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Windows Boot Manager (cloned) ???

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I used True Image to clone a 500Gb Seagate to a new duplicate drive (same model, same capacity). The clone operation completed normally and all seemed to be right.

HOWEVER, with the new drive in the PC, my Acer Veriton will not boot in the normal fashion. It detects some difference and indicates that I need to reinstall the operating system (... which I've declined to do).

THANKFULLY, if I go into the boot menu (F12 key), I'm shown a choice of "Windows Boot Manager (cloned)" as the first choice. When I select it, the PC boots up and runs fine.

1. What happened?

2. How do I fix it?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

I forgot to add: when I inspect the boot choices with bcdedit, it simply shows Windows Boot Manager as the first choice (without the 'cloned' designation).

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Welcome to these public User Forums.

First question: when you did the clone and after it had completed successfully, did you remove the original source drive and replace it with the cloned drive?

From your description, it sounds as if you have both the original and cloned drives connected in the system which would account for the issues you are seeing.  Windows will see both drives as having the same, identical disk signature, with 2 copies of the Windows Boot Configuration Data etc, so will get confused by this at best and can cause both drives to be corrupted at worse!

did you remove the original source drive and replace it with the cloned drive?

Yes, only the new cloned drive is attached.

Also, I never had both drives attached (after the clone was complete, that is).

Ok, that is good to get confirmed, so if I understand correctly, you can boot into Windows by using the F12 boot override key to select the Windows Boot Manager.

Have you gone into the Acer BIOS boot priority settings and confirmed that you have Windows Boot Manager set as the first option?

you can boot into Windows by using the F12 boot override key to select the Windows Boot Manager

Yes, except that the displayed F12 boot choice is labeled "Windows Boot Manager (cloned)" and is listed first.

I've looked around the BIOS boot settings and everything seems to be in order. But the "cloned" designation isn't anywhere to be found. The Secure Boot option is Disabled. But something called Launch CSM is Enabled. I can't determined precisely what CSM does.

Lastly, the C: partition shows to be "GPT", if that has any bearing.

CSM is used to provide support for booting Legacy / MBR Windows or other OS's (Compatibility Support Module), so you probably don't need to have 'Launch CSM' enabled unless you need to boot such as a Legacy Linux OS from a USB stick etc.

If your C: drive is using GPT then this mandates using UEFI boot to support GPT.

Again, this probably comes down to the Boot settings in your Acer Veriton BIOS but as I do not have anything like this, it is difficult to guide you more precisely on how to check or change this.

See webpage How to enter BIOS CMOS setting change Boot order Acer Veriton M275 PC - for a YouTube video which may (or may not) be useful...!

 

Well, I guess the main question at this point is where do you think the designation "Windows Boot Manager (cloned)" entered the picture?  And can it be changed?

I think the Acer software is detecting it as "different" and is responding as if there's a problem.

Sorry, not sure where this designation is originating from, but given it is being given from your BIOS boot override / boot device selection menu after pressing the F12 key, then it will be a combination of the BIOS settings and information drawn from the EFI System Partition where the Windows Boot Configuration Data is stored.

One option that may be worth trying would be to download a free copy of EasyBCD and use this to look more closely at the BCD values, then if you still do not see the cause, use the option provided in this tool to rebuild the BCD.

Note: you will see a warning from EasyBCD when running this on a UEFI system but this should not cause a problem for the purposes here.

First, I appreciate the time you taken to delve into this.

Second, I agree with your proposed plan of action. But what is weighing on my mind is altering a perfectly good operating disk—that just won't boot normally—and risking a downslide of some sort. It wouldn't be such a big issue except that the C: drive contains probably 300 Gb of software and my own content that I use every day.

It's something I'll have to decide.

Thanks for everything.