Windows 8.1 asking to boot in which partition.

jyubonk · Nov 27, 2013

I successfully install Windows 8.1 Pro on my Macbook Air 2013. There is no problem with anything at all and everything works perfectly but one thing is bothering me.

When I try to boot up into windows, this screen appears:

I wanted my Macbook to boot up straight away into windows and I can't find any option to do so. I do not know why the screen is brought up before I able to enter Windows 8.1 and is there anyway to set this thing up? I can't find any references regarding this screen on google. Hope someone can explain and help me with this.

Thanks.

Quackers · Nov 27, 2013

Do both entries boot in to Windows?
What is your current partition layout please?

jyubonk · Nov 27, 2013

Quackers said:
Do both entries boot in to Windows?
What is your current partition layout please?

This is the layout before enter any OS.

This is the layout when I was in Windows 8.1

I believed one of the partition is belong to the Recovery 10.9 because I turn on locate my mac from iCloud in Mac OS Maverick. The other partition I am not so sure with. When you mention does the other partition (with no "on volume 4") boot to windows, turn out it boot into my Mac OS maverick. I do not want windows 8.1 to show which partition want to use, I want to set it directly boot up to windows. Is everyone with bootcamp windows 8.1 been brought to this page?

Quackers · Nov 27, 2013

It's odd. I have had a few Windows installs on my MBP and that has never happened to mine

Did you use Boot Camp to install Windows?
I don't know why an entry would show as another Windows option then boot in to OSX.
Maybe someone else will have more ideas.

Once booted in to Windows can you do Command + r.
A "run" box should appear.
Type in "msconfig" and hit enter.
In the new window that opens up click on the "Boot" tab and show us what's in there please.

jyubonk · Nov 27, 2013

Quackers said:
It's odd. I have had a few Windows installs on my MBP and that has never happened to mine
Did you use Boot Camp to install Windows?
I don't know why the "partition 4" entry would show as another Windows option then boot in to OSX.
Maybe someone else will have more ideas.

Once booted in to Windows can you do Command + r.
A "run" box should appear.
Type in "msconfig" and hit enter.
In the new window that opens up click on the "Boot" tab and show us what's in there please.

UPDATED

When I choose other partition (without "on volume 4") an error will showed up

This is when I enter msconfig.

When I choose "Windows 8.1 (On volume 4)", it will boot normally into windows 8.1 but not the other partition. What does it means? Can I delete it? How to know which partition to be deleted so that I can merge it back with Macintosh HD partition and do not delete Recovery 10.9?

Quackers · Nov 27, 2013

Thanks.
I personally would highlight the one in the boot tab that does NOT have
Current OS; Default OS
after it then click on "delete". Then click on "Apply" then on "ok".
The system will then ask you to reboot and you can then try to boot Windows from the Alt + boot grey screen (the Apple one) and see if Windows boots directly.

I suspect it will be ok, but as I don't know what put the other entry there it may re-appear.

Also, please bear in mind that it's possible that Windows won't boot after doing this (though it's unlikely, I would say).
This might mean needing to re-install Windows.

Did you install Windows through Boot Camp?

jyubonk · Nov 27, 2013

Quackers said:
Thanks.
I personally would highlight the one in the boot tab that does NOT have
Current OS; Default OS
after it then click on "delete". Then click on "Apply" then on "ok".
The system will then ask you to reboot and you can then try to boot Windows from the Alt + boot grey screen (the Apple one) and see if Windows boots directly.

I suspect it will be ok, but as I don't know what put the other entry there it may re-appear.

Also, please bear in mind that it's possible that Windows won't boot after doing this (though it's unlikely, I would say).
This might mean needing to re-install Windows.

Did you install Windows through Boot Camp?

Yes, I do install the windows using bootcamp. The partition layout in windows shows 4 partition. I do know which one is bootcamp and which one is Macintosh HD, but how to identify the partition for Recovery 10.9 and the windows partition without os?

Quackers · Nov 27, 2013

Thanks.
By doing what I suggested above you are not deleting any partitions, only a boot entry.
When installing Windows through Boot Camp did you choose the EFI Boot option from the Windows installer or the Wininstall option?

jyubonk · Nov 27, 2013

Quackers said:
Thanks.
By doing what I suggested above you are not deleting any partitions, only a boot entry.
When installing Windows through Boot Camp did you choose the EFI Boot option from the Windows installer or the Wininstall option?

If I'm not mistaken I did choose EFI boot, and my macbook boot up from the pendrive that I prepared for windows 8.1 installation.

UPDATE

There's no more weird page that I posted earlier. It straight away boot into Windows 8.1. Wuhuuuuu!!!

If, let say, I able to identify the partition that has been affected earlier, can I merge that particular partition and extend my current Bootcamp partition?

Quackers · Nov 27, 2013

So it's fixed - that's good

I wouldn't say that any partition has been "affected". Unless the boot entry re-appears I wouldn't worry about it.

And no, you can't change a Boot Camp partition once it's created (other than by paying for software which claims to do that, and they're not always successful and can lead to nothing being able to boot afterwards).
The only safe way to change a Boot Camp partition is to delete it and start again.

jyubonk · Nov 27, 2013

Quackers said:
So it's fixed - that's good

I wouldn't say that any partition has been "affected". Unless the boot entry re-appears I wouldn't worry about it.

And no, you can't change a Boot Camp partition once it's created (other than by paying for software which claims to do that, and they're not always successful and can lead to nothing being able to boot afterwards).
The only safe way to change a Boot Camp partition is to delete it and start again.

I see, I think I can live with just 200-600mb wasted on partition that only god knows why it's there at the place. This is good enough
Really thanks Quackers for helping me out.

Quackers · Nov 27, 2013

You're welcome

Nothing is wasted on your computer (partition-wise).

The 200MB partition is your EFI partition which is needed by Apple and the GUID partitioning scheme. Do not delete.

The 620MB partition is your Mac OSX Recovery HD and should be kept if you want Find My Mac to keep working. (Or in case you ever need to recover your OSX system).

It's fine as it is

xcodeSyn · Nov 27, 2013

jyubonk said:
If, let say, I able to identify the partition that has been affected earlier, can I merge that particular partition and extend my current Bootcamp partition?

As Quackers already stated, don't try to delete or merge anything or you'll end up with more trouble than you could handle. There are additional hidden partitions created when you installed Win 8.1 using the EFI optin, and you can find all the partitions using the "diskpart" command in the command line window, but don't do anything to delete or merge them if you don't know what you are doing.

jyubonk · Nov 27, 2013

xcodeSyn said:
As Quackers already stated, don't try to delete or merge anything or you'll end up with more trouble than you could handle. There are additional hidden partitions created when you installed Win 8.1 using the EFI optin, and you can find all the partitions using the "diskpart" command in the command line window, but don't do anything to delete or merge them if you don't know what you are doing.

Noted. Thanks for all the help provided.

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