SysPrep 1.1 Clone locks up on "Starting Windows" screen

[Andy Hide]

I am using SYSPREP 1.1 to clone a 2000 server. My master is a Compaq
Proliant DL360, the destination a Compaq Proliant 800 (which is the
older of the two).

When I boot the destination machine the system locks up at the black
"Starting Windows" screen just after the boot loader. The bar at the
bottom of the screen gets to 100% and the system freezes. It looks
like the system is locking up before even being able to blue screen.

I at first suspected a mass storage device problem as the array
controllers are different on both machines. I have put the correct
drivers in the [SysprepMassStorage] section of SysPrep.inf. From
postings on the forum though I would have expected an
INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE blue screen if this was the case.

Could the problem be incompatible HALs ? I loaded a blank copy of 2K
on my sorce and destination machines and looked at the hal.dll on
each. They are different. Could this be the cause of my problem as I
don't think the OS is even able to begin to load. Can you specify
different HALs in sysprep.inf ?

Also, I tried the clone operation the opposite way round with source
as Proliant 800, destination Proliant DL360 so that my destination is
the newer machine. This time the system booted but froze after running
the mini-setup wizard.

Is there anything I can do to trouble shoot the bootup process ?
Anyone come across this before?

 

[Tim Quinn [MSFT]]

You can only copy a disk image onto a destination computer if the HAL on the
disk image is compatible with the HAL on the destination computer.
Compatible HALs are those that are identical or those that can be updated
during an image-based installation. If the HAL on your disk image is not
compatible with the HAL that is required on a destination computer, you need
to create a separate disk image for the HAL that is required on the
destination computer.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/tr...r2003/proddocs/deployguide/acicd_sys_pfae.asp

 

[Andy Hide]

I have managed to get the machine to start by doing the following:

1) Ghost image file onto destination hardware.
2) Load an additional copy of Win2k to a \WINNT2 directory on the
desintation hardware. This allows the WIN2k installer to detect the
type of HAL that the particular machine needs to use.
3) Copy the HAL.DLL from the \WINNT2\SYSTEM32 directory to the
\WINNT\SYSTEM32 directory replacing the HAL.DLL from the original
image
4) Reboot into the copy of Win2k that was cloned and the system boots
up.

I may have been lucky that this works and I have not yet fully tested
the system but so far things seem OK. Does this seem like an
acceptable way to go or am I likely to run into problems ?

I have also noticed that different service packs have different
versions of each HAL so you would have to re-detect the HAL required
if you were to update the SP level of your master image.

Does anyone have a good way of replacing the HAL after ghosting each
time ? My method at present is to boot to the recovery console and
copy the required HAL from a floppy into the SYSTEM32 directory.

You can only copy a disk image onto a destination computer if the HAL on the
disk image is compatible with the HAL on the destination computer.
Compatible HALs are those that are identical or those that can be updated
during an image-based installation. If the HAL on your disk image is not
compatible with the HAL that is required on a destination computer, you need
to create a separate disk image for the HAL that is required on the
destination computer.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/tr...r2003/proddocs/deployguide/acicd_sys_pfae.asp


--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

I am using SYSPREP 1.1 to clone a 2000 server. My master is a Compaq
Proliant DL360, the destination a Compaq Proliant 800 (which is the
older of the two).

When I boot the destination machine the system locks up at the black
"Starting Windows" screen just after the boot loader. The bar at the
bottom of the screen gets to 100% and the system freezes. It looks
like the system is locking up before even being able to blue screen.

I at first suspected a mass storage device problem as the array
controllers are different on both machines. I have put the correct
drivers in the [SysprepMassStorage] section of SysPrep.inf. From
postings on the forum though I would have expected an
INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE blue screen if this was the case.

Could the problem be incompatible HALs ? I loaded a blank copy of 2K
on my sorce and destination machines and looked at the hal.dll on
each. They are different. Could this be the cause of my problem as I
don't think the OS is even able to begin to load. Can you specify
different HALs in sysprep.inf ?

Also, I tried the clone operation the opposite way round with source
as Proliant 800, destination Proliant DL360 so that my destination is
the newer machine. This time the system booted but froze after running
the mini-setup wizard.

Is there anything I can do to trouble shoot the bootup process ?
Anyone come across this before?