[SOLVED] trouble booting an existing windows 8.1 installation in qemu

I have an existing installation of window 8.1. I want to be able to boot it inside linux (qemu-kvm ideally). Originally, this looked like it was going to be easy. Now a week later, I feel a bit stumped.
Here's my layout on /dev/sda:
Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name
1 2048 718847 350.0 MiB 2700 Basic data partition
2 718848 1128447 200.0 MiB EF00 EFI system partition
3 1128448 1390591 128.0 MiB 0C01 Microsoft reserved ...
4 1390592 103112703 48.5 GiB 0700 Basic data partition
5 168151040 250068991 39.1 GiB 0700 Basic data partition
sda4 is the windows root. sda5 is linux root. and yes, this is UEFI. Specifically, it is a surface pro 3.
Before I got going with virtualization ( but after I installed linux), I made a couple/few of copies of my hard drive.
One method was an sd card (a big one). I used clonezilla to do a partition-partition mapping after making an almost identical partition table on it (I didn't copy over sda5).
I have tried booting this with qemu:
# qemu-system-x86_64 -runas noctlos /dev/sdb
Whereupon qemu launches a small window which says
and nothing happens. It just sits there.
I have also tried making a raw image of my hard drive to a separate and much larger disk with:
# dd if=/dev/sda of=/path/to/remote/image.raw bs=512 conv=noerror,sync
Trying to boot from this also give me a diddly squat.
On the arch wiki for qemu, i found that I could boot a kernel (or an efi, i figured). So I tried to boot the microsoft boot file from sda2 (mounted on my /boot folder):
sudo qemu-system-x86_64 -kernel /boot/EFI/Boot/bootx64.efi -append root=/dev/sda /dev/sda4 -runas $USER
to get this oddity:
If there be any qemu/virtualization experts out there, or any schmuck like me who is a step ahead of me, please lend your voice to my progress!
Cheers
Last edited by noctlos (2014-11-11 01:47:44)

@EscapedNull
Thanks for the reply! I haven't used any debugging tools yet. I am really new to gdb.
However, since you mentioned it, I looked up UEFI for qemu (I thought that it would handle that on its own), and found that there's a project called OVMF, available in extra/ovmf. I installed that and tried running the sdcard:
sudo qemu-system-x86_64 -bios /usr/share/ovmf/ovmf_x64.bin -runas $USER /dev/sdb
Now we have some success! At least, I got this:
Hopefully, that only means that I have to attach the recovery partition to get it to work (at least the first time, @stevenhoneyman ).

Similar Messages

Virtualize an existing windows 8.1 installation on arch

Hi,
3 days ago I installed arch and I'm very delighted. Originally coming from windows I installed ubuntu on my laptop a few months back. Linux instantly grabbed my attention. So when I decided to buy a new desktop PC I compared various distros and arch was the most promising one. I haven't been disappointed; The learning curve is very good and the distro is really well documented. But now I have a problem where the documentation can't help.
I have the following setup:
- Intel i5 4570s
- SSD for os
- sda1: EFI boot partition
- sda2: ext4 with arch installed
- sda3: swap
- sda4: microsoft reserved
- sda5: ntfs with windows 8.1 installed
- HDD for data
- EFI motherboard
Install order: arch -> windows
Before I installed arch I read an article about how to boot virtual in an existing windows installation and nonetheless be able to boot normally into it and have the instances synced. Later I found out: VirtualBox isn't capable of booting an EFI windows installation.
As I read in another blog, other virtualization software like QEMU is able to boot an EFI windows installation with OVMF. So I followed the first article and created a raw image of my windows disks with
VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename w8raw.vmdk --rawdisk /dev/sda -partitions 1,4,5 -relative
and tried to open that image with QEMU via
qemu-system-x86_64 --enable-kvm -pflash OVMF.fd w8raw.vmdk
I get the following error
Unsupported image type 'partitionedDevice'
It may be noteworthy that the VBoxManage command produced two files
w8raw.vmdk
w8raw-pt.vmdk
Now my questions:
1) Is it somehow possible to open the created .vmdk file with QEMU?
2) Is it possible to create such an raw image with QEMU too? How? The documentation didn't help me
3) Do you have any other ideas how to archive this?
If you need further information I gladly add them here.

You have created a vmdk file that point to a real disk. The vmdk file does not contains the data in itself; probably qemu cannot open such virtual disk. The raw disk is simply /dev/sda in your case; you can pass it as an argument to qemu (provided you have the necessary permissions to access it), but ensure that the mounted partitions (the one you use in your running linux) are not accessed in any way by Windows (it should be the case if they are not FAT or NTFS and you do not have installed special tools in Windows to read them). Virtualbox can authorize the access of individual partitions of a physical disk (by using the VBoxManage command you mention), but I don't think this trick can be exported to qemu.
You can create a raw image of your disk by using the dd command:
dd if=/dev/sda of=/some-file.raw
but do that from a bootable recovery disk, do not mount /dev/sda while running dd (and have an external hard disk that is big enough to contain the whole image of /dev/sda).
But I doubt you will achieve your real goal. At the very best, Windows will consider that it run on a new hardware within the virtual machine. At best it will ask you to re-register and will cease to work if you boot it directly. Some OEM Windows do a BIOS/UEFI check to verify they have not be copied and will refuse to work in the virtual machine. You might also expect a whole bunch of problems because the same windows will run on two different hardware (virtual and physical). Windows has not been designed to be moved from one machine to another. If you want to have a virtual Windows, I would strongly suggest you to install it from scratch in the virtual machine. VirtualBox has more feature (some of them are really useful: e.g. the Windows additions that provide nice integration between the two machines; USB access, etc.) and is easier to manage than qemu. Just put VirtualBox in BIOS mode and install Windows (all Windows versions accept to be installed in BIOS mode).
Last edited by olive (2014-04-13 09:32:49)

Problem booting after failed Windows (via Bootcamp) installation

Good Day,
yesterday i recieved my brand new 21" iMac.
I wanted to install Windows via Bootcamp. I partitioned the Harddrive, started the installation and when Windows setup came to the point where it has to reboot (after copying the necessary files to the harddrive during the part of the setup process with the blue screen), it said something like "disc error, press any key to boot from CD. Nothing happend and the only way to start the computer was while holding down the ALT key and selecting the Macintosh disc.
I deleted the bootcamp partition, but still my computer wants to boot windows giving me the "disc error" message. Everytime i have to start the computer holding the ALT key to boot into OSX (it only shows me the Macintosh drive, no more windows drive to select).
Who can help?
Thanks!
Message was edited by: daniel.bs

It is a common error, which i've faced too.
Did you formatted the windows partition when into xp/vista/7 installation?
Boot Camp assistant only partition the hard drive, but you will have to format the windows partition yourself before installing, or you'll get that error when trying to boot/reboot in windows after installation.
You'll just have to start your iMac with the Windows CD/DVD, and redo the installation, this time formatting the partition (not with the fast format option).
Best regards!

[SOLVED] Triple Boot Arch Linux, Windows 7 + Windows 8 on second disk

Hi,
I have installed Arch Linux and Windows 7 on my primary disk. Everything's perfect. I want to install Windows 8 on my second disk. My only problem is how do I make grub2 recognize Windows 8 on the second disk and add it to the grub file, so i can boot Arch, Windows 7 and Windows 8.
Thank you for your time,
Deadvi
Last edited by Deadvi (2012-08-29 21:24:00)

It overwrote the MBR from the first disk, even though you installed Windows 8 on the second disk? That's odd... Make sure that the boot order in the BIOS is right (that the drive with Arch Linux is the first to boot) and from a 2012 Arch Linux install media run:
# mount /dev/sdxY /mnt #Your root partition.
# mount /dev/sdxZ /mnt/boot #Your boot partition (if you have one).
# arch-chroot /mnt
And continue with the instructions from here. If you don't have a 2012 Arch Linux install media (or you only have some other "live" Linux distribution), use the old chroot way.

Trouble joining an existing windows network when connected through airport

Need help!
I can connect fine to the internet and to my office's windows xp based network when i connect my Pbook directly ( with ethernet cable), but if i try connecting through my airport extreme the network connection just doesn't work, i mean the internet connection works fine but my network is gone. as soon as i go back to the cable it all works fine again.
Can anybody give me a hand? im sure its possible, i just dont know how to overcome this problem. and it keeps my laptop glued to the desk.
tks

I think this might be the fix, even though the symptoms stated are a bit diff...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304482

[SOLVED] dual booting windows 7 with btrfs on grub-bios -- core.img

I am trying to install arch in a dual boot configuration with an existing windows 7 partition. I have everything from the beginner's guide done but the bootloader. When I run grub-install it tells me that core.img is too big.
Some googling tells me that this is relatively common with btrfs, and it seems the only work around is to switch to gpt mode and use a grub bios partition. But the info I've seen indicates that I need to use MBR mode to dual boot windows.
Is it safe to do this with windows? Is there another workaround? Or will I have to settle for ext4?
Last edited by jorenko (2013-06-09 03:53:24)

Well there's your problem, your first partition starts at sector 63. With recent versions of windows and fdisk (and every other partitioning tool I can think of off the top of my head) things now align themselves correctly. Also because there is now GPT, the first partition typically starts later as the GPT partition table will typically sit between the MBR and the first partition.
On a MBR partitioned system, grub2 will actually use the first 446 bytes like normal, but will then also use the space that is empty where GPT would sit. This is why when you have a GPT partitioned system, it will require you to create a 1-2MB grub boot partition, as it needs somewhere else to put its bloat. GPT actually still uses the MBR section, but simply creates one large partition covering the whole disk. This is so that tools that are not GPT aware will not think that they have a whole free disk to use as they please.
For comparison, here is whe I get from fdisk:
# fdisk -l /dev/sda
sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda
[sudo] password for curtisshima:
WARNING: fdisk GPT support is currently new, and therefore in an experimental phase. Use at your own discretion.
Disk /dev/sda: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes, 488397168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk label type: gpt
# Start End Size Type Name
1 2048 2099199 1G EFI System EFI System
2 2099200 252166798 119.2G Linux filesyste arch-btrfs-1
3 252168192 488397134 112.7G Linux filesyste arch-btrfs-3
Note that I do use GPT. But that is not the point here. What I am trying to show is where my first partition starts. This is also where fdisk will start partitions these days. This is to ensure compatibility with 4k advanced format disks.
If you are not dead set on Grub2, you could try using syslinux. I really like it much better, though if you are booting more than one Linux, you need to either employ chainloading to various partition boot records, or have a shared /boot. Having a windows partition doens't really matter, as you are simply chainloading to that funky reserved partition anyway.
The other option is to use grub-legacy, which can still be found in the AUR. I actually liked the orginal Grub, as it provided a nice feature set, but was still configurable by hand and it actually fit into the MBR.

[SOLVED] Dual Boot Window 7 & Arch on a Uefi system.

From the Wiki
Windows 7 x86_64 versions support booting in x86_64 UEFI mode from GPT disk only, OR in BIOS mode from MBR/msdos disk only. They do not support IA32 (x86 32-bit) UEFI boot from GPT/MBR disk, x86_64 UEFI boot from MBR/msdos disk, or BIOS boot from GPT disk.
I don't understand this. As stated in the title I have a ueif system so that means I have to create a GPT disk ? I already have a gpt disk which I confirmed by running Arch Live USB. Under type it said GPT. I don't understand this at all
However if Arch is installed in BIOS-GPT in one disk and Windows is installed in BIOS-MBR mode in another disk, then the BIOS bootloader used by Arch CAN boot the Windows in the other disk, if the bootloader itself has the ability to chainload from another disk.
Note: If Arch and Windows are dual-booting from same disk, then Arch SHOULD follow the same firmware boot mode and partitioning combination used by the installed Windows in the disk.
In the Note above it says both Arch and Windows follow the same boot mode if they are dual booting from same disk. I DO NOT want to do this. I have already decided to partition my drive with 200 Gb going to Windows and 500 Gb going to Arch. Does this mean that I should install both in different modes i.e. Arch in Bios-GPT and Windows in Bios-MBR.
The recommended way to setup a Linux/Windows dual booting system is to first install Windows, only using part of the disk for its partitions. When you have finished the Windows setup, boot into the Linux install environment where you can create additional partitions for Linux while leaving the existing Windows partitions untouched.
UEFI systems
Both Gummiboot and rEFInd autodetect Windows Boot Manager \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi and show it in their boot menu, so there is no manual config required.
For GRUB(2) follow GRUB#Windows_Installed_in_UEFI-GPT_Mode_menu_entry.
Syslinux (as of version 6.02 and 6.03-pre9) and ELILO do not support chainloading other EFI applications, so they cannot be used to chainload \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi .
Computers that come with newer versions of Windows often have secure boot enabled. You will need to take extra steps to either disable secure boot or to make your installation media compatible with secure boot.
Being a beginner should I go with Gummiboot then. GRUB made a mess last time.
Also my secure boot is NOT enabled so is that good.
I have read the FAQs, Beginner's guide, Installation Guide, Dual Boot wiki entry but I just don't understand the above concepts. But it looks this this is the main thing in dual booting. Almost everything else is doable but this I have to get right on account of what happened the last time I installed Arch without getting the above right.
Last edited by Some Arch Lovin (2014-06-14 08:53:14)

A few issues with the dual boot setup
Hello again, I lost my dual factor authentication grid from lastpass. Opensuse was acutally overwriting new pdf files over my old pdf files so now that grid pdf is actually an Arch cheat cheet with the name last_pass_grid.pdf. And the gmail account I used to register to Arch forums is also in last pass.
This is why I created another account. I am some arch lovin.
The installation went smoothly but I could not dual boot Windows7 with Arch because my Win7 image is not UEFI bootable so had to dual boot win8(not a fan at all) and arch.
Almost everything is working correctly. I have a few issues that aren't affecting how the system is working but they still need sorting out.
I'll do them one at a time but I want to know from the admins if I should start a new thread? Because in a way this thread accomplished it job i.e. win7 and arch dual booting in uefi system.
If the answer is yes I should create a new thread depending upon the issue then I will do that but in case its a no since I have only 2-3 problems I am going to ask help for the first one.
My gummiboot is not working on startup. I have to press f12 and use bios booting menu to boot. The problem with that is if I put Windows at the top of the boot priority the bios does not show F12 and F2 at the time of booting up so I can't access the boot menu. I have to boot into Windows and crash it by holding the power button and then the F12 options shows up and I am able to boot into Arch. If I put Arch at the top then Windows keeps restoring back to an earlier version due to start up options.
NOTE : I can't be sure but one it did work(only once). I checked the images online to compare with what I saw and its very similar. An all black screen with three bootloading options
Windows
Arch
Opensuse(don't know why I created a completely new GPT partition table)
This is what I did while installing Gummiboot
# mount -t efivarfs efivarfs /sys/firmware/efi/efivars
# pacman -S gummiboot
# gummiboot install
I tried going through the gummiboot to see if I can do something but it very difficult to comprehend as a beginner. All I get is the characters gummiboot understands but thats all.
Last edited by Archer61 (2014-06-11 13:48:56)

Windows XP SP2 freezes and then has trouble booting up

I've got a recent problem with my PC freezing while in use. All of a sudden it freezes with no error messages. The only resolution is to reboot the PC; however, most times the PC has trouble booting up after that. Usually at some point before it boots up I'll get a CMS checksum error, hit the F1 key to continue and Windows will load up. I'll have to restart it multiple times before I can get it to boot or I have to unplug the PC, let it sit overnight and then it tends to boot up with no problems the next morning.
I did notice that the fan to the PSU isn't running all the time. Should it be? I would have thought so, but don't know for sure.
I haven't tried reloading Windows over the current installation. I have an original Win XP disk ()non-SP2). This is a Windows CD, not a restore CD. I've updated to SP2. Will it be OK to reinstall over it with an older version of XP? I guess I can just not replace any newer files if it asks?
Thanks for any feedback.

Quote from: crushert on 21-January-07, 00:20:05
Bosskiller, I just know the basics of hardware installation and such. I can put them together, but don't have much knowledge in diagnostics. The Geek Squad ran the basic diagnostic package and said everything checked out OK and that it was most likely a mobo or processor going bad.
I see you linked to an earlier post you made. However, if the memory checked out OK and it's run fine for the last 6 months without any problems, would it do any good to run another memory check on it?
"Bosskiller, I just know the basics of hardware installation and such. I can put them together, but don't have much knowledge in diagnostics. The Geek Squad ran the basic diagnostic package and said everything checked out OK and that it was most likely a mobo or processor going bad."
suggest you to ignore "The Geek Squad ran the basic diagnostic package" and to test it personally.
get memtest http://www.memtest.org/download/1.70/memtest86+-1.70.floppy.zip
extract files and make diskette bootable from installer. then reboot PC and boot from floppy, select test n5 only from there and leave it to test over 20times ensure no errors will come... step by step with memtest: https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=103598.msg760534#msg760534
other way is to try to install XP with each memory sticks separately until works.. leave only one stick into DIMM slot close to CPU socket and have a try to install OS again, if no go remove memory and replace it with other one. and retry.
or take PC to some computer repair shop to diagnose.

Resolve trouble between Parallels and Windows under Boot Camp

After seeing several threads relating to this issue, I decided to make this it's own thread instead of trying to reply to each. hopkinsvscloudlivestream.blogspot.com/2013/03/watch-hopkins-vs-cloud-live-stream-2013.html This article NOW resolves all issues pertaining to using Windows under Boot Camp through Parallels, INCLUDING activation. Hopefully Parallels will be able to integrate these fixes into a future release.
Before doing anything, I would recommend preparing your existing Windows installation under Boot Camp, for Parallels, before trying to access it through Parallels. If you have already installed Parallels and now have problems, don't worry, this article should address and resolve these issues as well.
Something to know upfront: using your existing Boot Camp installation with Parallels will most likely require you to activate your Windows installation a second time. The reasons for this are addressed in Section 4 of this article.
Section 1: Preparing your Boot Camp Installation for Parallels
(If you already tried to access your Boot Camp installation through Parallels, and can no longer get into Windows through Boot Camp or Parallels, please skip this step and come back to it after you have completed Section 2.)

Personally, I think the software fix is a band-aid for a larger hardware problem, probably involving the power management circuitry. I think the reason Photo Booth and QuietMBP and Windows XP all work to silence the noise is because they draw more power by using more CPU, and it's the extra power draw that kills the noise. Nothing scientific, mind you, just a hunch.
What if your speakers made an annoying hum that went away whenever you started playing music through them in iTunes? Would you still think it's a software problem? I think it's a similar situation here - where software can cover up the issue but not really fix it...

[SOLVE] Dual Boot Windows and ArchLinux with Syslinux

Ok, i installed ArchLinux on my laptop with Windows XP (syslinux) and I cannot find get Windows to boot or mount it. I have tried to do what i can to do this but cannot. I Installed XP first like a should and something i think might be needed to know is after i created the partitions scheme (10Gb (boot partition), 50GB (XP), 80GB(was unallocated)). The installation disk formated both 2 partitions in NTFS but i installed XP on the second and Windows reported them as C and D drives. Windows being D. Thought that was bit werid thinking Windows installed the mbr on that partition. When I installed ArchLinux, it did have the boot flag set on 10GB (or C drive).
Since I installed ArchLinux, I have been unable to find a solution to mounting/booting to Windows. Installed NTFS-3G and that didn't work when i tried mount /dev/sda3 windows and i did created a folder named windows but got ...
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda3,
missing codepage or helper program, or other error
In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
dmesg | tail or so.
Tried dmesg | tail and got
[ 76.524133] SGI XFS with ACLs, security attributes, realtime, large block/inode numbers, no debug enabled
[ 179.468499] ACPI: \_SB_.PCI0.LPC0.ACAD: ACPI_NOTIFY_DEVICE_CHECK event: unsupported
[ 705.472330] 8139too 0000:02:03.0 enp2s3: link down
[ 717.380879] 8139too 0000:02:03.0 enp2s3: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0x41E1
[ 726.447184] 8139too 0000:02:03.0 enp2s3: link down
[ 727.596128] ACPI: \_SB_.PCI0.LPC0.ACAD: ACPI_NOTIFY_BUS_CHECK event: unsupported
[ 732.616138] 8139too 0000:02:03.0 enp2s3: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0x41E1
[ 733.848832] 8139too 0000:02:03.0 enp2s3: link down
[ 834.062062] 8139too 0000:02:03.0 enp2s3: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0x41E1
[ 2131.449211] perf samples too long (2534 > 2500), lowering kernel.perf_event_max_sample_rate to 50100
This is when i run sudo lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda 8:0 0 149.1G 0 disk
|-sda1 8:1 0 9.8G 0 part /boot
|-sda2 8:2 0 1K 0 part
|-sda3 8:3 0 53.6G 0 part
`-sda5 8:5 0 85.7G 0 part /
sr0 11:0 1 1024M 0 rom
My syslinux is
LABEL arch
MENU LABEL Arch Linux
LINUX ../vmlinuz-linux
APPEND root=/dev/sda5 rw
INITRD ../initramfs-linux.img
LABEL windows
MENU LABEL Windows
COM32 chain.c32
APPEND hd0 3
NOTE: chain is in the same directory with syslinux
I really think Windows got corrupted but not sure. Thought about repairing the mbr on windows and booting to it then reinstall syslinux but really don't want too.
Thanks in advance
Last edited by jag-ster (2014-11-27 02:12:12)

Here is the partition table:
/dev/sda1 one HUGE linux /boot primary partition (assuming ext4)
/dev/sda2 "name" of the extended partition
/dev/sda3 primary Windows partition (assuming NTFS)
/dev/sda5 logical Linux root partition (assuming ext4)
/dev/sda1 to /dev/sda4 are either all primary, or three primary and one extended. After /dev/sda4 all partitions are logical. If you're still wondering why is there no /dev/sda4, it's because you have 2 primary and one extended, so /dev/sda4 is reserved for another primary partition.
Windows problem:
The /dev/sda1 which Windows named C: is Windows equivalent of linux /boot. When you told linux to place its /boot on /dev/sda1 it formated boot files of Windows. Now you have Windows OS with no kernel. In other words there is no way to boot Windows if you don't reinstall it. Actually there is a way, but you would than screw up Arch.
Mounting problem:
You can never mount extended partition, only logical (an extended partition is made of logical partitions). You want to do:
sudo mount /dev/sda3 -t NTFS-3g -o rw,uid=YourUserName /path/where/you/want/this/partition/mounted
EDIT:
Try it this way:
- Backup all your data
- Delete every partition
- Start Windows installation
- Make only one partition (c:/ for Windows)
- Let Windows make another partition
- Make one more so you could have a data partition, which does not need to be formated to reinstall Windows
- Start Arch installation
- Get to partitioning
=Partitioning=
- /dev/sda4 extended (take the rest of the drive)
- /dev/sda5 logical /boot 512MiB
- /dev/sda6 logical / 20GiB
- /dev/sda7 logical /home (the rest)
Making a separate /home partition will come in handy when reinstalling Arch (any linux distribution), or switching between distros, because it is the equivalent of D:/ in Windows. Also consider LVM.
Last edited by bstaletic (2014-02-28 23:25:33)

[Solved]dual boot windows 7 and arch linux

I have successfully installed arch linux dual boot with the original win7 on my PC. If I only use linux, then the system works well. The problem is that once I boot into Win7 then after reboot, the linux boot manager will stop working and the system always boots into windows automatically. My guess is Win7 automatically repair the boot loader.
My current solution is whenever I have finished using Windows, I'll boot with my linux USB installation, and run "gummiboot --path=/boot install". Afterwards, linux will work fine. But I believe there must be a better solution. Any help will be appreciated.
I have UEFI board by the way.
Last edited by jl2014 (2015-04-19 17:35:57)

Thanks for all your help first! I have tried Head_on_a_Stick's suggestions as the first step. Here is what I did. I have created :
$ cat /boot/loader/entries/windows.conf
title Windows
efi /EFI/hidden/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
The window boot path was :
/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
and I changed
/boot/EFI/Microsoft
to
/boot/EFI/hidden
After reboot, I clicked 'Windows' option on the linux boot manager. Below are the error messages:
Windows failed to start.
File: \EFI\Microsoft/Boot/BCD
Info: An error occurred while attempting to read the boot configuration data.
Any idea what goes wrong?
I'll try other suggestions soon. Thanks all of you again.
Last edited by jl2014 (2015-04-19 00:03:33)

[SOLVED] Can't boot back into windows

Been a while since I had to install Arch but my previous PC died so I tried installing it on my new one. When I installed it last time, there was no EUFI and it was a simple Grub installation. When I installed it, I disabled eufi from my bios to legacy grub. I installed Arch like normal but os-probe didn't seem to work. Although it detected my OS, it did not make an entry for windows in the grub, When I re-enable EUFI from bios, it just goes straight to GRUB cmd line.
Here's the output for fdisk:
Disk /dev/sda: 946.4 GiB, 1016218828800 bytes, 1984802400 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: A3D81761-F777-4399-9F81-01E346CDC93F
Device Start End Size Type
/dev/sda1 2048 1988607 970M BIOS boot partition
/dev/sda2 1988608 3708927 840M Windows recovery environment
/dev/sda3 3708928 4241407 260M EFI System
/dev/sda4 4241408 4503551 128M Microsoft reserved
/dev/sda5 4503552 1123987926 533.8G Microsoft basic data
/dev/sda6 1905238016 1953523711 23G Windows recovery environment
/dev/sda7 1953525168 1984798127 14.9G unknown
/dev/sda8 1123989504 1900040191 370.1G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda9 1900040192 1905238015 2.5G Linux swap
and os-prober
$ sudo os-prober
No volume groups found
/dev/sda3:Windows 8 (loader):Windows:chain
Arch is installed on sda8/sda9 and wndows is on sda3/4/5/6. There also seems to be a seperate "boot" drive sdb that only shows up when eufi is enabled. Can anyone help me figure out how to boot into my windows partition? thanks
edit: here's grub.cfg
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
insmod part_gpt
insmod part_msdos
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
load_env
fi
if [ "${next_entry}" ] ; then
set default="${next_entry}"
set next_entry=
save_env next_entry
set boot_once=true
else
set default="0"
fi
if [ x"${feature_menuentry_id}" = xy ]; then
menuentry_id_option="--id"
else
menuentry_id_option=""
fi
export menuentry_id_option
if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
save_env saved_entry
set prev_saved_entry=
save_env prev_saved_entry
set boot_once=true
fi
function savedefault {
if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
saved_entry="${chosen}"
save_env saved_entry
fi
function load_video {
if [ x$feature_all_video_module = xy ]; then
insmod all_video
else
insmod efi_gop
insmod efi_uga
insmod ieee1275_fb
insmod vbe
insmod vga
insmod video_bochs
insmod video_cirrus
fi
if [ x$feature_default_font_path = xy ] ; then
font=unicode
else
insmod part_gpt
insmod ext2
set root='hd0,gpt8'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt8 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt8 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt8 6a6f6015-3793-4978-8c19-5abd44c63aea
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 6a6f6015-3793-4978-8c19-5abd44c63aea
fi
font="/usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2"
fi
if loadfont $font ; then
set gfxmode=auto
load_video
insmod gfxterm
set locale_dir=$prefix/locale
set lang=en_US
insmod gettext
fi
terminal_input console
terminal_output gfxterm
if [ x$feature_timeout_style = xy ] ; then
set timeout_style=menu
set timeout=5
# Fallback normal timeout code in case the timeout_style feature is
# unavailable.
else
set timeout=5
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_archlinux ###
menuentry "Arch Linux pkg-linux kernel" --class arch-linux --class arch --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
if [ x$feature_all_video_module = xy ]; then
insmod all_video
fi
set gfxpayload=keep
insmod ext2
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt8 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt8 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt8 6a6f6015-3793-4978-8c19-5abd44c63aea
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 6a6f6015-3793-4978-8c19-5abd44c63aea
fi
echo 'Loading Arch Linux pkg-linux kernel ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-linux root=UUID=6a6f6015-3793-4978-8c19-5abd44c63aea rw
echo 'Loading Arch Linux pkg-linux kernel initramfs ...'
initrd /boot/initramfs-linux.img
menuentry "Arch Linux pkg-linux kernel (fallback initramfs)" --class arch-linux --class arch --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
if [ x$feature_all_video_module = xy ]; then
insmod all_video
fi
set gfxpayload=keep
insmod ext2
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt8 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt8 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt8 6a6f6015-3793-4978-8c19-5abd44c63aea
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 6a6f6015-3793-4978-8c19-5abd44c63aea
fi
echo 'Loading Arch Linux pkg-linux kernel ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-linux root=UUID=6a6f6015-3793-4978-8c19-5abd44c63aea rw
echo 'Loading Arch Linux pkg-linux kernel fallback initramfs ...'
initrd /boot/initramfs-linux-fallback.img
### END /etc/grub.d/10_archlinux ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'Arch Linux' --class arch --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-simple-6a6f6015-3793-4978-8c19-5abd44c63aea' {
load_video
set gfxpayload=keep
insmod gzio
insmod part_gpt
insmod ext2
set root='hd0,gpt8'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt8 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt8 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt8 6a6f6015-3793-4978-8c19-5abd44c63aea
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 6a6f6015-3793-4978-8c19-5abd44c63aea
fi
echo 'Loading Linux linux ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-linux root=UUID=6a6f6015-3793-4978-8c19-5abd44c63aea rw
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initramfs-linux.img
submenu 'Advanced options for Arch Linux' $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-advanced-6a6f6015-3793-4978-8c19-5abd44c63aea' {
menuentry 'Arch Linux, with Linux linux' --class arch --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-linux-advanced-6a6f6015-3793-4978-8c19-5abd44c63aea' {
load_video
set gfxpayload=keep
insmod gzio
insmod part_gpt
insmod ext2
set root='hd0,gpt8'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt8 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt8 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt8 6a6f6015-3793-4978-8c19-5abd44c63aea
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 6a6f6015-3793-4978-8c19-5abd44c63aea
fi
echo 'Loading Linux linux ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-linux root=UUID=6a6f6015-3793-4978-8c19-5abd44c63aea rw
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initramfs-linux.img
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f ${config_directory}/custom.cfg ]; then
source ${config_directory}/custom.cfg
elif [ -z "${config_directory}" -a -f $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/60_memtest86+ ###
if [ "${grub_platform}" == "pc" ]; then
menuentry "Memory Tester (memtest86+)" --class memtest86 --class gnu --class tool {
search --fs-uuid --no-floppy --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt8 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt8 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt8 6a6f6015-3793-4978-8c19-5abd44c63aea
linux16 /boot/memtest86+/memtest.bin
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/60_memtest86+ ###
Last edited by giok13 (2014-04-24 15:20:31)

dice wrote:
As you have disabled UEFI during arch installation your grub was installed in mbr mode and not EFI.
Your Windows installation is probably installed in UEFI mode.
So when you enable UEFI grub doesn't work correctly. And in legacy mode Windows won't boot.
See here for details https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/UEFI
Yea, I figured it out last night after spending hours on it. For anyone that might be having the same problem as me: Re-installed grub with os-prober and it detected windows successfully. Added the entry into grub correctly as well. But when I tried to boot into windows, it said my bcd was corrupted. Apparently when I was trying everything, I formatted the entire /boot partition so there was no way for windows to boot. After hours of trying to figure out how to restore the partition, I went into bios and re-enabled UEFI, safe boot, fast boot. It restored the /boot partition and let me get into windows. Then disabled safe boot and fast boot, booted arch live cd and installed gummiboot.

My Windows 2000 machine has trouble booting up after instaling PCI-6503 card

After I installed the card in my Dell Desktop has trouble booting up. I have to pull the power cable out and then reconnect for it to come up.

Hello;
The best way to go about that is to completely uninstall the NI-DAQ driver you have installed on that machine, turn the computer of and remove the board from it.
You then reintall NI-DAQ, and put the board back. If the same behavior shows, the best bet is to search for some other peace of Software/Hardware currently installed on the machine that might be conflictant with NI-DAQ.
Regards
Filipe A.
Applications Engineer
National Instruments

HOW TO DUAL BOOT W540 with windows 8.1 / 7

I got my W540 recently with windows 8.1 pro on it. but as all engineers worst nightmare windows 8 has hard time with engineering softwares (for my case TIA Portal for PLC programming software which only support windows 7). so i need to have a windows 7. i prefer to keep my windows 8 and have dual boot system with windows 7 added. But i can't install windows 7. initially due to disk type (GPT), then i changed it to MBR without losing my files (which only was possible if i had deleted the recovery partition- now my recovery is on my flash drive). But there are already 4 partitions on the system (1 for C: drive and 3 for recovery and system files which came originally with the product) , how can i install a windows 7? i can't add another partition because that makes my disk a Dynamic disk (which i don't really know what is). all in all, i really need windows 7 on my system ASAP. If anyone know how to fix this please reply. Thanks guys.
Solved!
Go to Solution.

You are limited to four PRIMARY partitions on an MBR disk.
But other than the "active" partition (i.e. the small 100MB "system reserved" partition where Boot Manager is placed from doing a cold Windows install on an empty drive, or the 1.4GB equivalent Boot Manager partition that Lenovo provides along with other tools and utilities), all other partitions on the drive can be "logical". They are not required to be PRIMARY, although Lenovo delivers its partitions that way. But you can change that.
You can have up to 120 LOGICAL partitions on a drive (all of which live inside an originally PRIMARY partition which gets converted to an "extended partition" which houses all of the logical partitions. So if you have at least one logical partition (and thus have to give up one primary partition in order to build that required "extended partitions"), that means you can have up to three remaining primary partitions and up to 120 logical partitions... all on an MBR disk. No "dynamic", and no GPT.
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So, if you want to use MiniTool's Partition Wizard to carve out sufficient free space for your second Windows 7 partition (by shrinking your existing Win8 partition), you can create one or more logical partitions inside that new free space, and do the Win7 install to one of those empty logical partitions. You can then use a second logical partition in that same free space for "data", if you want.
Note that Partition Wizard can even convert one of your existing primary partitions to logical (i.e. convert it to an "extended partition", inside of which will be then be the original primary partition now converted to logical). You can then shrink or move/resize the partitions on the drive (both primary and logical) however you want, to perhaps make room for additional "logical" partitions inside of that now present "extended partition" which can hold up to 120. You can even convert ALL of your primary partitions except for the one "active" partition (which MUST BE PRIMARY) to logical partitions, which gives you maximum flexibility in having even more than just two bootable OS's along with one or more data partitions, etc., up to 120 logical partitions... plus the one "active" primary Boot Manager "system reserved" partition which must be kept.

Trouble Booting to Ubuntu Live USB on T440

Hey,
I am having trouble booting to a Ubuntu Live USB on my T440. I turn on the laptop, press enter to interrupt the normal boot, and press F12 to select another boot option. But after selecting the appropritate USB, the screen goes black for a couple of seconds and then returns to the boot selection. It will not boot from the Ubuntu USB, only to the preinstalled Windows 8.
Other guides have recommended disabling Secure Boot (I have done this, it has not worked); others suggest enabling Secure Boot but changing to Legacy Boot (this didn't work for me either).
Once I can successfully boot to the USB, I will be installing Ubuntu, replacing Windows all together. I don't need help with that; just getting the computer to boot from the USB would be great.
Thanks.
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Fixed. My boot USB was made with Ubuntu's Startup Disk Creator (on my other Ubuntu system). On a hunch, I made another boot USB using Linux Pen Drive on the Windows 8 machine. That one worked. I presume it was related to the format of the USB (the working one being FAT32).
So if anyone wants to easily install a Linux distibution on a T440, make your boot USB on a Windows machine.

[SOLVED] trouble booting an existing windows 8.1 installation in qemu

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