Unable to Log on if the Boot Partition Drive Letter Has Changed
SYMPTOMS
After you try to log on to your Windows 2000-based computer by using
a valid user name and password, the Loading your personal settings
dialog box is displayed, followed by the Saving your settings dialog
box. However, the desktop does not appear, and the Welcome to Windows
logon screen is displayed again.
NOTE: If the paging file is located on the system or boot partition,
you may also receive the following warning message before returning
to the "Welcome to Windows" logon screen:
[Limited Virtual Memory]
Your system has no paging file, or the paging file is too small.
CAUSE
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.
RESOLUTION
... [continues at length] ...
5. With only the system/boot drive in the system, or powered on, boot
to a DOS or Windows 9X Start-up diskette that contains fdisk.exe and
run the following command:
FDISK /MBR
This re-writes the Master Boot Record and erase the disk signature
associated with volume GUID. Windows 2000 should assign default drive
letters and allow you logon. Click the article number below for more
information about FDISK:
69013 FDISK /MBR Rewrites the Master Boot Record
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* Origin: [adminz] tech, security, support (192.168.0.2)
generated by msg2page 0.06 on Jul 21, 2006 at 19:04:12
