No Virtual Memory after DriveCopy

Have you tried safe mode or the repair console ?

repair console
The Recovery Console lets you boot an otherwise unbootable installation.
To get to the Recovery Console, perform the following steps
1. Boot from installation disks or CD-ROM.
2. At the Welcome screen, press F10.
3. Select Repair.
4. Select Console.

If the SAM is intact, you need to log on to the system with an
Administrator password. After the console is active, you can access a
subset of the command prompt commands: ATTRIB, CD, CHDIR, CHKDSK, CLS,
COPY, DEL, DELETE, DIR, DISABLE, DISKPART, ENABLE, EXIT, EXPAND,
FIXBOOT, FIXMBR, FORMAT, HELP, LISTSVC, LOOGN, MAP, MD, MKDIR, MORE, RD,
REN, RENAME, RMDIR, SYSTEMROOT, and TYPE.

From here, you should be able to recover the system or at least copy
crucial data from a corrupted install to a removable media device.
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q229/7/16.ASP
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q229/7/16.ASP?LN=EN-US&SD=gn&FR=0&qry=fixboot&rnk=2&src=DHCS_MSPSS_gn_SRCH&SPR=WIN2000
Recover console command options
------------------
I hope this helps !

this may help
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q140/4/72.asp
this may be more help
from M$
Unable to Log on if the Boot Partition Drive Letter Has Changed
[Limited Virtual Memory]
Your system has no paging file, or the paging file is too small
This problem can occur if your Windows 2000 boot partition drive letter does not match the drive letter assigned during the initial Windows 2000 Setup. Windows 2000 maintains a record of drive letters in a registry based database and re-assigns drive letters based on Globally Unique Identifiers (GUID) recorded for each volume. Should the volume GUID change or be duplicated (by hard drive cloning software), the original drive letter may not be re-assigned to the boot volume.

This may also occur if you break a system/boot mirror, and then attempt to boot to the old shadow drive if the original primary drive is missing or inaccessible. This is because the volume GUID for the shadow drive is different than that of the original primary drive and does not get the same drive letter assigned.

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q249/3/21.ASP

I'd delete the copied partition, run sysprep on the first copy and try again. http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q295/9/19.ASP

andyalder: Yes, I tried with and without pagefile.sys on the new partition B.

stevenlewis' article is describing the problem, and I changed the location of userinit.exe in the registry, and changed the registry keys for both partitions for the "MountedDevices". Unfortunately, there was no effect (apart from that A's system directory now was on partition B - which I reverted...).

Now I can erase the master boot record from a boot floppy disk (if drive letters / their assoc. GUIDs were the problem) or remove pagefile.sys before copying the image (if that was the problem).

I'ld just like to understand the problem before doing actions that cost hours...

Thanks to all, so far.

robbert, are you using PowerQuest DriveCopy or Symantec DriveCopy?

this may help you understand it better
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q234/0/48.ASP

Also see here:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q249/3/21.ASP

Your boot loader files need to be in the active partition. Then create your pagefile entries in the partition where Windows 2000 is actually loading.

robbert, are you still with us?

I would guess Robbert has gotten involved in a rather extensive project.  If he comes back, I have posted points for him at https://www.experts-exchange.com/jsp/qManageQuestion.jsp?ta=msvisdev&qid=20186077.  I may eventually go back and reclaim them but they are there right now.

Hi. Well, dew_associates probably was near as I drive-copied from an inactive partition. Anyway, after your responses, I destroyed my last working partition by mistake, and did a setup from the scratch - unfortunately, in the largest available partition - so that I can't check DriveCopy right now. I might try Norton Ghost but currently, I'm fed up with partitions.

I'm sorry if you feel you wasted your time - your contributions were qualified and near.
If you agree, I'ld like to delete this thread, and post a set of "Points for" questions.

And thank you for willingness to help :-)

Fine by me robbert
Steve

Fine by me robbert!

Points-award questions posted; deleting this question. Thanks again.

I'm having exactly the same problems as robbert after using PartionMagic 7.0 to copy partitions.

I'll see if any of the above suggestions will fix the problem.

I was backing up partitons onto different HDDs succesfully for a couple of years using partitionmagic.

I'm now using w2k and NTFS and the problems hafve kicked in.

The solution I'm seeking is that which restores pagefile.sys operation, probably via a regedt32 operation/s and
whatever else needs to be done.

I would not delete this question. It's vital.

That's somewhat of a loaded request Ozphil

Why delete it?

No one's come up with a solution, but the ugly problem is still there.

So far ive tried MBRFIX - did not fix - same error.

I've tried Windows repair via recovery console - same error.

I copied windows XP to partition - same error.

There is one clue however - on the very first booting up of the new partition I get partitionmagic reportinng an error:  'xmnt2001.exe Error 602 - can't load batch file'.

According to PowerQuest FAQ:
'Cause(s) of the problem
The software lets you specify a series of changes you want to make to your partitions, and then executes all the changes when you click Apply. At this point, the software writes out a command list file (called a "batch file") to disk in preparation for execution, and then reads the file upon execution (immediately if a lock can be secured on all impacted partitions, or in a special "reboot" mode after rebooting your computer if not all locks can be secured). In the Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT Workstation versions of the software, the batch file is located in your Windows\System directory. In the DOS versions, it is located in the directory from which the software is running. The batch file has a .PQB file extension.  If the batch file cannot be created, cannot be written, or cannot be located when the software attempts to execute the command file, the above error messages appear. '

Clearly xmnt2001.exe can't find the .pqb - becaue of a drive letter stuff up?

The solution recommended by Microsoft in a link provided by Stevenlewis on drive letter GUIDs I currently find undecipherable. There are other suggestions mentioned I'll be trying.

When/if I eventually succeed I'll post the solution here.

However if the question is deleted there will be an answer but no question :).

I don't want the points.

I'll make sure it stays open Oz!~

Since robbert gave up but awarded points for trying why not zero points and PAQ? Then ozphil could ask it again in case there's a guaranteed solution to the problem about to be issued. While it's open it can't be found by the search routine, more use as a free but unsolved paq.

I found this using the search routine.

andyalder

The solution is probably in the answers already given.

It's just that some of the Microsoft solutions are so horrendous and dangerous I'm taking my time to comprehend them and try them out.

It seems I just can't arbitrarily drag and drop partitions with partionmagic. Partionmagic documentation expalains that drive letter problems may occur with certain combinations of OS partitions, certain sequence of partition creation/deltion, gaps between between OS partitions, etc.

It seems the paging file 'missing' is a symptom of an underlying drive letter problem.

Let's get back to the original issue. Why not return the pagefile to its original location on the "C" drive and let Windows manage memory. Let Win2k settle down and then move the partitions contents.

Dew_assocs

This is correct advice. However if this is not done before partition copying is applied w2k (and XP) may no longer boot. You may not realise your backup HDD will have problems until one day you need it.

Partitionmagic tells you there is a batch file problem and and w2k reports there is 'pagefile missing problem'.

After trying a number of things to get w2k in the backup HDD to boot up past pagefile 'load' without success, I established for myself the following procedure which works.

- wipe off all partitions in the target HDD using w2k Computer Management.

- in the source HDD ensure that the pagefile resides only in C drive partition and in no other partition. Do this via MyComputer/properties/advanced/virtual memory cahnge interface.

- Using partionmagic copy source C: partition (FAT32)into unallocated space of target HDD

- Then copy (in my case) D: drive partition into remaining unallocated space in target HDD.

When I shutdown, removed source HDD, changing target HDD to primary then booting all worked at last.

I have this many times before without incident.

I may have got a bit adventurous about the order in which I deleted/created partitions, copying from secondary to priamry etc - whatever Partionmagic was happy to let me do :). The trouble is, what PM allows you  to do is not always what w2k/XP would be happy with. There are no warnings about the consequences of your quite seemingly sound operations.

In future I would endeavour to perform operations in the order w2k expects, not what PM allows me.

My comment though, should be sufficient to resolve robberts issues.

According to me it is problem with unsufficient privileges of the SYSTEM account over the partition in question.
If it is NTFS partition (I suppose so) and the SYSTEM account has no Full-control rights over the drive in question (D:) root it will be not able to change the pagefile.sys file, thus reporting insuficient virtual memory.

HTH,
Zlatin Zlatev, MCSD

Essentially the same problem occured for me on an XP Pro system.  My system partition is FAT16 and at its 2 Gig limit is too small.  (FAT16 because I wanted DOS.)  So, I need to enlarge partition and to keep DOS that means FAT32.  I am loathe to let PQMagic mess with the system partition so I copied the system partition with PQMagic to unallocated space on the same disk creating a new primary partition.  Booting to new partition has not been successful!  I think it is a you all say, drive letter problem.  I'm fixing to try using a PQMagic bat file to resolve the problem.  I'll report back on the result.

If it is a drive letter problem, it can be solved by using Storage/Disk Management from computer Management administrative tool.

@robbert, provide question status please.

Zlatev:
Thanks for the suggestion.  Unfortunately the XP tools only work in the booted XP system.  You can not access hidden partitions with it.  Also the new (copied) partition needs the drive letter "C" but the booted partition is "C" so, even if I could access the hidden partition, I couldn't name it "C."
I haven't yet solved the problem and welcome any & all suggestions!!!!!!

@ebuck, I suggest posting your problem as question, so that other experts, not participating in this question may be able to see it.

Zlatev:
Good idea.  I posted to XP forum

I have had this problem too - copying XPpro with PartitionMagic onto the same HDD doesnt work

However copying onto a SEPARATE HDD DOES WORK. So use a separate HDD for your copy and it will work.

I have been doing this regularly for a long time for copying my entire drive using PartitionMagic. It never fails.

Make sure the target HDD is blanked (I use XP's computer management to delete all the partitions), and then drag and drop the partitions from the source HDD onto the target HDD, in left to right order.

I know just about everything else fails but if I follow my own procedure it never fails.

I have no explanation or given up on reasons why things don't work they way they should with these XPpro partiton copying problems, but I have through trial and error developed a procedure that ALWAYS works, even though it is inefficient - one HDD per XPpro partition.

Sorry for the delay, and I'm glad to grade. - This was indeed what solved the problem but there were some additional issues...

Hi all
same problem with DriveCopy 4 from powerquest. I just swap drives and got pagination error, I'm now trying to solve reading some microsoft articles. I'll let you know

Hi all
same problem with DriveCopy 4 from powerquest. I just swap drives and got pagination error, I'm now trying to solve reading some microsoft articles. I'll let you know

@Piku, post your problem as *new* question.

An easy sollution works fine for me (experienced same problem as a result of a drive copy):

- start your system with a dos bootdisk
- execute fdisk /mbr
- restart your system

this sollution is also described in microsoft's knowledge base as one possible option. it worked fine for an ntfs file system.

I found marco327's comment to be the simplest solution. It took 5 minutes and I was up and running. Thanks marco327.

All praise Marco!

>>I found marco327's comment to be the simplest solution. It took 5 minutes and I was up and running. Thanks marco327.

I agree. I just found this from google. thanks again Marco

Hi all,
found this thread tonight after running into the same problems. Here is what I know after having it resolved (after 2.5 hours, fu**)

1) As ozfil, I used PQMagic 7 to copy partition 1 from a 30GB disk to a 80GB model. At that time, the 30GB hosted several parts, the first was my 2k-System, letter C:

2) I disassembled the PC and changed the Master-Slave-Settings (old state: 30GB Master, 80GB Slave; NEW STATE: 80GB Master, 30GB Slave)

3) I copied partition 1 from 30GB slave to part 1 80GB Master

4) I rebooted the system with BOTH installed. Everything worked fine, I thought I was working on the 80GB Master as my System-Volume, but didn't check for it because there was no differences obviously that could have made me curious.

5) I booted into DOS, fired up PQMagic 7 and wiped all off that 30GB Disk

6) I removed the 30GB Slave from the system and had a nice reboot. That was 2.5 hours ago.

7) SNAFU: Situation Normal, ALL FU''ED UP. I got all those nice messages mentioned in the first parts of this thread.

8) I tried through all MS-Articles listed above. In my case, none of them helped me. Neither could I connect via network to the box (maybe because a Norton Firewall is on it?) nor did fdisk /mbr help. I even tried to boot off the 2k CD and use recovery console "fixmbr" and "fixboot". Nothing.

9) So here is what I did: I took out the best 2k Admins friend, a little boot disk running linux with tools to access 2k's registry (you can do a lot nice things with that disk, see here: http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/

10) with that disk I followd the instructions in
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q249/3/21.ASP
and changed the Registry-Settings accordingly.

11) My 2k came back, booting from drive D: since something (my SCSI-Jaz-Drive) had become C: and thus I got some messages that programs failed, but at least I had loged in again. In "MyComputer" I could easyly figure out that my HDD was "d:" now and my Jaz was "c:".
!!!! This may be some different combination in your case. check it before proceeding. !!!!

12) Changing the driveletters back using regedt32 and regedit as stated in
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;223188
was easy to do then.

13) 13 is a good number in this case, since after this final reboot, everything was in place again.

HTH and have been detailed enough. Good luck!!!
And thanks to all who posted those links to MSKB above. Great help. But as my experience was proved again: Allways have a good portion of LINUX WITH YOU! Special Thanks goes once more to >>> Petter Nordahl-Hagen <<< for his invaluable work. Petter, I love you ;-))

Thanks guys, the above sorted my issue out as well!

Start the lot of you!!

Hello, all.

Same kind of situation using Powerquest Drive Image 2002 w/ Windows 2000 Pro.  Oddly enough, I've used the same CD set for setting up several systems (same config, same hardware, other than hd sizes) without difficulty, then suddenly, plop!  Anyway, the fdisk /mbr trick worked, so thanks for your help, folks.

smyles_eh :)

I had a similar related experience, but none of the solutions proposed here seems to work.  

Win2K Advanced Server SP3 disk, two partitions, basic disk, NTFS, running for many months.  I made the mistake of using this disk as a data disk on another, almost identical, Win2K system.  Now I have much the same problem -- no paging file -- PLUS an additional problem that hints at a cause.  

Symptoms:

1.  No paging file error when I log in to any account, not just Administrator.  
2.  The page file is actually on the disk, but for some reason the system can't recognize it and won't use it.  
3.  I can change the size and/or location of the page file, but after rebooting the system still has the same problems 1 and 2.  
4.  Similarly, I can change settings for various programs on the system, but they are not sticky across a reboot.  Seriously, any settings for several programs I tried.  Change the setting, works fine; reboot, it reverts to the old value.  

Hypothesis: running this disk as a data disk on another system changed the security settings (SID, GUID, something) so that when the Win system on this disk boots, it no longer owns the file system.  A privileged user (Administrator, other admin accounts) can write files and settings to the disk all day long, but the Win system, when it boots, will not pay attention to them, because the security identity of the running system and the security identity of that user are not the same.  

I think I've tried everything suggested on this thread that involves just Microsoft software (that is, that doesn't involve Ghost or DriveImage or Partition Magic or something).  Actions already tried that didn't work:

a.  Change the page file settings to make a larger or smaller page file in the same place.  
b.  Change the page file settings to add a second page file on the second partition.  
c.  Change the page file size(s) to zero, boot, change to reasonable size, boot.  
d.  Change the drive letters of both partitions to something else and then back to the original settings.  
e.  Rename the registry entries for HKLM/System/MountedDevices, similarly, to something unoccupied and then back again.  
f.  Rewrite the MBR on the disk.  

Other suggestions welcome.  I really, really don't want to have to reinstall the system and all the layered software.  

Thanks in advance for any sage advice.  

rick

Addendum to the comment immediately above.  

Yet another action that didn't work:

g.  Sysprep the disk.  (Resets the security SID.)  Nope.  

rick

DId you actually delete the pagefile manually and let windows recreate it ?

I would first set the page file to 0 on the existing disk, and put set the pagefile to use another partition, and then physically delete the original pagefile and then reboot.

Also - Have you run chkdsk manually ?

 I hope this helps !

Well, here I am several years later with the same problem. I did a reboot using F8 and selected Directory Services Restore. Here's what's going on... I only have one drive connected (not even a CD ROM) and if you watch it says checking "E:\".
So, now I know don't I. I will be checking my boot sector with an antique copy of DOS on a floppy that I have... THANKS GUYS!