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As a test for using Clonezilla with Windows 10, I built a Windows 10 machine, and booted to the Clonezilla Live-CD to create an image across the network on our file server.

I cloned the entire drive, not partitions.

I then rebooted to the Clonezilla Live-CD and restored the image to the original machine. However, the system will not boot.

When I try to boot from the cloned HDD, it immediately goes to the Preparing Automatic Repair, then Diagnosing your PC, then attempting repairs and then fails - giving me the options to ...

  1. Exit and continue to Windows, which simply repeats the steps.
  2. Troubleshooting, where I tried the recovery again with no success.
  3. Power off

I have also tried rebooting to Windows 10 Install CD, and tried all the automatic recovery steps, as well as the following from the Troubleshooting | Command line ...

bootrec.exe bootrec.exe /fixmbr bootrec.exe /fixboot bootrec.exe /scanos bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd

NOTE: That the bootrec.exe /scanos reported that no Windows OS were found.

However, using an Ubuntu 18 live cd, I confirmed that the hard drive is OK, and all the NTFS partitions successfully mount and read.

Can this be fixed by ...
1. A different way to copy the Clonezilla image to the local hard drive?
2. Fix the current local hard drive (cloned from the image)?

root@ubuntu:~# parted GNU Parted 3.2 Using /dev/sda Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands. (parted) p Model: ATA WDC WD3200AAKS-0 (scsi) Disk /dev/sda: 320GB Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B Partition Table: msdos Disk Flags: Number Start End Size Type File system Flags 1 1049kB 525MB 524MB primary ntfs boot 2 525MB 319GB 319GB primary ntfs 3 319GB 320GB 863MB primary ntfs diag root@ubuntu:/mnt/sda1# ls -la total 421 drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 4096 Jul 26 01:32 . drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 120 Aug 20 15:41 .. drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8192 Jul 26 01:32 Boot -rwxrwxrwx 1 root root 408074 Jul 25 17:50 bootmgr -rwxrwxrwx 1 root root 1 Jul 25 17:50 BOOTNXT -rwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8192 Jul 26 01:32 BOOTSECT.BAK drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 Jul 26 01:59 Recovery drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 Jul 25 14:55 'System Volume Information' -rwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 Jul 25 17:48 '$WINRE_BACKUP_PARTITION.MARKER' root@ubuntu:/mnt/sda1# root@ubuntu:/mnt/sda2# ls -la total 4928509 drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8192 Aug 20 2019 . drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 120 Aug 20 15:41 .. drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8192 Jul 25 11:58 36c1fc38c881ffcc99b7677aa9f212 -rwxrwxrwx 1 root root 395268 Jul 10 2015 bootmgr -rwxrwxrwx 1 root root 1 Jul 10 2015 BOOTNXT drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20480 Jul 29 07:21 Config.Msi lrwxrwxrwx 2 root root 15 Jul 10 2015 'Documents and Settings' -> /mnt/sda2/Users drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8192 Jul 29 17:12 found.000 -rwxrwxrwx 1 root root 3435671552 Jul 29 07:12 hiberfil.sys drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 Jul 25 08:45 MSOCache drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 Jul 25 15:03 NVIDIA -rwxrwxrwx 1 root root 1342177280 Jul 29 07:12 pagefile.sys drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 Sep 15 2018 PerfLogs drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8192 Jul 29 07:37 ProgramData drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8192 Jul 29 07:20 'Program Files' drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8192 Jul 29 07:37 'Program Files (x86)' drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 4096 Jul 26 07:26 Quarantine drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 Aug 20 2019 Recovery -rwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 Aug 20 2019 Recovery.txt drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 4096 Jul 25 16:03 '$Recycle.Bin' drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 4096 Jul 25 13:51 stools_se_creo2 -rwxrwxrwx 1 root root 268435456 Jul 29 07:12 swapfile.sys drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 4096 Aug 2 21:15 '$SysReset' drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 4096 Jul 26 07:56 'System Volume Information' drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 4096 Jul 26 02:06 Users drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16384 Jul 26 02:16 Windows drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 Aug 2 21:16 '$Windows.~BT' root@ubuntu:/mnt/sda2# root@ubuntu:/mnt/sda3# ls -la total 4 drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 4096 Jul 29 17:05 . drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 120 Aug 20 15:41 .. drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 Jul 29 17:05 Recovery -rwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 Aug 20 2019 Recovery.txt drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 Jul 26 02:00 'System Volume Information' root@ubuntu:/mnt/sda3#

@yagmoth555

I'm not sure how to make the correct edits. I'm assuming I need to edit the Boot Loader (not the Boot manager). But searching the web has not clarified it for me.

Do you know the bcdedit command to change the correct partition.

The boot partition is (I believe) partition 1, 500mb (which should be C:).

enter image description here

enter image description here

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3
  • BIOS in legacy or UEFI, does it match from both machine ? Commented Aug 20, 2019 at 16:10
  • @yagmoth555 It should match OK. The computer that received the image is actually the same physical computer (and same hard drive) from which the the image was made. I did this as a test first, before trying the image with another computer. Commented Aug 20, 2019 at 19:03
  • In my case, I had to switch from RAID to AHCI in order to restore the image from Clonezilla, and Windows would not boot until I switched back to RAID mode. Commented Jul 3, 2024 at 23:13

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
1

My guess is that the boot manager is using a target partition for Windows that is now unable to find, like C:, but while on the cloned image the layout is maybe modified, and it can be on like D:

I would try to locate the Windows 10 partition while loaded with the Windows 10 install media to be sure it match the boot manager.

To do so; Run diskpart, select disk X, list partition from the target machine and the original's machine to compare.

In the target system run bcdedit, and note the disk partition. partition=C, etc.. and do a bcdedit /edit to change the letter to fit the one on the target machine.

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  • Im marking it as the answer because I suspect it will work, if I spent the time to figure out how to use bcedit properly. As it turns out, the tool AOMEI (backup-utility.com/…) ended up working out of the box :) So I just went with it. Commented Aug 22, 2019 at 15:12
1

Had the same problem. Win 10 system on C: partition and bootloader (with BCD) on a 'System Reserved' partition (without a letter assigned). I've cloned both of these partitions with Clonezilla (partition to partition clone, not disk clone) to a new disk and then faced the same issue as OP when trying to boot from the clone.

The solution was to boot into recovery mode, then command line. To see if my disk and partitions are good I did:

diskpart list disk select disk 0 list partition

Then exit to exit the diskpart. Then

bcdedit /enum /v

That printed under Windows Boot Loader that 'device' and 'osdevice' are unknown. I copied the identifier under the Windows Boot Loader including the curly brackets and then did

bcdedit /set {loader identifier pasted here} device partition=C: bcdedit /set {loader identifier pasted here} osdevice partition=C:

to point the BCD to the correct partition where the system is.

After this exit then I did restart... still not working. So again into the command line, and input

bootrec.exe /scanos

This reported it found my system in D: (I assumed it means that it found the bootloader since the system is C:, furthermore D is the logical followup letter to be assigned to the partition with the bootloader, since my disk has 2 partitions only atm) then lastly I ran

bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd

after which I booted fine and am writing this just from the clone not to forget...

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1

In my case I fixed it by removing all drives except the cloned hard drive, booted from the Windows installation USB, and opened command prompt. Then I used bcdboot.exe c:\windows. I was then able to boot into Windows.

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