XP Sysprep helpp

[doggammit76]

Heres the situation:

A P4 system with 40Gb of harddisk is partitioned 20/20. One half installed with Windows 98SE (installed first) and the other with Windows XP (NTFS). Both OSes have been updated to the most recent patches and is running well on dual boot.The PC is to be cloned to 80 others.

The Problem:

I ran "Sysprep" and chose the "Reseal" option. I then proceeded to create the clone image with Symantec Ghost Enterprise 7.5's GhostCast feature.

After image created, I proceeded to restart the PC and the Boot Menu is gone! It boots direct to 98. Since The XP is on the NTFS partition, I couldnt access XP from 98. Attempts at trying to get the option to dual boot failed even with PartitionMagic (cant get the NTFS partition to be recognised).

I've exhausted every possible way I can think of to get back the boot menu (or to get back into XP for that matter!).

Desperately needing help in this matter. Dateline's in 2 days! argghh.......any help is very very much appreciated. Information is free....dont hog it!

 

[smah]

Try booting with the xp cd then enter the recovery console. Once there, try: bootcfg /scan

 

[jsauce]

Which way did you install the OSes? Windows 98 should be installed first and then Windows XP. You should also create Windows XP boot diskettes for when something like this happens so you can restore the MBR. John D. Saucier
jsauce@magicguild.com
Certified Technician
Network Administrator

 

[wolluf]

Does the root of win98 partition still have the ntldr, ntdetect.com, boot.ini & bootsect.dos (I think its .dos - but bootsect) files? If it does, you should be able to recreate the dual boot by running fixboot command from XP's recovery console. Don't know what's rewritten win98 boot sector back though. If the bootsect file is missing, you'll need to reinstall XP to restore the dual boot (you can get ntldr & ntdetect.com off the XP install CD and create a boot.ini file looking like this if bootsect still there):-

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
C:\="Windows 98"

PS. Did you know you can create a boot floppy for this situation (ie, will boot XP when boot sector corrupted). Just copy ntldr, ntdetect.com & boot.ini from root of C: to a newly formatted floppy.

 

[Yomob2]

If you decide to make a floppy disk to boot into xp with, be sure that you format the disk with the same flavor operating system, i.e., if you use xp pro, use xp pro to create the floppy. Hope that helps

 

[doggammit76]

Thank you all who replied to the desperate call.

smah - I tried as u said, but I couldnt get into the recovery prompt. I typed in the admin password but it always comes out wrong. I am very sure that I typed in the correct password. My guess is that sysprep deleted the admin password as I did set the setup manager to prompt for a new admin password in mini-setup.

jsause - I installed 98SE first, then followed by XP. How do I create XP boot diskettes?

wolluf - that makes sense. its the weekend here, I'll try it first thing on monday when I get to the office.

yomob2 - point noted, but I do need to first find out how to create them boot diskettes

I fergot to include the fact that, the dual boot of the install was default to start Win98SE. (Sorry!)

Update : I am trying my luck on fresh installs of both OSes on 3 PCs . Thinking of trying different settings of Sysprep and see which one will work. What I am afraid of is that the problem might lie somewhere other then in Sysprep (the installation or the boot menu or etc). Do advice me on this should you have any experience on it.

Again, to all helping out.....i can't thank you all enough.

Information is free....dont hog it!