Windows 8 Multiboot GUI Bootloader
Mar 16, 2012
Since a few days, I owned a new WeTab to play around with different tablet operating systems.
I'd like to install Windows 8, Android and Ubuntu in parallel and use the new GUI bootloader from Win8 to choose what to boot.
I started with installing Win8 and installed EasyBCD to modify the bootloader. A little test configuration shows the correct function of it.
When I start to intstall Android the fist time, everything was fine, but after installing ubunto the Windows 8 Bootloader turnd from GUI to text mode.
also
bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
common Win8DVD repairoptions
can switch back to GUI mode
is there a trick to get the GUI back, because without Keyboard on the tablet it's quite hard to select an option :)
Ad. Info:
WeTab with 80GB SSD, 2GB RAM
Partition:
sda1 ntfs 350MB Windows Bootloader
sda2 ntfs 20GB Windows Partition
sda3 ext2 200MB /boot for Ubuntu
sda4 extended partition
sda5 swap 4GB /swap for Ubuntu
sda6 ext4 20GB / for Ubuntu
sda7 ext3 4GB / for Android
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Apr 3, 2014
I have (perhaps I should say had) a multi-boot system. Originally I installed my 6 Windows OS's and then installed my two favorite Linux distros. I like the ability to customize the Grub menu which Linux gives me. Unfortunately Grub did not detect all 6 of my Windows installations but one of the boot options it did detect took me back into my original Windows menu which showed all 6 of the Windows systems. So that's the setup which I have been using successfully for the past few months. (One boot menu which boots into another). Today my Windows boot menu has become unusable and probably corrupt.
At first I had the problem that I was only able to boot into Windows 8.1 (no windows menu at all). Then I used EasyBCD which I had inside Windows 8.1 At first EasyBCD indicated an inability to load any boot file at all. Subsequently after rebooting into 8.1 a few times more I tried it again. It then showed a boot menu but with only Windows 8.1 listed. I subsequently was able to use the add operating system function to add all the other Windows systems again. I then clicked save to save the new configuration. Now I do see all six Windows systems at boot but neither of them, even Windows 8.1 will boot. Where I should start to get back into one of these six Windows operating systems so that I can possible use the EasyBCD repair function to access the others. I think I had EasyBCD installed inside each Windows OS At the moment I am dependent on Linux alone for Internet access. I trust this is clear.
As nothing in Linux has changed, I assume I need to fix the problem from the Windows side of things. I do have that one option when I get into that blue Windows 8 style boot menu to "change options" I thought EasyBCD would have restored the Windows 7 style text boot menu but it did not. Other than that I have the various Windows installation disks and a Win7 repair disk as well as various full partition backups on an external hard drive. What do do about a corrupt bcd file without being inside Windows, and I don't know much about EasyBCD. Would a refresh/reset of Win 8.1 from the install disk be a good way to start? I did get the message of "files missing" when I tried to do a system recovery drive while inside Windows 8.1 today, so there are issues with that OS.
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May 14, 2014
xboot free application does not make windows 2000 work with this method. Magic ISO Maker v5.5 I do not understand well. Any way to create this, probably manually?
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Apr 2, 2014
I have (perhaps I should say had) a multi-boot system. Originally I installed my 6 Windows OS's and then installed my two favorite Linux distros. I like the ability to customize the Grub menu which Linux gives me. Unfortunately Grub did not detect all 6 of my Windows installations but one of the boot options it did detect took me back into my original Windows menu which showed all 6 of the Windows systems. So that's the setup which I have been using successfully for the past few months. (One boot menu which boots into another). Today my Windows boot menu has become unusable and probably corrupt. At first I had the problem that I was only able to boot into Windows 8.1 (no windows menu at all). Then I used EasyBCD which I had inside Windows 8.1 At first EasyBCD indicated an inability to load any boot file at all. Subsequently after rebooting into 8.1 a few times more I tried it again. It then showed a boot menu but with only Windows 8.1 listed. I subsequently was able to use the add operating system function to add all the other Windows systems again. I then clicked save to save the new configuration.
Now I do see all six Windows systems at boot but neither of them, even Windows 8.1 will boot. Where I should start to get back into one of these six Windows operating systems so that I can possible use the EasyBCD repair function to access the others. I think I had EasyBCD installed inside each Windows OS At the moment I am dependent on Linux alone for Internet access. I trust this is clear. As nothing in Linux has changed, I assume I need to fix the problem from the Windows side of things. I do have that one option when I get into that blue Windows 8 style boot menu to "change options" I thought EasyBCD would have restored the Windows 7 style text boot menu but it did not. Other than that I have the various Windows installation disks and a Win7 repair disk as well as various full partition backups on an external hard drive. What do do about a corrupt bcd file without being inside Windows, and I don't know much about EasyBCD. Would a refresh/reset of Win 8.1 from the install disk be a good way to start? I did get the message of "files missing" when I tried to do a system recovery drive while inside Windows 8.1 today, so there are issues with that OS.
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Dec 8, 2013
I've recently made a Windows 8 and a Windows 8.1 installation disc from the ISO images on MSDN. Each image includes Core/Core VL and Pro/Pro VL, 32 and 64 bit editions of each. I have the installation keys for all of these installations, but I don't want to have to type an installation key every time I go to use this disc. I've tried adding an installation key using WinReducer8 (which I do not recommend), but it only adds one key, which means I cannot choose which edition I want to install.
When I made my AIO Windows 7 ISO, I had no issues, as Windows 7 doesn't force you to add an installation or product key; you select your desired edition and you're good to go. Attached Image 1 shows what I'm referring to.
Now, however, Windows 8 has to choose your edition by the product key you enter (well played, Microsoft), and I want to find a way around this.
Win7 64 Test.pngWin8.png
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Jan 5, 2013
I have been using Windows 7 Pro (64) for several years, and today installed a newly purchased Windows 8 Pro (64) OS. I looked on-line and found many articles on how to multi-boot back to Windows 7 after installing Windows 8, and believe I have done this correctly (more below), but when booting up I do not ever see a multi-boot menu, my system boots directly into Windows 8.
When installing Win 8, I booted from my CD/DVD drive with the Win 8 OS media in the drive. (I had previously reduced the volume of my Windows 7 drive and created a new partition that I called "Windows8". ). At the appropriate time in the Win 8 install I chose "Custom", then chose the newly created "Windows 8" partition, then proceeded with the Win 8 OS install. As mentioned above, I do not see the multi-boot menu when booting up, however when in Windows 8 I can see the Windows 7 drive in "Computer", so it was not over-written.
Startup Options - Choose a Default OS to Run at Startup in Windows 8
and am wondering if I should try Options 2 through 4 (1 of)? I build my own PCs so know something about PC's, bt not much about booting to an OS.....
Another options might be installing a third party boot manager, which I have not yet done.
my reason for getting back to Win 7 is to be able to use the PC while I learn and setup Win 8 over time. I went into this believing that getting a multi-boot capability would be very easy.
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Oct 17, 2013
Destroyed bootloader?
bootrec /fixmbr and /fixboot do nothing in my case
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Jan 6, 2013
I have Windows 8,W7,Wxp working well in multiboot. But i have Windows 8 instaled in C:but it is the 2nd partition.How can i move it to first partition ?W7 and wxp are probably on the 1st D: partition.
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Feb 4, 2013
I have Win 7 Ultimate ISO 32 bit without ei.cfg file,so basically it is Win 7 AIO ISO without Enterprise edition.Also have Win 8 AIO ISO 32 bit containing Core,Pro,Pro with WMC and Enterprise created manually using the thread here in MDL.How to create a Multiboot USB containing both Win 7 and Win 8 AIO ISO's 32 bit only?
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Feb 19, 2014
I have recently Dual Booted my Computer with Win 7, XP and Windows 8.1.
I now cannot boot into Windows 8.1
I installed Easy BCD and was able to make a bootloader but i can only boot into Win 7 and XP
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May 8, 2014
I have removed a Linux Distro from my dual boot, it was running GRUB2 as the bootloader and now I need to repair windows to get the bootloader fixed and overwrite GRUB with the normal loader.
However for whatever reason, it is notoriously difficult to do this without a disc or having made a backup drive within windows before things went tits up.
Is there a simple way to install a recovery disc onto a USB, boot from USB and then repair?
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Aug 29, 2013
I tried to install ubuntu 13.04 x86 on my 16 GB flash drive using the pendrive program. When i restarted my laptop and selected boot from usb drive i then selected install ubuntu on my dva2 using ext4 and "/" on mount. After finishing the process i restarted my laptop and i was keep booting in ubuntu os without even asking me if i wanted to boot in windows. I then removed usb from laptop and the only os that exists is ubuntu. The only thing i noticed is that in the partitioning menu earlier where i selected the 16 GB flash drive, it also said Windows 8 loader next to it something that was a bit strange since my windows was installed on my 240 Gb ssd. I enter in ubuntu without usb and i can see all my files from windows desktop. Is there any possible way to recover my windows?
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Aug 21, 2014
I have Windows 8.1 installed and then I installed Windows 7 afterward and now the system is using the Windows 7 bootloader as opposed to the Windows 8.1 bootloader. What I want to do is get set the Windows 8.1 as the default bootloader.
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Jan 25, 2012
when I installed it (Windows 8 32 Bit DP), I now don't have the option to select Linux on my Boot (Linux Wubi Desktop 10.10) and with Windows 7 I did.
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Nov 3, 2014
I have a Dell XPS 8500 win 8.1. I recently installed Linux Mint 17 on an external HD which booted from GRUB. I now removed Mint 17 ok but I'm left with a reference to 'UBUNTU' in my bootloader. I'm unable to remove this reference. this reference to UBUNTU prevents me from booting from a LINUX USB. I think I need to repair the bootloader but can't and I have tried all sorts of.....FIXBOOT, FIXMBR. etc.
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Dec 18, 2013
I had a working multiboot setup on my Acer Aspire One ZG5, running win xp, 7, 8.1, linux. I decided to add an extra partition, and in doing the resizing lost my Grub boot loader so can no longer boot into linux, but that's not important atm. I have also messed up my windows boot loader and at the moment I can only boot into win 8.1.
Win 8.1, 7 and legacy OS (xp) show in the boot menu but when I choose to boot into either xp or 7, I am presented with the message
windows failed to start
file: /ntldr
status 0xc0000225
Previously I had the message filesystem unknown , missing NTLDR, but I ran the recovery console and that message no longer appears.
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Jul 1, 2013
I have the blue win 8 bootloader with my os's but this is what it says when I choose Ubuntu
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Jul 15, 2013
I have a Lenovo S10-3t convertible touch tablet/netbook that I am creating a multiboot scenario for.
To cover all the details, here are my disks and my partition setup.
640GB HDD as the primary drive
32GB SDCard as the secondary drive.
Primary HDD has these partitions:
MBR PARTITION SCHEME
Partition 1: Windows 8 Pro 64-bit (492.33GB) NTFS, with Win 8 bootloader
Partition 2: Mac OS X Snow Leopard (79.28GB) HFS+ Journaled, with standalone mini-chameleon bootloader
Partition 3: Linux Mint 15 64-bit (23.28GB) EXT4 Journaled, with GRUB2 on this same partition
Partition 4 (in extended partition): Linux Swap (1.27GB) ...swap space
The SDCard has these partitions:
MBR PARTITION SCHEME
Partition 1: Dedicated to ReadyBoost (5GB) FAT32
Partition 2: Android x86 4.2.2 (24.84GB) EXT3, legacy GRUB SHOULD be in the MBR of this disk
I am using the Windows 8 graphical bootloader to manage everything, as it is a touch-screen tablet, and I like having the touch support for the bootloader. So I would PREFER to use it if possible.
I have currently added entries for OSX Snow Leopard and Linux Mint Olivia to the Windows 8 boot manager, and all three OSes chainload properly to their respective bootloaders and are happy with each other.
Is it possible to chainload the Legacy GRUB bootloader in the EXT3 partition on the SD Card that has Android on it with the Windows 8 Bootloader? And, if so, will you walk me through this process?
There's a couple of reasons...as this is a touch screen tablet I would prefer the convenience of having an option to boot Android from the touch-enabled Windows 8 Boot Manager instead of having to fold the screen away from the keyboard, press FN+F11 and selecting the SD Card as the primary boot device every time I want to go into Android. I could have android on a fifth partition on my HDD, but one of the reasons for having Android on flash memory is BECAUSE I have a mechanical HDD, and I use Android if I'm actively moving the laptop around in a rough environment (say, walking or in a moving vehicle for example, and the HDD would be off since it isn't needed). I know I could use an SSD, but I prefer having a mechanical HDD in my laptop for my own reasons.
I am using a combination of VisualBCDEditor and EasyBCD, and I cannot get either to see or acknowledge the existence of the EXT3 partition on the SDCard (though they all see the EXT4 and HFS+ volumes on the primary HDD, and the FAT32 partition on the SDCard...)
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Jul 8, 2013
I had a version of Windows 8 installed on a secondary hard drive for testing purposes. When I no longer needed it, I uninstalled it and formatted the hard drive. What's odd is that the Bootloader for Windows 8 is still there, and throws up an error screen saying it can't find critical system files.
Ive tried restoring the MBR using my Win7 disc, but to no avail.
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Nov 15, 2012
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Feb 8, 2013
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May 6, 2013
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With that, if I choose to go with the "local account" can I easily switch back to the Microsoft one?
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May 1, 2013
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Jan 4, 2013
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Jul 2, 2013
In a few days I will receive a Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon with Windows 8 installed. And separately I will receive an OEM Win7. Win7 is certainly what I intend to use, and I had originally thought I would wipe out Windows 8 and install Win7. But now I am wondering if I can somehow preserve Windows 8 for occasional use. (I would have ordered the machine with Win7 but this is a refurbished machine.)
I would rather not have to understand UEFI. (I'm sure it would be interesting, I just have other things to do with my time.) And, although I do it sometimes, and will if I have to, I do not like diddling with BIOS settings.
I know that factory installed operating systems generally can't be moved to other machines. And I fear that the factory installed Windows 8 that I will receive may not even tolerate being installed, e.g., in a smaller partition or under something like VMware (another complication I'd like to avoid).
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Feb 12, 2013
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Aug 3, 2014
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I retrieved my data using a SATA, and now wish to wipe the system of Windows 8, and avoid all the hassle it has brought me, returning to it's factory settings of W7.
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If I need a disk to reset the original settings, where can I get it from and would simply loading it when prompted fix my problem?
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