-=PCTechTalk=- Re: [Fwd: Partitioning]
- From: EddieB <fasteddieb216@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 14 Jun 2009 00:57:37 -0400
Don,
Umm, I'm not sure where to start... I'm afraid that much of what I'm about
to say won't be too helpful, but maybe it will give you some ideas. ;)
Note to anyone reading this: I urge you to not try anything I mention
unless you have a backup of anything you can't afford to lose. Trying to
fix many booting issues gives you a higher than usual chance of corrupting
some or all of your data.
I've seen Windows Installer come up during the boot process before.
Unfortunately most of the times was either because of a virus or corrupt
file(s). It doesn't sound like you have a virus and you probably don't have
corrupt files unless the Windows Installer message came up after WinXP
crashed or wasn't shut down properly. A few times I suspected that a file
(maybe part of a driver) was missing or corrupt and Windows was trying to
reinstall the component. Most of the time I was not able to fix this
problem without doing a system restore or registry cleaning which I don't
think you can do at the moment and I doubt your situation can be fixed that
way anyway. Due to your recent changes I'm thinking it must have something
to do with the partition changes. Maybe drive letters changed which is more
of an issue to you since you moved system areas like Program Files. Hmm, at
least I think you did that under XP, or was that just Vista where you did
that? One thing that has messed me up a few times is when the current
"Active" partition changed because of partition changes I made. I assume
that EasyBCD gets installed on the Active partition, so if that menu is
still intact, then the Active partition hasn't changed. If you look at a
WinXP boot.ini file you can see that it selects the boot partitions by drive
# and partition #. Two things I'm not sure about is how EasyBCD does it and
if the partition # is in order of the partitions from beginning to end of
drive or by position in the MBR.
I also don't have much EasyBCD experience. I want to say that you should go
into WinXP's Recovery Console and do some of the boot fixes there, but I'm
not sure how that will affect booting into Vista especially since the WinXP
commands will not recognize Vista. I would like to stress that using the
Recovery Console (or many other WinXP boot fixing tools) leaves the
possibility of corrupting Vista beyond repair, so you have to be VERY
careful. You can use the recovery console to do a manual System Restore,
but do you still have a copy of Program Files and such in their original
location in case the System Restore returns those setting back to their
original settings. I'm not sure if you can fix WinXP by using Vista's
Recovery Console, but I doubt it. There is a good chance that once you get
WinXP fixed, then you probably just need to run EasyBCD to fix booting into
Vista (which will almost definitely get knocked out using WinXP's Recovery
Console programs). What might be a very handy tool for this situation is
using a BartPE type recovery disk like UBCD4Win. UBCD4Win has some very
handy system tools that will allow you to do things that you can't otherwise
do when you can't boot into WinXP. It allows you to mount the registry from
a WinXP partition you select, so you can find the Run Once entries that way
among other things. Just the troubleshooting links and help content alone
make UBCD4Win a must-have for heavy duty troubleshooting.
BTW, if the Recovery Console does turn out to be handy, it can be installed
(and added to your boot.ini file), so you don't need the WinXP install disk
in the future. Again I'm not sure how this procedure affects EasyBCD.
Instructions here:
Install and optimize the Recovery Console in XP
http://en.kioskea.net/faq/sujet-1905-install-and-optimize-the-recovery-conso
le-in-xp
Doing a google search I see many people say they can get into WinXP safe
mode from EasyBCD by hitting F8 almost immediately after selecting WinXP.
But, there is a more reliable way since EasyBCD allows you to edit the
boot.ini file. When you edit the boot.ini file, make a copy of the line
that boots into WinXP, give the copy a different description, and add "
/safeboot:minimal" (without the quotes) to the end of the line. I see
warnings to make sure the default is not the Safe Mode option since if there
is a problem getting into Safe Mode, then you can make an endless loop of
rebooting. Hmm, I hope this method works with EasyBCD. I'm surprised that
EasyBCD would use this file, but why would it give you the option of editing
boot.ini if it doesn't use it?
I thought I had some other ideas, but I'm down to only one eye open so I
better stop now. ;)
Ed
-----Original Message-----
From: pctechtalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:pctechtalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Gman
Sent: Saturday, June 13, 2009 10:39 PM
To: pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: -=PCTechTalk=- Re: [Fwd: Partitioning]
The name of the file is usually 'Registry'. It's possible to mount and read
sections of it, but it's not exactly a walk in the park.
I suspect the software that's trying to install has something to do with a
piece of hardware that has been 'rediscovered' after the partition juggling.
The hardware is calling its software, but Windows somehow lost track of the
connection between them. It may be in your favor to consider using a boot
disk that has the ability to access and use Restore Points within the OS
that's giving you fits.
Peace,
Gman
http://www.thevenusproject.com/index.php
"The only dumb questions are the ones we fail to ask"
----- Original Message -----
From: "Don" <dsw32952@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, June 13, 2009 9:49 PM
Subject: -=PCTechTalk=- Re: [Fwd: Partitioning]
> If I could figure out what might be trying to install it would help
> figuring out the whole problem. I've seen updates install on shut down
> and configure on startup but never *install* on startup.
>
> I'll go over to the EasyBCD forums and ask there. I don't know that
> EasyBCD is involved though.
>
> Does your experience suggest anything that might be trying to install?
> Is their any way to read the contents of the boot files to see what
> commands are there. I suspect it would be written in the same file
> where "run once" instructions get put during regular installs and
> updates. What's the name of that file and is it readable in Notepad?
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