Refuses to boot into second partition on same SSD

pendra

Member
For days i have been trying to get EasyBCD v2.2 to boot into a cloned partition, so far it's nogo.
It keeps booting into C:
I also tried EastBCD v2.4, this wont work either
V2.2 used to work perfectly in Win XP pro.
But nowerdays I have Win7 pro and am at a loss on how to fix this.
Can anyone please help??
Attached 3 screenshots.
 

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EasyBCD plays no part in the boot process. That's all MS bootmgr.
EasyBCD (no matter which version you have installed) is executed on a running OS to make changes to the contents of the BCD. It's not active at any other time than when you start it and instruct it.
If you see those contents reflected in the BCD, it's done its job. Those changes will be picked up by bootmgr on all subsequent boots and will persist until you change them again.
Check that you really are making changes to the same BCD which is being used to boot the system.
Remember that you've cloned the OS and that presumably cotained a BCD which you also cloned.
EasyBCD > file > load system BCD will make sure you're not making fruitless changes to a BCD which is not being used subseqently.
check EasyBCD > Tools > Options > automatically load.... to make sure you're not deliberately selecting the wrong one.
When you're sure you've added an entry for the clone to the "live" BCD, post a screen shot of Disk Management after you've booted selecting that entry.
 
Thanks for your rapid reply.

I cloned the C: drive first, THAN installed EasyBCD on C:

In the cloned drive there is no listing of EasyBCD.

I did what you suggested re " EasyBCD > Tools > Options > automatically load " I entered --> "C:\Program Files (x86)\NeoSmart Technologies\EasyBCD\EasyBCD.exe", clicked OK .
BUT the entree disappears like snow before the sun, as soon as I re-open the program..Ticking "expert mode ' makes no difference.
I set the program to run in compatibility mode with XP, -->BUT it states that is a "Incompatible application"
Anyway, It is still not booting into the cloned partition.
Attached the file you asked for
 

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That "auto load .." field specifies which BCD EasyBCD is working on.
It's not a self reference.
Unless you are deliberately continually working on the BCD of a different offline OS, there should not be anything specified in that field.
I was urging you to check that nothing was specified there.
EasyBCD is just a Windows .NET application designed to help the end user manage the contents of the Windows BCD (a super hidden repository of boot information, which resides in the \boot folder in the root of the partition flagged as "system" in Disk Management.
In your case, as revealed in the screenshot you provided, that would be E:\boot\BCD and you will need folder options set like this to be able to see it
http://neosmart.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=700&d=1235661652
That screenshot reveals what I suspected.
You are successfully booting into your cloned OS.

Disk Management flags have the following meanings

"boot" = "this is the system you're running"
"system" = "this is where I found the boot files for the currently running system"
"active" (on the first HDD in the BIOS boot sequence) = "this is where I started the search for the boot files"
"active" (on subsequent HDDs in the BIOS boot sequence) ="this is where I will look if I don't find something in the MBR on the first HDD"

It's very confusing, but a fact nonetheless, that MS uses the terms boot and system in the precisely opposite way to the "common sense" version of the rest of the world, as witnessed by your screenshot of the mini-tool and any Linux system you'll ever meet

I don't know why you set the cloned partition "active", thus instructing the BIOS to search for the continuation of the boot chain on that partition, but that's the situation you are now in.
If you wish to boot from the original OS and you set that "active", you'll need to add a second entry to that BCD to dual boot from that partition.

Why did you think you weren't booting into the clone ? Did you expect it to be C ?
The fact that it has copied as E and is now booting as such will be down to the partition manager you used and which of its functions you chose to make the copy. Whatever that combination was, it's not made a true "clone" (identical to the last bit), but an independent copy and it's gone to great lengths to make hundreds of registry edits to effect a disk letter change from C to E.

If you actually want a system (like mine) where the booted OS is always C and sees the other as something else, you'll need to use a different way of copying the source partition using a program/command combination which does make a genuine clone, not a modified copy.

There is nothing wrong with continuing to boot the copy as E permanently if you wish to continue without further ado.
 
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I get the impression that we are talking about 2 different things here. Maybe I did not make myself clear. or I am misreading your comments.
The reason for the cloned partition( I used AOMEI) is for backup in case the current C: gets problems. Than I just boot into E: and clone E: back to C:. Thus restoring the original drive as it was at the time of original cloning.
I have done this with XP many times over the years using XXCLONE

OK..Now to my current problem....
If I put some jpg files in folders on desktop in the adrian C: partition, and than run EasyBCD to boot into the MT E: (cloned) partition, these jpg files should not show...BUT they do show.... Also the name of the 1st partition should change from Adrian C: to MT C:, and that does not happen either.
These changes DID happen in my old XP version.
Therefore my conclusion is that EasyBCB is not booting into the cloned partition, which is probably not and EasyBCD fault, but a Windows fault, Either way I would like to find a solution,
 
At the risk of repeating myself
"EasyBCD plays no part in the boot process. That's all MS bootmgr. "
The Disk Management screen shot you attached, shows that when you boot into E that's the system you're running on, whether you realized it or not.
Disk letters are virtual, they don't actually exist except in the registry map of the running OS, so the letters attached to your drives are what the registry in the OS of E says they are, and it's calling itself E.
You can verify that by looking in regedit at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Mounted Devices.
It's not an EasyBCD fault.
It's not a Windows fault.
It's the way you've set your "clone" up, whether that's what you intended or not.
Forget what used to happen in XP.
Everything changed with Vista.
There can be a logistic problem with not having the "live" system calling itself C, but that only occurs if you're using very old legacy software which assumes that C is always the OS, and therefore looks there instead of on the actual sysres device.
Modern software actually checks where it should go without assuming.
 
Oh Mai, It is all my fault............
As you ,mention, Yes, indeed, It is the way I set up the cloned drive.
For reasons that still elude me, during the transfer from HDD to SSD and cloning, things went haywire.
This has never happened before in my 20+ years on Windows & Linux.
I cloned E back to C and now things are the way they are supposed to be.

Many thanks for your help and patience Terry. :blush:
adrian.
 
No problem.
You are not the first person to come here reporting from an OS they think they can't access.
It doesn't help that MS uses a reverse naming convention to the rest of the universe. Causes no end of confusion.
 
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