I am new to this ghost imaging process, so forgive me if this is an easy question(s).

I created my first image of an entire disk from a windows xp sp3 machine.  When I restored the image, had an error that /ntldr was missing.  Did some research and found this is somewhat common with ghost 2003.

It was fairly easy to fix in the recovery console (fixmbr, fixboot, copy over ntldr and ntdetect.com).

My question is what can I do when creating the image to prevent this from happening?  Are there any settings in ghost I can check/enable prior?

Also, are there any other considerations I need to take in account, such as the registry?  The imaged computer seems to be working just fine other then the boot issue.  I also used sysprep prior to the image.

@ Todd


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I created my first image of an entire disk from a windows xp sp3 machine.  When I restored the image, had an error that /ntldr was missing.  Did some research and found this is somewhat common with ghost 2003.

The most common reason for this problem occurs when there are more than one partition on the original source HDD--and the OS partition is not the first one on the HDD--and the restore is to either a new HDD or to the old HDD where to other partitions have been deleted.

The most common reason for the HDD being setup as mentioned above is that the system is from Dell, HP, or other major manufacturer who have included a *Utility* partition, and a *Recovery* partition (usually both are *hidden* unless you use a tool that can see *hidden* partitions).

If the OS is not on the first partition, then the *boot.ini* file will point to whichever partition it is located on--usually *(2)*--the second partition.  If you restore that image to a blank HDD--the OS is now on the first partition *(1)*--and when you boot, *boot.ini* will direct the boot process to look for the next boot files on the second partition--and thus you get the *ntldr was missing* response.

So, you have to know ahead of time what the original source partition layout is--and you have to know what the resultant partition layout is going to be on the destination HDD--you can then edit the *boot.ini* file before creating the image so it will point to the correct partition on the future destination HDD.

Or, you can use the tools you already mentioned to correct the incorrect information.  This tool can also be used:  TeraByte Unlimited Freeware--See *EditBini*


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I created my first image of an entire disk from a windows xp sp3 machine.

I'm curious, you did a *whole disk* image, but did you do a *whole disk* restore--or did you restore just the OS partition?