Trouble using system drive from previous computer.

[mpack]

In fact I don't need any of the columns, the single fact that CHS addresses are listed is sufficient confirmation that this is a legacy/MBR disk - exactly as expected in a disk image of a 10 year old Win7 system.

[JJJones]

In fact I don't need any of the columns, the single fact that CHS addresses are listed is sufficient confirmation that this is a legacy/MBR disk - exactly as expected in a disk image of a 10 year old Win7 system.

Ok. Now that we have that answered. Anyway to create a usable VHD from this drive, or some way to fix the INT18 problem I am running into?

I just don't know what to try next now or where to go.

[mpack]

I already said what to do: uncheck the EFI option in the VM settings. If you still get Int18 then the disk was never bootable.

[JJJones]

Did uncheck the EFI option. Produces INT18 error. The disk was definitely bootable. Worked for 8-10 years.

[fth0]

If your transcription of the partition info is accurate, the original hard disk has one hidden DELL-specific partition (the 0xde is no coincidence BTW ) and two NTFS partitions. All three partitions are marked as not bootable, and running into the INT 18h is an expected result of that (even the newest Windows 10 MBR code would do that).

Re-reading your initial post, I noticed that you were talking about two original hard disks. Usually, only one of them should have a bootable partition. Are we perhaps looking at the wrong hard disk?

Reading further about "OEM", "E:" and "F:", I'd say "yes".

Edit:
I've overlooked that the two original hard disks were built into the new PC as secondary and tertionary hard disks. I'm getting old.

[JJJones]

@fth0 Thx.

No, we are looking at the correct disk. The 3rd partition is labelled as "OS" on this disk. The other disk is labelled as DATAPART1. I can look at the disk contents using File Explorer and of course I see the system disk with all the usual stuff.

I hired a PC guy (BTW - that admittedly said he knows nothing about VirtualBox, Disk2VHD, etc. and didn't want to do any of that) to build my new computer from parts I ordered. I have never done that and didn't want to learn on this one as it was extremely important to get up and running as quickly as possible. His job was to build the new PC with a 2TB SSD system drive running Win11 Home. And then simply move the 2x old hard sata drives from the old computer into the new computer. Which he did.

So, how do we explain this drive no longer having a bootable partition?

Please tell me there is some way to now create a bootable partition so that I can create a usable VHD?

[fth0]

CloneVDI. It will tell you if the partition map is MBR or GPT.

It probably won't play any role in this thread any more, but I'm curious:

How does CloneVDI recognize and/or ignore the different types of Protective MBRs?

[fth0]

So, how do we explain this drive no longer having a bootable partition?

Perhaps the PC guy deliberately cleared the bootable flag, so that the new PC cannot accidentally boot from the old hard disk. There are also more complex explanations possible: For example, there could be a boot manager on the other old hard disk, and that partition is marked as bootable. Note that the proposed solution below perhaps doesn't work in case of some of the more complex situations.

Please tell me there is some way to now create a bootable partition so that I can create a usable VHD?

There are several ways, and each of us will perhaps suggest a different method. Here's mine:

Take the VM that boots into INT 18h, put a GParted Live ISO into the virtual DVD drive, boot the VM from the virtual DVD drive, use GParted to mark the partition as bootable, shut down the VM, remove the GParted Live ISO from the virtual DVD drive, and start the VM again.

[JJJones]

Take the VM that boots into INT 18h, put a GParted Live ISO into the virtual DVD drive, boot the VM from the virtual DVD drive, use GParted to mark the partition as bootable, shut down the VM, remove the GParted Live ISO from the virtual DVD drive, and start the VM again.

@fth0

Thx, this does sound promising.

I am pretty sure I know how to add a virtual DVD/CD drive to my VM in virtual box. And I know how to set the boot order so it boots from there.

I have visited the GParted.org website. I could use more help/confidence with these steps however:

- "put a GParted Live ISO into the virtual DVD". There appears, or I may be reading this wrong, to be many things that I might download and it is not obvious to me exactly what you are referring to. Also, the site claims "WARNING - you can lose all your data", so I want to make sure I have this correct. If you could please provide me a link to the piece/file that you are referring to, it would be very helpful.
- "use GParted to mark the partition as bootable". I have looked through the GParted manual for how to do this (https://gparted.org/display-doc.php?nam ... ive-manual), but I can't find anything that mentions 'marking partitions bootable'. If you could kindly point me at the correct section of the manual or other resource that will help me complete this step, that would be helpful.

I realize this takes more of your time, but hopefully these are two things that you can point me to quickly.

Sincerely.

[fth0]

From the GParted Downloads page, download the amd64 ISO file. Regarding potential data loss: As long as you're only working with the VM and a virtual hard disk image (*), the original hard disks are your backup (of course, they could cease working at any time, so having another backup wouldn't be a bad idea, too).

(*) I assume that when creating the VM, you chose one of the methods creating a virtual hard disk image, not the method using raw disk access. WARNING: If you want to do the latter, there are other pitfalls to avoid!

Within the GParted program, select the (virtual) hard disk in the top right (e.g. /dev/sda), right click on the correct partition (e.g. /dev/sda3) in the main window, select Manage Flags and check the Boot flag. Up to now, nothing has been written to the (virtual) hard disk. From the menu, choose Edit > Apply All Operations, and the changes get written.

[mpack]

Did uncheck the EFI option. Produces INT18 error. The disk was definitely bootable. Worked for 8-10 years.

The partition map you showed clearly shows no partition marked as bootable. That's why it can't boot.

If this was in fact the boot drive, then I can only guess that Dell BIOSes recognize that 0xDE partition as containing a boot manager, and run the code from there. Perhaps some kind of hybrid UEFI style boot manager before UEFI for real happened. Total guess since I've not encountered that 0xDE partition type before.

Was the original PC a completely normal consumer grade Dell? Not secured in any way by, e.g., an encrypted drive?

I would be interested in seeing the partition map of the other drive. I suspect one of those partitions is bootable.

[JJJones]

@fth0 - Thanks much for the tips on performing your steps. I was able to complete all steps just now without issue. One exception, once you set the boot flag and close the Options window, you do not need to Apply Settings. They are saved as indicated by rebooting into the ISO and seeing that the boot flag is indeed set on the main partition labelled 'OS'.

When I then removed the ISO and booted form the VHD, I got

""An operating system wasn't found. Try disconnecting any drives that don't contain an operating system. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart"

No more INT18 error! So, change is good - right? Any ideas now?

gparted-bootflag2.png (72.32 KiB) Viewed 1823 times

gparted-bootflag2.png (72.32 KiB) Viewed 1823 times

OS-not-found.png (15.4 KiB) Viewed 1823 times

[JJJones]

If this was in fact the boot drive, then I can only guess that Dell BIOSes recognize that 0xDE partition as containing a boot manager, and run the code from there. Perhaps some kind of hybrid UEFI style boot manager before UEFI for real happened. Total guess since I've not encountered that 0xDE partition type before.

Was the original PC a completely normal consumer grade Dell? Not secured in any way by, e.g., an encrypted drive?

@mpack

Yes, this PC was a completely normal online order Dell consumer purchase. No encrypted drive that I am aware of.

I would be interested in seeing the partition map of the other drive. I suspect one of those partitions is bootable.

Below is a pic of my system from Windows11 Disk Management point of view. Is this what you are asking for?
Or, are you requesting that I create a VHD from the DATAPART1 (D:) drive and then run CloneVDI against it as I did above for the OS drive?

disk-mgmt-screenshot.png (56.16 KiB) Viewed 1820 times

[JJJones]

(*) I assume that when creating the VM, you chose one of the methods creating a virtual hard disk image, not the method using raw disk access. WARNING: If you want to do the latter, there are other pitfalls to avoid!

@fth0 - sorry I did forget to answer your question here. You are correct, I did NOT use raw disk access. Though I have tried this method in the past with no luck.

[fth0]

Your Disk Management screenshot made me realize two issues further complicating things:

1) Windows 7 and newer usually create a System Reserved partition (~100 MB), which is marked as active ("bootable") and contains the Windows Boot Manager. This partition is neither visible on your Disk 1, nor is there sufficient empty space where it could have been before. Alternatively, the Windows Boot Manager could reside in the OS partition, but then the strategy of booting from the OS partition should have worked.

2) The error message "An operating system wasn't found. Try disconnecting any drives that don't contain an operating system. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart" only exists in the Volume Boot Record (VBR) of Windows 8 and newer. The Windows 7 VBR would output "BOOTMGR missing" instead. So why is there a Windows 8 (or newer) VBR?

I'm not sure how to proceed from here. Analyzing the real boot sequence of the original disks would be a considerable amount of work (for me at least), starting with the first 63 sectors of both original hard disks, and the first 63 sectors of the OS partition. On the other hand, you could google and try all sorts of repair strategies (search for the error message in 2) in the VM, without endangering the original hard disks.