Win7 x64 booting natively via EFI (no BIOS emulation)

[kkrull]

Triple boot GPT status?

So if I understand correctly I can still triple boot Win8\OSX\Linux on a new macbook air with GPT by doing the following...

Install x64 Win 8 Preview first on a new macbook air by holding the control key when booting and formatting the entire drive as one partition on install. I won't have to do it unattended because of the Intel chip.

Use a third party disk utility to create a few more GPT only partitions.

Install OSX. Never install bootcamp. The install will need to be from a previously created USB or burned DVD.

Install a GPT complaint version of Linux, like the latest Ubuntu.

Install rEFIt. I assume that it does not install the dual MBR bootcamp setup if not already installed.

Am I correct? I am looking forward to D3vi1's utility but could use a project this weekend.

 

[icanhazapple]

So if I understand correctly I can still triple boot Win8\OSX\Linux on a new macbook air with GPT by doing the following...

Install x64 Win 8 Preview first on a new macbook air by holding the control key when booting and formatting the entire drive as one partition on install. I won't have to do it unattended because of the Intel chip.

Use a third party disk utility to create a few more GPT only partitions.

Install OSX. Never install bootcamp. The install will need to be from a previously created USB or burned DVD.

Install a GPT complaint version of Linux, like the latest Ubuntu.

Install rEFIt. I assume that it does not install the dual MBR bootcamp setup if not already installed.

Am I correct? I am looking forward to D3vi1's utility but could use a project this weekend.

same questions I'm looking for answers to before I dive in.

 

[blackhand1001]

I am pretty sure the standard of EFI apple uses is too old for the EFI standard that windows 7 uses to boot via EFI. Windows 7 depends on UEFI (reqiures version 2.0 I believe) I believe while apple still relies on efi 1.1. You may be able to get some things to work, but your better off just using the bios emulation.

 

[624636]

Does someone has tested the Windows 8 "on the go".

Doest it works in Bios Mode or UEFI mode ?

http://tweaks.com/windows/52279/how-to-create-a-windows-to-go-usb-drive/

I'm pretty sure that I read that we have to make 3 partitions : one for BIOS system, one for UEFI system and the other for the system partition.

Maybe it could help for our subject.

Thanks

 

[icanhazapple]

I am pretty sure the standard of EFI apple uses is too old for the EFI standard that windows 7 uses to boot via EFI. Windows 7 depends on UEFI (reqiures version 2.0 I believe) I believe while apple still relies on efi 1.1. You may be able to get some things to work, but your better off just using the bios emulation.

I believe the newer models have updated EFI - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1237

 

[ChemEGuy]

Further testing windows 8 consumer preview on my macbook air (mid 2011 11") I found the following issues:

Bios/mbr mode:
-Default Wireless driver freezes system and must be replaced with Bootcamp Wireless Driver.
-A high definition audio device can not start (I think this is audio over Display Port)

EFI/GPT mode:
-Default Wireless driver freezes system and must be replaced with Bootcamp Wireless Driver.
-Video driver has to be disabled or display is not visible.
-Sound card is not even seen within the system (as far as i can tell)
-A high definition audio device can not start (I think this is audio over Display Port)
-Bootcamp control panel will not open.
-Unable to change screen brightness.

If anyone has any ideas on the Sound and video for EFI mode I would love to hear anything.

 

[mac-hacks]

Help w/ Alternate W8 Install

I have Macbook Pro 17" Early 2011.

I remove Optical Drive and replace it with SSD.

I tried to install W8 Preview using Parallel Tools. Need little help on getting it to boot.

1. Formatted SSD in optical bay with iPartition & created GUID w/ EFI and 1 Active NTFS Partition.
2. I already had W7 Parallel Image made. I added 2nd Disk in Parallel Pref to use with my Parallel W7 image. Partition table looks like this.
3. I copy/paste imagex.exe from W.A.I.K. , install.wim & boot.wim from W8 Preview into 1 folder on "E: /Projects/".
4. D: is Primary Partition for W8. Open CMD as Admin ran

-

C:\Windows\system32>E:\Projects\imagex.exe /apply E:\Projects\install.wim 1 d:\

-

C:\Windows\system32>E:\Projects\imagex.exe /apply E:\Projects\boot.wim 1 d:\

Both CMD's show

[ 100% ] Applying progress

Successfully applied image.

5. " Here where need help ' Setting up the boot record. I ran.

CMD: bcdboot.exe d:\windows /s d:/f ALL

this is what i got

Bcdboot - Bcd boot file creation and repair tool.

The bcdboot.exe command-line tool is used to copy critical boot files to the
system partition and to create a new system BCD store.

bcdboot <source> [/l <locale>] [/s <volume-letter>] [/v]
                 [/m [{OS Loader ID}]]

  source            Specifies the location of the windows system root.

  /l                Specifies an optional locale parameter to use when
                    initializing the BCD store. The default is US English.

  /s                Specifies an optional volume letter parameter to designate
                    the target system partition where boot environment files are

                    copied.  The default is the system partition identified by
                    the firmware.

  /v                Enables verbose mode.

  /m                If an OS loader GUID is provided, this option merges the
                    given loader object with the system template to produce a
                    bootable entry. Otherwise, only global objects are merged.


Examples: bcdboot c:\windows /l en-us
          bcdboot c:\windows /s h:
          bcdboot c:\windows /m {d58d10c6-df53-11dc-878f-00064f4f4e08}

C:\Windows\system32>

6. I close Parallel open Terminal in OSX and ran:

7. I copy/paste efi folder from W8Preview.iso to /dev/disk1 by running this:

http://db.tt/IyTiDirJ

8. When i boot using rEFIt, i get this:

http://db.tt/vgb0dPkA

-----
- I'm not able to boot USB or DVD to try to fix the recovery.
- Im pretty sure problem is setting up the boot record to boot .efi
- any suggestions on how to fix this using Parallel's?

 

[mark1234]

WIN8 EFI boot from USB

With Windows 8 Developer Preview I had put the WIN8 ISO file on an USB stick and did some extra things. Hereafter I got the option to EFI boot from this USB stick.

With Windows 8 Customer Preview, I am not able to get the EFI boot option when booting from an USB stick. When booting from DVD I get the EFI boot option. So apparently, some extra steps have to be taken in order to get the EFI boot from USB stick.

Does anyone know what has to be done to EFI boot from USB stick with Windows 8 Customer Preview?

 

[sejong]

Try using Boot Camp to create an EFI-boot USB flash drive from a Windows 8 iso. This worked for me on a 2011 MacBook Air. However, at the end of Windows setup, after the last reboot, there was a blank black screen instead of the initial configuration dialog.

 

[mac-hacks]

With Windows 8 Developer Preview I had put the WIN8 ISO file on an USB stick and did some extra things. Hereafter I got the option to EFI boot from this USB stick.

With Windows 8 Customer Preview, I am not able to get the EFI boot option when booting from an USB stick. When booting from DVD I get the EFI boot option. So apparently, some extra steps have to be taken in order to get the EFI boot from USB stick.

Does anyone know what has to be done to EFI boot from USB stick with Windows 8 Customer Preview?

Which Mac do you have? efi firmware update releaasd 2 weeks ago is causing issue on my MBP 2011 w/ Windows & linux. That why i'm trying to get install with Parallels.


You can try this:

1. Extract bootmgfw.efi from [WINDOWS_x86_64_ISO]/sources/install.wim => [INSTALL.WIM]/1/Windows/Boot/EFI/bootmgfw.efi (using 7-zip aka p7zip for both the files), or copy it from C:\Windows\Boot\EFI\bootmgfw.efi from a working Windows x86_64 installation.

2. Copy the extracted bootmgfw.efi file to [MOUNTPOINT]/efi/microsoft/boot/bootmgfw.efi .

 

[mark1234]

Win8 efi boot from USB

I have a Mac Mini 2011 and I did not update the firmware released 2 weeks ago.

I still have the Win8 Developer ISO and when I put this on an USB stick I see the EFI boot USB option when booting, so it is not the firmware from the Mac Mini.

I will try the "copy bootmgfw.efi file to [MOUNTPOINT]/efi/microsoft/boot/bootmgfw.efi" method later this day. (on Win8 Developer Preview I know it was looking for the file bootx64.efi).

@sejong: I try to avoid using bootcamp and the bootcamp utilities.

 

[624636]

So I try Windows To Go. For that I used http://tweaks.com/windows/52279/how-to-create-a-windows-to-go-usb-drive/

I think this instruction is not complete because the process only create only one NTFS partition. I think we have to setup a FAT/FAT32 partition accessible by the EFI system in order to boot with.

In bios mode it doesn't works for me : iMac doesn't want to boot from USB/SD card.

Anyway the problem still the same.

 

[kkrull]

Macbook Air

I am interested to see if anyone has a different experience on the new macbook air, lack of wireless networking being the biggest. Anyone?

Further testing windows 8 consumer preview on my macbook air (mid 2011 11") I found the following issues:

Bios/mbr mode:
-wireless freezes system and has to be disabled.
-A high definition audio device can not start (I think this is audio over Display Port)

EFI/GPT mode:
-wireless freezes system and has to be disabled.
-Video driver has to be disabled or display is not visible.
-Sound card is not even seen within the system (as far as i can tell)
-A high definition audio device can not start (I think this is audio over Display Port)
-Bootcamp control panel will not open.
-Unable to change screen brightness.

If anyone has any ideas on the Sound and video for EFI mode I would love to hear anything.

 

[mark1234]

The Bootcamp control panel will never work when you boot in EFI mode.
The Bootcamp control panel requires a hybrid GPT/MBR partition. Since EFI is GPT only, it will not work.

In the Bootcamp control panel you can specify to which Operating System (OS X or Windows) will be booted by default. When you change this setting the Bootcamp Control panel modifies two bits in the GPT/MBR partition.
That's the reason that upon starting up, it is checked whether it is a GPT/MBR partition.

 

[sejong]

@mark1234 - I agree about avoiding the Boot Camp Assistant for partitioning. I used it to create an EFI-bootable flash drive because the Windows USB boot disk creator formats the flash drive with the NTFS file system.

I would like to know if anyone has installed the Windows 8 Consumer Preview on a 2011 MacBook Air using EFI boot, and got normal graphics (as opposed to a blank black screen). Thanks.

 

[kkrull]

Mod Bootcamp Control Panel?

Anybody up for modifying the bootcamp control panel to both remove the check and the partition selection?

The Bootcamp control panel will never work when you boot in EFI mode.
The Bootcamp control panel requires a hybrid GPT/MBR partition. Since EFI is GPT only, it will not work.

In the Bootcamp control panel you can specify to which Operating System (OS X or Windows) will be booted by default. When you change this setting the Bootcamp Control panel modifies two bits in the GPT/MBR partition.
That's the reason that upon starting up, it is checked whether it is a GPT/MBR partition.

 

[Stefdar]

@mark1234 - I agree about avoiding the Boot Camp Assistant for partitioning. I used it to create an EFI-bootable flash drive because the Windows USB boot disk creator formats the flash drive with the NTFS file system.

I would like to know if anyone has installed the Windows 8 Consumer Preview on a 2011 MacBook Air using EFI boot, and got normal graphics (as opposed to a blank black screen). Thanks.

Black screen here, (Macbook Air i7 11").

 

[ChemEGuy]

Black screen here, (Macbook Air i7 11").

To fix the display issue after the expansion of the windows files using EFI. What you have to do is after it restarts keep on pressing F8 until it boots to safe mode. Once it boots into safe mode it will give you an error saying setup cannot continue in safemode. Do not press okay. Press SHIFT+F10. This will get you a command prompt. Once that is open, type in compmgmt.msc. Once that is open scroll down using arrow keys and go to device manager. Once in device manager scroll to the display adapters and dissable the hd300 driver. Also i would suggest dssabling the wireless card as it (at least for me with the bcm4322 chipset) does not work with windows 8 bios or EFI mode. After you are done press alt+f4 and exit command prompt and let the computer restart. At this point you will then be using the basic efi display driver.

Hope this helps!

 

[Stefdar]

And why would I want an EFI installation without accelerated graphics?

 

[ChemEGuy]

And why would I want an EFI installation without accelerated graphics?

You don't in the end. But it will at least get the installation of windows completed. If you have any ideas to get accelerated working, I would love to hear how.

 

[Stefdar]

Let's just face that there is something missing from Apple's EFI implementation and move on. After all even if Windows 8 was working flawlessly with EFI in the Macbook Air, it's such a mess that what would be the point?

(By the way the wireless is easily fixable, install Bootcamp 4 and replace the Microsoft driver with the Apple Broadcom one in the device manager).

 

[mark1234]

Apple's EFI implementation is not such a mess I think.
If I am correct, two settings have to be made in the PCI register in order to get hardware accelerated drivers to work. We all are waiting for d3v1l to have his application ready which willl do this.

I think it is d3v1l who can answer whether it is to blame Apple's EFI implementation or Microsoft's EFI implementation.

Remember that Macs do not have a video bios which is rather rare in PCs.

 

[624636]

Anybody up for modifying the bootcamp control panel to both remove the check and the partition selection?

It would be good to complete the work of d3vii. With that we could setup the mouse/trackpad panel.

... but I couldn't help you. Sorry.

 

[624636]

So "Windows 8 To Go" works in EFI on my iMac ... with the same problems. I used this tutorial

The "bcdboot.exe" from Windows 8 seems to be more "powerfull" than Windows 7.

I try with an USB HD but I think it could work with SD Card as well. I think It could be fantastic to have our Windows 8 on our pocket.

... but we still have the Graphic Card and BootcampPanel problems.

PS :
------
On my first experimentation I make a "Windows 8 To Go" on an MBR formated disk. "bcdboot.exe" create EFI folder on the first fat32 partition. At restart Windows 8 boot/start configure/... then stop to said that it couldn't continue.
After I make a "Windows 8 To Go" on a GUID formated disk and it works
----

 

[mark1234]

I finally managed to get the EFI Boot from USB with the Windows 8 Consumer Preview ISO.

The mistake I made was that I installed the Windows 8 Consumer Preview to an USB stick which previously contained the Windows 8 Developer Preview.
And I had done the "bootsect /nt60" command on the USB stick with the Windows 8 Developer Preview bootsect.exe.

Apparently, the bootsect.exe is different in Windows 8 Consumer Preview.

After executing bootsect /nt60 with the bootsect.exe from Windows 8 Consumer Preview everything worked.