battlestar

Quote:

Error messages like this usually mean that something about the partition layout on the source computer is not being maintained on the destination systems--or the boot loader information is specific to the source computer and is not being adjusted to the needs of the destination systems.

Dells usually have a *Utility* partition and a *Recovery* partition in addition to the OS partition--and the boot loader is customized so one can enter those partitions using specific key strokes--and that customized boot loader is embedded in the Master Boot Record *sector* somewhere.  And, Vista and Win7 use a new boot loader that involves *Boot Configuration Data (BCD) store*, and you may have to edit the source system's BCD store using the *bcdedit.exe* program to change the boot loader from pointing to a specific HDD to a more generalized boot loader configuration.

So, depending on which version of Windows you are using, there are different changes that need to be done to make imaging and deployment function properly--I can't say I'm an expert on those changes, but they have been mentioned in various posts here.