VMware backups of a Microsoft Windows 2008/2008 R2 server could results in a disk signature collision during backup

Problem

When backing up a Microsoft Windows 2008 or 2008 R2 virtual machine a "Disk Signature Collision" may occur and will be seen during the restore. 

Solution

A default installation of a 'Windows 2008 R2' operating system creates two volumes.
 

1. A 100 MB 'System Volume' that contains the system file such as 'bootmgr' as well as the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) store.
2. The 'Boot Volume' that contains your Windows directory and the operating system files such as winload.exe, ntoskrnl.exe and so on.
 

The BCD file ( present under the BOOT folder of the 'System Volume' ) stores the ‘disk signature’ and the ‘starting offset’ details for the 'System Volume' and the 'Boot Volume'.
 

You will encounter the 0xc000000e ( STATUS_NO_SUCH_DEVICE ) error if the ‘disk signature’ (or the starting offset) stored in the BCD does not match what is stored in the Master Boot Record (MBR) of the disk. See the following link for a detailed explanation http://blogs.technet.com/b/markrussinovich/archive/2011/11/08/3463572.aspx.
 

If you encounter this issue, do the following


1. Boot the system using the 'Windows Server 2008 R2’ installation DVD ( You can also use the installation DVD of any Vista or above operating system ).
2. Click Next and then click on the ’Install Now’ button

 

3. At the ‘Select the operating system you want to install’ screen, press Shift+F10. This will open up a command prompt window.

4. Run Diskpart.exe and then run the following diskpart commands
• select disk 0
• detail disk
• Note down the drive letter assigned to your boot volume. In this case it is drive letter ‘E:’. Note that the ‘System Partition’ is assigned a drive letter ( drive letter ‘C:’) in this environment.


 

5. Now exit diskpart.exe by typing exit and then type the following BCDEDIT commands

• bcdedit /set {BOOTMGR.EN_US} device “partition=C:”
• bcdedit /set {DEFAULT.EN_US} device “partition=E:”
• bcdedit /set {DEFAULT.EN_US} osdevice “partition=E:”
 

The above commands will correct the disk signature and the partition offsets in the BCD to match the ones present in the Master Boot Record(MBR). Note that we have to use the drive letter of the ‘Boot Volume’ when correcting the bcd entries for the {DEFAULT.EN_US} boot loader and the common mistake is to run
 

• bcdedit /set {DEFAULT.EN_US} device “partition=C:”
 

Instead of determining the correct drive letter associated with the ‘Boot Volume’ and using that.
 

6. In our example, the bcd entries will be as follows after running the bcdedit commands


 

7. Reboot the system to get out of the setup mode and boot into the actual system.