SUMMARY
Resolve windows login problem after dis-similar bare metal restore of Windows Server running Citrix Server application with %SystemDrive% set to a letter other than C:.
ISSUE
Purpose
Resolve windows login problem after dis-similar bare metal restore of Windows Server running Citrix Server application with %SystemDrive% set to a letter other than C:.
Description
Most of the Windows systems have OS installed on C:\ driver. However, if a Windows Server is installed with Citrix Server Application, like Citrix Presentation Server, the %SystemDrive% value is set to M:\. The Citrix Presentation Server provides a utility to remap the %SystemDrive% to letter M: before you install their application. When a dis-similar bare metal restore of such server is performed, user is unable to login to the windows server. The server logs off the user immediately after login. Sometimes user gets missing Citrix login DLL error and is unable to login.
Cause
The root cause of the problem is the different signature for disk containing system partition. When the system with M: drive is restored to a disk with different signature, the %SystemRoot% is set to C:, but leaving other registry entries pointing to the old drive letter.. Because of this the logon process is not able to find the necessary files required for login.
Resolution
Here are steps to resolve the issue.
1. Reboot the machine in WinPE mode.
2. Start Registry editor and load the System Registry hive from the restored image.
3. Go to the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices
4. Right-click \DosDevices\M:, and then click Delete.
5. Right-click \DosDevices\C:, and then click Rename.
6. Rename \DosDevices\C: to DosDevices\M: or to the appropriate (new) drive letter
7. Quit Registry editor and restart the computer.
8. Verify that that you can login to the server and that %SystemDrive% is set to M: and Citrix services are running.
Third-Party Sources
N/A