FIXED!!! Yeah .... HELP! pagefile.sys is missing.. cannot use the win2k partition.

[alexruiz]

I got it, it is fixed now. Read below to find what happened. Thanks to everyone

I replaced my 40 GB hard drive with a newer 80 GB. I ghosted both partitions to the new drive (me & w2k). The ME partition works fine, but the 200 partition gives an error at log on time. It says "virtual memory file missing or invalid",. It gives the options to change the size going to system and all that stuff. However, when I click "OK" it keeps giving me that message. What do I do now??? I already tried to "repair" the partition with the w2k CD.

Help is greately appreciated.

Alex

 

[sohcrates]

can you get into win2k at all?

if so, you could try this

 

[alexruiz]

No, I cannot get into w2k at all. It shows the login screen, but after the windows sound plays the message appears. I click OK but the message keeps reappearing....

 

[obenton]

See MS Knowledge Base article Q249321 for information.

 

[alexruiz]

Thanks for the help guys. Maybe I am a moron, but I don't understand the help provided by MS, and I don't think it will help. They say "do this, and if you are in a network" I am not in a network, so no access. They say "type this" and after you are logged in, change the drives assignment.... but if you are logged then there is no need to do anything else!! :|

I can make an additional win2k partition and acces the original. What do you suggest?? By the way, how do I run regedit from another machine??? Can I do it from another partition affecting this partition register???

Thanks again

 

[alexruiz]

Come on guys, I know somebody has an answer for me... ; Just don't be shy and help me!!!

 

[sohcrates]

is your win2k partition ntfs or fat32?

are you looking to recover or would you be happy enough just being able to access and back up your files?

if you just want to save your files, i would highly suggest installing 2k to a new partition and then dragging and dropping everything you want to save.

of course, you could also just try re-installing 2k over the existing partition (w/out formatting)

 

[Saltin]

I can tell you why it's happening

Your old install had a system account. The system account needs full access to your pagefile. It had that.

Your new install has a system account. That new system account doesnt have any access to your pagefile. The old system account still has full control.

If I was you, I'd sysprep the machine. It's your last, best chance at re-writing the SID's, and it won't harm your data.

 

[alexruiz]

Here is some additional info. I ghosted the partitions, but I had boths disks ON when running 2k from the second one. I remember that the new disk w2k partition appeared as I: (even though it was the master drive on the IDe cable).

When I tried to restore the partition, the w2k menu showed me drive D; as I: (it remembered the last setting). That matches what article Q249321 from the MS database says.

I want to try "sysprep", but I don't know how to it. Saltin, How do I do the sysprep?? Do you think also that running chkdsk /f can help me??? I wan to use the partition. I have alredy istalled w2k in another partition so I can access the busted partition (that is NTFS).

All my data is already in a different partition (FAT32). Now, I would like to know if I can access the registry frrom the other partition, or if I can restore an old registry copy. How do I find old registry copies in the drive??? Can I access the registry booting form another partition??? Can I run regedit or regedit32 in the console mode???
Many thanks again, we are getting closer.

 

[BreakApart]

Next time you Ghost Win2000 NTFS use these switches.

When Ghosting a partition:
ghost.exe -FDSZ

When Ghosting an entire disk
ghost.exe -FDSP


Then when you restore it use the same switch again, you can add additional switches for breaking up the file into CD sized chunks and such, just make sure the last swich listed is the FDSZ/FDSP switch. The switch eliminates the pagefile.sys missing problem.

 

[alexruiz]

BreakApart, do you think that if I Ghost the bad partition to image now using the -fdsz switch, and then recreating the partition from the image could solve the problem as the signature bits are deleted????

 

[BreakApart]

Never tried that, but i doubt it would hurt anything.

Besides you still have the image that created this pagefile problem as backup, right? Worst case if it doesn't work you can restore that again and try the Microsoft "sysprep" method.

Let us know how that goes.

 

[bigboi]

that sux dude. funny thing though i'm doing my first use of sysprep right now. (i knew this mcse stduying would come in handy

anyway, it's actually pretty simple. here's a technet article on it: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/tr...hnol/windows2000pro/deploy/depopt/sysprep.asp
if you have the old HDs still in tact i'd run it from there. i don't know if you can run it from a floppy on your new machine. also, have you tried putting the pagefile on different partitions? like the one ME is on?

good luck,
big boi

 

[alexruiz]

Well, it is fixed now. I can log on and go past beyond the "limited virtual memory" message. I made an image with ghost using the switch -fdsz proposed by breakapart, then i restored the image. Reboot. Select that partition, get the same message about virtual memory, but when clicking OK I was allowed to run normally instead of getting that message over and over.

I still get that message everytime I log on into that partition, but that is a minor annoyance because I can access the partion, log on and run programs..... Total time spent in the operation, 15 minutes. Man, ghost is great if you use the right parameters.

Thanks to everyone for your help.