Moving Windows 2000 Server To New Hardware Produces Inaccessible_Boot_Device Error stop 0x0000007b

I needed to move a Windows 2000 Server running SQL and custom programming to a new Dell Server.  Because our Applications group was tied up on a CRM project I had to ensure that the server functioned identical to the old server.  I could not simply reinstall Windows 2000 and SQL server and copy over the files so I used Ghost to obtain images of the old server and load the images onto the new Dell Poweredge server.  When I booted I saw the blue screen of death with an error Inaccessible_Boot_Device Stop 0x0000007b  Figuring this was a RAID driver issue I tried the following.

• Updated the RAID driver on the donar server and retried the image.

• Tried to manually copy driver files using the recovery console

• Tried using the Windows 2000 manual and fast repair on the new server

Unfortunately none of this worked.  However I did find a way to get the server to boot so I could update the drivers and other files.

Windows 2000 has another repair called the In Place Upgrade.  This is also a repair but is not in the same screen as the fast or manual repairs.  The Windows 2000 In Place Upgrade will replace all system files but will leave your registry and other programs alone so you simply have to repatch the server once it boots.  You will also have to update any drivers required to make your server happy on the new hardware.

To Perform a Windows 2000 In Place Upgrade

Boot to your Windows 2000 Server CD-Rom and hit F6 to load additional drivers.

Insert a floppy with your RAID, SCSI or IDE driver so it can see your disks.

When prompted to do an install or repair choose the install.

Accept the License Agreement

Next it should find your existing Windows 2000 Install

Hit R to repair

Follow the rest of the prompts to perform the upgrade.

Then your system will now boot properly and you just need to fix the drivers and update all patches etc.

This will likley work for Windows 2000 Pro and Windows XP and Windows 2003