Cannot Boot Windows XP Backup Image

Question

A Windows XP partition suddenly stops booting, and it gives a BSOD when executing a disk driver that I tracked to Diskeeper.   Rather than debug the original partition, I attached a SATA drive that contains an image backup of the original system partition
and made it Active and in the BIOS selected it as the boot partition.   I boot from that backup drive in Safe Mode and now the Windows startup screen never finishes.   The final screen with the Windows XP logo draws, but no users appear and ctrl-alt-del
pressed multiple times does nothing to bring a login prompt.   
I suspect that this backup drive may not be seeing itself as the "C:" drive, and as a result many references to files in the registry are no longer valid.   Is there any utility I can use in a preboot environment to force the backup drive
to become drive C: when I boot from it?    How do I do that?
Will

Answer 1

In order to assist you, we will need the .DMP files to analyze what exactly occurred at the time of the crash, etc. 
If
you don't know where .DMP files are located, here's how to get to them:
1. Navigate
to the %systemroot%\Minidump folder.
2. Copy any and all
DMP files in the Minidump folder to your Desktop and then zip up these files.
3. Upload
the zip containing the .DMP files to Onedrive or a hosting site of your choice and paste in your reply. Prefered sites: Onedrive, Mediafire, Dropbox, etc. Nothing with wait-timers
4 (optional): The
type of .DMP files located in the Minidump folder are known as Small Memory Dumps. In %systemroot% there will be what is known as a Kernel-Dump (if your system is set to generate). It is labeled MEMORY.DMP. The difference between Small Memory Dumps and Kernel-Dumps
in the simplest definition is a Kernel-Dump contains much more
information at the time of the crash, therefore allowing further debugging of your issue. If your upload speed permits it, and you aren't going against any strict bandwidth and/or usage caps, etc, the Kernel-Dump is the best choice. Do note that Kernel-Dumps
are much larger in
size due to containing much more info, which is why I mentioned upload speed, etc.
If
you are going to use Onedrive but don't know how to upload to it, please visit the following:
Upload
photos and files to Onedrive.
Please
note that any "cleaner" programs such as TuneUp Utilities, CCleaner, etc, by default will delete .DMP files upon use.
If your computer is not generating .DMP files, please do the following:
1. Start
> type %systemroot% which should show the Windows folder, click on it. Once inside that folder, ensure there is a Minidump folder created. If not, CTRL-SHIFT-N to make a New Folder and name it Minidump.
2. Windows
key + Pause key. This should bring up System. Click Advanced System Settings on the left > Advanced > Performance > Settings > Advanced > Ensure there's a check-mark for 'Automatically manage paging file size for all drives'.
3. Windows
key + Pause key. This should bring up System. Click Advanced System Settings on the left > Advanced > Startup and Recovery > Settings > System Failure > ensure there is a check mark next to 'Write an event to the system log'. 
Ensure Small Memory Dump is selected and ensure the path is %systemroot%\Minidump.
4. Double
check that the WERS is ENABLED:
Start > Search > type services.msc > Under the name tab, find Windows Error Reporting Service > If the status of the service is not Started then
right click it and select Start. Also ensure that under Startup Type it is set to Automatic rather than Manual. You can do this by right clicking it, selecting properties, and under General selecting startup type to 'Automatic', and then click Apply. 
Arnav Sharma | http://arnavsharma.net/ Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading
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