Complicated XP installation question

[gd2shoe]

I really don't feel like typing out everything that I've done, but I will try to not miss anything important. If you are concerned about details, please ask.

I'm managing a small lab of computers for designers and a small set of servers. I intend to reinstall all of the systems in the lab with our site licence of XP pro. Since we have a lot of software, this is a very large job, which I might need to repeat on occasion. As such, I would like to simply install once and image that installation to other systems. So far, very normal for someone in my shoes.

Windows has trouble existing on the same network with itself. Each machine must have a unique security id. Furthermore, some of the machines in here have slightly differing hardware., though they are all Dells (not my decission). For this reason, I have turned to Microsoft sysprep to prepare my installation to be rolled out.

After sysprep shuts down the system, I turn to my handy knoppix disk for the next few steps. First I run ntfsresize to shrink the partition to minum so it saves space on the file server (the sysprep.inf is set to expand the ntfsvolume to fill the partition on first boot). I use ntfsclone to rip the filesystem to stdout. Then I pipe it into gzip to save even more space, and saved the result on the file server. (a whopping 7 GB for a fresh install of XP pro, with software)

Still with me?

I then reversed the process on one of our older systems. Pulled from the file server, piped into gunzip, piped into ntfsclone which stored to the hard disk. This process WORKED. There were a few minor issues with my sysprep.inf, but those were relativly cosmetic.

I then attempted to use the process on one of our newer machines, still under warrenty from Dell. This one differes in that it still has the Dell utility partition in place. I'd like to keep that partition there in case we ever need to argue with Dell ("I told you, it's the motherboard. Yes, that's what your tool says too..."). This means that the boot.ini on the image is slightly invalid, but I don't think it is my problem (more in a moment). After fixing the boot.ini and rebooting, the system just sits there with a black screen, and a flashing white cursor.

I attempted imaging it again. This time I used a grub boot floppy to "map" the partitions (switching the partitions in bios) and chainloading. Same thing. I tried installing grub to the mbr and utility partition. I can still access the utilities either from the F12 boot menu or from grub using chainloader. No dice.

I tried deleting the partition, and installing XP pro again from the CD. I allowed Windows to create the partition. This was successful. I could then boot a clean install of xp without any problems. Surly, the Windows installer would correct any problems in the partition table. It certainly overwrote grub in the mbr (which I expected it to do). I then overwrote the partition with my image. Again, nothing but a black screen. Infuriating.

I then had a stroke of luck while researching the problem. A website reminded me that you can build a boot disk containing ntldr, ntdetect and boot.ini. I made the disk, corrected the boot.ini (wound up exactly the same as the image, with partition number changed in both places) and tried to boot from it. BSOD and reboot. Great. I tried it again, accessed the F8 boot menu, and told it to actually show me the stupid BSOD. The stop code is 0x0000007b. The screen does not explicitly say it, but usually this code is desplayed along with "INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE".

Does anyone have any ideas? I'm fresh out.

[cozofdeath]

I got three pages that directly relate to your error message and even the memory offset.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/839210/

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/883114/

http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1738802

Maybe an issue with ntfsclone and the hard drive on that computer? It does state that can cause problems because its not ment to copy Windows just the ntfs file system. You could use the knoppix disc to check the setup.log, setuperr.log or ntbtlog.txt files in the Windows directory for errors. The last file is the boot log. It sounds like you setup sysprep correctly if the other machines work, and all the SIDs/registry crap is changed. If its the mbr or bootsector that can be fixed in the recovery console. Hope it helps! I'm not totally sure but I'm going to vote anyway. :D

[-pops-]

I can't see how this is a subject for a poll.

Polls are to express opinions, as you seem to realise from the choices offered but surely the answer is quite specific and not subject to anything other than that.

[gd2shoe]

Polls are to express opinions, ... but surely the answer is quite specific and not subject to anything other than that.

I realize that. It was my way of attempting to tease out an opinion from those who do really have any ideas to contribute. People can still get a feel for where the problem is, even if they cannot prove it, and have nothing to contribute to the conversation. I concider posts to be of more value, but barring other ideas, the poll might have suggested where I might focus my study first.

Did I offend you?

cozofdeath, I don't think any of those Microsoft pages address my problem. The other one might, though probably not dirrectly. I'll need to ponder it some more. The thing that makes most sense is a hardware detection problem, but I thought sysprep caused a hardware redetection. Thanks for the effort. (note: I don't think 0x0000007b is an address, just a code)

Besides which, it still doesn't explain why I don't even get that far unless I use the boot disk. It seems to be a separate (possibly related) problem. And, yes, I have tried both fixboot and fixmbr from recovery console. (I'll look at the logs, though there shouldn't be anything in them because it cannot "[access the boot device]", which in MS talk means the device where the windows directory is)

[cozofdeath]

Yeah your right about the number I don't know what I was thinking. Anyone have any ideas?

[gd2shoe]

I think I may have found it. If I have, then it is an issue with my sysprep.inf file. I'll post details if I fix it. (I wont know until Monday)

[gd2shoe]

What the....!!!!!

Where did my last post go?!?!?

I posted this last Tuesday: (recovered from another forum)

I have some progress to report. I have solved part of my problem. I created a new image with an updated sysprep.inf:

...
[Sysprep]
	BuildMassStorageSection=yes

[SysprepMassStorage]

Basically, this forces windows to install all possible mass storage drivers when sysprep runs. Windows then takes longer to boot (initially) because it loads a bunch of unneeded drivers (this is what the install CD does). Then I added a Cmdlines.txt:

Sysprep -clean

Which gets rid of any of these drivers deemed unnecessary after welcome or mini-setup run.

But I STILL have the problem of not getting windows to boot on it's own power. It will just sit there and flash the white underscore cursor at me. If I boot off of the boot diskette, Windows starts wonderfully, runs mini-setup, joins the domain, loads to the desktop, runs programs, etc. It seems that there is something wrong in the boot process prior to ntldr. I have run both fixmbr and fixboot from recovery console. I have fixed boot.ini . The second partition is "active". What am I missing?