fre

It's quite easy with the correct tools. You need a boot manager. I suggest BootIt NG. On the following page there are numerous videos outlining how to use BING and there is one video that describes exactly what you desire, but with WinXP. For Vista or Windows7, use the same method.

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/howto/index.htm

fre

I've done this with BING. In Boot Edit, did you have the relevant Vista in the first MBR slot for each Boot Menu entry and the other Vista as Hidden? I'm using Unlimited Primaries so I don't have the second Vista in the MBR at all. There is no way either can interact.

fre wrote on May 1^st, 2009 at 2:52pm:

That is not what I did. I "copied" Vista in BING and "pasted" into unallocated space. Actually, this could make a big difference as your first Vista "knew" about the partition and this could give rise to boot issues.

That was quick. I'm looking at my second Windows7 desktop now.

Hi,

thanks again for your answer.
This time  I used the copy function in BING and pasted an exiting partiton to unallocated space, (without making an image first).  Again, I have the same problem as described above:   when I boot partition 2 (=cloned vista), it loads vista, but it loads the vista from partition 1(=the original vista).  In this booted vista, I see that partition 2 is active, but partition 1 is indicated as system and boot partition.  This is not normal.

Starting from scratch (empty HD), this is what I've done:
1) create a partition via the XP installation disk  (this because I've learned that vista creates non-standard partitions)
2) reboot with vista CD: install vista on this partition
3) generalize vista:
bcdedit /set {current} osdevice boot
bcdedit /set {current} device boot
bcdedit /set {bootmgr} device boot
bcdedit /set {memdiag} device boot
4) boot with BootIt NG CD: I do not install the bootmanager, but use the functionality of copying this partition and pasting it to unallocated space
5) now I make this second (new cloned) partition active and boot from it.

The result:  partition 2 stays active, but the vista from partition 1 is loaded.  (see screenshot in attachment)
So my questions remains: can anyone please give me a step-by-step guide how to clone vista succesfully?

Kind regards,
Frederik

@Brian, you jump into conclusions to fast...

I did not allocate a drive letter to the second vista (=clone).  It automatically assigned a drive letter after booting.  
Firstly, I chosen to hide the original partition (so no influence to the other partition is possible).  But then, BSOD were appearing at booting the clone.  
After this, I chose to unhide the original partition, resulting the drive letter allocation (screenshot at previous post).
Whether BING is installed as bootmanger or not, it doesn't change  anything to this behaviour.

I do not want to choose the unlimited primaries option in Bing, because I want to have the option to change bootmanager at each time.  (= I do not want to depend on proprietary software)

I keep on trying other options.  Meanwhile, i appreciate any support, with our without using BootIt... (there seems to be alternatives, but I've not tested them)

Kind regards,


Fre

fre wrote on May 3^rd, 2009 at 4:23pm:

As long as you don't have more than 4 primary partitions you can turn Unlimited Primaries on and off whenever you like. It doesn't prevent you from changing boot managers whenever you like.

I just did it again using Vista and Primaries Limited. No problems. The hidden partition shows as Healthy (Primary Partition).

I'm happy to slowly walk you through this.