At 20:51 5/17/99 , Ernie wrote:
 >We currently have an NT 4.0 server hosting several hundred web sites
 >and domains. We are trying to move this data to a new, faster machine.
 >The problem we are having is that the new computer shows an
 >inaccessible boot device. We're assuming this has something to do
 >with the security identifiers. I know that we cannot simply copy all
 >the data, reboot, and expect it to work, but how can we manage to do
 >this without having to re-input all the user name and password info?

Hi Ernie

It doesn't sound to me like the SID is your problem. (Are you sure
that you have marked the main partition ACTIVE on your new machine?
Is there a Master Boot Record on the boot drive of the new machine?)
You didn't say how you did the transfer from the old machine to the
new machine.

Maybe you could create a new (minimal) NT4 install in the first
partition of your new machine's boot drive, then edit its boot.ini
file to point to the partition that you copied from your old machine.
(Do the copy over again if necessary.) If this works, you could
delete all but the system boot files in the root directory of the new
bootable partition.

Returning to the matter of the security identifier (SID), Power Quest
offers a utility called "SIDchanger" which reassigns a new unique
SID and computer name for imaging NT workstations. This is a free
download if you are a licensed owner of Drive Image 2 (which is very
inexpensive) or Drive Image 3 (the more expensive networking ready
version). It is a true DOS program that can be run from diskette.

For Microsoft's thoughts on the SID and cloning of NT4 installations:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q162/0/01.asp

For a white paper from Power Quest on the SID and cloning of NT4:
http://www.powerquest.com/support/ntimaging.html

For information on Power Quest's SIDChanger:
http://www.powerquest.com/support/di/di8004.html
http://www.powerquest.com/root/downlwd/sidchanger.html

For information on Power Quest's Drive Image Software:
http://www.powerquest.com/driveimage/index.html
http://www.powerquest.com/driveimagepro/index.html

Regards,
Bill

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