188 replies to this topic

[Wonko the Sane]

Well, you seem more like doing "random" things (and were lucky) than anything else.
 
(hd-1,0) means (first partition on) "last disk" wimb and alacran seemed like happy about the approach, but they use a USB thingy [1], if you don't, then it is not appropriate.
(hd1,0) means (first partition on) second disk.
(hd0,0) means (first partition on) first disk.
 
It is entirely possible that for some reason the (hd-1,0) which is a sort of "dynamic" identfying of a disk doesn't specifically work on your BIOS/Setup/whatever, but if you are not using a USB media, surely it won't work.
 
As always, you should make tests (on grub4dos command line) in order to understand what happens on your particular configuration.
 
 

Wonko
 
[1]
 
 
 

In VHD WIMBOOT we have a two file Operating System, where first grub4dos loads the VHD into RAM.
When booting from RAMDISK as WIMBOOT, then Windows has to find the location of the Backing WIM file.
In grub4dos the USB Boot drive with our VHD and WIM files has the lowest disk number hd0
but Windows will give the same USB disk the highest disk number.
This highest disk number strongly depends on the number of internal harddisks and varies from one computer to another.
 
That is why I am so happy with the solution given by Wonko to use (hd-1) as value for the highest disk number which is valid for all configurations 
 
When the VHD booting from RAMDISK is mapped as (hd-1)  then it is always able to find the Backing WIM file on USB   

[antonino61]

ok just to avoid keeping on doing random things, with the greatest humility on my part, I will try the hd-1 option and would only like to get my head together. FYI, I have just managed to ramload wimboot as I posted earlier (I honestly do not know for what reason) and in order to answer u as accurately as possible, I ran diskpart and asked it to list my disks and my volumes. it yielded the following:

disk0      online      849gb    whose volume on it is marked in windows as F:

disk1      online      884gb    whose volume on it is marked in windows as G:

disk2      online      931gb    whose volume on it is marked in windows as E:

disk3      online      931gb    whose volume on it is marked in windows as D:       backngwim    ***hosts the vhd***

disk4      online     1021mb  whose volume on it is marked in windows as C:       system           ***the vhd proper***

no usb is involved here, honestly.

 

I hope you are now in a position to tell me why I have wimbooted into ram rigthly or wrongly, in which latter instance, why I should not, and what I should have done to make it right. I honestly do not wanna wimboot into ram wrongly; I would like to wimboot into ram rightly. If I was lucky, what did my luck consist in? it is always nice to know. I always rely on your patience.

 

nino

Edited by antonino61, 01 March 2019 - 03:30 PM.

[antonino61]

I also tried hd-1 again, but it did not work. I reverted hd-1 back to hd1 in the menu.lst and it did work again. I honestly do not know why, but I can tell you that the diskpart list of disks and volumes is the same - I can give you my menu.lst text content back again.

 

map --mem --top (hd0,0)/vhd.vhd (hd1)

map --hook

root (hd1,0)

chainloader /bootmgr

 

and, back again, honest, no usb involved here.

 

I honestly cannot believe there can't be any reason why I have succeeded even if I should not have.

[steve6375]

since you are booting using bootmgr and the BCD which is inside the VHD,

You need to show us the contents of the \boot\BCD file (e.g. as displayed by BootIce).

[antonino61]

I have eventually found and launched bootice. there are 5 useful submenus: which one (Physical disk, disk image, bcd edit, utilities, command line) should I go to in order to get u the data u have asked?

Edited by antonino61, 01 March 2019 - 03:53 PM.

[steve6375]

first you must extract \boot\BCD from the VHD.

Then use BootIce - BCD (there is a clue in the name!) and select the extracted BCD file (other) and click 'Easy mode'

[antonino61]

how do I extract \boot\bcd from the vhd?

[steve6375]

I use 7zip. 

[antonino61]

do u mean this?

 

Windows Boot Manager

--------------------

identifier              {9dea862c-5cdd-4e70-acc1-f32b344d4795}

device                  partition=D:

description             Windows Boot Manager

locale                  en-US

inherit                 {7ea2e1ac-2e61-4728-aaa3-896d9d0a9f0e}

default                 {e8a2d674-3ac5-11e9-ba43-9cb6d01e7b4c}

resumeobject            {c7f09b2a-3c2e-11e9-ba5b-9cb6d01e7b4c}

displayorder            {e8a2d674-3ac5-11e9-ba43-9cb6d01e7b4c}

                        {c7f09b2b-3c2e-11e9-ba5b-9cb6d01e7b4c}

                        {c6de0891-3a15-11e9-ba26-9cb6d01e7b4c}

                        {63bc9c9f-3aff-11e9-ba4b-9cb6d01e7b4c}

toolsdisplayorder       {b2721d73-1db4-4c62-bf78-c548a880142d}

timeout                 30

displaybootmenu         Yes

 

Real-mode Boot Sector

---------------------

identifier              {e8a2d674-3ac5-11e9-ba43-9cb6d01e7b4c}

device                  partition=D:

path                    \NST\NeoGrub.mbr

description             NeoGrub Bootloader

locale                  en-US

custom:250000c2         0

 

Windows Boot Loader

-------------------

identifier              {c7f09b2b-3c2e-11e9-ba5b-9cb6d01e7b4c}

device                  vhd=[D:]\vhd.vhd,locate=custom:12000002

path                    \windows\system32\winload.exe

description             vhd

locale                  en-us

loadoptions             DDISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS

inherit                 {6efb52bf-1766-41db-a6b3-0ee5eff72bd7}

nointegritychecks       Yes

testsigning             Yes

allowedinmemorysettings 0x15000075

osdevice                vhd=[D:]\vhd.vhd,locate=custom:22000002

systemroot              \windows

resumeobject            {c7f09b2a-3c2e-11e9-ba5b-9cb6d01e7b4c}

nx                      OptIn

bootmenupolicy          Standard

 

Windows Boot Loader

-------------------

identifier              {c6de0891-3a15-11e9-ba26-9cb6d01e7b4c}

device                  vhd=[D:]\vhd1.vhd,locate=custom:12000002

path                    \Windows\system32\winload.exe

description             vhd1

locale                  en-US

loadoptions             DDISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS

nointegritychecks       Yes

testsigning             Yes

osdevice                vhd=[D:]\vhd1.vhd,locate=custom:22000002

systemroot              \Windows

resumeobject            {f57b35af-3aff-11e9-ba4c-806e6f6e6963}

detecthal               Yes

 

Windows Boot Loader

-------------------

identifier              {63bc9c9f-3aff-11e9-ba4b-9cb6d01e7b4c}

device                  vhd=[D:]\vhd2.vhd,locate=custom:12000002

path                    \Windows\system32\winload.exe

description             vhd2

locale                  en-US

loadoptions             DDISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS

nointegritychecks       Yes

testsigning             Yes

osdevice                vhd=[D:]\vhd2.vhd,locate=custom:22000002

systemroot              \Windows

resumeobject            {7012ac13-3c41-11e9-ba5f-806e6f6e6963}

detecthal               Yes

 

 

or this?

 

There are a total of 4 entries listed in the bootloader.

 

Default: NeoGrub Bootloader

Timeout: 30 seconds

Boot Drive: D:\

 

Entry #1

Name: NeoGrub Bootloader

BCD ID: {default}

Drive: D:\

Bootloader Path: \NST\NeoGrub.mbr

 

Entry #2

Name: vhd

BCD ID: {c7f09b2b-3c2e-11e9-ba5b-9cb6d01e7b4c}

Device: [D:]\vhd.vhd

Bootloader Path: \windows\system32\winload.exe

 

Entry #3

Name: vhd1

BCD ID: {c6de0891-3a15-11e9-ba26-9cb6d01e7b4c}

Device: [D:]\vhd1.vhd

Bootloader Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe

 

Entry #4

Name: vhd2

BCD ID: {current}

Device: [D:]\vhd2.vhd

Bootloader Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe

[steve6375]

No, I mean a screenshot of BootIce with the BCD loaded in Easy Mode

i.e. that is why I mentioned BootIce,,,

But according to your BCD listing, the  default boot OS is to boot to NeoGrub (i.e. grub4dos).

So, presumably, you have also included a NeoGrub file \NST\NeoGrub.mbr - this will usually load a second grub4dos /grldr and run a menu entry.

That may explain why the BIOS disk number has to be hd1 for your VHD.

[antonino61]

correct, and it has always been so for the past 3 years or so. I use neogrub bootloader to preload vhd into ram. but this neogrub is just a fictitious name for what actually is the last version of g4d that is supposed to speed ramloading on nvme's. neogrub is just the name easybcd gives.

 

when i load it as a file disk i use the vhd entry (vhd1 and vhd2 being mere copies of vhd just in case something goes wrong in vhd). 

 

I am still at pains trying to post screenshots in here. I wish I could. 

 

Edited by antonino61, 01 March 2019 - 06:05 PM.

[steve6375]

OK, but it is running grub4dos and grub4dos has a menu.lst somewhere?

and so there is a second grub4dos menu which you have not shown us....

Where is this menu.lst - in the \NST\ folder? Can we see what is in it?

[antonino61]

I have one menu.lst on root and one menu.lst in nst. they are 2 exact copies. i have already shown them.

here you go, one more time

 

map --mem --top (hd0,0)/vhd.vhd (hd1)

map --hook

root (hd1,0)

chainloader /bootmgr

Edited by antonino61, 01 March 2019 - 06:07 PM.

[steve6375]

and what is in them?

[antonino61]

pls see above

[antonino61]

here is the complete file content

 

color blue/green yellow/red white/magenta white/magenta

timeout 30

default /default

 

title Windows 10 - RAMDISK1

map --mem --top (hd0,0)/vhd.vhd (hd1)

map --hook

root (hd1,0)

chainloader /bootmgr

 

title commandline

commandline

 

title quit

quit

 

title reboot

reboot

 

title halt

halt

[antonino61]

if i write the following instead

 

color blue/green yellow/red white/magenta white/magenta

timeout 30

default /default

 

title Windows 10 - RAMDISK1

map --mem --top (hd0,0)/vhd.vhd (hd-1)

map --hook

root (hd-1,0)

chainloader /bootmgr

 

title commandline

commandline

 

title quit

quit

 

title reboot

reboot

 

title halt

halt

 

 

 

it yields error 0xc0000225 and won't boot. it will actually stay stuck on the bsod.

[steve6375]

So the menu.lst that is INSIDE the VHD is the same menu.lst that you start the boot process with?

 

So the whole boot process is

1. Boot from HDD

2. load grub4dos

3. load vhd and map as hd1

4. run bootmgr from inside vhd (hd1)

5. bootmgr loads BCD from inside vhd

6. BCD points to NeoGrub.mbr on hd1

7. NeoGrub.mbr runs grub4dos

8. grub4dos runs \NST\menu.lst

9. \NST\menu.lst maps vhd as hd1 (again) or may fail due to insufficient memory?

10. run bootmgr - goto step 5

 

 

???

I am confused?

The BCD that is inside the VHD should just load the VHD that you want (not NeoGrub)???

[antonino61]

menu.lst is not inside the vhd. menu.lst is on the root of d:\ (the drive hosting the vhd). are u sure that one can boot directly from the vhd without a bootmgr outside it?

[antonino61]

even the other menu.lst is in d:\nst because easybcd so decides.

 

anyway, what do u suggest I limit myself to keeping where in order to boot vhd either as a filedisk or as a ramdisk?

 

I am prepared to try that too.

[steve6375]

I asked for the contents of the \NST\menu.lst file that is INSIDE the VHD.

Is that what you displayed in the post?

If so which VHD are you looking at? You seem to have more than one mentioned in the BCD?

 

I would suggest changing the BCD that is inside the VHD so that it loads the VHD file by default and not NeoGrub.mbr

[antonino61]

yes but alternatively, not together. it is an either/or thing, or do u see it as a both/and thing?

the nst has never been inside the vhd, shall i put it instead of its lying on d:\?

[steve6375]

Let us start again! Go back to this post

http://reboot.pro/to...e-7#entry209540

 

I asked you to extract the \boot\BCD that is INSIDE the VHD file using 7zip

so now you have a file C:\temp\BCD

Then use BootIce - BCD - Other - Easy Mode to display the contents of the C:\temp\BCD file.

and post a screenshot. 

[antonino61]

at the outset I erased both bcd's and ran bcdboot c:\windows /s c:\ (inside the vhd) and bcdboot c:\windows /s d:\ (on d:\ the vhd host drive)

so, if I am not mistaken, they are 2 exact copies.  

windows10                                                 os guid   {c47a324a-3c2e-11e9-ba5b-9cb6d01e7b4c}

os title                                                         windows 10

boot file                                                        \Windows\system32\winload.exe

sysroot                                                         \Windows

language                                                       en-us

 

on top, partition is automatically selected and in the hatch it says boot(wim)/locate(vhd)

[steve6375]

Sorry, I have lost the will to live! Someone else will have to respond to you. You don't seem to be able to follow simple instructions. Good luck.