SUSE 10 uses Disk ID's to reference filesystem mount points. Disk ID's are specific to each disk by serial number so an image created on one system with a specific disk (our reference platform) won't be immediately bootable on another system since the other system has a different disk.

The solution:  Change the references in the mount file (/etc/fstab) and the boot loader menu file (/boot.grub/menu.lst) to refer to the disk by Device Name instead of Disk ID.

Step 1 - (getting logged in so changes can be made)

- At the Linux Boot Menu simply type "root=/dev/sda2" (no quotes).  Do not change the boot menu selection (leave it on the top option), just start typing and the text will start appearing on the boot options line at the bottom of the screen.  Then hit enter and the system will boot.  The first time a user boots their system after restoring an image, it will take a bit of extra time as the file system needs to be checked (via fsck)

Step 2 - (changing device references to eliminate having to use step 1 to boot the system)

- The following two files will have to be edited and the DiskID references changed to Device Names. 
Here are the two files:

/etc/fstab
/boot/grub/menu.lst

- The user can edit these by whatever method they prefer.  If they are not familiar with linux, the easiest method is to run the "root's home" icon from the desktop, and hit the up arrow once to move to the top of the file system.  (This is just like Windows Explorer).  They can then drill down through the filesystem and double click on the above two files to bring each into the editor (gedit) in turn.  Once each file is in the editor, its recommended to maximize the gedit window so line wrap is not confusing..

-  In /etc/fstab make the following changes:

Where it says:                                                                                              Change it to:

/dev/disk/by-id/scsi-SATA_ST3500641AS_3PG0021B-part1              /dev/sda1
/dev/disk/by-id/scsi-SATA_ST3500641AS_3PG0021B-part2              /dev/sda2


-  In /boot/grub/menu.lst make the following changes:

Everywhere it says:                                                                                                  Change it to:

root=/dev/disk/by-id/scsi-SATA_ST3500641AS_3PG0021B-part2               root=/dev/sda2

-  Depending on the particular drive used to build the image, the Disk ID's might be a different, but the associated disk id that needs to be replaced should be obvious.