How to move BCD Boot manager files in Vista to another partition

I have Vista32 in my PC, and after some new hardware related crashes I
decided yesterday to completely restore Vista partition from backup with
Acronis. However, in the middle of the restore from USB HDD, the backup
complained about faulty archive and I ended up with no working C: partition.
I reinstalled Vista from DVD and also all the programs. The loss of the
Vista OS partition was not that hard, as all my personal data is on D: and
E: on the same drive.

However, as the reinstall started from a situation, where there was empty
space instead of C:, I realized only after the install that Vista had set
the BCD boot files to D: (the first existing partition at installation
start), while the operating system is quite correctly installed to the
recreated C:

The PC works just fine, but I do not like mixing the pure "data partition"
D: with the boot sequence. I also realized with the reinstall to have
destroyed C:, that having the BCD data on the OS partition may be
problematic at some times. Although everything works now just fine, I would
like to transfer the BCD data either to C: or, maybe even better, to a small
2 GB partition S: created for that purpose.

Thus, the status was:

C: Boot, Page file, etc. (contains actual Vista OS)

D: System, Active (contains the BCD boot manager files) and my data

E: data

S: empty (2 GB)

All partitions are primary partitions, and formatted with NTFS.

I looked for advice transferring the BCD data to another partition, but did
not found complete advice, and thatswhy I am writing this message as a guide
for others

Defines the requirements for a 'System' partition. It sounds like I need
:copy the correct BCD files to S: and mark that S: partition active. Would
that be enough?

Sounds working, but requires boot with Vista DVD. Or does it actually?

Step Three 'Manual Repair' and Four 'Nuclear holocaust' might work. Creating
a new store on S:, and then copying the files there, and then marking the
partition active. BCDEDIT export and then modify...

Or might this actually work by using the official commands? This message
here brought the light for me

SOLUTION
Based on this article, it sounds like it is possible to set one attribute by
time (memory tester, etc.) to a certain disk volume (S: in my case),
provided of course that the needed files are there.

So, if

1) the other files (bootmgr, bootsect.bak and \boot-directory's files) are
copied to S:

2) current BCD system store is exported to S:

3) the function pointers in that new store file (boot manager, memory
tester, legady OS loader) are one by one set by using BCDEDIT to point to
the newly copied files on volume S: instead of D:

4) Vista Boot sector is copied to S: using Vista DVD media and 'BOOTSECT
/NT60 S: /FORCE' command from that DVD while still in normal Vista. (This
part should be done from repair console command prompt of booted Vista DVD
if the target disk has the operating system (C: for me) or is otherwise used
by Vista. Instead 'S:' also 'ALL' can be used to force the boot sector to be
copied to all partitions.)

5) Active bit in partition table is changed to S: before rebooting by using
DISKPART or Disk Management console

Might even work. or how?

Based on the previous thoughts, I wrote the needed commands to be done after
the other (non-locked) files are copied

After copying the non-locked other BCD files to the new partition,

first the system store is exported to S:,

then the references in that store file to partition D: are replaced by
references to S:,

then the contents are printed out just for verification, just in case

then the boot sector was copied from DVD to S:

and finally DISKPART is used to mark the S: as active.

Then a simple reboot.

IT WORKED!!!

Now I have S: as Active & System containg the BCD files, and D: is just a
normal data partition.

So, this is a way to move Vista BCD boot manager data to another partition,
using only Microsoft's own tools for the transfer and remaining inside a
normally running Vista. The Vista DVD media is needed at just one point for
running the BOOTSECT command from the media. Requires knowledge and careful
operations, but can be done.

Many MANY thanks for this post !!

This saved me from another Vista install.:D

Damn the developer that wrote the installer, as I had many problems
with a brand new laptop and Vista install on it.

That's great dude, cheers on figuring it out. It's interesting to see
your process, and I hope that you are still following this thread
because I would be immensely grateful if you could condense all of that
long post into a simple how-to from start to finish. It's a bit hard to
follow you in some places.

You hope the person is still following the thread AFTER NEARLY A YEAR
has passed AND that person has solved the problem?

You then have the balls to ask that person to re-write his post that
listed what he did to correct the problem because you are having a
problem following it?

He was certainly impolite, but he does have a point

As it is a complicated process and you need to understand, I wanted to give
the background how I found the solution. The walk-through of the solution is
pretty clearly labeled as SOLUTION there in the bottom part of my original
message...

But in any case, here is just the "Solution" part a bit reformatted:

SOLUTION

1) The other non-locked files (bootmgr, bootsect.bak and \boot-directory's
files) are manually copied to S: drive. Be careful to copy all hidden files,
and to copy to correct places...

2) Current BCD system store is exported to S:

3) The function pointers in that new store file (boot manager, memory
tester, legacy OS loader) are one by one set by using BCDEDIT to point to
the newly copied files on volume S: instead of D:

4) Vista Boot sector is copied to S: using Vista DVD media and 'BOOTSECT
/NT60 S: /FORCE' command from that DVD while still in normal Vista. (This
part should be one from repair console command prompt of booted Vista DVD if
the target disk has the operating system (C: for me) or is otherwise used by
Vista. Instead 'S:' also 'ALL' can be used to force the boot sector to be
copied to all partitions.)

5) Active bit in partition table is changed to S: before rebooting by using
DISKPART (or Disk Management console)

Then a reboot.

Great - my {bootmgr} shows
Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {bootmgr}
device unknown
description Windows Boot Manager

How do I rename it to partition=C:

You want to change the "unknown" to C: ?
Most likely:
bcdedit /set {9dea862c-5cdd-4e70-acc1-f32b344d4795} device partition=C:
(assuming the that GUID matches the value for {bootmgr}

But be careful, as trying to modify the BCD setup by hand is dangerous.

If you are simply trying to set everything to work from C:, it should be
rather starightforward process.
It might be easier for you to boot from Windows Vista DVD and run Startup
Repair (three) times.
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Win...f3f351033.mspx

Or you might use some of the tools available in the internet

I have done this numerous times and it always worked for me.

To change System partition ( if it is on the same HD as existing System
partition):

To change it to C:

1. Copy and paste bootmgr and pale yellow boot folder from existing
system partition to C:

(You get a message bcd is in use and can't be copied - skip it and copy
the rest.)

2. Open an elevated cmd and type :

bcdedit /export C:\Boot\bcd {enter}

3. In Disk Management , mark C Active. Reboot to hand system status to
C.

That's it.

Afaik it doesn't matter where bcd declares bootmgr is - the bootsector
code on the Active partition does not parse the bcd store - it will
always hand control to bootmgr on that same Active partition.

If you wish to change it for completeness:

bcdedit /set {bootmgr} device partition=C:

Hope it helps