W11 boot manger now plays nicely with other OSés

Hi folks
Finally a decent Windows boot manager !! W11 bootmanager finally works nicely with other OS'es -- as well with multiple OS'es.

GRUB (Linux boot) doesn't hose up Windows any more if you do it properly -- simply when installing your Linux system on the same HDD / external HDD as Windiows systems create / (root partition), /home and optionally swap partitins on the HDD, install your OS, create a directory /mnt/boot and mount the EFI system partition (the one used by windows) to install the boot loader -- use your system documenation on how to install this (hint - you'll need package efibootmgr as well).

One word of caution -- I would make the windows EFI partition a bit bigger than the normal default of 100mb -- expand it to say 300 mb.

Anyway all working

Screen 1 of boot



Screen 2 of boot


All on 500GB external SSD device - so a really useful portable disk !!!!!!

Cheers
jimbo

This post would be hugely more useful if it contained actual steps to make this work, rather than just an informative post stating it can be/has been done.

SlicEnDicE said:

This post would be hugely more useful if it contained actual steps to make this work, rather than just an informative post stating it can be/has been done.

Click to expand...

@SlicEnDicE

Here you are

First Windows :

So procedure is this :

1) prep main Disk - boot a winpe type system - macrium Free with the command box is an eay way to start plus ensure your install media is mounted say on vol D: -- Can be either internal HDD or external USB disk --external SSD via SATA->USB 3connector is just fine and response time will be excellent too.

2) disk part, clean, convert gpt.
3) create partition efi size=100 (If installing loads of Windows OS'es and linuxes then make a bit bigger e.g 300mb)
4) format quick fs=fat32, label="System"
5) assign Letter=H (or any you want)
6) create partition primary msr size=128 (leave unformatted)
7)) create partition primary
8) format quick fs=ntfs label="Main"
9)assign label=M
10) list vol Check the letters etc are OK
11) select vol xxx (should be the "M" partition
12) Create vdisk file=M:\Windows.vhdx maximum=60000 type=fixed (change 60000 to your wanted size) - probably will take a minute or 2 - you'll see progress status.
13) select vdisk file=M:\Windows.vhdx
14) attach vdisk
15) list vol -- the Vdisk will probably be shown without a letter
16) select vol xxxx -- select the vdisk
17) assign letter = V
18) exit

Now apply the windows image from your windows install media say on D:

so still in command mode
dism /Apply-Image /ImageFile :\sources\install.wim Index:1 /ApplyDir:V:\ --- change index if windows edition you want is not nr 1. This step takes a little while depending on hardware -- progress is indicated.

now the boot manager :

v:
cd V:\windows\system32
bcdboot v:\windows /s H: /f UEFI

reboot and remove external devices.

If this is the only OS then this will be the default and boot automatically.

If you want another Windows do the same again booting from a winpe type media (e.g winpe itself / macrium free stand alone etc). Winpe itself or anything with a base winpe in it like Macrium free or even a Windows recovery media disk will work.

Don't add the 2nd OS boot mgr entry (bcdboot) from within a running Windows if you are running from a "Virtual hard drive" and only have Virtual Hard drives -- - it can hose up the primary boot manager -- at least I've found that's the case. By all means create the "Vhdx" and apply the image from within windows but boot the winpe type of system to attach the vdisk and create the bcdboot entry as shown.

Now the Linux system :

Add one partition for the root / partition (primary)
Add another partition for /home
Another for swap (optional)

Format those partitions as linux partitions from your linux install media -- I find xfs is the best but any Linux fs will do
install grub to your existing UEFI partition according to your Linux system -

Install your Linux system from the install media to the / and /home partitions

ensure :

1) ntfs-3g installed so you have read / write to Windows NTFS files
2) efibootmgr installed
3) ensure the original efi 100mb partition is big enough that will probably be OK but I'd make it 300mb just to be sure if loads of Windows systems and other OS'es on it. YOU DON'T NEED TO CREATE ANY MORE EFI PARTITIONS ON THIS HDD. !!!!

In the grub install mount the EFI partition -- mkdir /mnt/boot and then mount /dev/sdx1 /mnt/boot so you can install grub to the efi partition and then create the grub.cfg file -- I'll leave details there as different Linux distros have various ways of loading / configuring grub. I'm running arch-linux but fedora works as does Linux mint. Haven't tried others BTW.

for arch linux boot manager is done : (assuming you've installed the base system and still in arch-chroot /mnt)
pacman -S grub efibootmgr (package manager install efibootmgr and grub)
mkdir /mnt/boot/efi
mount /mnt/boot/efi /dev/sdx1 --- the HDD's EFI partition
grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --bootloader-id=GRUB --efi-directory=/boot/efi
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Now exit and re-boot -- your windows bootmgr should show grub on the subseqent pages of boot menu as shown in the previous posts diagrams.

When you re-boot you will see grub or Windows boot manager in the bios menu. If you choose windows boot manager then you will get the grub menu as shown for booting Linux . For an internal system leave as default so you will see the boot manager - that will also give options of bootingup the external device (SSD) and you can choose any of the OS options on that device as per screen shots shown in previous post.

Have fun -- BTW W2K22 server also very good indeed , fast and 180 day free trial of course from Ms.

cheers
jimbo

A question about the first post, to go from screenshot 1 (choose operating system) to screenshot 2 (use a device) what key do I have to press? Thanks in advance.
PS:- I have grub in dual boot Linux, and Windows 11.

jimbo45 said:

Hi folks
Finally a decent Windows boot manager !! W11 bootmanager finally works nicely with other OS'es -- as well with multiple OS'es.

GRUB (Linux boot) doesn't hose up Windows any more if you do it properly -- simply when installing your Linux system on the same HDD / external HDD as Windiows systems create / (root partition), /home and optionally swap partitins on the HDD, install your OS, create a directory /mnt/boot and mount the EFI system partition (the one used by windows) to install the boot loader -- use your system documenation on how to install this (hint - you'll need package efibootmgr as well).

One word of caution -- I would make the windows EFI partition a bit bigger than the normal default of 100mb -- expand it to say 300 mb.

Anyway all working

Screen 1 of boot

View attachment 13491

Screen 2 of boot
View attachment 13492

All on 500GB external SSD device - so a really useful portable disk !!!!!!

Cheers
jimbo

Click to expand...

Hello @jimbo45

Is it possible to make one disk with Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows 11 Recovery, Windows 11 Installation and Windows 10 Installation - all with a single EFI partition that shows a menu like the one above?

Also, is there way to change the Windows 11 logo to the actual logo on the Boot Manager?

Pirilampo2 said:

A question about the first post, to go from screenshot 1 (choose operating system) to screenshot 2 (use a device) what key do I have to press? Thanks in advance.
PS:- I have grub in dual boot Linux, and Windows 11.

Click to expand...

On the first picture select "Change defaults or choose other options"

@Scott

just select the TAB key and it will tab down the choices including the one at the bottom which goes on to the next (and subseqent screens)

@TheMystic

You can have as many OS's you want using the vhdx physical disk method shown in the post -- so long as you've enough space on the HDD for all the virtual disk files -- and if you want a lot of them make the initial EFI file on the HDD bigger than 100mb -- I'd say 300mb. For each Windows type system create a vhdx file to hold the system, attach the vdisk, format ntfs (not GPT, and no EFI partition needed on these) as per the instructions and for each windows system use dism /Apply-image for each -- the image file is usually in /sources/install.wim except for the windows pe system if you use that where it's at /sources/boot.wim abd a 4GB vhdx is large enough for it. After applying the image boot into winpe or equivalent and write the boot mgr record with the bcdboot command as shown in the preceding instructions in this thread.

For Linux systems add a root ( / ) partition, a /home partition and optionally a swap partition formatted with the Linux fs you want to use as explained in the post.

I don't think there's any way of altering the logo on the boot menu -- unless you can find some way of messing around with the native code of the efi boot file itself -- I wouldn't bother.

Cheers
jimbo

My solution is straightforward. It's like loading a music CD of your choice.

Wouldn't it be easier to just partition the drive(s). One partition for each OS install, and use a bootable install source for each OS someone wants to install?

It is easy. But updating each OS is another story. It messes up the boot manager most of the time. Been there.

On one of my machines, I have Windows 10 and Linux Mint installed side by side on same drive on their own partitions. Then I have Windows 11 installed as a VHD, which I can upgrade by plugging it into Hyper-V on the Windows 10 host. CUs I can do straight in native boot. If I needed any of the other Windows versions or special instances, I could add as many VHDs as I want.

I like this solution a lot. Easy to add and remove instances without having to worry about screwing up the 2 main systems.

badrobot said:

It is easy. But updating each OS is another story. It messes up the boot manager most of the time. Been there.

Click to expand...

Hi there

I'm not sure why it should mess up boot manager -- if after updating the OS on the VHDX, simply boot from a winpe type of disk and simply update the boot manager !!!!
For typical Windows updates no need to boot in HYPER-V, and update from there -- windows updates work fine from vhdx files -- so lonf as for example you aren't switching to a totally new version. E.g 22000.184 updates fine to current version via standard WU. Boot mgr also not hosed up but if it is simply re-do bcdcboot from booting into winpe type of system.

The HYPER-V solution is a bit more fiddly as you don't want any of the paravirtualised hardware on your target windows physical system or additional EFI partitions. One EFI partition on the hdd is sufficient. Also if you are using Windows HOME edition then HYPER-V isn;t an option.

Cheers
jimbo

badrobot said:

It is easy. But updating each OS is another story. It messes up the boot manager most of the time. Been there.

Click to expand...

I use to dual boot back in the day when I had easy access to unplug my drives when doing an upgrade. The one time I forgot when I was doing an Insider upgrade the boot loader got moved to the wrong drive. My new desktop has a NVMe drive and a hard to get to compartment to access the second SSD so I now I use VMs when I want to run a different OS.

Winuser said:

I use to dual boot back in the day when I had easy access to unplug my drives when doing an upgrade. The one time I forgot when I was doing an Insider upgrade the boot loader got moved to the wrong drive. My new desktop has a NVMe drive and a hard to get to compartment to access the second SSD so I now I use VMs when I want to run a different OS.

Click to expand...

VMs are fine for some things - especially when used for initial releases of new Windows versions or running Linux distros on Windows Hosts but sometimes you need to test / try out on Real hardware - especially things like Graphics cards -- typical VM platforms such as VMWare / Oracle box which use a lot of paravirtualisation hardware as well as having some overhead so won't often be suitable for this. You can get some VM systems such as KVM/QEMU to run at almost native performance by using a lot of physical hardware but it's usually beyond the ability of an average user to get all the hardware to be "passed thru" to the VM. Containerisation and Kubernetes are also good ways of isolating and testing specific parts of different OS's.

Cheers
jimbo

@jimbo45

hi, about your step to create usb with portable win11 and vhdx virtual drive.

Is efi and msr partitons are always required ?

if i want boot the portable win 11 from usb with efi and legacy bios should i do this ?

As previously said in another post I tried the VM approach and failed miserably so I decided to triple boot with physical partitions. Works a treat.