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BCD store entry to open another store


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#1 Uneitohr

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Posted 05 September 2016 - 10:12 AM

Hello. I was wondering if this could be doable. I have a BCD store in which I would like to add an entry that opens another BCD. Similar to that of grub in which you can use multiple menu.lst files.

Basically, I have too many entries in my BCD and would like to split them.

 

Thank you.



#2 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 05 September 2016 - 11:48 AM

There are ways, but none "simple" or without "strings attached".

One possible way would be grub4dos and a "Vista boot floppy" (BIOS only, it would need to be checked if "portable" to UEFI/GRUB2), another one could be to overwrite/exchange the BCD "on the fly" (not really recommended).

The alternative (limited to some versions of BOOTMGR, no idea if BOOTMGR.EFI can be similarly modified) is a "hacked" BOOTMGR, pointing to (say) BC1, BC2, etc (still an intermediate reloading via grub4ods or GRUB2 will be needed).

How many of such entries (entries requiring strictly to be in the \boot\BCD) do you actually have?

Can you list them? (maybe some of them can be booted differently)

 

:duff:

Wonko 



#3 Uneitohr

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Posted 05 September 2016 - 04:56 PM

My BCD has Grub4DOS (via boot.ini), Windows OS installed on USB, Plop, and some WIM Images.

These WinPE images are for instance MDT Boot Image, Diskpart Script Image, Utilman Image, etc. I've automated them and have many now.



#4 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 06 September 2016 - 07:50 AM

Well, all WinpE/WIM images - generally speaking - can be taken "out" of the "main" BCD and booted alternatively through grub4dos (or GRUB2), and wimboot making use of an alternate BOOTMGR and \boot\BCD (again as long as we are within BIOS).

See the seemingly unrelated thread here:
http://reboot.pro/to...npe-with-grub2/

 

:duff:

Wonko



#5 Uneitohr

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Posted 06 September 2016 - 04:34 PM

Thanks for the suggestion(s) Wonko. I'll probably go with Vista boot floppy method as I find it the easiest and more native.

I've read about the alternate BOOTMGR and BCD path but I find it hard to manipulate and use.



#6 Uneitohr

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Posted 06 September 2016 - 06:28 PM

Also, Is there anyway I could get the 300Kb version of boot.sdi?

The link in this thread is dead http://www.msfn.org/...bootsdi/?page=1



#7 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 06 September 2016 - 06:50 PM

Well, using Wimboot most of the pain is taken away by that nice loader.

 

The smallest boot.sdi can be found here:
https://github.com/jschicht/Tiny_NTFS

 

:duff:

Wonko



#8 Uneitohr

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Posted 07 September 2016 - 08:58 AM

Thanks for the link, been looking for that one for a while.

How would Wimboot work? Are we talking about a bootloader or a wim file compressed to hold an entore OS and boot from it?



#9 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 07 September 2016 - 10:45 AM

Thanks for the link, been looking for that one for a while.

How would Wimboot work? Are we talking about a bootloader or a wim file compressed to hold an entore OS and boot from it?

Why don't you just READ the provided resource :unsure::

 

 

See the seemingly unrelated thread here:
http://reboot.pro/to...npe-with-grub2/

 

it's all there, particularly starting from:
http://reboot.pro/to...b2/#entry199211

 

Wimboot is a loader devised to boot wim files (for iPXE/network booting):
http://ipxe.org/wimboot

 

but that can be also used locally (chainloaded by grub4dos or GRUB2 since it is essentially a linux kernel), providing some flexibility as it allows to use the boot.sdi and bootmgr and BCD inside the .wim but also to specify custom ones.

See also:
http://reboot.pro/to...imboot-support/

 

:duff:

Wonko






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