vista bootable to use with pc complete restore

tonye · #1 February 8th, 2008, 10:37 PM

Hi,
I upgraded a system from xp to vista enterprise for my corporation and created an image of it so that i can duplicate the system image on other systems using complete pc restore. But from what i read on the net, i would require a bootable vista dvd which i dont have with me. How do i create a vista bootable cd that would lead me to the windows recovery environment so that i can load the system image i have created.

tonye

Terry60 · #2 February 8th, 2008, 11:20 PM

Hi Tonye, welcome to the forum
Have you read
http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBC...r+from+the+DVD

(the red block)

tonye · #3 February 12th, 2008, 05:34 PM

Hi Terry60,
Thanks for the site. I have downloaded and burned the file and used it on an XP system with the Complete PC Restore files created from a working vistat system, as directed in the instructions on the site: http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/Recovering+the+Vista+Bootloader+from+the+DVD
After completing the restore process, the system restarted and came up with the message:
"A disk read error occurred"
"Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart"

I thought the cloning of a working vista system to overwrite this XP system will make it a working vista system as well. That's the aim of the whole process

Paul

Makaveli213 · #4 February 12th, 2008, 10:27 PM

A cloning system wont overwrite a current system. It would jsut place a clone of the system on there. It wont overwrite that system. You would have to do a upgrade install for that. If you are trying to preserve the data that is.

Also when you burned the Disc did you burn the ISO correctly? Instructions available here:

Burning ISO Images to a CD or DVD - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki

That will create a workign CD for you.

tonye · #5 February 12th, 2008, 11:31 PM

There's nothing wrong with the burning. The ISO worked fine. But after i had booted the system with it i chose the repair option and pointed to the backup image and it loaded them fine and restarted and then brought up the message above. I read on the net that with PC Complete Restore in vista, you can setup a system with the applications you want and duplicate its image to other systems. I have a lot of systems to setup thats why i need to get this right.

Terry60 · #6 February 13th, 2008, 12:44 AM

Sorry Paul,
I pointed you to the disk to get you the Vista recovery environment you wanted, and I have experience only of the boot repair from that. I've never used the PC complete restore option, so can offer no help with that.
I don't know if Guru has used it, or if we have other members with the experience to help you.
Good luck. I'm glad at least you've got the environment you need to experiment with anyway.

Makaveli213 · #7 February 13th, 2008, 01:12 AM

As far as i know you can only use that image or clone on the PC that has the Recovery Partition on their system. Since you would be restoring it to factory defaults. If the system you are using it on doesnt have any previous restore points or the recovery partition i dont think it would work.

Computer Guru · #8 February 13th, 2008, 08:06 AM

It looks like the MBR was trashed when you did the Complete PC Recovery.

Try rebuilding the MBR by following these instructions:
Recovering the Vista Bootloader from the DVD - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki

tonye · #9 February 13th, 2008, 08:54 AM

I am already using the recovery facility that came with the system to restore it to factory settings so the MBR is not an issue. Any ideas on how i can actually achieve this feat?

Computer Guru · #10 February 13th, 2008, 09:32 PM

Do you mean loading the image onto another PC?

tonye · #11 February 14th, 2008, 09:40 AM

yes, thats exactly what i mean

Computer Guru · #12 February 16th, 2008, 11:03 PM

Well, it'll only work if it's 99.99% identical hardware, otherwise it'll never happen.

If that's the case though, I'd recommend directly cloning it with a 3rd party program like Acronis True Image 11.

R500 · #13 March 14th, 2009, 02:42 PM

I use Complete Restore on a Lenovo R500 Vista Business laptop to clone other 4 identical R500 laptops. They are all OEM activated now and get the same SID. I can't see any problems, they run fine.
The only problem is the SID issue. I change the computernames and the workgroup. In domain environment is the issue with same SID no problem.
It's very easy to clone computers with PC Complete restore and I don't hope any problems in future. I don't understand why Microsoft does not embed the SID change issue in PC Complete restore. Cloning with BDD and other technologies takes to much time.

Khalid · #14 March 14th, 2009, 05:18 PM

Please help, I am not sure which recovery version is right for my Vista Basic 32 or 64 bit? My machine is a Fujitsu Siemens Esprimo Mobile V5535. I was very lucky once as Car Phone Ware house kindly swapped the laptop when I had a problem. I want to be cautious now!! Is it ok/safe to download and save both versions?

Coolname007 · #15 March 14th, 2009, 06:43 PM

Hi Khalid. Welcome to NST.
You should download and use the 32 bit version, unless you know for sure your hardware supports 64 bit.

But I can see no harm in downloading both versions, anyway, because even if the current computer you're using doesn't support 64 bit, you might find a need to use the 64 bit version somewhere down the road.

Cheers,

Jake