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Deleted member 95691
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Mahmoud, almost two years ago, I was asking you about EFI.
Now that the situation with EasyBCD is better and it supports EFI in v2.2, I would like to return to some of my questions I then.
My Test Setup and assumptions
Now that I tested the basics - back to my original task - I want to create a multiboot USB drive that works both in EFI-only and Legacy BIOS-only computers and boots several different Windows-based ISOs through a boot menu.
Challenges
Dual UEFI/BIOS BCD
For example, some tools ask to Windows installation disk and copy the Boot managers/loaders from that disk. You can use that approach or simply include them as a part of your EasyBCD installation (if licensing permits).
Syncing multiple BCDs
Let's say I manually create the necessary dual-BCD structure on my USB drive. Both BCDs are still separate and I need to modify them in EasyBCD separately.
It would be great to have a feature that syncs multiple BCDs.
For example, if I add a new entry based on ISO to Legacy BIOS BCD, I would like it to also be created in my EFI BCD on the same USB drive.
EFI BCD does not work
Now that the situation with EasyBCD is better and it supports EFI in v2.2, I would like to return to some of my questions I then.
My Test Setup and assumptions
- All the questions below are related to creating bootable USB drives.
- I know that UEFI requires FAT32 partition, so I used it on USB drive.
- I have a computer that supports both UEFI and Legacy BIOS boot (Dell XPS series)
- Since some bootable media (like Windows boot CDs) contain both UEFI and Legacy BIOS boot files, I tested my Dell XPS to ensure that I can force the desired boot mode if my USB drive contains both types of BCDs. Here's how:
- I manually created a USB drive through DiskPart and copied Windows 7 installation disk to it.
- Then in order to 100% determine which mode is used, I used EasyBCD to rename boot entries.
- Windows boot menu entry in \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD was renamed to UEFI and the menu was configured to wait for user selection.
- Windows boot menu entry in \Boot\BCD was renamed to Legacy BIOS and the menu was configured to wait for user selection.
- I tested my Windows bootable USB drive on my Dell in both mode and ensured that I can force either UEFI or Legacy BIOS boot loaders through the computer boot menu and that the correct BCD is loaded in each respective mode.
Now that I tested the basics - back to my original task - I want to create a multiboot USB drive that works both in EFI-only and Legacy BIOS-only computers and boots several different Windows-based ISOs through a boot menu.
Challenges
Dual UEFI/BIOS BCD
- I determined that BCD Deployment >> Install BCD tool is dependent on the OS from which EasyBCD is run.
- If I Install BCD from EasyBCD in EFI Windows, I get EFI BCD in \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD on my USB drive
- If I Install BCD from EasyBCD in Legacy BIOS Windows, I get the legacy BCD in \Boot\BCD on my USB drive
- Windows disks come with both BCDs and I successfully tested that dual-BCD boot as described above.
For example, some tools ask to Windows installation disk and copy the Boot managers/loaders from that disk. You can use that approach or simply include them as a part of your EasyBCD installation (if licensing permits).
Syncing multiple BCDs
Let's say I manually create the necessary dual-BCD structure on my USB drive. Both BCDs are still separate and I need to modify them in EasyBCD separately.
It would be great to have a feature that syncs multiple BCDs.
For example, if I add a new entry based on ISO to Legacy BIOS BCD, I would like it to also be created in my EFI BCD on the same USB drive.
EFI BCD does not work
- I used EasyBCD to Install BCD on my USB drive from UEFI Windows 7 x64.
- I got a proper EFI BCD on my USB drive.
- I opened that BCD from EasyBCD, removed the default Windows entry, added a single entry for an Windows ISO that supports both Legacy and EFI boot modes, and configured the menu to wait for the user input. Overall a simple task, that I performed many times before in EasyBCD.
- When I take this USB drive and boot it on my Dell XPS in Legacy mode, it fails (quite as expected since I only have the EFI BCD).
- When I boot this USB drive and boot it on my Dell XPS in UEFI mode, I successfully get the boot menu with my single boot menu record.
- However, when I select that boot menu record, I get the following error:
- File: \NST\AutoNeoGrub0.mbr
- Status: 0xc0000098
- Info: The selected entry could not be loaded because the application is missing or corrupt.