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Not booting after Restore

edited October 2013 in AOMEI Products Support
 

Dear AOMEI Support,

 

I'm currently testing your Programm "AOMEI Backupper", but so far it seems not to work.

 

I first tried it with a X1 from Lenovo with Windows 8.1, where I did a Disk Backup and got a Bluescreen. The options I used were the standard options, like normal compression, no encryption, automatic splitting, intelligent sector backup and VSS.

My first thought was that it could be a Problem with the UEFI boot or something that does not work with Windows 8.1, so I got myself an other Laptop (Lenovo X300) with XP installed instead of Windows 8.

Then I tried the same thing, the Disk Backup with standard options. After I restored the image file and restarted the Laptop it didn't boot anymore.

That's when I changed the options from backing-up every sector and restoring every sector, or not using VSS. Afterwards I also didn't only use the disk backup but the system and the partition Backup as well but nothing worked. Every time i tried to boot only the blinking underline appeared.

The last thing I tried was to search in some forums but I didn't find anyone with the same problem.

 

I hope you can help me.

If you need more information, don't hesitate to contact me.

 

 

Thanks in advance and best Regards

Comments

  • edited October 2013

    Hello marco,

     

    Welcome to AOMEI Tech Forum. Regarding thisproblem, maybe the driver of Backupper was blocked by Antivirus software. Please reinstall AOMEI Backupper and allows it install whatever it required during the installation process.


    Best Regards,

    AOEMI Tech Support Team

  • edited November 2013

    I'm having the same problem... but a little different.

    This is Windows 8 (pre-8.1) 

    My elderly father has an SSD drive which the main bootable drive. Also have another SSD and a regular hard drive (3 drives, total.) The backups are on the mechanical hard drive (MHD).


    After completing a recent Microsoft Windows Update (63 updates) my dad's computer wouldn't boot. So he calls me (I am a certified computer tech for over 30 yrs)

    I reinstalled a fresh copy of Windows 8, downloaded the backupper program (no anti-virus) and ran it. I then created a backupper bootable CD.

    I use the bootable backupper CD and can access the backups and verify them no problem - all is good..

    I use restore from the backupper boot CD and everything goes as it should and it reports that it completed the restore sucessfully... BUT IT WON'T BOOT afterwards. I've tried it a few times with the same result.

    There is no error - I just get a black screen with a cursor blinking about 2" down the screen on the left.


    I am not familiar with this backup program so I'm not sure what my father did when he backed his computer up, etc., but it seems pretty straightforward - the restore should boot. Afterward I tried to do a startup repair, but that fails too. I can view the contents of the C drive (using the bootable backupper CD utility, CMD) and it looks right, but no boot. MBR problem or partitioning error or? I have no idea where to go from here and dad is about to stroke out on me.

    HELP!

  • Hello c3ajeff,


    We are so sorry for the problem you encountered. Please launch AOMEI Backupper, in the "Home" screen, select the
    backup--"Advanced"--"Properties"--"Disk Map" then take a screenshot and then mail to [email protected] or paste it in the reply, so that we can analyze what kind of backup you have made. 


    Best Regards,

    AOMEI Support Team

  • TomTom
    edited May 2014

    Hi,

    I had more or less the same experince, both backup and restore successful but no boot. 

    I did change the boot prority back from DVD driver to HDD after restore.

     

    Windows 8, UEFI comptible Sony VAIO 15E Fit

     

    Help!


  • Hi Tom,


    We are so sorry for the problem you encountered. Is there any error message wehn you boot from the restored disk? And did you restore the image to another place other than the source partition/disk?


    Best Regards,
    Kim
    AOMEI Support Team

  • It could not find operting system. I don't remember the exact phrase.

    I did restore the image to the source partition/disk. Twice.

  • Windows 7 Ultimate!

    After installing a new drive i have done a full disk copy to new drive.

    I installed everything it wanted to install during the install.

    I disabled microsoft security essentials !

    allowed it to shut down on comleation..

    removed old drive.

    changed/ checked boot settings in bios for new drive.. all looks ok !

    but no boot.. just a flashing cursor !

    I have used paragon hundreds of times over the years so pretty experienced at this !


    But a no goer ! any thing else I can try !


    Thank you paul


  • Windows 7 Ultimate!

    After installing a new drive i have done a full disk copy to new drive.

    I installed everything it wanted to install during the install.

    I disabled microsoft security essentials !

    allowed it to shut down on comleation..

    removed old drive.

    changed/ checked boot settings in bios for new drive.. all looks ok !

    but no boot.. just a flashing cursor !

    I have used paragon hundreds of times over the years so pretty experienced at this !


    But a no goer ! any thing else I can try !


    Thank you paul


  • Ok !

    Ive now tried the recovery console and tried all the options of Bootrec.. but no joy!

    Ive now stuck old drive back in !

    Safe mode /msconfig/stop all startup items/ and all non ms services except nvidia graphics..

    booted normal and run backup again !

    this time sector copy and only the boot partion and changed any partition resize options.


    now on booting the new backup I get no system disk found message !..mmm

    I ran recovery from the windows 7 boot disk but it went on for 4 hours searching / repairing boot problems.. I eventually pulled the plug !

    When I get into night i will try the bootrec.exe agin with all its options !

    Any thoughts anyone ? anything I can try ?

    Thank you

    Paul



  • Ok !

    Ive now tried the recovery console and tried all the options of Bootrec.. but no joy!

    Ive now stuck old drive back in !

    Safe mode /msconfig/stop all startup items/ and all non ms services except nvidia graphics..

    booted normal and run backup again !

    this time sector copy and only the boot partion and changed any partition resize options.


    now on booting the new backup I get no system disk found message !..mmm

    I ran recovery from the windows 7 boot disk but it went on for 4 hours searching / repairing boot problems.. I eventually pulled the plug !

    When I get into night i will try the bootrec.exe agin with all its options !

    Any thoughts anyone ? anything I can try ?

    Thank you

    Paul



  • Not clear what you did.

    After reading it few times,it seems you attached a new HD, and performed sector by sector Disk clone?

    It looks like your firmware can't detect a bootable device. Could be any number of reasons for that, ranging from faulty connectors to errors in the drive controller software that controls the storage of files on the hard drive.


    Assuming there isn't a problem with connectors, I suggest you rewite the boot code.


    Easily done, boot up windows installation/repair cd/dvd/usb, or any winpe you have lying around. 


    Open command prompt in winpe and type:

    bootsect /nt60 all /mbr

    (then press enter).

    you need to find the drive letters winpe has assigned. Probably different form the letters you see in your win7 installation.


    to do that, type:


    diskpart

    (then press enter)

    lis vol

    (then press enter)

    make a note of the letter asigned to your windows partition , and the letter assigned to your System partition (Active partition ).


    Then type:

    exi

    (then press enter to exit  diskpart)


    next type:

    bcdboot W:\Windows /s A:


    (replace W above with the leter you found for your windows partition - and replace A above with the the letter you found for your active partition ).


    You should be able to do all the above in a few seconds.






  • Hello,

    I did a complete backup and  restore on same disk  it was sucessful.  Befere restore I delete envery thing on disk.  I tried this on disk but it it did not although restore was successfull. It same senario as mentioned above... blinking curser.    I am not dure if I can trust on this.

    best regards 

  • edited November 2017

    Sanwar, did you do a system or disk backup and did you clean the disk with Diskpart before the restore? Is the initialization type now MBR or GPT and is it the same as originally? MBR=BIOS and GPT=UEFI. If it was GPT and you Cleaned it, it might have become MBR and that results in blinking cursor and no boot.

  • edited November 2017

    Booting from a restored Windows partition on a GPT drive fails for me too.

    The problem seems to be that Backupper changes the partition's unique
    GUID, even when restoring to the original partition.  Windows holds (in
    its BCD store) GUIDs corresponding to items in the boot menu, and uses
    those to identify which partition to boot from.  When it next tries to
    boot it's looking for a partition with a GUID that no longer exists.

    The change of GUID can be seen by using GPT fdisk (gdisk) to show detailed
    information about the partition before and after the restoration.  gdisk
    can also be used to set the GUID back to it's original value, provided
    you made a note of it first of course.

    AOMEI Backupper has many good features, but having to manually reset
    partitions' unique GUIDs in this way is a real pain.  Several people
    have given up using it because of being unable to boot after a restore.

    Backupper ought to give three options for the restored partition's unique GUID:

    • Use destination partition's GUID (if it exists).
      This would ensure that Windows can always find the restored partition to boot from (provided it's already in the BCD).
    • Use source partition's GUID. 
      This would be useful if restoring a previously bootable partition to a
      partition that Windows didn't have a BCD entry for, such as a new one.
      There would be a danger of ending up with two partitions with the same GUID, but I think Windows fixes this automatically.
    • Use a randomly generated new GUID (as at present).
      But this means that Windows can never find it to boot from.

       



  • Agreed with wonderer.
    Aomei Backupper never kept partition GUID and unfortunatelly it always change it during restore proces.
    It happens with restore of selected partition or complete disk restore using WinPE.

    During disk restore AOMEI will change all partition's GUID plus it will edit a BCD table. So generally system will boot up.But in partition restore mode AOMEI changes partition GUID without BCD so OS never will boot up when we use this option.

    I've tested many versions of AOMEI since 3.5 up to 5.0 because I use this software daily!

    Described problem can be fixed by using gdisk and Hiren's BootCD ;-) But I do not want to use several applications to make a complete 1:1 backup of my disk. I am tired of such solution already which involves more time too.
    I would like to that AOMEI could restore all partitions and BCD table with original values.

    AOMEI Tech please kindly add an option to preserve partition's GUID and BCD during restoration.

    Regards,
    Customer


  • Facing the same issue as @wlodekk above, my intention was to make multiple windows installs, one for work, one for personal stuff etc. set them up perfectly then when they become bloated just restore over the old one.

    Unfortunately that does not work because every restore AOMEI backupper gives the volume/partition a new GUID, meaning the BCD store entry which is linked to the previous GUID no longer boots.

    I spent hours/days on this crazyness, but now I know why, as explained above.

    Another bad side affect is, I had intended to make an "offline" install, for testing things that are potentially malware, problem is, I hid/unmounted every HDD from that so that it could not see or infect anything else, but once I restore say, my Work or Personal partitions, they now have new GUIDs so they become visible in the Offline OS, because they are considered new drives, this defeats the whole reason why I did it.

    In addition, I read somewhere & here, that a linux command line tool can change the GUIDs, but again like the prev user, I am tired of this and do not want multiple tools. Also, I read that Backupper has the ability to change GUIDs, but it is actually disabled in the USB boot version, from where I do all this.

    Why does backupper not just restore the original partition along with its GUID like it was? It would avoid all these problems!
  • edited April 2021
    My PC won't boot anymore after restoring a restoration point apparently went wrong, please help me I don't want to lose all my data. It only flashes this small white rectangle and nothing else happens.
  • @Dadriolee, Did you use AOMEI Backupper to do system restore? Did you restore to the original location?
    Could you take a photo of the boot error?
  • @Mohasi, "my intention was to make multiple windows installs"----Did you restore multiple system images to a disk? Could you give us a detailed description of your steps?
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