missing boot.ini file

[fdbbern]

I am running into a strange problem.

I deploy an image to a Compact Flash formatted with NTFS. The image boots
and the FBA completes successfully.

I then make some changes and add some drivers. Everthing is fine. When I
finish making changes, I seal the image for cloning.

When I use the cloned image, the system displays an error message during
boot "missing boot.ini" file. The system then boots from the default
partition and everything is fine. But the error message appears at every
boot attempt.

Anybody know what happens to the boot.ini file between the FBA and the
cloning? Where does it go? Why does it disappear from the system?

I know that the boot.ini file is hidden by default. Could this have
something to do with it?

Thanks in advance for you help to this very annoying problem.

 

[KM]

Are you changing the storage config while cloning the image on the target?

What does the error message say exactly?

 

[fdbbern]

Hi,

The error message appears immediately after power up and it says:

Missing Boot.ini File
Booting from C:\Windows

Then the PC continues to boot normally without any input from me.

Now, if I copy in the boot.ini file that was there after the FBA completed,
everything works fine. It seems that during the cloning, the boot.ini file
is deleted.

I'm not sure I understand your first question. Changing the storage
location? After the FBA completes, I install 2 drivers and configure some of
the desktop settings. at this point, the boot.ini file is still there, but
it is hidden as a system file.

I then run the FBRESEAL command and shutdown the PC. When I look at the
resulting image files, I notice that the boot.ini is no longer there.

I did not see this behavior when I was using FAT32. Could the NTFS system
be causing this somehow? It's kind of strange.

 

[KM]

Well, I was just asking about how your target hardware is changed when you do cloning. In other words, are the cloned machines the
same (and the same storage stack used like CF, etc.) as the one where the golden image was captured from.

Are you saying that right after you run FBRESEAL it deletes the boot.ini? It is weird - never saw such behaviour. Can you confirm
that before fbreseal the boot.ini is there but after the command lunch it disappears? Check it on the same golden image and
evice - don't clone the image yet.
If the issue is happening while the fbreseal is run - you may want to report the bug to Microsoft.

 

[fdbbern]

I see.

Yes, the FBReseal command is run on the same exact hardware as the cloning.
There is absolutely no change there.

I have confirmed that before the FBReseal is run, the boot.ini file is there
(although hidden as a system file). After I run the FBReseal command, the
boot.ini file is gone. If I copy the same boot.ini file back into the image,
it works fine.

This was not happening until I switched to NTFS. This is the only change I
made to my image.

Thanks. I will report this to Microsoft.