you have to determine your chipset, not a big deal, follow...)
　
Option 2: (as told by users that experienced this problem)
-Remove your harddisk drive, mount it to another computer, setup windows, when it completes the configuration step and restarts, turn off, remove drive, mount back to original place and continue.
　
Well, you can do this if you are experienced to remove and replace hardware, or if you don't have problem about your warranty (yes for some brands, removing your hard disk drive voids warranty terms)
　
Option 3: (long way)
what you need:
-Hiren's Boot CD 15 (or usb flash drive with a capacity to have Hiren's Boot Disk 15 iso and BOOTABLE! ) (How to make it bootable? Follow steps of ADDENDUM 1)
-windows setup dvd (or dvd image if you don't have an optical drive online - follow steps of ADDENDUM 2)
-a tool that determines your chipset (http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=18498&keyword=Intel+Chipset+Identification+Utility&lang=eng)
-intel AHCI drivers for your chipset (http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/sb/CS-031502.htm)
-patience ..
　
ok, how to do it:
1. Put your Windows setup dvd (or plug in your bootable usb with windows setup) and boot from it (i know it gives you error at the end but we won't go until the end)
2. start setup and partition your hdd within the setup. (c has to be below 100gb - i don't know why but it works )
3. DO NOT CONTINUE SETUP
4. Cancel the setup and reboot, put your HBCD into optical drive or plug your bootable usb with HBCD inside and boot from it.
5. run mini windows xp
6. format your C: partition (as NTFS and 512k allocation size)
(that will remove AF property)
7. run intel chipset identification tool and download your AHCI driver from intel, copy files to usb (unzipped)
8. reboot and boot with Windows setup dvd or usb with windows setup
9. when you get back to window that you choose where to install windows, push "load drivers" button and "browse" to your usb drive, install the corresponding AHCI driver.
10. continue as instructed.
　
ADDENDUM 1:
How to make a usb bootable with Hiren's Boot CD image inside?
1. Download Hiren's Boot Disk iso file from http://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/
2. Download "A Bootable USB" tool and follow the steps here http://www.askvg.com/a-bootable-usb-utility-to-create-bootable-usb-drive-to-install-windows-vista-server-2008-and-7/
　
ADDENDUM 2:
If you dont have an optical drive and you have to install windows from usb, you may use either two bootable usb flash drives, one with Hiren's Boot CD and another with Windows setup OR you may do it with one usb flash
if you want to use two seperate flash drives, use the step 2 of addendum 1 for both
if you want to put all in one:
1. Download Yumi Multiboot tool from here http://www.pendrivelinux.com/yumi-multiboot-usb-creator/ and follow steps.
2. When you have to boot either for Hiren's Boot Cd or Windows Setup, select it from menu and continue.
　
that is it.

 

[swbca]

Thanks for all the good information. On my Thinkpad T500 it was a problem with the Intel® Rapid Storage Technology drivers which required driver reinstallaton after using Windows Disk Imaging to move the installation from 1 disk to any other disk. This driver issue broke Genuine Windows and prevented an inplace upgrade until the drivers were reinstalled.