Setup Installation :: Replicating System Setup / Config Across 30 Class Machines
Jun 19, 2014
Here's my issue; I am a math and science teacher in a public middle school and am outfitting my class with thirty brand-new Lenovo touch computers. I consider myself above-average savvy with computers, having worked with every version of Windows extensively since the late 80s and DOS. The only OS that I haven't spent much time on is Windows 8.
These computers are all brand-new and of course have legal copies of Windows 8 -- irritatingly, though not yet updated to 8.1. Soo...It took me a larger part of one day just to get ONE of these computers ready for class use. It involved several stages of the Windows update/reboot dance, followed by removing myriad unneeded bloatware applications, setting up multiple child accounts on the machine, and finally installing some freeware educational materials needed for instruction. It was all unbelievably tedious!
I turned around and look at all the remaining twenty-nine computers with dread. Obviously I'm trying to work out some kind of shortcut to avoid having to spend my whole summer updating each of the new machines individually. In an ideal world, I would make some sort of image of the machine that I just spent several hours updating/configuring, and then replicate that across the other twenty-nine. In terms of hardware, this shouldn't be a problem since all of the machines are exactly the same make and model. But I anticipate other problems such as, for example, the serial number of the Windows version and the computer name will then be the same on all the machines and have to be adjusted. There very well could be other issues with replicated serial numbers, etc.
I'm thinking maybe I just have to bite the bullet and work at each individual computer one of the time. And then image them individually so that when the kids mess around with them, I can do an easy restore. How I could make this work?
have an active Volume license subscription from Microsoft and i want to setup KMS server in my home and want to active all my client machines ( i have about 8 machines with windows starting from Windows 7, Windows 8, 8.1, Office 2010 and 2013). I will be getting more machines in future but wan to go with KMS setup activation
My question here is in my volume service centre i dont see any KMS specific setup key , but i see KMS and MAK keys ( i am guessing KMS key is for client machine). can i use MAK key to activate windows server 2008 R2 and setup KMS server in that machine ?. will microsoft know how many machines i am activating internally in my home network
I know that i need more that 25 machines for KMS to work. I can use KMS emulator and make it 25 count.
I'm trying to recreate win 8.1 pro system reserved partition on my ssd. Initially I installed windows on my ssd (c: ) and windows created the sysres partition on my unformatted hd (without telling me anything). After some trouble I managed to be able to boot from ssd directly without going through the sysres partition on the hd. Now if possible I'd like to recreate the sysres on the ssd (by disconnecting my hd so that windows has no other options than creating this on the ssd). If a try a system refresh it tells me it would wipe away all my user installed apps.
So I've ordered a whole new system and am looking to only take the SSD from the old computer, but I want to format it so I can start anew, I've got windows 8 and I'm not sure how I go about activating it on the new system and all that.
I've got the key that I had to use for the first installation, would I just plug that in again? or will it come up with "being used" or something similar?
Ok so i am trying to install windows 8 X64 onto a different hard drive as windows 7 so i can switch between the two at startup.Ok so my problems started yesterday when trying to install windows 8 onto the Hard Drive i was getting"Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk has an MBR partition table. On EFI systems, Windows can only be installed to GPT disks."To fix this i converted the disk to a GPT disk in Disk ManagerNow im getting the Error "Setup was unable to create a new system partition or locate an existing system partition. See the setup log files for more Information." Here is a screenshot of disk manager at the moment.I am trying to install Windows 8 to Disk 2.
I already have windows 8.1 installed in c: partition
I have created new partition ''New Volume :" to install windows server 2008 on it ,but when I try to boot from the CD to install it this message appear
"Windows cannot be installed to this Hard disk space . The partition contain one or more volumes that are not supported for installation" ...
I upgraded to 7 to 8 Pro using usb to do clean install. I want to reinstall again from usb and change the system language from French to English as not everything comes up in English by changing language settings. Device descriptions, system accounts, bitlocker screens are still French.
Is this possible? When I try the installation instructions are in French. Do I need an English ISO or can I change the one I have?
I am currently running Windows 8.1 and I want to do a clean install back to Windows 8. I have the original 64-bit Windows 8 Pro DVD. I put this DVD into my DVD drive and rebooted. I then went into the BIOS and made sure the first boot device was set to DVD/CDROM.
When I restart my computer it never gives me the option of booting to the DVD it just takes me back to the Operating System (my login screen).
My question is, how do I get my system to bootup from the Windows 8 Pro DVD so that I can do a fresh install?
I have a VHDX which I sometimes boot from and sometimes use as a VM in Hyper V. It has Windows installed on the default C: drive.
This is somewhat confusing as the C: may be the original C: drive or the VHDX C: drive (with the original C: drive renamed to H: in my case). I want C: to always be the native boot and T: (for example) to always be the boot for the VHDX.
Can I change the VHDX to have Windows installed to say T:? I was thinking of renaming all instances of C: to T: in the registry and updating BCDEDIT. It is not possible to change system disk in disk management.
If this is not possible can I re-install windows on the VHDX and specify a different letter and C:?
This is how it looks when booting from VHDX:
Code: DISKPART> list disk Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt -------- ------------- ------- ------- --- --- Disk 0 Online 465 GB 1024 KB Disk 1 Online 931 GB 31 GB * Disk 2 Online 483 MB 0 B Disk 3 Online 65 GB 381 MB
I have (perhaps I should say had) a multi-boot system. Originally I installed my 6 Windows OS's and then installed my two favorite Linux distros. I like the ability to customize the Grub menu which Linux gives me. Unfortunately Grub did not detect all 6 of my Windows installations but one of the boot options it did detect took me back into my original Windows menu which showed all 6 of the Windows systems. So that's the setup which I have been using successfully for the past few months. (One boot menu which boots into another). Today my Windows boot menu has become unusable and probably corrupt.
At first I had the problem that I was only able to boot into Windows 8.1 (no windows menu at all). Then I used EasyBCD which I had inside Windows 8.1 At first EasyBCD indicated an inability to load any boot file at all. Subsequently after rebooting into 8.1 a few times more I tried it again. It then showed a boot menu but with only Windows 8.1 listed. I subsequently was able to use the add operating system function to add all the other Windows systems again. I then clicked save to save the new configuration. Now I do see all six Windows systems at boot but neither of them, even Windows 8.1 will boot. Where I should start to get back into one of these six Windows operating systems so that I can possible use the EasyBCD repair function to access the others. I think I had EasyBCD installed inside each Windows OS At the moment I am dependent on Linux alone for Internet access. I trust this is clear.
As nothing in Linux has changed, I assume I need to fix the problem from the Windows side of things. I do have that one option when I get into that blue Windows 8 style boot menu to "change options" I thought EasyBCD would have restored the Windows 7 style text boot menu but it did not. Other than that I have the various Windows installation disks and a Win7 repair disk as well as various full partition backups on an external hard drive. What do do about a corrupt bcd file without being inside Windows, and I don't know much about EasyBCD. Would a refresh/reset of Win 8.1 from the install disk be a good way to start? I did get the message of "files missing" when I tried to do a system recovery drive while inside Windows 8.1 today, so there are issues with that OS.
Setting up a dual boot with Win 7x64 on a 120GB SSD. The partition for Win 8 has 48 GB, but the install is failing: "Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk has an MBR partition table. On EFI systems, Windows can only be installed to GPT disks." The first time I tried with the partition formatted, the second with it unallocated, both getting the same result. What am I missing?
Here is the deal I have 2 hdds (160 gb and 1 tb) late last night used the 1 tb as a flash drive and re installed my OS on the 160 gb drive. The "system" files are on the 1 tb drive and all other files ( boot crash dump etc ) are on the other one.
PROBLEM: while doing a cold start the system fails to spin up th bigger drive in time for the software to detect the system file on the bigger drive and it brings up the boot manager saying files are not present to load, a restart fixes the problem as the bigger drive would be up to speed by then, any work around to delay the boot till both drives are up to speed .........???.
Further i think that moving the "system partition " to the other disk will eliminate this issue ...... how do i go about doing that ... See the image below
QUESTION :if i remove the 1 tb disk physically and reinstall OS and connect it back will everything be as good as new or will it pose problems as then there would be two "system " partitions .....
I set up Windows 8 Consumer the way I like it -- had to create a custom inf for the screen of my Dell Mini 10 among other things.
I then created a system image on another computer on my network.
Next I wiped and reformatted the disk in the Mini.
But now, when I try to restore from the system image on the network, Windows 8 can't see or recognize the backup. I can browse to the location on my network perfectly well, but no matter what folder I browse to, from the drive letter of the backup drive to the folder named "Backup 2012-03-14 015251," I keep getting a message that there is no image there.
Been running this system since 2010 win7 and upgraded to win 8.
When I switched over to win 8 I also bought an ssd drive (C) and it seemed to be working fine ever since.
I recently bought a couple 3TB drives and wanted to replace the old HDD (F), installed the drives, transferred all data off F and then shut down the pc. I took F out of the pc and it won't boot.
Going from loads of tutorials on here I found that F was listed as active and a system drive.
Any attempts at making it inactive and activating C resulted in nothing. I used my startup repair disc but there was no OS listed to repair??
Whenever C is active and F inactive, I've no options at all with startup repair.
Not sure if it's Lenovos only, but trying to migrate Windows 8 OEM to an SSD has been a huge pain in the ass. This process should not be as difficult as Lenovo/Microsoft has made it.
I purchased a Y400 along with a 256G SSD. I'd like to clean install Windows onto the SSD, I did not want to copy image. I went through forums for hours trying to put a recovery system on a usb with no luck (even with the instructions given by a Lenovo moderator on their website), I kept getting "missing partition drive". I broke down and paid Lenovo the ridiculous "shipping charge" of $59 for the recovery disks.
These are my steps so far:
-My SSD is installed and I removed the HDD (until Windows 8 was installed, I'd then format it) -Put Disk 1 into the optical drive (Disk 1 states it's the format sequence and starting point for restore, Windows 8 actually on disk 2, I believe) -Pressed the "Novo" button on the left side of the machine (gives options of Normal Startup, BIOS Setup, Boot Manager and System Recovery)
*FYI - Boot Manager lists: Windows Boot Manager and 2 EFI volumes (when HDD is plugged in, just the EFI's when uninstalled) System Recovery only works with the HDD installed and it's Lenovo's One Key Recovery which just restores to a restoration point.*
Went into BIOS setup Tabbed over to "Security" Disabled the "Secure Boot" Tabbed over to "Boot" Changed the Boot Mode to "Legacy Support" Changed Boot Priority to "Legacy First" Saved then exited.
Pressed the "Novo" button once more, went into BIOS setup Tabbed back to "Boot" Boot device priority was now displayed with SATA ODD, SSD and Network Boot. I reordered to boot from SATA ODD Saved and exited
Upon restart, I pressed F12 (select boot device), and chose the SATA ODD It went into a DOS looking screen and gives "No Bootable Device - Insert boot disk and press a key" I've also tried variations of the above procedures for a few hours with no luck.
I have not tried to boot from "Lenovo Recovery System" (which is only available with the HDD installed), I figured it would default to the HDD and not let me chose to install onto SSD.
I have a 64 bit processor running 32 bit Windows 8. If I were to install the 64 bit Windows 8, could I restore the 32 bit System Image and preserve my files and settings?
I built a large desktop system a few years back and it's been upgraded with various bits and pieces including an SSD boot drive. I'm looking at putting together a much smaller system in a Shuttle XH61V and I want to use my existing 2.5" SSD. Can I just put the SSD in and clean install Win 8 from the original system builder disk I bought or will something go wrong because there's already an installation on the drive?
Any good program that will allow me to clone my system which is a PCI-E storage device (OCZ Revodrive 350) to a hard drive for backup purposes and of course boot from that hard drive if required to reverse the process?
I will need to do a complete system recovery. My computer originally came with windows 7 and then downloaded and installed windows 8. I have my product key. When I downloaded windows 8 it gave me the option of burning a copy of windows 8 to a dvd, however I did not do that. Whenever I do a system recovery will I be able to get windows 8 back without having to pay for another download?
I want to install Windows 8 Pro onto the second partition of my laptop that already has W7 Pro installed. What are the correct settings for the second partition(simple, active, primary,etc) so that the existing System Reserved partition used by W7 won't get clobbered? Is this even possible?
I set myself up as System Administrator during installation. When I try to load the software from CD for a 5510 HP printer I get an error saying I cannot do it because I am not a System Administrator. I have verified that my profile show me with that designation.
I have a Dell XPS 420 and I've just bought an SSD for it. Every time I boot the machine I see "Operating system wasn't found" now, despite having booted into Windows successfully just before.
The only change I made was connecting a standard SATA 2TB drive - which it boots into fine - but now when I have removed the 2TB drive I cannot boot onto the SSD.
I'm trying to upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8 (and then 8.1) on a laptop with a 240 GB SSD. When I run setup, it loads, but then says Windows can't be installed because there isn't enough free space on the system reserved partition. My reserved partition is only 32 MB (I believe it was shrunk from 100 MB when I swapped the SSD in).
Is there any way I can resize the reserved partition and install Windows 8, or will I need to totally reformat the drive and repartition? Don't want to reinstall all my software .....
I have a custom PC I built and I was running 8.1 on it. I have to drives a 120gb ssd that had windows on it and I have a 1 TB that had the 350mb system reserved partition and 2 other partitions I had for data and a boatload of free space. I wanted to try and install Linux Ubuntu on the 1tb hard drive. I did a custom install on it because I didn't want it to delete my existing partitions so in the install I made 2 partitions for Ubuntu, after I installed it my 2 data partitions are gone and I don't know what happened with the 350mb system reserved partition.
On that disk now is the 2 Linux partitions and a 150mb partition that I can't tell what it is. But now I can't boot into windows, even when I go from bios. My question is in that system reserved partition is that where the bootmgr is? Because I did nothing with the ssd where windows is and I get a no operating system error when I try to boot off it. How I can fix that disk if the system reserved partition isn't on it.
I have a multiple operating system and used to get the blue graphical boot menu with a rectangle with the name of each operating system in it. After a few boots it went back to the text menu, and only returned a couple of times. Is there a way to get the graphical boot menu back permanently? It looks a lot nicer. I have XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 .....
I installed Windows 8/8.1 on a system with a Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H MB. When I look at the SSD where Windows is installed I have one partition. I also installed Windows 8/8.1 on an ASRock Z77 OC Formula MB. When I look at the SSD where Windows is installed I have three partitions - 300MB (Recovery Partition), 100MB (EFI System Partition) and 111.27GB (Boot,....Partition). Why did the Windows 8 installer create three partitions on the ASRock system? I think I understand the EFI partition since the ASRock BIOS has a "Load UEFI Defaults" option. The Gigabyte MB does not have this option in the BIOS? Is that because the ASRock MB has truly implemented EFI and uses the EFI System Partition to store boot information?
Why was the Recovery Partition created? I built this system from scratch so there is not any third party involvement. If I reinstall Windows 8 using a new - never used SSD will I get the three partitions? If I format the SSD with one partition prior to Installing Windows 8 what will I get?
I not concerned about the loss of 300MB,why I got different partition configurations on fresh installs of Windows 8 on two different MB's/Systems?
I was having a problem since my computer shows "windows cannot delete the active system partition on this disk". How to delete the partition on which i have windows 7 installed.
I reinstalled windows 8.1 on my Samsung NP530U3C-A10EE. And now the problem this that I can't boot it without usb stick that contains windows installation files. I can boot up windows and remove the usb stick evertything is working perfectly, but if I try to boot up win without usb, it gives error "Operating system not found. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to restart". VOLUME C: is one where windows are installed (SSD), System Reserved is the system partition that windows create automaticaly (SSD), volumes D: and F: are my hdd volumes D: is empty & F: is stored with my personal files (photos, music etc.)
