Cloning

Acer laptop. Vista basic, O.P.system.
Cloned entire installed (Hard drive) including C & D partitions to U.S.B external (Hard Drive) using Macrium Reflect software.
Installed Hard drive into computer expecting everything to start up and operate
as normal.
Message on screen stating. No operating system found.
Have only basic computer knowledge.
Could anybody suggest. WHY?

Is the Vista partition marked Active?

Boot the vista dvd to command prompt - type:

Diskpart

lis vol

( find the letter of the Vista volume , e.g. D )

sel vol D

act

exi.

You can use a bootable partition manager to mark Vista partition Active instead.

There is a good one available free at the moment ( install it on a working pc - run off the bootable cd , boot it on your sick machine - and you will get a very easy to use interface) :

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