OK, so I'm doing some tests in a VMware Workstation VM, and I would like to chainload BCVE's bootloader with G4D. I had tried encrypting Windows 10 with BCVE in VirtualBox, but 10 kept complaining that it couldn't find the boot volume. My setup is legacy BIOS on MBR. I had tried with a single NTFS partition as the C drive, containing Windows as well as boot files. And with a System Reserved volume containing boot files, and a separate partition for Windows. With VMware there is no issue booting while encrypted with BCVE.
Getting on with it, I've been toying around with G4D a bit lately, and it is a bit daunting because I am not familiar with maintaining its' menu.lst config file. I have already been successful in creating entries that can boot Debian and Gentoo (not in a VM).
My method of installing G4D is:
1. Download http://dl.grub4dos.c...a-2017-12-23.7z, I am going with this because I think I remember the Easy2Boot dev stating that it is most stable version of G4D so far
2. Extract file contents into an unencrypted NTFS partition
3. Install G4D MBR by using the "Restore" MBR feature of BootIce, restored file is grldr.mbr, target disk is the same (only one) disk that 10 is installed to
4. Add a entry to menu.lst that chainloads 10's bootmgr, ensure that it boots
But now I would like to throw BCVE into the mix. Chainloading bootmgr directly is no longer an option, since it is located in an encrypted volume. If I first install G4D and then encrypt with BCVE, it appears that BCVE relocates G4D to some area of the disk, probably outside a partition, or embedded somewhere in the C drive. BCVE loads first and then hands off to G4D after the correct password is typed. It may also be relocating it to the 1MB unallocated space at the end of the disk, even though this space isn't shown in GParted when partitioning, I am sure that it is there because the ending sector of the last partition isn't the same as the ending sector of the actual disk. This isn't the desired behavior, I want G4D to be the first bootloader to load, so it needs to be in the MBR.
I think the best way to accomplish this is to:
1. Install and encrypt with BCVE, while first only having original Windows 10 boot code in the MBR
2. Make a copy of the BCVE MBR with BootIce.
3. Reinstall original Windows 10 MBR boot code by running the 'bootrec /fixmbr' command from a 10 setup ISO
4. Install G4D by following steps 1-4 above
5. Create a menu.lst entry that chainloads the BCVE MBR file
This attempt has failed, every time I try to chainload this MBR nothing happens, G4D goes to boot the entry and then hangs on a "_" cursor, no error is given.
I also know that BCVE has an option to move the encrypted volume's key to either external storage or an ISO, but this seems overly complex in contrast to just chainloading an MBR image.
Thanks for any help!