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UEFI boot error with Clone Disk in Windows 8.1

Thread needs solution

Hi

After I've upgraded to Windows 8.1 without any problems, I wanted to move my system to an SSD drive. Unfortunately the Clone Disk tool killed the boot files and by computer did not boot again.

The source drive was a SATA AHCI enabled HDD, the target drive was in an external USB3 enclosure.
My computer is a HP Compaq Pro 6300 with i7 CPU and 16GB RAM, there are no hardware problems.
I tried to use the Clone Disk feature in Acronis 2014 Build 6614. I've selected the partitions, etc everything seemed OK, then it asked for restart.

And after reboot it showed the attached error message and my computer did not boot anymore...
Error 0x1480001: An EFI runtime error.
The Acronis changed the original Windows EFI boot files to its own which are buggy, so effectively killed my computer.

After reading a bunch of forums I've managed to recover the original boot files by mounting the EFI partition and looking around. I've found some xml files which contained rename tasks, that I did manually and then deleted the xml. After that my computer booted normally again, however I'm sure that I will never use the Clone Disk feature in a live system anymore.

For the curious, the "recovery" commands were the following. (I take NO responsibility if anyone tries it)
1. Mount the EFI partition with diskpart
2. cd \EFI\Boot
3. del bootx64.*
4. ren boot1 bootx64.efi
5. cd \EFI\Microsoft\Boot
6. del bootmgfw.xml
7. ren boot1 bootmgfw.efi

After these actions my computer is booting again normally, but I'm not sure it is as good as before.

I don't care what caused the error I will never try it again, I just want to know that
did I miss any steps to manually revert from Acronis UEFI loader to the original Windows loader?

Attachment Size
acronis_uefi_suxx.jpg 50.27 KB
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When you clone or you restore a partition, don't start within Windows. Of course, the product supports it. But it messes up with the boot records to reboot in the pre-Windows Linux environment, and that sometimes don't turn out well for the boot records.

Always do a clone or a partition restore from the recovery CD.

I tried to do a restore from my acronis 2014 recovery CD, but it said there were no backup files.
SHould I do another clone back from the external to my computer?

If you have a backup file or files on an external drive you should try again to do a restore. Clone is an entirely different operation than restore. If you still have problems then start a new thread and someone will help.

When you say there is no backup file, I imagine you are confusing cloning and backups. A clone is an operation that creates, well, a clone of a disk. The result is a disk. An image backup is a process that captures all the disk information and puts it in a TIB file as a temporary storage, if you want, waiting to be restored to a disk or partition when needed.

If your computer boots, it is as good as before!

I used the Acronis True Image 2014 'Clone Disk' from within Windows to clone my Desktop HD to an external WD "My Passport."
When I tried to reboot my computer I got this error message:
"Your PC needs to be repaired.
The Boot configuration data for your PC is missing or contains errors
File\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD
Error Code: 0xc000000f"
I then booted using my DVD Boot Media that I created using the Acronis Rescue Media Builder.
When I selected 'Recovery' I got the message that there were no files to recover.
(From a comment by Pat L, I now realize that it is because I cloned my disk, not backed it up)
I contacted Acronis Support via their 'Chat' online and the Agent gave me a link to a web page that he said would correct my problem and make everything OK again. http://Kb.Acronis.com/content/44741
I went to the page immediately and saw that it did NOT solve my problem. The page explains that you should not Clone from within Windows, but to use the 'Clone Disk' tool on the Boot disk.
I think my next option is to reformat the drive and reinstall Windows 8. The problem there is I do not have a Windows 8 OS disk as Dell did not send one when I purchased the computer. (I think I read somewhere that Microsoft prohibits us consumers from having a disk?)
I will call Dell and see if they will send me an OS disk.

Update: An Engineer from Acronis telephoned me and spent a long time on the phone to make sure I was clear about cloning versus backing-up.
I am very impressed. That's the first time in my 68 years that a company showed that kind of interest and support.

William,

Look here for a link to download a Win 8 copy. You will need your Win 8 Product Key to download the file. It is possible to download an 8.1 version here as well but in order to install 8.1 you must already be running 8.1 or have a legally purchased 8.1 product key.

http://www.win8forums.com/threads/windows-8-iso-official-download-links…

Thanks for the link. The only problem with that is I don't have the product key. I purchased the computer from Dell with Windows already loaded. No OS disk was supplied with the package. At the time of purchase I questioned them about not having an OS disc and they said they don't do that anymore. I tried to locate it in the registry, but the product code I found was not enough characters in the key. I'm probably doing something wrong.

Thank You.
Funny coincidence: I had been researching online and had already found one of the recommend programs in your link! Your link is better though, as it has a few choices, in case one doesn't work.
Thanks again!

I used the Acronis True Image 2014 'Clone Disc form Asus G750 Windows 8.1 , boot ok , but if you go to system to do recovery , Missing files and F9 do not work , any help please

I cannot clone my
lenova laptop running windows 8.1. I get the following message:
Runtime error
Error 0x10d00e: Failed to find.
0xec492506f42e4db
I $module: bootwiz_efia64
Can anyone help me