How many Hardware changes (HD's MB's, Processor, etc) are allowed to Win7 Ultimate or Vista Ultimate before any MS issues comes up? I've never has any problems with WXP corporate but am a little rusty with the same issues for Windows Vista & Windows 7 If there is, is there a way to shut this off or bypass it? Any good links to read up on, thanks
I currently use the Daz loader booting both Vista & Win7 - I would like any changes to bypass work within that setup please.
With OEM SLP activation (either genuine or via a loader) you can change the hardware as much as you want as long as the BIOs SLIC table (real or simulated) is present.
Well I had asked because when changing a few Hardware's (via partition restore into it) and during the next boot I did get the prompt that said: ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Windows Boot Manager Windows Failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem: 1. Insert your Windows installation disc and restart your computer 2. Choose your language settings, and then click Next 3. Click "Repair" your computer Info: The boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible. reboot .. click Repair ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ...and it does fix it but the point is I had to go the long way around to do it by inserting the CD, but.. I can make the same Hardware changes (via Disk to Disk clone into it) and then upon booting there are no prompts to insert the CD, and during first boot up it just assimilates the Hardware automatically without using the CD, and is much more timely and convenient. I realize a hundred questions may come up about what I mean by partition restore and/or disk to disk into it, there should be no difference, but keeping it short, my main question simply was, is it for certain that Win7 and Vista do not have any limitations to how many Hardware changes you can make before it will prompt for the CD like that? I searched the web and couldn't really find any info on it, only for WXP.
What you are running into is a techincal limitation / problem, not a licencing one. In editions with hardware change limitations (like retail), if you "change too much hardware", Windows will still boot fully (if possible), and then prompt you to reactivate. I can say that the bootloader is a lot fussier than XP about the system partition being moved around on the disc. Bootmgr's BCD config files may have to be modified either by automatic startup repair tool on the install cd, or using some bcdedit commands. That might be your problem. Can you give less vague information about your disk imaging techniques? Hardware changes between HAL types or system drive controllers may be better prepped with sysprep. Malfunctions from those would be a BSOD upon boot, not the error you saw.
As I was writing my op that's what I was thinking too, and yes that sounds logical I think you are right. For some reason at first I was thinking hardware changes per activation since it was simple hardware changes that were seen. With WXP Corp I can do anything with it as far as where I restore the backup partition to, and it automatically assimilates its environment, but I see not so easy with Win7 or Vista. I use True Image for imaging, whether single partition restores, or whether complete disk to disk; naturally I never restore a partition image to a different partition # that it was not on in the first place. iow, if win7 was on physical partition 3 then I would of course only restore it to partition 3, etc.... I've two identical computers side by side, however each computer within has it's own slightly different serial numbers for its MB, HD, Processor, ect, etc... otherwise they are identical. I use the second computer mainly for software testing convenience, however at a moments notice it's a complete go to backup as well. When not testing software's I clone disk to disk computer 1 to 2 so that it will always be current to the current I want it. Now if I do a disk to disk copy, and boot up the second computer, whichever OS I boot to boots up fine and assimilates the few hardware changes without much effort, and doing a registry/file compare to a Before & After I can see exactly what was changed, however I've noticed if I was to take a single backup partition image (not a full clone disk to disk) but if I take a single backup image of vista or win7 and restore it from one to the other is where it will balk with the bootup description I've already mentioned. There should be no 'partition data difference' between a full 'disk to disk' clone of a HD as compared to the data of just a single partition copy, but, obviously comparatively there is some process that Vista or Win7 sees that makes the prompt. I have no problem going forward just doing a full disk to disk really, but in the earlier days with XP just restoring a single image rather than disk to disk only takes 5 minutes, whereas a full clone disk to disk of 750 GB HD's with many partitions that are full take 2 hours, and so for testing swaps back and forth all the time, well... ...5 minutes is more convenience. I can do the boot to CD Repair each time easy enough yes, but it's my nature to understand the details of above, and solve it, so I don't have to.
Do you have the separate 100MB boot partition with your Windows installation? I set mine up so the bootloader data is on the Win7 partition (by pre-partitioning, and setting the partition active before installing), and make sure it's partition #1. This seems to help with portability as it always aligns with the start of the disk. I upgraded hard drives, and "resizing up" partitions didn't pose a problem.
I got the same message three days ago after MS latest update that had me restart. For me it wouldn't boot nor could I repair with disk. I couldn't even get into the BIOS. Finally I just hit esc, or f8 and set boot to hdd and it finally restarted. I thought MS was messing with the loader but its just how my hardware reacted to the update. Everything including loader works fine again. I was sweat-in it Update for Windows 7 (KB977074) Installation date: 1/26/2010 7:21 PM Installation status: Successful
No to the 100 MB partition. I can see this would take dozens of Q&A's about my unique setup just to explain it and that would take too much time - and that process would not solve this issue. My setup is too complicated to explain here and I have limited time to play. However besides my own unique setup - the issue I believe is a common one and the answer in the end will be simple (hindsight is always like that isn't it) I will be able to figure it out when I have more time, but it's not a big deal since I have an easy way around it. I will look more closely at the File/Registry tracking logs to see what specifically gets changed during a Repair procedure in My particular case, and that will point me in the right direction.. no matter what I have an easy way around it in the meantime though, which is to Disk To Disk clone in those particular instances that need it. Thanks for your times