Copied system partitions to USB disk, how to proceed to make a clone?

[Bo Berglund]

On Mon, 18 Oct 2021 00:18:08 +0200, Liam Proven <lproven at gmail.com> wrote:

>I've answered much of this before in the previous thread.
>
>My suggestions:
>• follow the blog post I linked to -- remove absolutely everything
>from Windows, shrink it as small as it will go, but leave it there for
>future firmware updates and so on.
>• Install a clean copy of 20.04 so as to get the Ubuntu entries in the ESP
>• Then try replacing the fresh copy with a copy of your old one
>

I assume you mean this blog post:

https://liam-on-linux.livejournal.com/68495.html

I will read it carefully and try to follow it. Now scanned it quickly.

Earlier in the previous post with the link to the blog you also wrote this:

> You will have to totally erase the hard disk and repartition it with
> MBR instead of GPT. These are not interchangeable.
> 
> So, if you do, ensure you have a working, tested, bootable Win10 key
> *FIRST* before changing anything. Also ensure you have made a copy of
> any activation keys using ProduKey or similar.
> 
> https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/product_cd_key_viewer.html

I get a bit confused here, because the link goes to Produkey, which is a utility
to retrieve the product keys, the 25 or so character code to validate the
Windows installation with, but that key surely is not a "bootable" thing???

Is there a way to retrieve the installation media that usually is hidden inside
a special partition of the PC so one can reinstall Windows 10 and then use the
keys extracted with the ProduKey program?

If that partition has been removed as part of the Ubuntu installation and it
fails how to proceed then?

Or is this what you refer to concerning the "bootable Win10 key", if so how can
I get hold of such?

Antivirus problem?
I tried downloading produkey from the links at the end of the nirsoft page but
the first zip would not download at all and the second (x64) triggered a message
saying:

"This file contains a virus or malware that will harm your computer"

Is this real or just Microsoft combatting tools making data extraction possible
on Windows?

I *could* use wget to download them both on Ubuntu, but are they safe to use (I
presume I will use the one labeled x64)?

Comment on your blogpost:
-------------------------
You write:
"Once it's done, if it's still there, in Linux you can delete C:\HIBERFIL.SYS."
and
"Boot off a Linux medium, and as described above, delete C:\PAGEFILE.SYS,
C:\SWAPFILE.SYS and C:\HIBERFIL.SYS."

But when you are in Linux, how can you even see a C:\ drive, let alone modify or
delete files there?

At this stage you are booted to Linux live session from the linux install media,
how can you then access the Windows drives? I thought that the live session did
not mount anything from the system drives...

Cheers!


-- 
Bo Berglund
Developer in Sweden