Windows 10 drive cloned from Clonezilla image will not boot

bootclonezillawindows 10

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

Best Answer

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.