PC Won't Boot After Using Acronis Removal Tool 11

Deleting those entries is VERY LIKELY the problem--you can't even boot to Safe Mode (F8), right? I had a similar problem--I'd deleted the Acronis filters without editing these keys--in the end I believe I had to recover the PC using an image backup.

If you don't have a recent backup (shame on you! ;)) then the only other thing that I can think to try is to use the Recovery Console to edit the Registry to fix them (I have never done this myself). E.g. in the first key you mentioned I have UpperFilters (Type REG_MULTI_SZ) and only PartMgr in there (no Acronis on this W7 PC). In the 2nd key there is only LowerFilters with fvevol readyboost.

Hello Tomf and thanks a lot for the help.

Yes i cannot even boot in safe mode.
I get a Bsod right after the bios scren.

How can I edit the registry with the console?
Do you, or anybody else who is stopping by, have any idea?
I would need kinda step bt stepinstructions if you have the time and exactly what to create.

Many thanks :)

Ok all well!

Somebody suggested to use the recovery option found in the f8 advanced options menu and it worked!

Feww that was close.

Back-up now.

Thanks Tomf.

That was brilliant, congratulations! I assume you meant the "Use last known good boot" or whatever it's called--I hadn't thought of that. Windows is just too complicated sometimes to remember everything.

BTW I re-read the kb article you referenced up top, and it really should be clearer about editing-out the values, and not deleting the UpperFilter or LowerFilter completely. I've complained here in the past about how tricky uninstalling ATI can be but I think sometimes Acronis has an English-language problem... :wink:

See here a good discussion about filters: http://forum.acronis.com/forum/26666

tomf wrote:

That was brilliant, congratulations! I assume you meant the "Use last known good boot" or whatever it's called--I hadn't thought of that. Windows is just too complicated sometimes to remember everything.

BTW I re-read the kb article you referenced up top, and it really should be clearer about editing-out the values, and not deleting the UpperFilter or LowerFilter completely. I've complained here in the past about how tricky uninstalling ATI can be but I think sometimes Acronis has an English-language problem... :wink:

Yes I used use last known boot or whatever it's called and I am surprised i hadn't thought about it either considering my system is aptly called 7 (recovered) having used that recovery before (incidentally again for problem with this software).

I agree too that that reference article is not clear at all but preferred not to say anything not being English my language.
The keys not to delete are twice in size from the ones that have to be deleted which are lost in a paragraph.

Oh well I spared me some major hassle now let's hope I can install 2012 without issues and finally make a backup to protect me from...Acronis English :D

Pat L wrote:

See here a good discussion about filters: http://forum.acronis.com/forum/26666

Thank you too.

I guess i was too quick to celebrate since at the next reboot the problem represented and this time "last known good boot" isn't working.
On top of that there are now updates windows threw in and again system restore isn't saving restore points.

I assume the problem is still those missing keys?
How can I put them back?

The exact bsod I receive is: stop:0x0000007B (0XFFFFF880009A9928, 0XFFFFFFFFC0000034,0X0000000000000000,0X0000000000000000)

Thank you.

I didn't know it was possible to access the registry from the error console but it is so I checked the keys I deleted and this is what is present:

* HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E967-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} -> UpperFilters - REG_MULTI_SZ - PartMgr

* HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{71A27CDD-812A-11D0-BEC7-08002BE2092F} -> LowerFilter - REG_MULTI_SZ - Fvevol

So apparently when the system rebooted with the last known boot it recreated the keys I deleted so why it's not booting?

I hope someone can help cause i am going crazy.

Many thanks

Maybe now the Registry is Good (cleaned-out; at least, those two key ENTRIES you mention appear OK, unless you were/are using ReadyBoost) but the Acronis filters are back in place, i.e. returned to system32 when you restored? So perhaps finding/removing those is necessary now?

As stated by member Richard Virtue:

"Registered services MUST NOT be removed prior to removal of device class filter entries. Driver files MUST NOT be removed prior to removal of registered services entries."

http://forum.acronis.com/forum/26439

tomf wrote:

Maybe now the Registry is Good (cleaned-out; at least, those two key ENTRIES you mention appear OK, unless you were/are using ReadyBoost) but the Acronis filters are back in place, i.e. returned to system32 when you restored? So perhaps finding/removing those is necessary now?

As stated by member Richard Virtue:

"Registered services MUST NOT be removed prior to removal of device class filter entries. Driver files MUST NOT be removed prior to removal of registered services entries."

http://forum.acronis.com/forum/26439

Hi Tomf,

It seems you are the only one around, thanks for that :)

As I am reading on the subject I learned that the regedit you access from the recovery console is its own and not the one of the system to recover so I am unsure at what the real situation is.
There is a way to edit the real registry but I don't understand how to in as many articles I have read.
Would those be the right values to have anyway?

As for that post you linked I don't understand it either as its just too complex for my knowledge.
I thought the Acronis uninstaller was to take care of everything.
I can't believe that to update a software I am going though all this mess.

Is there anyone that can walk me through and tell me what to do to fix this please?

What I have to look for in system32 exactly?

Many thanks

If I understand correctly, initially you deleted completely the keys referenced in Post #1, which was incorrect and your bad mistake--you needed only to EDIT the VALUES of the UpperFilter and LowerFilter items in each of those keys. Assuming that these keys have been restored in total, and the Upper and Lower filters are as you said in post #9, then the keys are likely to have been restored. But since you still can't boot, either this assumption is wrong (and the keys are still broken) or the "Last known good boot" process you went through restored also the drivers (that should have been) deleted using the Cleanup tool, and Windows is trying to load them w/o proper Registry accomodations for them.

If we assume for the moment that the keys are OK, but the drivers were restored-back, then *maybe* removing those will allow you to boot. At least that's what I'd try next, using the Command Prompt interface:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/windows-7-recovery-environmen…

Once you've run it and are at the prompt, change directory to drivers e.g.

cd c:\windows\system32\drivers

Then look for these files; at least, on my W7HP x64 setup, and for ATHI2010, the files are these (yours are likely to differ slightly:

snapman.sys

afcdp.sys

tdrpm273.sys

timntr.sys

What I'd do is at the prompt--well, let me show you, using the asterisk as a wildcard:

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\System32\drivers>dir snap*
 Volume in drive C is Windows7
 Volume Serial Number is 84E0-10AA

 Directory of C:\Windows\System32\drivers

08/12/2011  09:43 AM           272,480 snapman.sys
               1 File(s)        272,480 bytes
               0 Dir(s)  51,092,230,144 bytes free

C:\Windows\System32\drivers>

So you look for each of the file above and delete them e.g.

del snapman.sys

then try to boot again. Perhaps before deleting them entirely, to be safe you'll want to copy each somewhere else first e.g.

copy snapman.sys C:\

I wish you luck sir.

tomf wrote:

If I understand correctly, initially you deleted completely the keys referenced in Post #1, which was incorrect and your bad mistake--you needed only to EDIT the VALUES of the UpperFilter and LowerFilter items in each of those keys. Assuming that these keys have been restored in total, and the Upper and Lower filters are as you said in post #9, then the keys are likely to have been restored. But since you still can't boot, either this assumption is wrong (and the keys are still broken) or the "Last known good boot" process you went through restored also the drivers (that should have been) deleted using the Cleanup tool, and Windows is trying to load them w/o proper Registry accomodations for them.

If we assume for the moment that the keys are OK, but the drivers were restored-back, then *maybe* removing those will allow you to boot. At least that's what I'd try next, using the Command Prompt interface:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/windows-7-recovery-environmen…

Once you've run it and are at the prompt, change directory to drivers e.g.

cd c:\windows\system32\drivers

Then look for these files; at least, on my W7HP x64 setup, and for ATHI2010, the files are these (yours are likely to differ slightly:

snapman.sys

afcdp.sys

tdrpm273.sys

timntr.sys

What I'd do is at the prompt--well, let me show you, using the asterisk as a wildcard:

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\System32\drivers>dir snap*
 Volume in drive C is Windows7
 Volume Serial Number is 84E0-10AA

 Directory of C:\Windows\System32\drivers

08/12/2011  09:43 AM           272,480 snapman.sys
               1 File(s)        272,480 bytes
               0 Dir(s)  51,092,230,144 bytes free

C:\Windows\System32\drivers>

So you look for each of the file above and delete them e.g.

del snapman.sys

then try to boot again. Perhaps before deleting them entirely, to be safe you'll want to copy each somewhere else first e.g.

copy snapman.sys C:\

I wish you luck sir.

Hi Tomf,

Thanks so much for going through this in such detail.

I am working on a linux disc on top of the broken 7 system so I can actually navigate on the drivers folder and none of the mentioned drivers are there.

With another utility Yaru I am trying to look into the Windows registry and, if I understand correctly, those keys were not restored meaning that at those junctions they miss upper and lower filters.

So I assume I am back to square one and need to restore those keys.
It should be possible with Yaru but there is no help file and I am uncertain on how to proceed.

Any further suggestion much appreciated.

Thank you

Using the yaru software I went to windows\system32\config and loaded the System hive.

The problem is I get no CurrentControlSet but 3 ControlSet.

In ControlSet002 the upper and lower filters are missing from the 2 keys while they are present (including the Acronis values to remove) in ControlSet003 and ControlSet004

[IMG]http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/xx42/The_Threshold/TECH%20STUFF/Scre…]

Threshold:

You can edit the Windows registry of a broken Windows system by using a Windows 7 repair disk, or the installation DVD if you have one. Boot the PC from the repair disk and go to a command prompt window. Start the registry editor (regedit.exe).

What you will be viewing is the registry of the recovery environment; not of your Windows 7 installation on the hard disk. This is an important distinction. The registry of the recovery environment exists in RAM and any edits that you make will vanish when you leave the recovery environment. If you want to edit the registry of your Windows 7 installation that is on the hard disk, you need to "mount" the registry hive that you need to edit (the System registry hive in your case) and edit from there. The following web video shows how to do this: http://www.osattack.com/walk-through/tutorial-how-to-mount-a-registry-h…

You will want to mount the HKLM\System hive which will be at C:\Windows\System32\Config\System. Substitute the drive letter of your Windows partition as viewed in the recovery environment (it may or may not be C:). Open the mounted file and make your edits with Regedit. Once you have edited the Upper and Lower filter entries, unload the mounted registry hive and it will be saved to disk. Then try booting into Windows.

MW to the rescue. The only thing I might add here is Threshold if you have (or can get) access to another W7 PC e.g a friend's laptop, that will help you immensely to compare the registries of the two systems. The keys in question should look virtually identical.

Threshold:

Oops - our posts crossed. I see that you already have a way to edit the registry of your dead Windows system.

At this point you don't have much to lose by experimenting, so save a copy of the System branch of the registry as it currently exists.

Then try renaming the Control Set keys. Rename the "good" one to CurrentControlSet, and rename the others to ControlSet001 and ControlSet002 and see what happens. If it doesn't turn out well then restore the saved copy of the System branch.

Mark Wharton wrote:

Threshold:

You can edit the Windows registry of a broken Windows system by using a Windows 7 repair disk, or the installation DVD if you have one. Boot the PC from the repair disk and go to a command prompt window. Start the registry editor (regedit.exe).

What you will be viewing is the registry of the recovery environment; not of your Windows 7 installation on the hard disk. This is an important distinction. The registry of the recovery environment exists in RAM and any edits that you make will vanish when you leave the recovery environment. If you want to edit the registry of your Windows 7 installation that is on the hard disk, you need to "mount" the registry hive that you need to edit (the System registry hive in your case) and edit from there. The following web video shows how to do this: http://www.osattack.com/walk-through/tutorial-how-to-mount-a-registry-h…

You will want to mount the HKLM\System hive which will be at C:\Windows\System32\Config\System. Substitute the drive letter of your Windows partition as viewed in the recovery environment (it may or may not be C:). Open the mounted file and make your edits with Regedit. Once you have edited the Upper and Lower filter entries, unload the mounted registry hive and it will be saved to disk. Then try booting into Windows.

Hello Mark thank you for the help.

I had already learned how to access the registry through the recovery console and how to load the hives but the video helped a lot since I didn't understand the renaming and unloading part.

The problem is that once I have loaded the System hive found in C:\Windows\System32\Config I don't have a CurrentControlSet entry to edit.
It's just not there.

I have:
- ControlSet001
- RNG
- Select
- Setup

ControlSet001 has the keys in question and they appear as they should be but I don't think that has any relevance since ControlSet001 exists also in the Ram template of the registry.

Am I doing something wrong or what else can I try?

After the system attempts to repair itself I am presented with a dropdwon window to access the advanced options that include the recovery console:

-Homegroupuser
-Mysystem
-RSS_504C72360D464B11
-UpdatussUser

I select Mysystem which also requires my logon password but maybe i have to select one of the other options?

Many thanks

tomf wrote:

MW to the rescue. The only thing I might add here is Threshold if you have (or can get) access to another W7 PC e.g a friend's laptop, that will help you immensely to compare the registries of the two systems. The keys in question should look virtually identical.

Yeah I agree but unfortunately i don't have that chance so every time I have to unload Knoppix losing all the settings (it's not a RW disc) and start again.

Mark Wharton wrote:

Threshold:

Oops - our posts crossed. I see that you already have a way to edit the registry of your dead Windows system.

At this point you don't have much to lose by experimenting, so save a copy of the System branch of the registry as it currently exists.

Then try renaming the Control Set keys. Rename the "good" one to CurrentControlSet, and rename the others to ControlSet001 and ControlSet002 and see what happens. If it doesn't turn out well then restore the saved copy of the System branch.

I saved already the all config folder so if anything I'll just replace it alltogether: I hope that is fine too since I am not that familiar with exporting keys and such.

I would try your suggestion if I understood how to do it in this software which I don't.
Everywhere I read it says it's not for novices and it doesn't provide much help and I couldn't agree more.

Anyone knows how to use it?

Many thanks

Threshold:

You can rename the keys using Regedit. Try the method in post #15 using a Windows 7 repair disk.

Mark Wharton wrote:

Threshold:

You can rename the keys using Regedit. Try the method in post #15 using a Windows 7 repair disk.

Hello Mark,

What exactly I have to rename in regedit using a repair disk?

As I said in Yaru, through the Knoppix disk, when I load the System hive I have:

-ControlSet002
-ControlSet003
-ControlSet004

When I load the System hive through the Windows 7 repair disk I have:

- ControlSet001

So apart that I have no idea why the discrepancy you want me to rename:

- ControlSet001 to CurrentControlSet through the Windows 7 repair disk?
Also could you, or anyone else, please confirm that the keys have to look like this to be correct:

* HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E967-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} -> UpperFilters - REG_MULTI_SZ - PartMgr

* HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{71A27CDD-812A-11D0-BEC7-08002BE2092F} -> LowerFilter - REG_MULTI_SZ - Fvevol

Many thanks

@threshold: Posting here as requested in your PM

Do NOT [repeat] NOT remame any numbered ControlSet### to CurrentControlSet!

The CurrentControlSet that you see initially in the registry editor is just an ALIAS in memory for whichever numbered ControlSet### is currently in use by the active system. So, when you boot to the Windows Recovery Environment, you'll first see only its own ControlSet001 and its CurrentControlSet alias. They are identical -- i.e., one and the same. On the other hand, when you use the Windows Recovery Environment's registry editor to load the system hive for your actual operating system, that loaded hive will show only numbered control sets and no CurrentControlSet alias because none of that hive's control sets is currently active in the booted recovery environment.

To see which numbered ControSet### would be the active CurrentControlSet if your actual OS were booted successfully, look under its loaded system hive's SYSTEM\Select key for Current and LastKnownGood values. Fix any errors in the ControSet### = Current value and leave the ControlSet### = LastKnownGood value alone. If there are more than two, just ignore the "surplus" ControlSet### which is merely the result of past booting to some last known good configuration. If you want to revert to that older ControlSet###, change the value for LastKnownGood under the SYSTEM\Select key and then reboot using F8 - Last Known Good Configuration.

Once you have corrected any errors in device class filter entries and their "required for boot" (start=0x00000000) services* and have been able to boot your OS successfully, all of the numbered system control sets will sort themselves out, including both the current and last known good ones. So, if you make an editing mistake, just go back to the Windows Recovery Environment and try again until you get a working OS startup. From there, you can make any other follow-up adjustments that may be needed.

__
*NOTE: The system will fail to boot successfully if either:
1) any "required for boot" (start=0x00000000) service is present in the registry, but its driver file is missing, or
2) any device class filter is present in the registry, but either its filter service or the service's driver file is missing.
What usually happens is that a driver file gets deleted, but either a device class filter entry, or a filter service, or both, get left behind in the registry after both should have been removed along with the driver file.

Richard Virtue wrote:

@threshold: Posting here as requested in your PM

Do NOT [repeat] NOT remame any numbered ControlSet### to CurrentControlSet!

Believe it or not I was just about to do that out of desperation so thanks heaven I checked if anybody had replied. :)

Richard Virtue wrote:

To see which numbered ControSet### would be active if your actual OS were booted successfully, look under its loaded system hive's SYSTEM\Select key for Current and LastKnownGood values.

Using Yaru through Knoppix I see these values:

Current REG_DWORD 0x00000003
Default REG_DWORD 0x00000003
Failed REG_DWORD 0x00000002
LastKnownGood REG_DWORD 0x00000004

Richard Virtue wrote:

Fix any errors in the ControSet### = Current value and leave the ControlSet### = LastKnownGood value alone. If there are more than two, just ignore the "surplus" ControlSet### which is merely the result of past booting to some last known good configuration.

Ok so the Current one would be 0x00000003 so I should edit ControlSet03 which infact still has the Acronis crap in the keys I deleted.

The only problem is i don't know how to edit the registry through this Yaru software.

These are the options I get with it:

http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/xx42/The_Threshold/TECH%20STUFF/Scre…

If instead I go through the recovery console I know how to edit the registry , I think, but as written there I only have ControlSet01 and that doesn't have the Acronis entries at the keys in question.

Richard Virtue wrote:

If you want to revert to that older ControlSet###, change the value for LastKnownGood under the SYSTEM\Select key and then reboot using F8 - Last Known Good Configuration.

I am sorry you lost me here.
I am to change the value of Last Known Good Configuration in SYSTEM\Select but to what value?

This would allow me to boot like last time but than I still need to fix those keys right?

Richard Virtue wrote:

Once you have corrected any errors in device class filter entries and their "required for boot" (start=0x00000000) services and have been able to boot your OS successfully, all of the numbered system control sets will sort themselves out, including both the current and last known good ones. So, if you make an editing mistake, just go back to the Windows Recovery Environment and try again until you get a working OS startup. From there, you can make any other follow-up adjustments that may be needed.

Here you lost me too but I guess this can wait until and if I manage to boot the system.

So if you could help me a bit further on what step to take and how much appreciated.

Many thanks for your help.

Ok so the Current one would be 0x00000003 so I should edit ControlSet003 which infact still has the Acronis crap in the keys I deleted.

Correct. If you edited it as a loaded hive previously but did not then unload that hive, the changes may not have been saved to disc. It's important to unload any loaded hive before closing the registry editor to make any changes effective. Either that or you booted to last known good which would undo the changes you made.

The only problem is i don't know how to edit the registry through this Yaru software.

Sorry, can't help you there. Thought you were editing with Windows regedit in the recovery enviroment. However, I would expect any registry editor to be similar. You can definitely load and unload your OS system hive in Windows Recovery Environment regedit just like any other registry editor. Look in the regedit File menu.

I am sorry you lost me here. I am to change the value of Last Known Good Configuration in SYSTEM\Select but to what value?

You'd only do that as an ALTERATIVE to editing the set that will become current as you intend. So just forget about that option for now. It was just some extra info I included in case you might need a different option.

Hello Richard,

Maybe I didn't explain myself.

So to clear things out and since none of us knows how to edit the registry through Yaru (did you have a look at the screenshot I posted?) I will just give the situation I found in regedit through the recovery console:

Current REG_DWORD 0x00000001 (1)
Default REG_DWORD 0x00000001 (1)
Failed REG_DWORD 0x00000000 (0)
LastKnownGood REG_DWORD 0x00000001 (1)

So loading ControlSet01, the only available, that doesn't have the Acronis entries at the keys in question which look like this:

* HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E967-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} -> UpperFilters - REG_MULTI_SZ - PartMgr

* HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{71A27CDD-812A-11D0-BEC7-08002BE2092F} -> LowerFilter - REG_MULTI_SZ - Fvevol

Just as a reminder after I managed to boot with lastknowngood the first time, windows did a silentupdate which I doubt it has helped the situation.

Any sugegstion on how to proceed next?
And if I can still boot through lastknown that would help a lot since working through alinux disk is a pain in the neck.

Many thanks

Richard Virtue wrote:

Do NOT [repeat] NOT remame any numbered ControlSet### to CurrentControlSet!

Richard:

I've learned a lot from your articles on Reboot.pro, but apparently not enough. Thanks for setting the record straight.

@Mark Wharton: No problem, Mark. Maybe, between the two of us we can get Threshold sorted out.

@Threshold: That's the recovery environment registry you're seeing and describing as "the situation I found in regedit through the recovery console" in your last posting. That is NOT your installed OS registry's system hive. It appears to me that a very large part of your confusion may be due to having missed or not fully understood a very important point that both Mark and I explained above. When you boot to the recovery enviroment and start the registry editor ...

Mark Wharton: wrote:

... What you will be viewing is the registry of the recovery environment; not of your Windows 7 installation on the hard disk. This is an important distinction.

Richard Virtue wrote:

... So, when you boot to the Windows Recovery Environment, you'll first see only its own ControlSet001 and its CurrentControlSet alias. They are identical -- i.e., one and the same. On the other hand, when you use the Windows Recovery Environment's registry editor to load the system hive for your actual operating system, that loaded hive will show only numbered control sets and no CurrentControlSet alias because none of that hive's control sets is currently active in the booted recovery environment.

In other words, regardless of what recovery environment you use, whether Windows own, or some other WinPE "rescue" utility, or whatever, you need to load, edit and then unload the system hive for your actual installed Windows operating system in the registry editor. Merely viewing and editing the system branch of the recovery environment's own registry accomplishes nothing.

Threshold:

You mentioned in reply #18 that you knew how to load the SYSTEM registry hive from your Windows partition on disk. To further illustrate Richard's comments, besides loading the correct file you need to be looking in the right place in the registry when you edit the file. So when you load the file from your hard disk at C:\Windows\System32\config\System, Regedit will ask you to name the key that you're adding. Give the key a descriptive name like "System (on disk)". Then you should see the following in Regedit:

Open the branch "System (on disk)" to see the following:

Then do your edits to this newly-loaded branch of the registry. When finished, click on the key "System (on disk)" to highlight it and choose "Unload Hive" from the Regedit file menu:

This last step will save the changes to disk.

Thank you to both of you and Mark thank a bunch for the step by step tutorial but I am doing exactly that and what I find is what I wrote in post 26 which, again, is what I get after loading the system hive and renaming it.

So from the findings in post 26 is there anything else I can try please?

If I can still boot from last boot can you please explain me how since i am going mental with this linux disc that saves nothing so even finding this page every time I log off it to go into the recovery console is an ordeal.

Thank you.

There is simply no way -- at least none that I can think of or even imagine -- to explain the diffences between what you are seeing "in Yaru through the Knoppix disk" and what you are seeing "in regedit through the recovery console" except as a result of loading two different registry hives.

Well I have no clue either.

This is the content of C:\Windows\System32\config\

http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/xx42/The_Threshold/TECH%20STUFF/Scre…
http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/xx42/The_Threshold/TECH%20STUFF/Scre…
http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/xx42/The_Threshold/TECH%20STUFF/Scre…
http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/xx42/The_Threshold/TECH%20STUFF/Scre…
http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/xx42/The_Threshold/TECH%20STUFF/Scre…

Anyway It lets me load only Default, Sam, Security, Software, System.

Well if anyone has further suggestions please let me know.

Do you have more than one Windows installation on your hard disk? If so, are you sure that you're looking at the desired Windows 7 partition? From your screen shots, which partition corresponds to sda1 in Knoppix? From a console, please type "fdisk -l" (lower-case L) and post the output.

Mark Wharton wrote:

Do you have more than one Windows installation on your hard disk? If so, are you sure that you're looking at the desired Windows 7 partition? From your screen shots, which partition corresponds to sda1 in Knoppix? From a console, please type "fdisk -l" (lower-case L) and post the output.

Hi Mark,

No I only have 7 x64 installed on C:\
On the disk there is a D:\ partition for data

http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/xx42/The_Threshold/TECH%20STUFF/Scre…

http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/xx42/The_Threshold/TECH%20STUFF/Scre…

OK, thanks for verifying that you are indeed looking in the right place. At this point I have no idea what else to try.

I've been in similar situations where I've spent far too many hours trying to solve a problem. While it always leads to a better understanding of how things work, it isn't always the most efficient use of time. At this point you may be better off reinstalling Windows. You'll be done in a few hours, far less time than you've spent grinding away on a difficult problem.

Mark Wharton wrote:

OK, thanks for verifying that you are indeed looking in the right place. At this point I have no idea what else to try.

I've been in similar situations where I've spent far too many hours trying to solve a problem. While it always leads to a better understanding of how things work, it isn't always the most efficient use of time. At this point you may be better off reinstalling Windows. You'll be done in a few hours, far less time than you've spent grinding away on a difficult problem.

Yeah I would agree on reinstalling if I had space where to save my data which I don't at the moment and can't really go into a new hdd purchase at the moment so I will have to keep grinding I guess.

Mark thanks a lot for the help but if you or anybody else has further ideas please let me know.

Thanks

Isn't that your data on the logical partition (sda5)? You can reinstall Windows to the first primary partition (sda1) without affecting your data. Before doing so, transfer any user files on the Windows partition to the data partition using Knoppix. Then point the installer only to the first primary partition. Let the installer format the first primary partition before proceeding. Your data won't be affected.

Mark Wharton wrote:

Isn't that your data on the logical partition (sda5)? You can reinstall Windows to the first primary partition (sda1) without affecting your data. Before doing so, transfer any user files on the Windows partition to the data partition using Knoppix. Then point the installer only to the first primary partition. Let the installer format the first primary partition before proceeding. Your data won't be affected.

Yes but the D drive is full so I don't have enough space to move stuff from C (which is kinda full as well).

Well don't matter cause I managed to reboot!
Grinding is not futile!

I just ignored the "windows cannot boot" warning and selected boot Windows normally and it worked.
I haven't rebooted since I am too scared it won't work again and I need to do some work after 5 days on a linux disc but the registry keys seem ok.

Go figure.

Thank you all for the help but damn you Acronis!

This software was awesome but became horrible since the new interface which apparently ruined more than just the design.
It's bad enough a software needs a special removal tool to properly uninstall but that even that tool cannot complete the job forcing users to go muck into the registry is pathetic.

I am gonna go with Windows Back-Up since the Acronis 2012 is full of similar problems.

Wise decision IMO. If anything, TIH 2012's takeover of control from the OS hardware abstraction layer is even worse and more difficult to reverse. You sure wouldn't want to face the task of removing that one manually from your registry. Furthermore, TIH 2012's currently available device class filter services drivers have more limitations on their range of supported storage devices (especially USB-connected devices) than previous versions. And they call it an "upgrade"?!

Win7's backup and recovery feature is quite decent, including its automated scheduling capabilities. And, as one would expect, it can use any storage devices that are supported by the OS itself, unlike TIH that introduces its own limitations. About the only major item missing from Win7 backup and restore is a validation feature for the stored backups, but I haven't seen a restoration failure yet in my own experience.

Richard Virtue wrote:

Wise decision IMO. If anything, TIH 2012's takeover of control from the OS hardware abstraction layer is even worse and more difficult to reverse. You sure wouldn't want to face the task of removing that one manually from your registry. Furthermore, TIH 2012's currently available device class filter services drivers have more limitations on their range of supported storage devices (especially USB-connected devices) than previous versions. And they call it an "upgrade"?!

Win7's backup and recovery feature is quite decent, including its automated scheduling capabilities. And, as one would expect, it can use any storage devices that are supported by the OS itself, unlike TIH that introduces its own limitations. About the only major item missing from Win7 backup and restore is a validation feature for the stored backups, but I haven't seen a restoration failure yet in my own experience.

Exactly!

I don't wanna hear anything about registry for the next decade or so when hopefully those techie slackers scientists will have stopped playing tetris and invented self-repairing PCs.

So Windows Back-Up it is or if i still have the installer for an older version I might use an old Acronis version (like 9 or 10) with the old easier interface which worked perfectly: it should work fine even on 7 right?

Thanks

Nope. Not all older TIH versions support Win7. You can check specific OS support of various TIH versions in the Knowledge Base at http://kb.acronis.com/content/1534 .

Richard Virtue wrote:

About the only major item missing from Win7 backup and restore is a validation feature for the stored backups, but I haven't seen a restoration failure yet in my own experience.

Another limitation is the inflexibility of the restore process. It's either restore the OS partition or restore all partitions. You don't get an opportunity to restore only the data partition, for example. Microsoft's backup solution in Windows Home Server is the best that I've seen and has the flexibility to restore single partitions, to relocate or resize partitions, and all of the other features that one would expect in a backup solution. Hopefully these features will be included in a future version of Windows backup.

You can get around the lack of a validation feature in a way. Win7 backup creates VHD files as output, so you can use Windows Disk Management to mount one of these VHD files and then you can poke around in the backup using Windows Explorer. While this isn't a validation it does allow you to visually confirm that the backup looks correct.

Threshold wrote:

So Windows Back-Up it is or if i still have the installer for an older version I might use an old Acronis version (like 9 or 10) with the old easier interface which worked perfectly: it should work fine even on 7 right?

No. I wouldn't advise using version 9 on Windows 7. Version 10 will work if you understand its limitations and are willing to do a little creative modification to get around the fact that it is blocked by Windows 7 by default. Details are in this post: http://forum.acronis.com/forum/5908

Even better, don't install TI in Windows but instead run it from its recovery environment. The Windows PE recovery environment for TI 2011 is pretty good; that's the one that I currently use at work.

I think the first version that works with W7 is ATIH2010, which is what I use (latest build 7160 with newer snapapi 586 iirc). I've not found any feature that doesn't work with W7 (Home Premium) x64 but honestly I don't use the Scheduling function. Anyway it's been rock-solid and I even use its .iso with USB3.0 backup drives and it works great.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Mark what do you mean to run Ai from its recovery enviroment?
Is there a tutorial somewhere?

Tomf is 2010 already with the newer interface (I hate it) or still the old one?
I can't remember.

Thanks

User guide http://download2.acronis.com/u/pdf/ATIH2011_userguide_en-US.pdf Section 9.2 page 160.

Threshold I also have ATIH 2011 Netbook Edition, so I believe the answer to your question is that ATIH 2010 has the "older interface".

Thanks guys.