S
StanleyJ_Doright
Recovering from a software raid failure "STOP 0x0000007B
Inaccessible_Boot_Device"
In this particular case, the server was built using Dell Open Manage
software for the disk management portions of the OS. The Hard drives
are SCSI 36 gig Seagate cheetah drives on a non-raid controller. A
fresh copy of Windows 2000 Small Business Server was installed.
The Dell OpenManage software would not allow the software raid to
install. So the first original step to take was to remove the open
manage software. After the software was un-installed the windows disk
management would allow the software mirror to be created, which I did.
After the disks showed a state of healthy in disk management, I went
ahead with the other software installs. Among these are Microsoft SQL,
Exchange, and a specialized software that controls the SQL database,
Symantec Anti-Virus and Veritas BackUp Exec. I noticed that all these
installs were very difficult and gave problems on every turn, but I
worked through them anyway and got the server into what I thought was
a stable state. One week later, after the Credit Union had entered
data for all these days, the call came that workstations could not
connect to the server. When I got on site, it wasn't one workstation
but 3. Although there were two stations still working. My first
thought was a network switch had started to flake out, so I told them
to get out of the software that I was going to reboot the server. When
I did….. it never came back up.
Blue screen.
The error was *** STOP: 0x0000007b Inaccessible_Boot_Device.
After going through every possible alternative to get the server back,
I'll cut to the chase and tell you how we fixed this nightmare, but
before I start I have to give Microsoft Tech Support Credit they
helped me through this issue like champs.
Summary of Steps:
1. Use a program called "Disksave.exe" (a very small utility that
captures a copy of the MBR) put this utility on a DOS 6.22 boot disk
(www.bootdisk.com).
2. After booting the Server with Boot disk, run the utility and
capture the MBR.
3. Another program that you will need is "DiskProbe" from Microsoft
(do a google search, you'll find it).
Use "DiskProbe" to edit the MBR of the server. Specifically changing
the disks dynamic back to basic disks. This will break the software
mirror on the drives. In my case the upgrade to dynamic disks was the
issue that started the whole problem. The answer is to revert to basic
disks. There is not a kb on using diskprobe, however, it is available
on the 2000 CD under Support – Tools. The disksav utility will
retrieve your MBR and diskprobe will modify it. The necessary
information is below.
Value File system
--------------------------------------------------------------------
0x07 Installable File System (IFS), for example, HPFS and NTFS
Basic
0x42 LDM Dynamic Disk Partition(Windows 2000 only)
4. After the MBR is modified, put it back onto a floppy and load it
into the server using the disksave program, restore MBR feature. Just
type the path to the file on the floppy.
5. Now, before you think this is the end and you can just reboot,
think again.
Get a copy of Windows XP Professional and reboot to that CD starting
the recovery console. XP's console has many more features than 2000.
6. At this point I could see my c:\ drive, but go ahead and run the
utility "chkdsk /p". This will take a while for the disk to scan for
bad entries.
7. Finally, After this has completed, run the utility "bootcfg
\rebuild". This will correct any problems you may have with the
boot.ini file.
8. Reboot
9. If it take a while, it is expected. This happens because the drive
is still discovering that it once had a mirror and it is no longer
there. It should boot.
10. At this point, I suggest hooking it up to a network and getting
any data that is important—off the server.
11. Now according to Microsoft things should be stable, but after I
recovered my data. I didn't take any chances. I blew it away and
started all over. With my data on another drive, all went well with
the install. Although this took a lot of time, I feel much better
about the whole situation.
Thanks,
StanleyJ
Now, here are the articles Microsoft used to help me through this
problem.
How to install and use the Recovery Console in Windows XP
View products that this article applies to.
This article was previously published under Q307654
SUMMARY
To recover your operating system when your computer does not start
correctly or does not start at all, you may want to install and use
the Windows Recovery console. However, Microsoft recommends this
method of system recovery for advanced users only. Also, learn about
the Recovery Console command prompt, command actions, rules, how to
remove the Recovery Console, and how to install it during an
unattended installation.
IN THIS TASK
INTRODUCTION
MORE INFORMATION
How to install the Recovery Console
How to use the Recovery Console
How to use the Recovery Console command prompt
Command actions
Recovery Console rules
How to delete the Recovery Console
How to install Recovery Console during an unattended installation
REFERENCES
INTRODUCTION
Microsoft recommends that you use the Recovery Console only after Safe
mode and other startup options do not work. The Recovery Console is
recommended only if you are an advanced user who can use basic
commands to identify and locate problem drivers and files.
Additionally, you must be an administrator to use the Recovery
Console.
Back to the top
MORE INFORMATION
How to install the Recovery Console
You can install the Recovery Console on your computer to make it
available if you cannot restart Windows. You can then select the
Recovery Console option from the list of available operating systems
during startup. Install the Recovery Console on important servers and
on the workstations of IT personnel. This article describes how to
install the Recovery Console to your Microsoft Windows XP-based
computer. To install the Recovery Console, you must be logged on as an
administrator.
Although you can run the Recovery Console by starting directly from
the Windows XP CD, it is generally more convenient to set it up as a
startup option on your startup menu. To run the Recover Console
directly from the CD, see the "How to use the Recovery Console"
section.
To install the Recovery Console, follow these steps:
1. Insert the Windows XP CD into the CD-ROM drive.
2. Click Start, and then click Run.
3. In the Open box, type d:\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons where d is the
drive letter for the CD-ROM drive.
4. A Windows Setup Dialog Box appears. The Windows Setup Dialog Box
describes the Recovery Console option. To confirm the installation,
click Yes.
5. Restart the computer. The next time that you start your computer,
"Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" appears on the startup menu.
Note Alternatively, you can use a Universal Naming Convention
(UNC)-established connection to install the Recovery Console from a
network share point.
Back to the top
How to use the Recovery Console
You can enable and disable services, format drives, read and write
data on a local drive (including drives that are formatted to use the
NTFS file system), and perform many other administrative tasks. The
Recovery Console is particularly useful if you have to repair your
computer by copying a file from a disk or CD-ROM to your hard disk, or
if you have to reconfigure a service that is preventing your computer
from starting correctly.
If you cannot start your computer, you can run the Recovery Console
from the Microsoft Windows XP startup disks or the Windows XP CD-ROM.
This article describes how to perform this task.
After Windows XP is installed on your computer, to start the computer
and use the Recovery Console you require the Windows XP startup disks
or the Windows XP CD-ROM.
For additional information about how to create Startup disks for
Windows XP (they are not included with Windows XP), click the
following article number to view the article in the Microsoft
Knowledge Base:
310994 Obtaining Windows XP Setup boot disks
Note To start the computer from the Windows XP CD-ROM, you must
configure the basic input/output system (BIOS) of the computer to
start from your CD-ROM drive.
To run the Recovery Console from the Windows XP startup disks or the
Windows XP CD-ROM, follow these steps:
1. Insert the Windows XP startup disk into the floppy disk drive, or
insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive, and then restart
the computer.
Click to select any options that are required to start the computer
from the CD-ROM drive if you are prompted.
2. When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to start the
Recovery Console.
3. If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot computer, select the
installation that you must access from the Recovery Console.
4. When you are prompted, type the Administrator password. If the
administrator password is blank, just press ENTER.
5. At the command prompt, type the appropriate commands to diagnose
and repair your Windows XP installation.
For a list of commands that are available in Recovery Console, type
recovery console commands or help at the command prompt, and then
press ENTER.
For information about a specific command, type help commandname at the
command prompt, and then press ENTER.
6. To exit the Recovery Console and restart the computer, type exit at
the command prompt, and then press ENTER.
Back to the top
How to use the Recovery Console command prompt
When you use the Recovery Console, you are working at a special
command prompt instead of the ordinary Windows command prompt. The
Recovery Console has its own command interpreter. To enter this
command interpreter, you are prompted by Recovery Console to type the
local Administrator password.
When the Recovery Console starts, you can press F6 to install a
third-party SCSI or RAID driver, in case you need such a driver to
access the hard disk. This prompt works the same as it does during
installation of the operating system.
The Recovery Console takes several seconds to start. When the Recovery
Console menu appears, a numbered list of the Windows installations on
the computer appears. (Generally, only c:\Windows exists.) Press a
number before you press ENTER, even when only one entry appears. If
you press ENTER without selecting a number, the computer restarts and
begins the process again.
When you see the prompt for %SystemRoot% (generally C:\Windows), you
can start using the available commands for the Recovery Console.
Back to the top
Command actions
The following list describes the available commands for the Recovery
Console:
Attrib changes attributes on one file or subdirectory.
Batch executes commands that you specify in the text file,
Inputfile. Outputfile holds the output of the commands. If you omit
the Outputfile parameter, output appears on the screen.
Bootcfg modifies the Boot.ini file for boot configuration and
recovery.
CD (Chdir) operates only in the system directories of the current
Windows installation, removable media, the root directory of any hard
disk partition, or the local installation sources.
Chkdsk The /p switch runs Chkdsk even if the drive is not flagged as
dirty. The /r switch locates bad sectors and recovers readable
information. This switch implies /p. Chkdsk requires Autochk. Chkdsk
automatically looks for Autochk.exe in the startup folder. If Chkdsk
cannot find the file in the startup folder, it looks for the Windows
2000 Setup CD-ROM. If Chkdsk cannot find the installation CD-ROM,
Chkdsk prompts the user for the location of Autochk.exe.
Cls clears the screen.
Copy copies one file to a target location. By default, the target
cannot be removable media, and you cannot use wildcard characters.
Copying a compressed file from the Windows 2000 Setup CD-ROM
automatically decompresses the file.
Del (Delete) deletes one file. Operates within the system
directories of the current Windows installation, removable media, the
root directory of any hard disk partition, or the local installation
sources. By default, you cannot use wildcard characters.
Dir displays a list of all files, including hidden and system files.
Disable disables a Windows system service or driver. The variable
service_or_driver is the name of the service or driver that you want
to disable. When you use this command to disable a service, the
command displays the service's original startup type before it changes
the type to SERVICE_DISABLED. Note the original startup type so that
you can use the enable command to restart the service.
Diskpart manages partitions on hard disk volumes. The /add option
creates a new partition. The /delete option deletes an existing
partition. The variable device is the device name for a new partition
(such as \device\harddisk0). The variable drive is the drive letter
for a partition that you are deleting (for example, D). Partition is
the partition-based name for a partition that you are deleting, (for
example: \device\harddisk0\partition1) and can be used instead of the
drive variable. The variable size is the size, in megabytes, of a new
partition.
Enable enables a Windows system service or driver. The variable
service_or_driver is the name of the service or driver that you want
to enable, and start_type is the startup type for an enabled service.
The startup type uses one of the following formats:
SERVICE_BOOT_START
SERVICE_SYSTEM_START
SERVICE_AUTO_START
SERVICE_DEMAND_START
Exit quits the Recovery Console, and then restarts the computer.
Expand expands a compressed file. The variable source is the file
that you want to expand. By default, you cannot use wildcard
characters. The variable destination is the directory for the new
file. By default, the destination cannot be removable media and cannot
be read-only. You can use the attrib command to remove the read-only
attribute from the destination directory. The option /f:filespec is
required if the source contains more than one file. This option
permits wildcard characters. The /y switch disables the overwrite
confirmation prompt. The /d switch specifies that the files will not
be expanded and displays a directory of the files in the source.
Fixboot writes a new startup sector on the system partition.
Fixmbr repairs the startup partition's master boot code. The
variable device is an optional name that specifies the device that
requires a new Master Boot Record. Omit this variable when the target
is the startup device.
Format formats a disk. The /q switch performs a quick format. The
/fs switch specifies the file system.
Help If you do not use the command variable to specify a command,
help lists all the commands that the Recovery Console supports.
Listsvc displays all available services and drivers on the computer.
Logon displays detected installations of Windows and requests the
local Administrator password for those installations. Use this command
to move to another installation or subdirectory.
Map displays currently active device mappings. Include the arc
option to specify the use of Advanced RISC Computing (ARC) paths (the
format for Boot.ini) instead of Windows device paths.
MD (Mkdir) operates only within the system directories of the
current Windows installation, removable media, the root directory of
any hard disk partition, or the local installation sources.
More/Type displays the specified text file on screen.
Net Use connects to a remote share for the Windows XP Recovery
Console. The following text describes the syntax for this command:
NET USE [devicename | *] [\\computername\sharename[\volume]
[password | *]]
[/USER:[domainname\]username]
[/USER:[dotted domain name\]username]
[/USER:[username@dotted domain name]
[/SMARTCARD]
[/SAVECRED]
[[/DELETE] | [/PERSISTENT:{YES | NO}]]
NET USE {devicename | *} [password | *] /HOME
NET USE [/PERSISTENT:{YES | NO}]
Rd (Rmdir) operates only within the system directories of the
current Windows installation, removable media, the root directory of
any hard disk partition, or the local installation sources.
Ren (Rename) operates only within the system directories of the
current Windows installation, removable media, the root directory of
any hard disk partition, or the local installation sources. You cannot
specify a new drive or path as the target.
Set displays and sets the Recovery Console environment variables.
Systemroot sets the current directory to %SystemRoot%.
Back to the top
Recovery Console rules
Several environment rules are in effect while you are working in the
Recovery Console. Type set to see the current environment. By default,
these are the rules:
AllowAllPaths = FALSE prevents access to directories and
subdirectories outside the system installation that you selected when
you entered the Recovery Console.
AllowRemovableMedia = FALSE prevents access to removable media as a
target for copied files.
AllowWildCards = FALSE prevents wildcard support for commands such
as copy and del.
NoCopyPrompt = FALSE means that you are prompted by the Recovery
Console for confirmation when overwriting an existing file.
Back to the top
How to delete the Recovery Console
To delete the Recovery Console:
1. Restart your computer, click Start, click My Computer, and then
double-click the hard disk where you installed the Recovery Console.
2. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options, and then click the View
tab.
3. Click Show hidden files and folders, click to clear the Hide
protected operating system files check box, and then click OK.
4. At the root folder, delete the Cmdcons folder and the Cmldr file.
5. At the root folder, right-click the Boot.ini file, and then click
Properties.
6. Click to clear the Read-only check box, and then click OK.
Warning: Modifying the Boot.ini file incorrectly may prevent your
computer from restarting. Make sure that you delete only the entry for
the Recovery Console. Also, change the attribute for the Boot.ini file
back to a read-only state after you finish this procedure. Open the
Boot.ini file in Microsoft Windows Notepad, and remove the entry for
the Recovery Console. It looks similar to this:
C:\cmdcons\bootsect.dat="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons
7. Save the file and close it.
Back to the top
How to install Recovery Console during an unattended installation
To install the Recovery Console during the unattended installation of
Windows, you must use the [GuiRunOnce] section of the unattend.txt
file.
Command1="path\winnt32 /cmdcons /unattend"
For more information about how to use the Unattend.txt file, see the
Deployment Planning Guide of the Windows 2000 Server Resource Kit.
Back to the top
REFERENCES
You can use Group Policy to change the rules and expand the power that
you have in the Recovery Console.
For additional information about how to do this, click the following
article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
310497 How to use Group Policies to add more power to the Recovery
Console
Best Practices for Using Dynamic Disks on Windows 2000-Based Computers
View products that this article applies to.
This article was previously published under Q329707
IMPORTANT: This article contains information about modifying the
registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and
make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem
occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the
registry, click the following article number to view the article in
the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry
SUMMARY
This article describes the best practices for using dynamic disks on
Windows 2000-based computers.
MORE INFORMATION
Dynamic disks offer advantages over basic disks, which use the
original MS-DOS-style master boot record (MBR) partition tables to
store primary and logical disk partitioning information. Dynamic disks
use a private region of the disk to maintain a Logical Disk Manager
(LDM) database, which contains volume types, offsets, memberships, and
drive letters of each volume. The LDM database is also replicated, so
each dynamic disk knows about every other dynamic disk configuration.
This feature makes dynamic disks more reliable and recoverable than
basic disks.
The following articles contain information that you need to understand
the information in this article. For additional information about
dynamic disks, hardware limitations, and the terminology that is used
in this article, click the article numbers below to view the articles
in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
175761 Dynamic vs. Basic Storage in Windows 2000
254105 Dynamic Disk Hardware Limitations
325722 Limits of Dynamic Disks in Windows 2000
Best Practices and Limitations of Using Dynamic Disks
Before you use dynamic disks, consider the following recommended best
practices and limitations of using dynamic disks.
The Latest Fixes
Microsoft highly recommends that you install Windows 2000 Service Pack
3 (SP3) or later if you run Windows 2000 and you currently have
dynamic disks or plan to upgrade any of your basic disks to dynamic
disks. SP3 contains several important fixes for
basic-disk-to-dynamic-disk conversions and for extending hardware RAID
volumes if the disk is already dynamic.
For additional information about the fixes that SP3 contains, click
the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft
Knowledge Base:
294244 Extending Hardware RAID Array May Cause Dynamic
Unreadable/Offline Error
Microsoft also recommends that you install a supported fix that is now
available that corrects a problem that occurs when you start the Disk
Management snap-in. This hotfix is not included in Windows 2000 SP3.
For additional information about this hotfix, click the article number
below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
327020 Error Message Occurs When You Start Disk Management After
Extending a Hardware Array
Dynamic Disks vs. Basic Disks
Before you convert basic disks to dynamic disks, determine whether you
require features that only dynamic disks provide. If you do not need
spanned volumes, striped volumes, mirrored volumes, or RAID-5 sets, it
is best to use basic disks.
NOTE: If you want to increase the size of a hardware RAID-5 disk
logical unit number (LUN) but do not have to span the NTFS file system
volume across different physical disks (LUNs), continue to use basic
disks, and use the DiskPart.exe utility to extend the NTFS volume
after you add new storage capacity to the RAID volume. For additional
information, click the article number below to view the article in the
Microsoft Knowledge Base:
325590 How to Use DiskPart.exe to Extend a Data Volume
If you must extend an NTFS volume across multiple hard disks (LUNs) to
create a spanned volume, use dynamic disks. For Windows 2000 only, the
NTFS volume must have been originally created on a dynamic disk before
it can be spanned. You cannot extend or span a volume that was created
on a basic disk and then converted to a dynamic disk. This restriction
does not apply to Windows XP and later. For additional information
about this Windows 2000 restriction, click the article number below to
view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
225551 Restrictions on Extending or Spanning Simple Volumes on Dynamic
Disks
Storage Devices
If you decide to use dynamic disks and you have both locally attached
storage (IDE-based storage or Small Computer System Interface
[SCSI]-based storage) and storage that is located on a storage area
network (SAN, which is typically connected by means of fiber channel),
do one of the following, depending on your situation:
Use dynamic disks on only the SAN storage drives and keep the
locally attached storage as basic disks.
-or-
Use basic disks on the SAN storage drives and configure the locally
attached storage as dynamic disks.
This recommendation is based on the way that Logical Disk Manager
(LDM) keeps track of dynamic disks and synchronizes the databases. If
you follow this recommendation, and you experience an unplanned outage
(for example, fabric problems or a power outage) and lose access to
the SAN storage that houses the dynamic disks, all dynamic disks will
drop offline from the Windows 2000 system at the same time. Because
you have no dynamic disks attached locally, there are no LDM database
synchronization issues to contend with when the SAN disks eventually
come back online. If you have even one dynamic disk on the locally
attached storage, you run the risk of the LDM databases being
mismatched, and you may have trouble getting one or more SAN-attached
dynamic disks back online.
To combat that problem, if you must have dynamic disks in a mixed
configuration of both locally attached storage and SAN-attached
storage, it is a good idea to protect all fiber hubs, routers,
switches, SAN cabinets, and the server from power outages by using
uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs) on all connecting devices.
Notes
In a mixed dynamic disk configuration, if you must take the SAN
storage offline for maintenance, it is best to shut down the server
before you take the SAN storage unit offline, and then make sure that
all the SAN devices are available again when you bring the server back
online.
Windows does not support mounting a disk volume to multiple hosts at
the same time. This restriction applies to volumes that are located on
a BASIC disk or a dynamic disk. Volume corruption may occur if changes
are made to the volume by both hosts. Windows also does not support
exposing and then importing dynamic disks on multiple hosts (nodes)
simultaneously. This practice can also lead to data loss or to LDM
database corruption.
Server Clusters
Dynamic disks are not supported for use with Windows Clustering.
Windows 2000 Advanced Server and Windows Datacenter Server that are
non-OEM versions do not support dynamic disks in a server cluster
infrastructure.
This restriction does not prevent you from extending an NTFS volume
that is contained on a cluster shared disk (a disk that is shared
between the computers in the cluster) that is basic. For additional
information about how to extend an NTFS volume on a cluster shared
disk, click the article number below to view the article in the
Microsoft Knowledge Base:
304736 How to Extend the Partition of a Cluster Shared Disk
You can use the third-party add-on software Veritas Volume Manager for
Windows 2000 to add the dynamic disk features to a server cluster
infrastructure. If you install Veritas Volume Manager and configure
Volume Manager Disk Group resources, contact Veritas Support for
server cluster issues that are related to those resources. For
additional information about Veritas Volume Manager, click the article
number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
237853 Dynamic Disk Configuration Unavailable for Server Cluster Disks
The third-party products that are discussed in this article are
manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft
makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or
reliability of these products.
Moving Dynamic Disks
If you move dynamic disks between systems, you may not be able to move
the dynamic disks back to the original host. If you must move the
dynamic disks, move all the dynamic disks from a computer at one time,
and make sure that they are all online and running on the destination
system before you try to import them to the new host. This order is
important so that the disk group name and ID of the primary disk group
of the host system is always retained (if a dynamic disk is present).
What makes the difference is whether there is at least one dynamic
disk on the destination system or not. One problem scenario occurs
when there is no dynamic disk on the destination system (so that that
computer ends up with the same disk group name as the source computer
when the disk are moved to it) and then you want to move the disks
back to the source computer. You may encounter a problem if foreign
disks that you are re-imported have the same disk group name as the
local computer.
For additional information about moving dynamic disks, click the
following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft
Knowledge Base:
222189 Description of Disk Groups in Windows Disk Management
260113 "Internal Error - Disk Group Exists and Is Imported" Error
Message While Importing Foreign Disk
The Write Signature and Upgrade Disk Wizard
When you start the Disk Management snap-in, it will enumerate all
disks in the system to see if any disks have changed or if any new
disks were attached to the system. If Disk Management finds any disks
that are unknown, that are not initialized, or that do not have a disk
signature in the MBR, Disk Management starts the Write Signature and
Upgrade Disk Wizard.
The wizard first prompts you to select which disks that you want to
write a disk signature to; by default, no disks are selected. To
select the disks, click the check boxes next to the disk numbers.
The wizard then prompts you to select which disks that you want to
upgrade to dynamic disks. Each disk that you selected on the first
page is automatically selected here. If you continue without clearing
the disk check boxes, LDM writes a disk signature and upgrades all the
disks that you selected to dynamic disks automatically.
NOTE: This wizard was changed in Windows XP and later. It no longer
automatically selects the disks to be upgraded to dynamic.
If the MBR of a dynamic disk is zeroed out (for example, because of a
hardware problem), when you start Disk Management, the Write Signature
and Upgrade Disk Wizard starts. If you permit the disk to be
reconverted to dynamic, the original LDM database is overwritten by
the newly initialized LDM database. Disk Management shows that disk as
healthy and only shows unallocated free space. If you have another
healthy dynamic disk in the system at the time of conversion, its LDM
database is then replicated to the newly converted dynamic disk and a
"missing" disk (representing the original dynamic disk) is also shown
in Disk Management.
Because of this, it is best that you disable the Write Signature and
Upgrade Disk Wizard in Windows 2000, or that you caution users about
the default behavior of the wizard, and be careful not to accidentally
reconvert a disk that was previously dynamic.
To manually disable the wizard, follow these steps.
NOTE: If you previously selected the Do not show this wizard again
check box in the wizard, you do not have to use this procedure because
the key and value already exist and are set to 0x1 (disabled).
WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious
problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system.
Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result
from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your
own risk.
1. Start Registry Editor.
2. Locate and then click the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft
3. On the Edit menu, click Add Key, type Logical Disk Manager for the
key name, and then click OK.
4. Click the newly created Logical Disk Manager key.
5. On the Edit menu, click Add Value, type Do Not Show InitWizard for
the value name, click REG_DWORD for the data type, and then click OK.
Type 1 for the data value.
To reactivate the wizard in the future, change the data value back to
0.
NOTE: After you disable the wizard, if you have to write a disk
signature on a new disk, right-click the physical disk number in Disk
Management, and then click Write Signature.
"Missing" Dynamic Disks
If Disk Management shows a "Missing" dynamic disk, this means that a
dynamic disk that was attached to the system cannot be located.
Because every dynamic disk in the system knows about every other
dynamic disk, this "missing" disk is shown in Disk Management. Do NOT
delete the missing disk's volumes or select the Remove Disk option in
Disk Management unless you intentionally removed the physical disk
from the system and you do not intend to ever reattach it. This
recommendation is important, because after you delete the disk and
volume records from the remaining dynamic disk's LDM database, you may
not be able to import the missing disk and bring it back online on the
same system after you reattach it.
Text-Mode Setup and Recovery Console
Never delete or create a partition on a dynamic disk during Windows
2000 or Windows XP text-mode setup or when you start the computer by
using the Recovery Console. Doing so may result in permanent data
loss. For additional information about this recommendation, click the
following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft
Knowledge Base:
227364 Dynamic Volumes Are Not Displayed Accurately in Text-Mode Setup
or Recovery Console
236086 System or Boot Disk Listed as Dynamic Unreadable in Disk
Management
The Mirrored Drive
Never break a healthy system disk or boot dynamic mirrored volume and
expect the mirrored drive to replace the original primary drive if it
fails. The drive letter that is assigned to the manually broken
mirrored drive is assigned the next available drive letter and is a
permanent record in the LDM database. This means that no matter what
position that drive takes in the boot process, it is assigned the new
(and incorrect) drive letter, so the operating system cannot function
correctly.
For additional information about common symptoms that are related to
the incorrect boot partition drive letter, click the article numbers
below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
249321 Unable to Log On If the Boot Partition Drive Letter Has Changed
258062 "Directory Services cannot start" error message when you start
your Windows-based or SBS-based domain controller
NOTE: Windows software mirroring is a fault-tolerant solution that
ensures that you can maintain access to data if you have a hardware
disk failure. Software mirroring is not intended to be used as an
offline backup mechanism.
Hardware Mirroring
If you use dynamic disks with hardware mirroring, it is very important
that you do not expose BOTH halves of the hardware-mirrored drives to
the same operating system at the same time. To do this, break the
hardware mirror by using the OEM RAID configuration utility, and then
configure both disks as standalone drives that are both accessible to
the operating system. The LDM databases will be exactly the same
(because you hardware-mirrored them), whereas each dynamic disk on a
system should contain a unique DiskID in the LDM header so that LDM
can distinguish one dynamic disk from another.
The same holds true if you use software disk imaging products that
duplicate hard disks sector-by-sector. Unpredictable results and, more
likely, undesirable results may occur if two dynamic disks that are
exactly the same are exposed to the operating system at the same time.
Conclusion
By using dynamic disks, you can create fault-tolerant volumes
(mirrored volumes and RAID-5 sets) and very large multiple-disk (LUN)
volumes by using striped and spanned volumes. These features are
available only on dynamic disks. Dynamic disks are more robust and
fault-tolerant in the way they store and replicate disk and volume
configuration information. Dynamic disks are primarily designed to be
"online" all the time, and this is why they are not available on
removable media. If you use the recommendations in this article, your
data should remain online and accessible under various controllable
and uncontrollable circumstances.
Inaccessible_Boot_Device"
In this particular case, the server was built using Dell Open Manage
software for the disk management portions of the OS. The Hard drives
are SCSI 36 gig Seagate cheetah drives on a non-raid controller. A
fresh copy of Windows 2000 Small Business Server was installed.
The Dell OpenManage software would not allow the software raid to
install. So the first original step to take was to remove the open
manage software. After the software was un-installed the windows disk
management would allow the software mirror to be created, which I did.
After the disks showed a state of healthy in disk management, I went
ahead with the other software installs. Among these are Microsoft SQL,
Exchange, and a specialized software that controls the SQL database,
Symantec Anti-Virus and Veritas BackUp Exec. I noticed that all these
installs were very difficult and gave problems on every turn, but I
worked through them anyway and got the server into what I thought was
a stable state. One week later, after the Credit Union had entered
data for all these days, the call came that workstations could not
connect to the server. When I got on site, it wasn't one workstation
but 3. Although there were two stations still working. My first
thought was a network switch had started to flake out, so I told them
to get out of the software that I was going to reboot the server. When
I did….. it never came back up.
Blue screen.
The error was *** STOP: 0x0000007b Inaccessible_Boot_Device.
After going through every possible alternative to get the server back,
I'll cut to the chase and tell you how we fixed this nightmare, but
before I start I have to give Microsoft Tech Support Credit they
helped me through this issue like champs.
Summary of Steps:
1. Use a program called "Disksave.exe" (a very small utility that
captures a copy of the MBR) put this utility on a DOS 6.22 boot disk
(www.bootdisk.com).
2. After booting the Server with Boot disk, run the utility and
capture the MBR.
3. Another program that you will need is "DiskProbe" from Microsoft
(do a google search, you'll find it).
Use "DiskProbe" to edit the MBR of the server. Specifically changing
the disks dynamic back to basic disks. This will break the software
mirror on the drives. In my case the upgrade to dynamic disks was the
issue that started the whole problem. The answer is to revert to basic
disks. There is not a kb on using diskprobe, however, it is available
on the 2000 CD under Support – Tools. The disksav utility will
retrieve your MBR and diskprobe will modify it. The necessary
information is below.
Value File system
--------------------------------------------------------------------
0x07 Installable File System (IFS), for example, HPFS and NTFS
Basic
0x42 LDM Dynamic Disk Partition(Windows 2000 only)
4. After the MBR is modified, put it back onto a floppy and load it
into the server using the disksave program, restore MBR feature. Just
type the path to the file on the floppy.
5. Now, before you think this is the end and you can just reboot,
think again.
Get a copy of Windows XP Professional and reboot to that CD starting
the recovery console. XP's console has many more features than 2000.
6. At this point I could see my c:\ drive, but go ahead and run the
utility "chkdsk /p". This will take a while for the disk to scan for
bad entries.
7. Finally, After this has completed, run the utility "bootcfg
\rebuild". This will correct any problems you may have with the
boot.ini file.
8. Reboot
9. If it take a while, it is expected. This happens because the drive
is still discovering that it once had a mirror and it is no longer
there. It should boot.
10. At this point, I suggest hooking it up to a network and getting
any data that is important—off the server.
11. Now according to Microsoft things should be stable, but after I
recovered my data. I didn't take any chances. I blew it away and
started all over. With my data on another drive, all went well with
the install. Although this took a lot of time, I feel much better
about the whole situation.
Thanks,
StanleyJ
Now, here are the articles Microsoft used to help me through this
problem.
How to install and use the Recovery Console in Windows XP
View products that this article applies to.
This article was previously published under Q307654
SUMMARY
To recover your operating system when your computer does not start
correctly or does not start at all, you may want to install and use
the Windows Recovery console. However, Microsoft recommends this
method of system recovery for advanced users only. Also, learn about
the Recovery Console command prompt, command actions, rules, how to
remove the Recovery Console, and how to install it during an
unattended installation.
IN THIS TASK
INTRODUCTION
MORE INFORMATION
How to install the Recovery Console
How to use the Recovery Console
How to use the Recovery Console command prompt
Command actions
Recovery Console rules
How to delete the Recovery Console
How to install Recovery Console during an unattended installation
REFERENCES
INTRODUCTION
Microsoft recommends that you use the Recovery Console only after Safe
mode and other startup options do not work. The Recovery Console is
recommended only if you are an advanced user who can use basic
commands to identify and locate problem drivers and files.
Additionally, you must be an administrator to use the Recovery
Console.
Back to the top
MORE INFORMATION
How to install the Recovery Console
You can install the Recovery Console on your computer to make it
available if you cannot restart Windows. You can then select the
Recovery Console option from the list of available operating systems
during startup. Install the Recovery Console on important servers and
on the workstations of IT personnel. This article describes how to
install the Recovery Console to your Microsoft Windows XP-based
computer. To install the Recovery Console, you must be logged on as an
administrator.
Although you can run the Recovery Console by starting directly from
the Windows XP CD, it is generally more convenient to set it up as a
startup option on your startup menu. To run the Recover Console
directly from the CD, see the "How to use the Recovery Console"
section.
To install the Recovery Console, follow these steps:
1. Insert the Windows XP CD into the CD-ROM drive.
2. Click Start, and then click Run.
3. In the Open box, type d:\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons where d is the
drive letter for the CD-ROM drive.
4. A Windows Setup Dialog Box appears. The Windows Setup Dialog Box
describes the Recovery Console option. To confirm the installation,
click Yes.
5. Restart the computer. The next time that you start your computer,
"Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" appears on the startup menu.
Note Alternatively, you can use a Universal Naming Convention
(UNC)-established connection to install the Recovery Console from a
network share point.
Back to the top
How to use the Recovery Console
You can enable and disable services, format drives, read and write
data on a local drive (including drives that are formatted to use the
NTFS file system), and perform many other administrative tasks. The
Recovery Console is particularly useful if you have to repair your
computer by copying a file from a disk or CD-ROM to your hard disk, or
if you have to reconfigure a service that is preventing your computer
from starting correctly.
If you cannot start your computer, you can run the Recovery Console
from the Microsoft Windows XP startup disks or the Windows XP CD-ROM.
This article describes how to perform this task.
After Windows XP is installed on your computer, to start the computer
and use the Recovery Console you require the Windows XP startup disks
or the Windows XP CD-ROM.
For additional information about how to create Startup disks for
Windows XP (they are not included with Windows XP), click the
following article number to view the article in the Microsoft
Knowledge Base:
310994 Obtaining Windows XP Setup boot disks
Note To start the computer from the Windows XP CD-ROM, you must
configure the basic input/output system (BIOS) of the computer to
start from your CD-ROM drive.
To run the Recovery Console from the Windows XP startup disks or the
Windows XP CD-ROM, follow these steps:
1. Insert the Windows XP startup disk into the floppy disk drive, or
insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive, and then restart
the computer.
Click to select any options that are required to start the computer
from the CD-ROM drive if you are prompted.
2. When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to start the
Recovery Console.
3. If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot computer, select the
installation that you must access from the Recovery Console.
4. When you are prompted, type the Administrator password. If the
administrator password is blank, just press ENTER.
5. At the command prompt, type the appropriate commands to diagnose
and repair your Windows XP installation.
For a list of commands that are available in Recovery Console, type
recovery console commands or help at the command prompt, and then
press ENTER.
For information about a specific command, type help commandname at the
command prompt, and then press ENTER.
6. To exit the Recovery Console and restart the computer, type exit at
the command prompt, and then press ENTER.
Back to the top
How to use the Recovery Console command prompt
When you use the Recovery Console, you are working at a special
command prompt instead of the ordinary Windows command prompt. The
Recovery Console has its own command interpreter. To enter this
command interpreter, you are prompted by Recovery Console to type the
local Administrator password.
When the Recovery Console starts, you can press F6 to install a
third-party SCSI or RAID driver, in case you need such a driver to
access the hard disk. This prompt works the same as it does during
installation of the operating system.
The Recovery Console takes several seconds to start. When the Recovery
Console menu appears, a numbered list of the Windows installations on
the computer appears. (Generally, only c:\Windows exists.) Press a
number before you press ENTER, even when only one entry appears. If
you press ENTER without selecting a number, the computer restarts and
begins the process again.
When you see the prompt for %SystemRoot% (generally C:\Windows), you
can start using the available commands for the Recovery Console.
Back to the top
Command actions
The following list describes the available commands for the Recovery
Console:
Attrib changes attributes on one file or subdirectory.
Batch executes commands that you specify in the text file,
Inputfile. Outputfile holds the output of the commands. If you omit
the Outputfile parameter, output appears on the screen.
Bootcfg modifies the Boot.ini file for boot configuration and
recovery.
CD (Chdir) operates only in the system directories of the current
Windows installation, removable media, the root directory of any hard
disk partition, or the local installation sources.
Chkdsk The /p switch runs Chkdsk even if the drive is not flagged as
dirty. The /r switch locates bad sectors and recovers readable
information. This switch implies /p. Chkdsk requires Autochk. Chkdsk
automatically looks for Autochk.exe in the startup folder. If Chkdsk
cannot find the file in the startup folder, it looks for the Windows
2000 Setup CD-ROM. If Chkdsk cannot find the installation CD-ROM,
Chkdsk prompts the user for the location of Autochk.exe.
Cls clears the screen.
Copy copies one file to a target location. By default, the target
cannot be removable media, and you cannot use wildcard characters.
Copying a compressed file from the Windows 2000 Setup CD-ROM
automatically decompresses the file.
Del (Delete) deletes one file. Operates within the system
directories of the current Windows installation, removable media, the
root directory of any hard disk partition, or the local installation
sources. By default, you cannot use wildcard characters.
Dir displays a list of all files, including hidden and system files.
Disable disables a Windows system service or driver. The variable
service_or_driver is the name of the service or driver that you want
to disable. When you use this command to disable a service, the
command displays the service's original startup type before it changes
the type to SERVICE_DISABLED. Note the original startup type so that
you can use the enable command to restart the service.
Diskpart manages partitions on hard disk volumes. The /add option
creates a new partition. The /delete option deletes an existing
partition. The variable device is the device name for a new partition
(such as \device\harddisk0). The variable drive is the drive letter
for a partition that you are deleting (for example, D). Partition is
the partition-based name for a partition that you are deleting, (for
example: \device\harddisk0\partition1) and can be used instead of the
drive variable. The variable size is the size, in megabytes, of a new
partition.
Enable enables a Windows system service or driver. The variable
service_or_driver is the name of the service or driver that you want
to enable, and start_type is the startup type for an enabled service.
The startup type uses one of the following formats:
SERVICE_BOOT_START
SERVICE_SYSTEM_START
SERVICE_AUTO_START
SERVICE_DEMAND_START
Exit quits the Recovery Console, and then restarts the computer.
Expand expands a compressed file. The variable source is the file
that you want to expand. By default, you cannot use wildcard
characters. The variable destination is the directory for the new
file. By default, the destination cannot be removable media and cannot
be read-only. You can use the attrib command to remove the read-only
attribute from the destination directory. The option /f:filespec is
required if the source contains more than one file. This option
permits wildcard characters. The /y switch disables the overwrite
confirmation prompt. The /d switch specifies that the files will not
be expanded and displays a directory of the files in the source.
Fixboot writes a new startup sector on the system partition.
Fixmbr repairs the startup partition's master boot code. The
variable device is an optional name that specifies the device that
requires a new Master Boot Record. Omit this variable when the target
is the startup device.
Format formats a disk. The /q switch performs a quick format. The
/fs switch specifies the file system.
Help If you do not use the command variable to specify a command,
help lists all the commands that the Recovery Console supports.
Listsvc displays all available services and drivers on the computer.
Logon displays detected installations of Windows and requests the
local Administrator password for those installations. Use this command
to move to another installation or subdirectory.
Map displays currently active device mappings. Include the arc
option to specify the use of Advanced RISC Computing (ARC) paths (the
format for Boot.ini) instead of Windows device paths.
MD (Mkdir) operates only within the system directories of the
current Windows installation, removable media, the root directory of
any hard disk partition, or the local installation sources.
More/Type displays the specified text file on screen.
Net Use connects to a remote share for the Windows XP Recovery
Console. The following text describes the syntax for this command:
NET USE [devicename | *] [\\computername\sharename[\volume]
[password | *]]
[/USER:[domainname\]username]
[/USER:[dotted domain name\]username]
[/USER:[username@dotted domain name]
[/SMARTCARD]
[/SAVECRED]
[[/DELETE] | [/PERSISTENT:{YES | NO}]]
NET USE {devicename | *} [password | *] /HOME
NET USE [/PERSISTENT:{YES | NO}]
Rd (Rmdir) operates only within the system directories of the
current Windows installation, removable media, the root directory of
any hard disk partition, or the local installation sources.
Ren (Rename) operates only within the system directories of the
current Windows installation, removable media, the root directory of
any hard disk partition, or the local installation sources. You cannot
specify a new drive or path as the target.
Set displays and sets the Recovery Console environment variables.
Systemroot sets the current directory to %SystemRoot%.
Back to the top
Recovery Console rules
Several environment rules are in effect while you are working in the
Recovery Console. Type set to see the current environment. By default,
these are the rules:
AllowAllPaths = FALSE prevents access to directories and
subdirectories outside the system installation that you selected when
you entered the Recovery Console.
AllowRemovableMedia = FALSE prevents access to removable media as a
target for copied files.
AllowWildCards = FALSE prevents wildcard support for commands such
as copy and del.
NoCopyPrompt = FALSE means that you are prompted by the Recovery
Console for confirmation when overwriting an existing file.
Back to the top
How to delete the Recovery Console
To delete the Recovery Console:
1. Restart your computer, click Start, click My Computer, and then
double-click the hard disk where you installed the Recovery Console.
2. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options, and then click the View
tab.
3. Click Show hidden files and folders, click to clear the Hide
protected operating system files check box, and then click OK.
4. At the root folder, delete the Cmdcons folder and the Cmldr file.
5. At the root folder, right-click the Boot.ini file, and then click
Properties.
6. Click to clear the Read-only check box, and then click OK.
Warning: Modifying the Boot.ini file incorrectly may prevent your
computer from restarting. Make sure that you delete only the entry for
the Recovery Console. Also, change the attribute for the Boot.ini file
back to a read-only state after you finish this procedure. Open the
Boot.ini file in Microsoft Windows Notepad, and remove the entry for
the Recovery Console. It looks similar to this:
C:\cmdcons\bootsect.dat="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons
7. Save the file and close it.
Back to the top
How to install Recovery Console during an unattended installation
To install the Recovery Console during the unattended installation of
Windows, you must use the [GuiRunOnce] section of the unattend.txt
file.
Command1="path\winnt32 /cmdcons /unattend"
For more information about how to use the Unattend.txt file, see the
Deployment Planning Guide of the Windows 2000 Server Resource Kit.
Back to the top
REFERENCES
You can use Group Policy to change the rules and expand the power that
you have in the Recovery Console.
For additional information about how to do this, click the following
article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
310497 How to use Group Policies to add more power to the Recovery
Console
Best Practices for Using Dynamic Disks on Windows 2000-Based Computers
View products that this article applies to.
This article was previously published under Q329707
IMPORTANT: This article contains information about modifying the
registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and
make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem
occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the
registry, click the following article number to view the article in
the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry
SUMMARY
This article describes the best practices for using dynamic disks on
Windows 2000-based computers.
MORE INFORMATION
Dynamic disks offer advantages over basic disks, which use the
original MS-DOS-style master boot record (MBR) partition tables to
store primary and logical disk partitioning information. Dynamic disks
use a private region of the disk to maintain a Logical Disk Manager
(LDM) database, which contains volume types, offsets, memberships, and
drive letters of each volume. The LDM database is also replicated, so
each dynamic disk knows about every other dynamic disk configuration.
This feature makes dynamic disks more reliable and recoverable than
basic disks.
The following articles contain information that you need to understand
the information in this article. For additional information about
dynamic disks, hardware limitations, and the terminology that is used
in this article, click the article numbers below to view the articles
in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
175761 Dynamic vs. Basic Storage in Windows 2000
254105 Dynamic Disk Hardware Limitations
325722 Limits of Dynamic Disks in Windows 2000
Best Practices and Limitations of Using Dynamic Disks
Before you use dynamic disks, consider the following recommended best
practices and limitations of using dynamic disks.
The Latest Fixes
Microsoft highly recommends that you install Windows 2000 Service Pack
3 (SP3) or later if you run Windows 2000 and you currently have
dynamic disks or plan to upgrade any of your basic disks to dynamic
disks. SP3 contains several important fixes for
basic-disk-to-dynamic-disk conversions and for extending hardware RAID
volumes if the disk is already dynamic.
For additional information about the fixes that SP3 contains, click
the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft
Knowledge Base:
294244 Extending Hardware RAID Array May Cause Dynamic
Unreadable/Offline Error
Microsoft also recommends that you install a supported fix that is now
available that corrects a problem that occurs when you start the Disk
Management snap-in. This hotfix is not included in Windows 2000 SP3.
For additional information about this hotfix, click the article number
below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
327020 Error Message Occurs When You Start Disk Management After
Extending a Hardware Array
Dynamic Disks vs. Basic Disks
Before you convert basic disks to dynamic disks, determine whether you
require features that only dynamic disks provide. If you do not need
spanned volumes, striped volumes, mirrored volumes, or RAID-5 sets, it
is best to use basic disks.
NOTE: If you want to increase the size of a hardware RAID-5 disk
logical unit number (LUN) but do not have to span the NTFS file system
volume across different physical disks (LUNs), continue to use basic
disks, and use the DiskPart.exe utility to extend the NTFS volume
after you add new storage capacity to the RAID volume. For additional
information, click the article number below to view the article in the
Microsoft Knowledge Base:
325590 How to Use DiskPart.exe to Extend a Data Volume
If you must extend an NTFS volume across multiple hard disks (LUNs) to
create a spanned volume, use dynamic disks. For Windows 2000 only, the
NTFS volume must have been originally created on a dynamic disk before
it can be spanned. You cannot extend or span a volume that was created
on a basic disk and then converted to a dynamic disk. This restriction
does not apply to Windows XP and later. For additional information
about this Windows 2000 restriction, click the article number below to
view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
225551 Restrictions on Extending or Spanning Simple Volumes on Dynamic
Disks
Storage Devices
If you decide to use dynamic disks and you have both locally attached
storage (IDE-based storage or Small Computer System Interface
[SCSI]-based storage) and storage that is located on a storage area
network (SAN, which is typically connected by means of fiber channel),
do one of the following, depending on your situation:
Use dynamic disks on only the SAN storage drives and keep the
locally attached storage as basic disks.
-or-
Use basic disks on the SAN storage drives and configure the locally
attached storage as dynamic disks.
This recommendation is based on the way that Logical Disk Manager
(LDM) keeps track of dynamic disks and synchronizes the databases. If
you follow this recommendation, and you experience an unplanned outage
(for example, fabric problems or a power outage) and lose access to
the SAN storage that houses the dynamic disks, all dynamic disks will
drop offline from the Windows 2000 system at the same time. Because
you have no dynamic disks attached locally, there are no LDM database
synchronization issues to contend with when the SAN disks eventually
come back online. If you have even one dynamic disk on the locally
attached storage, you run the risk of the LDM databases being
mismatched, and you may have trouble getting one or more SAN-attached
dynamic disks back online.
To combat that problem, if you must have dynamic disks in a mixed
configuration of both locally attached storage and SAN-attached
storage, it is a good idea to protect all fiber hubs, routers,
switches, SAN cabinets, and the server from power outages by using
uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs) on all connecting devices.
Notes
In a mixed dynamic disk configuration, if you must take the SAN
storage offline for maintenance, it is best to shut down the server
before you take the SAN storage unit offline, and then make sure that
all the SAN devices are available again when you bring the server back
online.
Windows does not support mounting a disk volume to multiple hosts at
the same time. This restriction applies to volumes that are located on
a BASIC disk or a dynamic disk. Volume corruption may occur if changes
are made to the volume by both hosts. Windows also does not support
exposing and then importing dynamic disks on multiple hosts (nodes)
simultaneously. This practice can also lead to data loss or to LDM
database corruption.
Server Clusters
Dynamic disks are not supported for use with Windows Clustering.
Windows 2000 Advanced Server and Windows Datacenter Server that are
non-OEM versions do not support dynamic disks in a server cluster
infrastructure.
This restriction does not prevent you from extending an NTFS volume
that is contained on a cluster shared disk (a disk that is shared
between the computers in the cluster) that is basic. For additional
information about how to extend an NTFS volume on a cluster shared
disk, click the article number below to view the article in the
Microsoft Knowledge Base:
304736 How to Extend the Partition of a Cluster Shared Disk
You can use the third-party add-on software Veritas Volume Manager for
Windows 2000 to add the dynamic disk features to a server cluster
infrastructure. If you install Veritas Volume Manager and configure
Volume Manager Disk Group resources, contact Veritas Support for
server cluster issues that are related to those resources. For
additional information about Veritas Volume Manager, click the article
number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
237853 Dynamic Disk Configuration Unavailable for Server Cluster Disks
The third-party products that are discussed in this article are
manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft
makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or
reliability of these products.
Moving Dynamic Disks
If you move dynamic disks between systems, you may not be able to move
the dynamic disks back to the original host. If you must move the
dynamic disks, move all the dynamic disks from a computer at one time,
and make sure that they are all online and running on the destination
system before you try to import them to the new host. This order is
important so that the disk group name and ID of the primary disk group
of the host system is always retained (if a dynamic disk is present).
What makes the difference is whether there is at least one dynamic
disk on the destination system or not. One problem scenario occurs
when there is no dynamic disk on the destination system (so that that
computer ends up with the same disk group name as the source computer
when the disk are moved to it) and then you want to move the disks
back to the source computer. You may encounter a problem if foreign
disks that you are re-imported have the same disk group name as the
local computer.
For additional information about moving dynamic disks, click the
following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft
Knowledge Base:
222189 Description of Disk Groups in Windows Disk Management
260113 "Internal Error - Disk Group Exists and Is Imported" Error
Message While Importing Foreign Disk
The Write Signature and Upgrade Disk Wizard
When you start the Disk Management snap-in, it will enumerate all
disks in the system to see if any disks have changed or if any new
disks were attached to the system. If Disk Management finds any disks
that are unknown, that are not initialized, or that do not have a disk
signature in the MBR, Disk Management starts the Write Signature and
Upgrade Disk Wizard.
The wizard first prompts you to select which disks that you want to
write a disk signature to; by default, no disks are selected. To
select the disks, click the check boxes next to the disk numbers.
The wizard then prompts you to select which disks that you want to
upgrade to dynamic disks. Each disk that you selected on the first
page is automatically selected here. If you continue without clearing
the disk check boxes, LDM writes a disk signature and upgrades all the
disks that you selected to dynamic disks automatically.
NOTE: This wizard was changed in Windows XP and later. It no longer
automatically selects the disks to be upgraded to dynamic.
If the MBR of a dynamic disk is zeroed out (for example, because of a
hardware problem), when you start Disk Management, the Write Signature
and Upgrade Disk Wizard starts. If you permit the disk to be
reconverted to dynamic, the original LDM database is overwritten by
the newly initialized LDM database. Disk Management shows that disk as
healthy and only shows unallocated free space. If you have another
healthy dynamic disk in the system at the time of conversion, its LDM
database is then replicated to the newly converted dynamic disk and a
"missing" disk (representing the original dynamic disk) is also shown
in Disk Management.
Because of this, it is best that you disable the Write Signature and
Upgrade Disk Wizard in Windows 2000, or that you caution users about
the default behavior of the wizard, and be careful not to accidentally
reconvert a disk that was previously dynamic.
To manually disable the wizard, follow these steps.
NOTE: If you previously selected the Do not show this wizard again
check box in the wizard, you do not have to use this procedure because
the key and value already exist and are set to 0x1 (disabled).
WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious
problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system.
Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result
from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your
own risk.
1. Start Registry Editor.
2. Locate and then click the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft
3. On the Edit menu, click Add Key, type Logical Disk Manager for the
key name, and then click OK.
4. Click the newly created Logical Disk Manager key.
5. On the Edit menu, click Add Value, type Do Not Show InitWizard for
the value name, click REG_DWORD for the data type, and then click OK.
Type 1 for the data value.
To reactivate the wizard in the future, change the data value back to
0.
NOTE: After you disable the wizard, if you have to write a disk
signature on a new disk, right-click the physical disk number in Disk
Management, and then click Write Signature.
"Missing" Dynamic Disks
If Disk Management shows a "Missing" dynamic disk, this means that a
dynamic disk that was attached to the system cannot be located.
Because every dynamic disk in the system knows about every other
dynamic disk, this "missing" disk is shown in Disk Management. Do NOT
delete the missing disk's volumes or select the Remove Disk option in
Disk Management unless you intentionally removed the physical disk
from the system and you do not intend to ever reattach it. This
recommendation is important, because after you delete the disk and
volume records from the remaining dynamic disk's LDM database, you may
not be able to import the missing disk and bring it back online on the
same system after you reattach it.
Text-Mode Setup and Recovery Console
Never delete or create a partition on a dynamic disk during Windows
2000 or Windows XP text-mode setup or when you start the computer by
using the Recovery Console. Doing so may result in permanent data
loss. For additional information about this recommendation, click the
following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft
Knowledge Base:
227364 Dynamic Volumes Are Not Displayed Accurately in Text-Mode Setup
or Recovery Console
236086 System or Boot Disk Listed as Dynamic Unreadable in Disk
Management
The Mirrored Drive
Never break a healthy system disk or boot dynamic mirrored volume and
expect the mirrored drive to replace the original primary drive if it
fails. The drive letter that is assigned to the manually broken
mirrored drive is assigned the next available drive letter and is a
permanent record in the LDM database. This means that no matter what
position that drive takes in the boot process, it is assigned the new
(and incorrect) drive letter, so the operating system cannot function
correctly.
For additional information about common symptoms that are related to
the incorrect boot partition drive letter, click the article numbers
below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
249321 Unable to Log On If the Boot Partition Drive Letter Has Changed
258062 "Directory Services cannot start" error message when you start
your Windows-based or SBS-based domain controller
NOTE: Windows software mirroring is a fault-tolerant solution that
ensures that you can maintain access to data if you have a hardware
disk failure. Software mirroring is not intended to be used as an
offline backup mechanism.
Hardware Mirroring
If you use dynamic disks with hardware mirroring, it is very important
that you do not expose BOTH halves of the hardware-mirrored drives to
the same operating system at the same time. To do this, break the
hardware mirror by using the OEM RAID configuration utility, and then
configure both disks as standalone drives that are both accessible to
the operating system. The LDM databases will be exactly the same
(because you hardware-mirrored them), whereas each dynamic disk on a
system should contain a unique DiskID in the LDM header so that LDM
can distinguish one dynamic disk from another.
The same holds true if you use software disk imaging products that
duplicate hard disks sector-by-sector. Unpredictable results and, more
likely, undesirable results may occur if two dynamic disks that are
exactly the same are exposed to the operating system at the same time.
Conclusion
By using dynamic disks, you can create fault-tolerant volumes
(mirrored volumes and RAID-5 sets) and very large multiple-disk (LUN)
volumes by using striped and spanned volumes. These features are
available only on dynamic disks. Dynamic disks are more robust and
fault-tolerant in the way they store and replicate disk and volume
configuration information. Dynamic disks are primarily designed to be
"online" all the time, and this is why they are not available on
removable media. If you use the recommendations in this article, your
data should remain online and accessible under various controllable
and uncontrollable circumstances.