Virtualization Native Boot Windows 11 Virtual Hard Disk (VHDX)

johnlgalt · Jul 19, 2021

Yup - that is what I was referring to in my first comment. If there is a space, it needs a " wrapped around the entire arguments section. Same holds true for shortcut arguments, which is how I know this.

blueskyler · Jan 12, 2022

hi,
on step 11 when command bcdboot F:\Windows is used to add boot entry for the vhdx, how is managed the situation where the vhdx file is stored on storage with gpt or mbr scheme. ?
Will be bootable for both uefi and legacy/bios ?

thanks :)

NavyLCDR · Jan 12, 2022

blueskyler said:
hi,
on step 11 when command bcdboot F:\Windows is used to add boot entry for the vhdx, how is managed the situation where the vhdx file is stored on storage with gpt or mbr scheme. ?
Will be bootable for both uefi and legacy/bios ?

thanks :)

I think so. The computer is still actually booting from the primary partition on the physical disk designated as the system partition - it is not booting from the .vhdx file itself. The computer is loading the OS contained on the virtual disk (.vhdx), but not booting from it. The boot mode, UEFI v. legacy, is determined by the system partition contained on the physical disk. You don't even need a bootable system partition on the .vhdx virtual disk in this case.

This is entirely different than using a .vhdx file as the disk in a Virtual Machine. The hypervisor will mount the .vhdx file and then hand it over to the VM as a disk and the VM will actually boot from whatever partition is designated as the system partition on the virtual disk (.vhdx file).

cereberus · Jan 12, 2022

I always add the following switch (/d) to the bcdboot command.

Code:

bcdboot x:\windows /d

/d is important because without it, the added vhd becomes the default boot option.

With /d, the existing default boot is maintained.

It always seemed odd to me that the default action is to change the default OS but, of course, it is personal choice.
I think most people would wish to keep the host installation as the default OS, and those in VHD as secondary boot options.

@Brink - please consider following update to tutorials

I suggest some advice is added on /d at least to step 11.

Also, I suggest a warning should be added to tutorial to say that you cannot directly upgrade builds (major builds upgrades, not CU updates) with a VHD. However, you can do it by attaching by temporarily attaching the vhd to a virtual machine and upgrading that way.

cheers

C.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From MS documentation.

/d
Optional. Preserves the existing default operating system entry in the {bootmgr} object in Windows Boot Manager.

SlicEnDicE · Jan 12, 2022

cereberus said:
I always seemed odd to me that the default action is to change the default OS

yeah I have always thought as this being odd too...

Brink · Jan 12, 2022

cereberus said:
I always add the following switch (/d) to the bcdboot command.

Code:

bcdboot x:\windows /d

/d is important because without it, the added vhd becomes the default boot option.

With /d, the existing default boot is maintained.

It always seemed odd to me that the default action is to change the default OS but, of course, it is personal choice.
I think most people would wish to keep the host installation as the default OS, and those in VHD as secondary boot options.

@Brink - please consider following update to tutorials

I suggest some advice is added on /d at least to step 11.

Also, I suggest a warning should be added to tutorial to say that you cannot directly upgrade builds (major builds upgrades, not CU updates) with a VHD. However, you can do it by attaching by temporarily attaching the vhd to a virtual machine and upgrading that way.

cheers

C.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From MS documentation.

/d
Optional. Preserves the existing default operating system entry in the {bootmgr} object in Windows Boot Manager.

Good idea mate.

Step 11 updated in the tutorial to add this as an option for which OS you want as default.

mclaudio · Feb 9, 2022

hello to all. i have read the post but i still have some questions...
so i want to make a windows 10 boot for dual booting without making partition
sometime ago i saw somewhere a small app that mounted the VHDX on the boot menu...but dont remember the name of the app
also its easier for me...is there anylink where i can download a ready windows 10 VHDX ?

btw - can i use it also to try MacOS ?
thank a lot and sorry for beeing noob

cereberus · Feb 9, 2022

mclaudio said:
hello to all. i have read the post but i still have some questions...
so i want to make a windows 10 boot for dual booting without making partition
sometime ago i saw somewhere a small app that mounted the VHDX on the boot menu...but dont remember the name of the app
also its easier for me...is there anylink where i can download a ready windows 10 VHDX ?

btw - can i use it also to try MacOS ?
thank a lot and sorry for beeing noob

You use a standard MS command.

1. Mount vhdx file as a drive

2. Note drive letter of OS drive in vhdx (say E)

3. Open admin command prompt and type

Code:

bcdboot E:\windows /d

CornishRattler · Feb 9, 2022

mclaudio said:
hello to all. i have read the post but i still have some questions...
so i want to make a windows 10 boot for dual booting without making partition
sometime ago i saw somewhere a small app that mounted the VHDX on the boot menu...but dont remember the name of the app
also its easier for me...is there anylink where i can download a ready windows 10 VHDX ?

btw - can i use it also to try MacOS ?
thank a lot and sorry for beeing noob

I have MacOS with Workstation Pro, to be brutally honest you won't get the full functionality with MacOS, iMessages and email will not work and it's quite laggy even though I have plenty of resources from the host machine to throw at it.

mclaudio · Feb 9, 2022

i suppose the first step is to build the image...
is there any site where i can download a ready made image?
thanks a lot

CornishRattler · Feb 9, 2022

mclaudio said:
i suppose the first step is to build the image...
is there any site where i can download a ready made image?
thanks a lot

Yeah, needs to boot off an ISO. There are some ready made ones on the internet, personally I downloaded the DMG from Apple and converted it to an ISO

mclaudio · Feb 9, 2022

CornishRattler said:
Yeah, needs to boot off an ISO. There are some ready made ones on the internet, personally I downloaded the DMG from Apple and converted it to an ISO

so what i want is to add on boot menu a windows 10 ....i should use the iso? thats correct?

CornishRattler · Feb 9, 2022

mclaudio said:
so what i want is to add on boot menu a windows 10 ....i should use the iso? thats correct?

I have got it to boot from within Windows, no separate boot entry if that's what you're asking?

mclaudio · Feb 9, 2022

well i just want that when i boot i have normal windows install and option to boot from a VHDX with windows 10 on it

CornishRattler · Feb 9, 2022

mclaudio said:
well i just want that when i boot i have normal windows install and option to boot from a VHDX with windows 10 on it

I'll tag another member who boots from this method, I don't I'm afraid
@jimbo45 Can you assist?

You can have a look at this also..

Native Boot to multiple vhdx drives (not VM's)

Hi folks some people might find the documentation a little confusing if you want to create several vhdx virtual hard disks and boot from any of them, with no "base OS" installed on the disk containing the boot menu. I did at first I must admit. So you've prepped the target disk which will...

www.elevenforum.com

cereberus · Feb 9, 2022

mclaudio said:
well i just want that when i boot i have normal windows install and option to boot from a VHDX with windows 10 on it

1. You have to create a virtual hard drive first from disk management large enough to hold Windows 10 plus applications. I would allow 100 GB.

Let's suppose its called c:\vhd\w10.vhdx

(you have to created folder vhd first)

2. You then boot from a normal Windows usb installation and at first screen press shift+f10 to get to command prompt

3. Then enter following

Code:

diskpart
select vdisk file=c:\vhd\w10.vhdx
attach vdisk
exit

Then type exit and carry on with installation of Windows, selecting vhd when you get to the drive selection menu.

Once installed, you note the drive letter and create a boot entry as I showed in earlier post.

jimbo45 · Feb 9, 2022

Hi there

@mclaudio

Easy enough to do.

On your standard Windows install simply create a VHDX file (no need for any extra EFI / MSR partitions) and make it the size you want.

in Diskpart select and assign the VDISK, format it NTFS, install W10 via dism /Apply-image from a W10 install iso, select the current running Windows efi partition as letter s , the vdisk as letter W and install / update the Windows boot manager.

cd W:\windows\system32
cd w:
bcdboot w;\WINDOWS /S s: /f UEFI

Reboot -- now you should see the boot menu with W11 and W10 - change the default as W10 will be the default as the last OS to be installed is set by bcdboot as the default boot one.

depending on what's installed select appropruiate size -I've found if you separate OS and user data a 60 GB vhdx file is more than enough.

Note the only disadvantage in using VHDX files is that a brand new release of Windows needs to be installed from scratch (there are roundabout ways to to it via HYPER-V but that's IMO a bit of a hassle). Normal Windows updates including cumulative updates work just fine by WU.

Cheers
jimbo

cereberus · Feb 9, 2022

jimbo45 said:
Hi there

@mclaudio

Easy enough to do.

On your standard Windows install simply create a VHDX file (no need for any extra EFI / MSR partitions) and make it the size you want.

in Diskpart select and assign the VDISK, format it NTFS, install W10 via dism /Apply-image from a W10 install iso, select the current running Windows efi partition as letter s , the vdisk as letter W and install / update the Windows boot manager.

cd W:\windows\system32
cd w:
bcdboot w;\WINDOWS /S s: /f UEFI

Reboot -- now you should see the boot menu with W11 and W10 - change the default as W10 will be the default as the last OS to be installed is set by bcdboot as the default boot one.

depending on what's installed select appropruiate size -I've found if you separate OS and user data a 60 GB vhdx file is more than enough.

Note the only disadvantage in using VHDX files is that a brand new release of Windows needs to be installed from scratch (there are roundabout ways to to it via HYPER-V but that's IMO a bit of a hassle). Normal Windows updates including cumulative updates work just fine by WU.

Cheers
jimbo

add /d to bcdboot as in my example and it does not change default.