HDD GURU FORUMS :: View topic - Windows dual boot frrom cloned partitions

I have 2 identical Toshiba netbooks, one with Windows XP and the other has Windows 7 Ultimate.
I bought a new drive, created 2 partitions, then used Clonezilla to copy the netbook XP and Win7 drive partitions to the new drive.

... Windows partitions will not boot if they don't start on the sector that they were created on. There is a registry setting that must be changed if the partition is moved to make it bootable.

The registry can only be accessed after the partition has booted ...

Quote:

The registry can only be accessed after the partition has booted ...

It is absolutely possible to load and edit the registry of a non-booted system. I can't remember the exact thing to call it, but it can be done using hirens boot cd. I have done it in the past many times, but it was years ago.

Author:	ArtieJ [ January 20th, 2023, 11:45 ]
Post subject:	Windows dual boot frrom cloned partitions
I have 2 identical Toshiba netbooks, one with Windows XP and the other has Windows 7 Ultimate. I bought a new drive, created 2 partitions, then used Clonezilla to copy the netbook XP and Win7 drive partitions to the new drive. On a Windows 10 machine, I can see the volumes, explore files, etc. I want to install the new drive into one of the netbooks and have dual booting. I read that Windows has it's own boot manager for doing this, but I can't figure out the procedure, I see tutorials everywhere for installing the 2nd OS instead of having cloned partitions. The netbook shows the error on boot "PXE-E61: Media Test Failure, check cable". Then exits and starts over. So I'm wondering if whatever dual boot config is needed can be accomplished from the Windows 10 machine or do I need either the XP or 7 install media? The eventual goal is to have dual boot on both of the netbooks for audio techs to use in the field interfacing with older equipment. I've been down the Virtual box method path, got it to work but it required a lot of hoop jumping and I hated it. The netbooks as setup now work fantastic, fast and simple. Thanks for your time and any information you can provide.

Author:	NikolayIslentev [ January 21st, 2023, 8:19 ]
Post subject:	Re: Windows dual boot frrom cloned partitions
ArtieJ wrote: I have 2 identical Toshiba netbooks, one with Windows XP and the other has Windows 7 Ultimate. I bought a new drive, created 2 partitions, then used Clonezilla to copy the netbook XP and Win7 drive partitions to the new drive. How partitions were created? What type they are? Partition containing bootloader must be primary and active, partition containing bootable system must be primary. After you have two primary partitions with both system, boot into Windows 7 installer and search for some guide about "how to recover windows 7 boot record" (WinXP loader can't boot Win7, but vice versa will do). Once you have Windows 7 loader functional, find a guide about dual boot (in particular, how to add Windows XP into Windows 7 boot menu). It's been too long since I've done it. Sorry if my reply is confusing.

Author:	ArtieJ [ January 21st, 2023, 11:49 ]
Post subject:	Re: Windows dual boot frrom cloned partitions
Partitions were created with the Windows 10 computer. Disk Management says there are both Healthy Primary Partitions, but neither is marked Active. Both have NTFS file system. I will try the Windows 7 installer and try to figure out how to configure it's boot loader for dual boot. Thanks for the suggestion.

Author:	NikolayIslentev [ January 21st, 2023, 13:33 ]
Post subject:	Re: Windows dual boot frrom cloned partitions
Depending of computer configuration, Windows 10 may have created modern GPT type partitions. Windows XP (as well as netbooks running it) will need legacy MBR type. I suggest proper cloning of the original disks partitions.

Author:	fzabkar [ January 21st, 2023, 14:38 ]
Post subject:	Re: Windows dual boot frrom cloned partitions
In the past when I set up multi-booting, I used a third party multi-booter (BootEasy ?). It replaced the MBR code with its own, and presented a menu from which to select the boot OS. There was no need for Microsoft's convoluted approach where you need to go through one OS to get to the others. You could configure the tool to render all other partitions to be invisible to the boot OS.

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Author:	fzabkar [ January 21st, 2023, 15:30 ]
Post subject:	Re: Windows dual boot frrom cloned partitions
Try this: https://ftp.dim13.org/pub/src/booteasy-1.7.1.tar.gz You might need to select booting in legacy mode in your BIOS setup.

Author:	maximus [ January 21st, 2023, 18:32 ]
Post subject:	Re: Windows dual boot frrom cloned partitions
It has been many years since I played the game of moving Windows partitions and make them still bootable. In addition to getting the boot loader stuff correct, Windows partitions will not boot if they don't start on the sector that they were created on. There is a registry setting that must be changed if the partition is moved to make it bootable. I don't remember what it is, but I do remember that I used Hirens boot CD to find the new correct registry setting from the live environment, and then also used the remote registry editor to edit the Windows OS registry so it would boot. Good luck.

Author:	fzabkar [ January 21st, 2023, 18:35 ]
Post subject:	Re: Windows dual boot frrom cloned partitions
maximus wrote: ... Windows partitions will not boot if they don't start on the sector that they were created on. There is a registry setting that must be changed if the partition is moved to make it bootable. The registry can only be accessed after the partition has booted ...

Author:	maximus [ January 21st, 2023, 18:57 ]
Post subject:	Re: Windows dual boot frrom cloned partitions
Quote: The registry can only be accessed after the partition has booted ... It is absolutely possible to load and edit the registry of a non-booted system. I can't remember the exact thing to call it, but it can be done using hirens boot cd. I have done it in the past many times, but it was years ago.

Author:	fzabkar [ January 21st, 2023, 19:14 ]
Post subject:	Re: Windows dual boot frrom cloned partitions
maximus wrote: Quote: The registry can only be accessed after the partition has booted ... It is absolutely possible to load and edit the registry of a non-booted system. I can't remember the exact thing to call it, but it can be done using hirens boot cd. I have done it in the past many times, but it was years ago. Of course, you can. I'm not disputing that. All I'm saying is that you cannot prevent Windows from booting from a partition (and then examining its own registry) if it has already booted from it.

Author:	maximus [ January 21st, 2023, 19:46 ]
Post subject:	Re: Windows dual boot frrom cloned partitions
Let me rephrase my response. Just use VMs, it is much easier than moving windows partitions around and getting them to boot. You mentioned issues with virtual box, just buy VMware Workstation and be done with it, problem solved.

Author:	ArtieJ [ January 22nd, 2023, 16:31 ]
Post subject:	Re: Windows dual boot frrom cloned partitions
Thanks for the info folks, some tools I wasn't aware of. I won't get into the woods on additional problems I experienced trying to beat this netbook into submission. I chickened out and just wiped the drive and started over, installing XP first, then used GParted to shrink the partition and then created another primary partition and installed 7 on that. It really was easy, wished I had just done it in the first place instead of trying to be clever. The windows boot loader works fine.

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