PC-BSD v10.2 and up (FreeBSD) can't be successfully added via EasyBCD

eb-user

New Member
I've been using EasyBCD for some years now. I read about it as a solution to get my system dualbooting W7 and PC-BSD without having to bow to grub.

But at least since pcbsd (most probably FreeBSD too) v10.2 I'm unable to add it successfully to the Windows Boot Manager using EasyBCD. There is a new entry, but "it" doesn't work. There's just a coursor blinking when selecting that entry. Nothing is booting.

Now, with v10.3 I made another test. Same result. So I compared the existing entry with the new entry by comparing the two "nst_linux.mbr" files under c:\NST\. The old one contains some lines of gibberish signs. The new one is completely empty.

That happens with EasyBCD v2.2 and 2.3 just the same. If I put the image of pcbsd that was installed using the iso image from v10.0 back on that partition, not only does the system boot but I can create a new test entry to the boot manager that results in a nst_linux.mbr file that is exactely the same as the existing one (as it should be) and not at all empty.

So, I guess the guys at pcbsd and/or freebsd changed something with the boot sector or boot entries on the containing partition or something. I'm not familiar with such details I'm just a user. But the result is, that apparently the thing that EasyBCD does when one selects FreeBS/PC-BSD as type doesn't work/apply with the current versions of pcbsd (and most probably freebsd) anymore and needs to be updated.

I can also confirm that this does only happen when one installs pcbsd anew. My upgraded installation - installed from 10.0 and upgraded to the current v10.3 - is unaffected by this. Even though after each little update the pcbsd system installs grub to my hdd and I override the MBR and W7-100MB-partition with a stored image of those two, the system still boot with the old EasyBCD-made windows boot manager entry. Apparently the difference in the boot entry/sector of the pcbsd partition between v10.0 and later versions stay even if one upgrades/updates to the current version - luckily.

Even if I'm not sure that it is a bug I posted it here because my tests and findings suggest that it is a bug or at least a update-worthy feature that is outdated for current versions of pcbsd/freebsd. I was hopeful when I learned that there was a new version of EasyBCD after about 3 years but apparently noone has noticed that error before - I also haven't found anything on that using google or the forum search here.

Thank you for considering.

Mike
 
Hiya Mike,

Welcome to the forums and thanks for the bug report. This is the first time we've heard of this issue, we'll log it for further investigation!
 
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