ADD11 OSS - WinXP Systems not recognized

How were the systems installed? Were any on Logical partitions?

OSS does not always get a Microsoft multi-boot system separated correctly so that each OS can boot properly. It's generally much better to make sure each OS can boot independently before setting up OSS.

It may help if you posted a screenshot of what DD shows for the partitions.

The XP system was originally installed with the XP installer - years ago. Since that I used Acronis partition backup to move it around. One XP is the original (R1 MAIN) and the other is a clone - just a restore of the original to a different partition. In addition I aligned those partitions to 4 K afterwards. Attached is the OSS partition information for those XP boot entries. R1 MAIN is the first XP and R2 Main is the second XP. R1 is the first RAID 0 area and R2 the second RAID 0 area. To the OS every RAID area is like a single disk. So 2 RAID areas are like 2 disks.

R2 Win7 32 is a clone of R1 Win7 32 and R2 Win 7 64 is a clone of R1 Win 7 64. So all R2 OS are clones of the R1 OS. The R1 OS are the test systems and the R2 OS the "clean" systems where I only install what has been tested for a while in R1. Then R2 moves to R1 and replaces the old test systems.

I would need to see a screenshot of what DD shows for the drives and a copy of the BOOTWIZ.OSS file to see what's going on. It's often not possible to fix incorrect detections using the GUI.

Since these are copies, are the booting files contained on each partition? Part of the problem may be because OSS is finding mutiple booting files, some of which are not being used or are invalid.

MudCrab wrote:

How were the systems installed? Were any on Logical partitions?

OSS does not always get a Microsoft multi-boot system separated correctly so that each OS can boot properly. It's generally much better to make sure each OS can boot independently before setting up OSS.

It may help if you posted a screenshot of what DD shows for the partitions.

MudCrab wrote:

It's generally much better to make sure each OS can boot independently before setting up OSS.

How can this be ensured? In what way have the OSS be installed.
I have Vista on my maschine ( partition C) and want to install Windows 7 on partition D.

Thank you for your assistance.

WaDa,

The system just has to be prepared correctly. If you have a single Windows OS and you want to install another Windows, it's usually best to hide the existing Windows partition(s) and set the new Windows partition Active. You can do this from the DD CD. Then install the new Windows to its partition normally.

To switch back to the other Windows, boot to the DD CD and set its partition Active and hide the other Windows partitions. You are manually performing the functions of a boot manager.

When you get ready to install OSS use DD to unhide all the partitions first, then boot back to the CD and install OSS. If you must install OSS from Windows, don't unhide the other Windows partitions. Just install OSS and then fix any hidden/Active bugs in the menu entries (help can be provided for this, if needed).

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In your case, you would boot to DD, hide the C: partition, and set the D: partition Active. You would then boot to the Windows 7 DVD and install it to the D: partition. Please note that the hidden partition will still be displayed in the partition list and that the drive letter assignments shown will not match what you see in Windows. Make sure to know the size and position of the desired partition so you can select the correct one.

These instructions assume that D: is a Primary partition. Installing Windows to a Logical partition is not recommended if it can be avoided.

To switch back to Vista, boot to the DD CD, unhide the Vista partition and set it Active and hide the Windows 7 partition.

To install OSS, boot to the DD CD, unhide both Windows partitions, reboot back to the DD CD and select to install OSS. It's recommended to do a Custom install and select a non-OS partition. It's also recommended to create an Entire Disk Image backup of the drive before trying to install OSS.

MudCrab,

If I understand you correctly this would have avoided my somehow cross-linked systems in the OSS. So a good thing would be with already existing OS to set one active and hide to others and then create the boot with the Win 7 DVD. And do the same for all OS entries - set active, hide the others and create the boot. So whatever system is set active afterwards it will boot from its own active partition.

Somehow I expected the OSS to do this when it gets installed. Perhaps it could learn it?

MudGrab,

Thanks for the detailed information. I will try this on the following weekend, when I have a little bit more time.

MudCrab,

I have OSS alredy installed.
Is it necessary to uninstall OSS before installing Win 7 and install OSS again
or is it enough to deactivate OSS and activate it again after installing Win 7

If OSS is already installed, I recommend that you deactivate it, use DD to set the partitions correctly for the new OS (which is Active, which are hidden, etc.), install the new OS, and then reactivate OSS.

Now I installed Windows 7 (partition D) in addition to Vista (partition C). I did it in the following way:
- Due to the fact that OSS was already installed I at first deactivated OSS.
- set partition D as primary
- booted to DD and hit partition C
- set partition D as active
- booted the Windows 7 DVD and installed Win 7
- booted to DD Rescue CD and re-activated OSS

I closed the OSS Software (which was started from Rescue CD). I am not sure whether a new boot followed, but I then get a message from Acronis loader that something was not found.

- booted to DD Rescue CD again to get the information what partitions are active or hidden, but now I had to choose between the OS Vista and Win 7. I was not sure whether I have to change something in active or hidden and from what OS.

- Therefore I booted to DD Rescue CD again, run the OSS software and used “repair or update OSS”
- After that I started the computer again, the OSS appeared and I was able to chose between the OS Vista and Win 7.

It seems that all works fine.
What I am surprised about is that when I look in OSS to the properties of Win 7 that the boot files are in C:\bootmgr and C:\boot\BCD. I thought if partition C is hidden during the installation of Win 7 and partition D is active that I will find the Boot files from Win 7 in partition D. I hopped that Win 7 is completely independent from partition C. I thought if I make TI images it will be enough to make an image from partition D + MBR to have all available if partition C will be damaged. But it seems I have to make an image from C + D.

Did I make something wrong?

You can't go by the drive letter shown by OSS in the menu entry. Those can vary and may not match Windows or what you expect. You need to check which partition is shown as the booting partition (Active and checkered flag). In Windows, you can check Disk Management and make sure that the Windows partition is shown correctly as both the System and Boot partition.

I never used a boot manager or changed the properties of partitions, therefore I believe I have to learn some regarding this item. Because OSS makes some changes on the HD structure I tried to get some information to what partitions I would have to write TI 2011 images back, if this would be necessary. I did not write anything back with TI (!!) but get the following problem:
- I had booted Windows 7 with OSS
- I shut down Win 7 and booted via BIOS the Rescue CD (because CD boot is not possible with OSS)
- I tried to get information were I would have to write what images back with TI
- I shut down TI (an I believe I took the CD out)
- during the following restart I got the message: Acronis OS selector cannot find the necessary configuration file. Install Acronis OS selector again (translated from German, see picture1.jpg)
- booted the Rescue CD again, installed the OS selector again (typing in the very long serial)
- got the message that OS selector was installed successful (see picture2.jpg)
- booted the computer again
- got the message like: no system file found (from Windows?), I cannot remember that OSS was shown after boot
- booted the Rescue CD again, tried to activate the OSS
- got the message “Cannot activate the Acronis OS Selector Activator because Acronis OS Selector is not installed on the machine” (please remember that I installed OSS from Rescue CD a few minutes before)
- During the next boot from hard drive I again got the message “no system file found” (or something like that, seems to come from Windows because I do not remember that I saw OSS)
- After that I booted the Rescue CD again for several times and tried to make changes in DD 11 regarding the active partitions. Because I did not know what I exactly have to do and what partitions have to be active I tried different options. I believe there were two possibilities for the partition structure which could be chosen in DD 11 , one Vista and one for Windows 7. I believe in one case partition D was marked as active and deactivated D and set partition C as active. After one of the changes I believe the commuter booted then directly into Vista (without OSS).
What I do not understand that I did not get back to the OSS boot manger after booting the rescue CD resp. that I do get the message that OSS is not installed (was installed on Partition W HD 1).
Can anybody tell me
- in what file off OSS can I see what OS is the current active OS (which should be booted)
- what the sequence of the steps during boot with OSS is (I believe the first information is located in the MBR, then the next information should be in the BOOTWIZ folder on that prtition were OSS is installed….????). Is there any description on the Acronis site or in the web?

I don't know exactly what the problem is/was. OSS seems to have great difficulty remaining activated on some systems. OSS 11 seems to do this more than OSS 10.

There isn't any OSS file to look at to tell which OS is set to boot (not in the normal sense, anyway). You can use DD to see which partition is currently set Active as that is usually the last one booted.

OSS has hard links to locations on the drive. If it can't find its files it has problems. I don't know why booting to the DD CD would have caused a problem booting into OSS. I suspect that you might have had the problem even if you didn't boot to the DD CD. OSS doesn't care which partitions are hidden, Active, etc. It should still be able to find its files.

I've found that it's better to have OSS installed to a non-OS partition. It just seems like there are less problems this way and the files are less likely to be moved.

MudGrab,
Thank you very much again for your assistance! I believe it is not always easy to understand my postings because of my German English :-)

I have OSS installed to a non-OS partition as you mentioned it in one of the postings before. But it seems to help not very much on my system.
I contacted the Acronis support and will keep you informed about the results.

If you allow, some additional questions:
- Have you any experience how the Secure Zone of TI (2011) is influenced by OSS (11)? I mentioned that after all the problems I had that the secure Zone is not available any more. On the partition where it was located there is no hint regarding the secure zone and the boot entry of the Startup Recovery Manager is also gone.
- Do you think it is better to deactivate OSS before booting from CD or USB to avoid problems and activate it afterwards again?
- I noticed this morning that it is not more possible to mount any TrueCrypt Volumes. Before installing TI 2011 and DD 11 TrueCrypt worked without any problems.

I know there were some problems before with OSS and the ASRM not being able to be activated at the same time. This may still be the case.

You shouldn't need to deactivate OSS before booting to a CD/DVD. You shouldn't need to before booting a USB drive either. However, if OSS takes over the booting on the USB drive you may wish to deactivate first or use a CD.

I haven't had a problem mounting TrueCrypt volumes when both TI 2011 and DD 11 are installed. Are you getting an error message? Have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling TrueCrypt (assuming you're not using system encryption)? What version are you using? I've only tested with 7.0a.

I am using TrueCrypt 6.1a. I have not tried uninstalling and reinstalling TrueCrypt and I am not using system encryption.
It seems that the problem occurred as a scheduled task from true TI2011 was starting at the same time when I tried to mount a TrueCrypt Volume. I did not get any error message from Ti or TrueCrypt. But both did not respond anymore and the CPU usage was in the range from 100 %. Therefore I had to push the “Power Off” button. After starting the computer again I had the same problem with TrueCrypt (but I did not see that TI was working). Again I had to push the “Power Off” button. This results in another problem: I got error messages from “rundll32” during startup ("Windows-Hostprocess (Rundll32) does not work any more"). Responsible was the module NvCpl.dll. I reinstalled my Nvidia Getforce graphic card but this did no change anything. Because I could not locate the reason for the error I decided to write a Ti image back to the system partition.
I will keep you informed if something similar will happen again.