Sysprep help 3

[blegit1980]

Hi, I have a computer with an IDE hard drive. I made an image of this drive and tried to import it onto a sata drive. Before making the image I used sysprep. I get bsod on reboot. Sata is set to compatibility in the BIOS. Could someone tell me first if it's possible to take an image from an IDE drive and deploy it on a sata drive? Second, could I have a detailled explanation on how to configure the sysprep.inf file to include sata drivers? Thanks in advance!!

 

[ArizonaGeek]

This is actually a pretty easy fix. You don't need the SATA drivers.

The most important thing to do on your machine before you run Sysprep is to go into Device Manager, select your IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers. Go down to ALL of your controllers that say something other than Primary or Secondary. Right click on them and select Update Driver. At the wizard select "Not at this time" to select a driver and click next. Select "Install from a list or specific location" and click next, click "Do not search, I will select" click next then select "Standard dual channel PCI IDE Controller" (or something like it, it HAS to say Standard controller) click next then finish. Reboot, run your sysprep and you should be good to use any hard drive.

In fact, you'll probably want to uninstall ALL your drivers like network, video, sound etc. But those won't matter so much on the new machine, your image will NEVER work for sure if you don't do the hard drive driver to standard.

Once you deploy out your image, fire up the machine and the first thing you do is start your install of the drivers including your SATA drivers.

I have an image like this and can deploy it out to any machine (except laptops, but that is a whole other hardware set up) regardless of hardware including sata and IDE drives.

Good luck

Cheers
Rob

The answer is always "PEBKAC!

 

[ArizonaGeek]

In fact Here is a PDF file that has step by step instructions with screen shots of EXACTLY what to do. You'll wanna print that document and save it for sure.

Cheers
Rob

The answer is always "PEBKAC!

 

[dippncope]

ArizonaGeek I wish I would have found this post years ago when I started my sysprep try. That link would have saved me hours. A star for you

 

[ArizonaGeek]

Ya actually, as I read it over I was thinking that it was very accurate so I saved it to my "IT Documents" never know when someone will need it. Handy little guide.

Cheers
Rob

The answer is always "PEBKAC!

 

[blegit1980]

ArizonaGeek, you are a genius!!!! Sorry for the late reply. It worked!!!!! Thanks again

Simon

 

[max8699]

wish i had found that a few weeks ago had to stumble through sysprep and had no end of trouble with the images.
have save a copy of this now for future reference.
have another star as well

Regards
Max
Never argue with an idiot, they drag you down to their level and beat you with experience

 

[blegit1980]

Just a little update. The original machine was a virtual machine. Now I have successuly converted this vm to a phusycal machine. The only issue I have now is that only one on two cores are detected. When the machine was virtual two cores came up in task manager... Any insights?

Simon

 

[ArizonaGeek]

What I would do is try and find all hidden devices that are not attached to the system and get rid of them

Open a command prompt and type the following lines:

set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
start devmgmt.msc

When device manager shows up, click View then Show Hidden Devices.

Anything that is grayed out can be removed. I'd start from the top and work your way down removing all unattached devices.

When you've done that, I would reinstall the Chipset drivers and see if that helps.

Cheers
Rob

The answer is always "PEBKAC!

 

[blegit1980]

Wow. I didn't know you could do that... One of my cores was disabled in the bios... Sorry. One more question since you seem to have the answer to everything!

How would I go about activating AHCI in the bios for the Sata drive without going through a new installation of Windows?? Thanks in advance

Simon

 

[ArizonaGeek]

The only way I know of is to do a repair install where it just reinstalls Windows leaving your programs intact although it is never 100% but honestly I think that would be about it other than a full reinstall.

I use some software called Storagecraft that offer an IT version of their software. It is pretty sweet software, I can boot to the disk and run something called a Hardware Independent Restore. So what I would do is set the AHCI and then immediately boot to the Storagecraft disk and run the HIR option on it. It would install all the drivers before even getting into Windows. I am fairly sure this would work.

Uh, the only problem with the IT version of Storagecraft is that it is VERY expensive (but oh so worth it) about $3,500.

Cheers
Rob

The answer is always "PEBKAC!