damaged boot config from interrupted Vista install

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  • tw2005
    Badcaps Legend
    • Oct 2011
    • 6458
    • Australia

    #1

    damaged boot config from interrupted Vista install

    Hi,

    This is a messy one.

    Story goes like this.

    i have a Dell precision 380, P4 3.4Ghz HT CPU, it's reaching it's end of life with mobo isues etc. Vista ultimate Sp2

    I got a dell precision T3500, Xenon quad 3.2 Ghz.

    Plan was to swap the HDD old PC to T3500 and boot in safe mode then load drivers. i know with the difference in machines it was a long shot but i have been lucky in the past.

    this time, no good no matter what i tried. so did sysprep on old machine, took a few goes to get that to happen then swapped.

    At first it lasted longer on bootup making me think it was configuring the new PC , then blue screen.

    back to ld PC, also now damaged, blue screen, so I can't remember exactly but I think i tried loading windows setup and then stooping it in hope this would get it to load when swapped again to t3500.

    no good, just blue screen.

    Now i can't get out of the setup dialog in the old pc and just quits , failed setup installation , previous attempt incomplete( not exact words but that's the overall situation)

    I've tried hirens, bcdedit, there's no restore points as i suspect a vrus killed them.

    i then tried a registry restore in hirens but from 2014.

    that really stuffed it as i forgot it was XP then not the current vista.

    managed to reverse last changes and back to previos failed setup message.

    i did do a complete backup of the registry before all this unfolded but it won't load those in hirens.

    I definitely out of my league now and stuck.

    if there's a way to extract the reg backup to the old system I think that may work, don't know how.

    i have alot of programs loaded on the old machine and have no chance of finding discs,keys etc which is why I'm trying so hard.

    At some point i guess i'll have to quit , save my files at least and blow away the rest.
    i was going to try a claen install over windows but i expect that will just blow away the programs as well but keep my files?? Would like input on that one.

    Any suggestions?
  • diif
    Badcaps Legend
    • Feb 2014
    • 6978
    • England

    #2
    Re: damaged boot config from interrupted Vista install

    I've not had much success of repairing Vista installs for my customers especially if malware hasn't been cleaned properly.
    Have you tried a upgrade install in the new PC ? you will need a Vista install disc with sp2 though or a copy of Windows 7.

    Comment

    • tw2005
      Badcaps Legend
      • Oct 2011
      • 6458
      • Australia

      #3
      Re: damaged boot config from interrupted Vista install

      Originally posted by diif
      I've not had much success of repairing Vista installs for my customers especially if malware hasn't been cleaned properly.
      Have you tried a upgrade install in the new PC ? you will need a Vista install disc with sp2 though or a copy of Windows 7.
      no not yet. will that option be available booting up from 7 pro? Is 7 pro an allowable upgrade on top of vista ultimate?

      i know when I did the upgrade from XP pro it would only allow ultimate.

      if that's possible that's a good solution I assumed was not available in which case i need to give myself an upper cut for wasting time trying everything else

      Comment

      • diif
        Badcaps Legend
        • Feb 2014
        • 6978
        • England

        #4
        Re: damaged boot config from interrupted Vista install

        I've yet to encounter a legit copy of Vista or Windows 7 Ultimate so i couldn't say.
        There are people saying that only 7 Ultimate is an upgrade path for Vista Home Premium so you will need to check, maybe upgrade to 7 Ultimate.

        Comment

        • tw2005
          Badcaps Legend
          • Oct 2011
          • 6458
          • Australia

          #5
          Re: damaged boot config from interrupted Vista install

          Originally posted by diif
          I've yet to encounter a legit copy of Vista or Windows 7 Ultimate so i couldn't say.
          There are people saying that only 7 Ultimate is an upgrade path for Vista Home Premium so you will need to check, maybe upgrade to 7 Ultimate.
          i'll have a go and see, thanks

          Comment

          • tw2005
            Badcaps Legend
            • Oct 2011
            • 6458
            • Australia

            #6
            Re: damaged boot config from interrupted Vista install

            no dice, boot from 7 pro, get upgrade option then instructs you to restart to windows and perform upgrade in that environment which can't be done

            Comment

            • SteveNielsen
              Retired Tech
              • Jun 2012
              • 2327
              • USA

              #7
              Re: damaged boot config from interrupted Vista install

              The file system is undoubtedly munged at this point. Do a file system repair, may need something like UBCD that has utils to repair file systems, then try booting the Vista disc and do a Startup Repair. If that doesn't work you're probably out of luck unless someone knows of a magic bullet out there.

              Comment

              • tw2005
                Badcaps Legend
                • Oct 2011
                • 6458
                • Australia

                #8
                Re: damaged boot config from interrupted Vista install

                Originally posted by SteveNielsen
                The file system is undoubtedly munged at this point. Do a file system repair, may need something like UBCD that has utils to repair file systems, then try booting the Vista disc and do a Startup Repair. If that doesn't work you're probably out of luck unless someone knows of a magic bullet out there.
                i'll try it. loading safe mode i see it gets to the same file as another vista machine i have which works but just blue screens. if i could work out where this setup config is loaded and delete it it may get back into the original OS.

                not a normal situation so googling such an issue has proven too hard. i have tried startup repair booting from the OS disc but does nothing

                Comment

                • SteveNielsen
                  Retired Tech
                  • Jun 2012
                  • 2327
                  • USA

                  #9
                  Re: damaged boot config from interrupted Vista install

                  Yeah, that might work if you can locate the file(s) that are corrupted, but you need to repair the FS before doing more. Otherwise it's likely to make matters worse or at least prevent you from progressing further.
                  Last edited by SteveNielsen; 06-10-2015, 06:31 AM.

                  Comment

                  • diif
                    Badcaps Legend
                    • Feb 2014
                    • 6978
                    • England

                    #10
                    Re: damaged boot config from interrupted Vista install

                    When you ran sysprep did you use the generalize command ?

                    Comment

                    • Mad_Professor
                      A Mech Warrior
                      • Feb 2011
                      • 1587

                      #11
                      Re: damaged boot config from interrupted Vista install

                      uh... Vista Startup recovery > cmd prompt > Bootrec.exe /fixboot or Bootrec /fixmbr?

                      Comment

                      • tw2005
                        Badcaps Legend
                        • Oct 2011
                        • 6458
                        • Australia

                        #12
                        Re: damaged boot config from interrupted Vista install

                        Originally posted by diif
                        When you ran sysprep did you use the generalize command ?
                        yes

                        Comment

                        • tw2005
                          Badcaps Legend
                          • Oct 2011
                          • 6458
                          • Australia

                          #13
                          Re: damaged boot config from interrupted Vista install

                          Originally posted by Mad_Professor
                          uh... Vista Startup recovery > cmd prompt > Bootrec.exe /fixboot or Bootrec /fixmbr?
                          will try, may have already tried it, looks familiar but will try again. just seeing if i can do reg restore from the copy i saved in the same cmd.

                          Comment

                          • tw2005
                            Badcaps Legend
                            • Oct 2011
                            • 6458
                            • Australia

                            #14
                            Re: damaged boot config from interrupted Vista install

                            Originally posted by Mad_Professor
                            uh... Vista Startup recovery > cmd prompt > Bootrec.exe /fixboot or Bootrec /fixmbr?
                            thanks but same deal, trapped with this failed setup screen. might be time to just accept it , retrieve what I can and have a fresh install

                            Comment

                            • stj
                              Great Sage 齊天大聖
                              • Dec 2009
                              • 30985
                              • Albion

                              #15
                              Re: damaged boot config from interrupted Vista install

                              did you try DaRT. ?

                              Comment

                              • SteveNielsen
                                Retired Tech
                                • Jun 2012
                                • 2327
                                • USA

                                #16
                                Re: damaged boot config from interrupted Vista install

                                What is DaRT?

                                Comment

                                • stj
                                  Great Sage 齊天大聖
                                  • Dec 2009
                                  • 30985
                                  • Albion

                                  #17
                                  Re: damaged boot config from interrupted Vista install

                                  it's ms's tool for manipulating, fixing and pasword-bypassing people's harddrives.
                                  http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windo...mdop/dart.aspx

                                  btw, there is a different version for every version of windows.
                                  so dont just search for the newest.
                                  Attached Files
                                  Last edited by c_hegge; 06-11-2015, 05:02 AM. Reason: Removed inappropriate comment

                                  Comment

                                  • SteveNielsen
                                    Retired Tech
                                    • Jun 2012
                                    • 2327
                                    • USA

                                    #18
                                    Re: damaged boot config from interrupted Vista install

                                    So what I've never heard of it before? Lose the attitude and quit being a jerk.

                                    Comment

                                    • R_J
                                      Badcaps Legend
                                      • Jun 2012
                                      • 9535
                                      • Canada

                                      #19
                                      Re: damaged boot config from interrupted Vista install

                                      try googling this "Microsoft Windows MSDaRT ERD Commander 5.0, 6.0, 7.0, 8.0"

                                      Comment

                                      • shovenose
                                        Send Doge Memes
                                        • Aug 2010
                                        • 6575
                                        • USA

                                        #20
                                        Re: damaged boot config from interrupted Vista install

                                        Never heard of dart and I work on PC every day.

                                        Don't be a dick.

                                        I do remember erd commander tho.

                                        Comment

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