Still cant make a win8 togo multiboot usb key

Wolfkc

Member
I have a win8 togo usb key. It works fine, boots to win8.

What i want to do though is have the key boot to a boot menu with togo as one of the options.
I tried booting to the wim, but that didn't work. Now i've tried making a bootable ISO and is also not working.
To make the ISO I used this command: C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools>oscdimg -lKC_Win8ToGo -m -u2 -bj:\boo
t\etfsboot.com q:\ c:\users\kc\desktop\KC_Win8ToGo.iso
This had an issue with not being able to read the files on q:\, access denied, even though I'm running from an admin prompt. So I reset the ownership to "everyone" and it made the iso.
My source on J: is an x64 enterprise win8 dvd.

I've attached beyond compare images showing the file differnces. I suspect i need something besodes the -bj:\boot\etfsboot.com in the oscdimg command, but I'm a novice at this. :smile:
The key is working in that i also put a dos iso on it and it will boot to that. When i try booting to the KC_Win8ToGo.iso it says "couldn't find bootmgr". I assume this is the missing bootmgr file on J:, so the question is why isn't that there. My command to make the iso bootable was "C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools>bcdboot q:\windows /s q:" and it gave me "Boot files successfully created."

Thanks!
 

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Tried the new 2.2 version. Still get an error on boot, i think this one was cant find boot loader.
I have 19 boot options that work including four that are Win8 PE, but this one (Win8ToGo) is a problem
 
Windows To Go, the proper term for it, is an option with Windows 8 Enterprise that allows you to basically create a WinPE version.

Windows To Go: Feature Overview

The problem is that Microsoft did not intend to make Windows To Go a boot option, so there is no way that you can add it with EasyBCD, at least not currently. Since it is only available for Enterprise users it is a business class thing and not made for home users. So the OP is right in that aspect, that the latest version of EasyBCD doesnt support this, but I wouldnt put the blame solely on EasyBCD. Cause I doubt that Microsoft intends people to have their USB Thumb Drive inserted at all times in PC's for use with this.
 
Very interesting links there, Alex, thanks for sharing. I'm going to have to study this one very carefully, I have no idea whether or not EasyBCD will work with it as-is, but I'd honestly be surprised if you couldn't make it work with one or more of the features/options already in EasyBCD.

Off the top of my head: extract the ISO and add the entry as if it were a normal Windows 8 entry in EasyBCD?
 
I have no doubt that there will be some way that you can get it to work with something. But like I said, I doubt Microsoft intended for people to leave a USB Device attached at all times to have it be a boot option. With the added complication that the device could be assigned a different ID if it was removed and then reinserted could make things much more complicated. So even if an entry could be added, if the USB Device was removed cause it wasnt in use and then inserted again to boot from it, there is no saying that the entry would point to the right assignment the next time. At least if memory serves me right in regards to that aspect.
 
It *should* use the unique disk signature (combination of disk signature + partition sector offset, in particular, if memory serves) and not the device ID, but there's no doubt that MS may have (as they did with Windows 7) placed hard-coded safeguards in bootmgr, winload.exe, and/or the kernel itself to prevent exactly this sort of scenario.

OP, were you able to test the recommendation?
 
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