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SANBOOT Windows on UEFI system?


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#26 erwan.l

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Posted 16 May 2019 - 08:41 PM

test #3 was a failure : my "diskpart fu" is worn out and i failed miserably ...

 

going for test #4 with a different iscsi target to rule out issue there.



#27 erwan.l

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Posted 16 May 2019 - 08:42 PM

With you and i giving it a go thru multiple angles, we will get that sucker !

 

Pardon "my french" :)

 

I am happy/lucky to have a quick hardware here as install win10 is a matter of minutes on that lenovo.



#28 misty

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Posted 16 May 2019 - 08:49 PM

...I cannot reproduce the error I previously had with the boot hanging at the splash screen....


...going for test #4 with a different iscsi target to rule out issue there....


I was previously using MS iSCSI Target 3.3 as my iSCSI Target. The boot hanging at the splash screen may be down to that.

Let's see how your Starwind fares.

BTW, I'm off to bed. It's been a long day and I have another early start tomorrow. And that bloody assignment is not going to write itself.

Night night. And good luck.

Misty

#29 erwan.l

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Posted 16 May 2019 - 08:56 PM

test 4# : Success ! :)

 

Using starwind.

 

"preparing devices..."


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#30 antonino61

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Posted 16 May 2019 - 09:08 PM

@misty,

thanks for your prompt answer. I have tried to peruse what u suggested I do thru the link u have provided, but all I was able to make use of (thru the meanders of the conversation and debate) was ... the read-between-the-lines suggestion to do without all the ar-sa, it-it etc. language subdirectories in the various inside and outside boot folders, whose deletion apparently resulted in saving some space and time in rebooting the system. My system here is wimboot (bios+mbr). I also have it on an asus transformer t100 tablet pc  which is uefi+gpt and I think it does support csm, if u consider that I am able to see the initial bootmenu (bootloader and vhd options). I sorta can get hold of the boot process thru bootice. is there any setting that I can use to try ramloading there as well as I do on my usual mbr system, which I am typing from?

nino



#31 erwan.l

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Posted 16 May 2019 - 09:36 PM

efi only, csm off, ipxe + sanboot/iscsi + win 10 + starwind

 

mBCzvHs.png


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#32 antonino61

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Posted 16 May 2019 - 11:04 PM

@erwan

efi only, csm off, ipxe + sanboot/iscsi + win 10 + starwind:

is this what I am supposed to do?

nino



#33 misty

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Posted 17 May 2019 - 06:44 AM

test 4# : Success ! :)

Using starwind.

"preparing devices..."

Well done Erwan. Looks like not all SAN Targets are equal. I had incorrectly assumed that as the SAN Target disk was accessible then it was a Windows setup issue.

As you appear to be in the mood for testing :whistling: Now that you have a working setup are you able to check whether setup completes if the SAN Target disk is manually partitioned + install.wim applied manually + bcdboot used to create boot files?

I'll have to look into obtaining a Starwind again.

_________________________________________
 

...I have tried to peruse what u suggested I do thru the link u have provided, but all I was able to make use of (thru the meanders of the conversation and debate)...

The topic I linked to is about installing Grub4dos code to a GPT disk so that a dual boot type setup can be achieved. UEFI only mode - UEFI boot loader is executed. Change Firmware settings enable CSM and boot in Legacy mode and Grub4Dos is executed. It's probably not what you were looking for, but may give you some ideas.
 

...My system here is wimboot (bios+mbr)....

The iPXE wimboot? Or the Windows wimboot using wof(adk).sys? Or something else - e.g. booting a WinPE/WinRE .wim file
 

...asus transformer t100 tablet pc which is uefi+gpt and I think it does support csm, if u consider that I am able to see the initial bootmenu (bootloader and vhd options)....

If you are referring to a Windows boot menu (displaying the contents of a BCD store) being displayed, then you will see an initial bootmenu whether you are booting in UEFI or Legacy/BIOS mode.

If I'm honest, it may not be possible to do what you want at the moment, however I'm still not sure what you are trying to achieve as a lot of guesswork is currently involved. More information would be useful. Unless Wonko is willing to use the crystal/glass ball he often refers to :whistling:

:cheers:

Misty

#34 erwan.l

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Posted 17 May 2019 - 07:29 AM

@erwan

efi only, csm off, ipxe + sanboot/iscsi + win 10 + starwind:

is this what I am supposed to do?

nino

 

Hi Nino,

 

I would say no.

This is only one setup I was willing to test to jump onto Misty experience.

 

MBR is clearly easier if you can afford it.

And if UEFI is a must have for you, you could leave CSM on or go for a UEFI/BIOS mixed setup as well.

 

Same goes for the net boot loader : there are several other solutions outthere (grub, etc).

 

Regards,

Erwan



#35 erwan.l

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Posted 17 May 2019 - 07:31 AM

Well done Erwan. Looks like not all SAN Targets are equal. I had incorrectly assumed that as the SAN Target disk was accessible then it was a Windows setup issue.

As you appear to be in the mood for testing :whistling: Now that you have a working setup are you able to check whether setup completes if the SAN Target disk is manually partitioned + install.wim applied manually + bcdboot used to create boot files?

I'll have to look into obtaining a Starwind again.
 

 

Hi Misty,

 

As I failed on diskpart in my test#3, would you be able to provide me your diskpart "script" ?

 

Regards,

Erwan



#36 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 17 May 2019 - 07:48 AM

@erwan

efi only, csm off, ipxe + sanboot/iscsi + win 10 + starwind:

is this what I am supposed to do?

nino

NO, that is what erwan.l is experimenting, about the issue that Misty started this topic about.

 

Title: SANBOOT Windows on UEFI system?

 

Why INSTEAD of insisting of initiating here a conversation on your questions that are TOTALLY UNRELATED to this topic you don't start a NEW topic aptly titled to ask your questions (and hopefully have some meaningful answers)? :dubbio:

 

If you prefer:

 


sorry to butt in probably inappropriately, but as I saw UEFI somewhere here, I was just wondering could I ask any of u whether rambooting in uefi+gpt environment is possible or not and, if it is, how would I do so.
nino

 

Yes, it is definitely inappropriate :w00t: , but it's ok :) (once) if you insist on it, it may soon become a form of nuisance :ph34r:

 

:duff:

Wonko



#37 antonino61

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Posted 17 May 2019 - 08:29 AM

@misty

hahahha, crystal glass ball, I find it hilarious.

back to us, in both systems I have merged wof*.reg.

now I will try to start a new topic, hoping I will be able to.

sorry again.



#38 misty

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Posted 17 May 2019 - 08:59 AM

@Erwa
Apologies in advance for a brief response
My diskpart script (edit to change target disk number and mount points - and the clean command may not be required) -
select disk 2
clean
convert gpt
create part efi size=64
format fs=FAT label=EFI quick
assign letter=R
create part MSR size=64
create part pri 
format fs=NTFS label=WINDOWS quick
assign letter=S
Misty

P.s. I have obtained StarWind SAN Free (v8) and licence. Now I need some time to play.

#39 misty

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Posted 17 May 2019 - 09:00 AM

@misty
hahahha, crystal glass ball, I find it hilarious.
back to us, in both systems I have merged wof*.reg.
now I will try to start a new topic, hoping I will be able to.
sorry again.

No worries. When I get some time (tomorrow) I can split posts from this discussion. I have minor moderator privileges.

#40 wimb

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Posted 17 May 2019 - 09:55 AM

Instead of

create part efi size=64

format fs=FAT label=EFI quick

 

I think the FileSystem should be FAT32 for EFI partition and MSR size=16 and EFI size=300

 

Info: https://docs.microso...rive-partitions

 

This is what I use for UEFI GPT partitioning

rem ==
rem == CreaPartGPT-SSD-Disk0.txt ==
rem ==
rem == These commands are used in Win10PE with DiskPart to create 3 GPT partitions
rem == for Install of Win10 on a UEFI/GPT-based computer SSD harddisk
rem == In DiskPart use list disk to find disk number and adjust partition sizes and label as necessary.
rem ==
list disk
select disk 0
clean
convert gpt
rem == 1. EFI Boot partition FAT32 300 MB ==========================
create partition efi size=300
format quick fs=fat32 label="0_EFI"
assign
rem == 2. Microsoft Reserved (MSR) partition =======
create partition msr size=16
rem == 3. Windows 10 partition NTFS ========================
create partition primary
format quick fs=ntfs label="0_W10"
assign
list volume
exit
rem ==
rem == Info https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/configure-uefigpt-based-hard-drive-partitions
rem == Info https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/configure-biosmbr-based-hard-drive-partitions
rem ==
rem == In admin command window use: DiskPart /s G:\DiskPart\CreaPartGPT-SSD-Disk0.txt
rem ==


#41 erwan.l

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Posted 17 May 2019 - 10:12 AM

@Wimb, nice ! 

Thank you.

 

Will definitely archive it on my side for other uses and will run this script later today when performing a new EFI/SANBOOT/ISCSI installation.

 

EDIT : just seen Misty previous post.

Will use his script first to stick to his environement for the purpose of this thread.

 

EDIT : will not be able to perform a new installation before later this evening as I paying a IRL visit to another reboot.pro member.

A first time for me :)



#42 erwan.l

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Posted 18 May 2019 - 12:28 PM

test #5 in progress :

 

-booted Winpe (ipxe/sanhook/wimboot)

-used diskpart script found here.

-currently applying install.esd

 

next

-run bcdboot

-reboot (ipxe/sanboot) and continue the install over iscsi

 

EDIT : not working so far.

After applying the esd file and rebooting i end up with "innaccessible boot device" (a windows message).

 

Sanboot registers the disk and I can see logs in starwind but it fails shortly after as if bootmgr was not happy with my disk and/or partitioning : i am pretty sure we are not partitioning correctly here (since it works fine when using the default windows setup).

 

In MBR mode, i would run bootsect but with UEFI i am not so sure? thoughts?

 

Also, while running bcdboot I was not too sure if I should use the 1st (EFI) part or the second system part as destination so I ran both : bcdboot s:\windows /s r: /f UEFI and bcdboot s:\windows /s r: /f UEFI



#43 misty

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Posted 18 May 2019 - 01:54 PM

EDIT : not working so far.
After applying the esd file and rebooting i end up with "innaccessible boot device".

Bugger :frusty:

 

Sanboot registers the disk and I can see logs in starwind but it fails shortly after as if sanboot was not happy with my disk and/or partitioning : i am pretty sure we are not partitioning correctly here (since it works fine when using the default windows setup).

Windows setup only partially works as none of the Windows versions I have tested have created an EFI system partition.

 

In MBR mode, i would run bootsect but with UEFI i am not so sure? thoughts?

I've not used it for years. And only for VBR, which it should still be able to modify on UEFI.
 

Also, while running bcdboot I was not too sure if I should use the 1st (EFI) part or the second system part as destination so I ran both : bcdboot s:\windows /s r: /f UEFI and bcdboot s:\windows /s r: /f UEFI

Both bcdboot commands are the same. I'm assuming one is a typo. Your command should work.

I really appreciate you trying. BTW, how did you IRL go last night?

Now on to my trials and tribulations.

I've had a very frustrating day. Getting Starwind 8 working has involved a lot of work as the GUI is only partially active in the FREE version and powershell scripts are required.

I got it working, but the second stage of Windows setup failed. I can't remember if I used setup or applied install.wim. I've done so many test over the past few days that I'm getting confused :frusty:

I tried Starwind 5. Installed Windows 8.1 Update. Stage 2 appeared to boot, however I couldn't see what was going on as the display was distorted - I'll try and upload a picture later to show you. Tried again with Windows 10 (1903) - same issue with the screen being distorted.

I've tried using Daemon Tools iSCSI Target. I couldn't run setup on the Target disk as it was mounted as a Removable disk!

Tried an older version of Kernsafe (v5.2). Same ntoskrnl.exe error.

Just tried SANDeploy Server. Stage 1 completed fine. Stage 2 result in error https://ipxe.org/err/7f222083

I will retry StarWind 5 using a different PC as client.

#44 erwan.l

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Posted 18 May 2019 - 02:11 PM

Not sure if it mattes but worth mentionning, I am using an old win10 image i.E 1703 from July 2017.

 

About bcdboot, yes dummy me i meant bcdboot s:\windows /s r: /f UEFI vs bcdboot s:\windows /s s: /f UEFI.

One part being the EFI (aka system) one, the other being the windows (aka basic_data) one.

I believe it should be the system one.

 

About

 

 

Sanboot registers the disk and I can see logs in starwind but it fails shortly after as if sanboot was not happy with my disk and/or partitioning : i am pretty sure we are not partitioning correctly here (since it works fine when using the default windows setup).

 

 

 

Windows setup only partially works as none of the Windows versions I have tested have created an EFI system partition.

 

You are right : sanboot is not the issue, this is the windows failing probably due to a wrong (manual) partition scheme.

 

Currently retrying (TEST #6) but this time using Wimb diskpart script (here).

 

I stick to starwind 5.0 free edition for now but i am pretty sure latest edition (starwind san free) is all fine.

Side note : I had contacted them to let them now that I was doing them as lots of good publicity (one example here) and would "enjoy" a complete version but failed to convince :)

 

My "IRL" meeting went nice and I had a nice and tasty belgium beer on a nice terasse with Noel as the kind of senior guys we are did comment on our IT world today vs yesterday :)



#45 erwan.l

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Posted 18 May 2019 - 02:23 PM

Summary so far

 

test #1 : using kernsafe default setup
file: \windows\syste32\ntoskrnl.exe
error code 0xc00000bb
 
test #2 : using kernsafe one unique part (thru the setup)
same issue
 
test#3 : retrying but this time creating the part myself before launching the setup.
diskpart fu too weak...dropped
 
test #4 : using starwind 5.0 default setup
success
 
test #5: using starwind 5.0 using Misty diskpart script
failed with windows message 'innaccesible device'
 
test #6: using starwind 5.0 using Wimb diskpart script
failed with sanboot not registering disk (0x7f22208e)
 
What we learned so far :
-win10 and ipxe/sanboot/iscsi is possible
-the iscsi target will make a difference
-partition scheme might be a sensitive matter and only the default windows setup will succeed so far

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#46 wimb

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Posted 18 May 2019 - 02:27 PM

What we learned so far :

-win10 and ipxe/sanboot/iscsi is possible
-the iscsi target will make a difference
-partition scheme is a sensitive matter and only the default windows setup will succeed so far

 

 

And what is exactly the partitioning scheme that is succesful ?



#47 misty

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Posted 18 May 2019 - 02:40 PM

-partition scheme is a sensitive matter and only the default windows setup will succeed so far

Is it the default setup partition scheme? Or is setup doing something else behind the scenes. Maybe configuring the NIC driver or Unbinding the Windows Filtering Platform (WFP) Lightweight Filter (LWF)?

#48 misty

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Posted 18 May 2019 - 02:46 PM

Not sure if it mattes but worth mentionning, I am using an old win10 image i.E 1703 from July 2017.

This is one of the issues with the Windows as a service model. There are too many bloody builds. I think we are now on the eighth RTM release of Windows 10. I have been testing Windows 8.1 throughout today. In my next tests I'll use the same 1703 build as you. Well probably not exactly the same, but the same build number.
 

You are right : sanboot is not the issue, this is the windows failing probably due to a wrong (manual) partition scheme.

Possibly. In my opinion the Microsoft recommendation can be ignored. MSR recommendation has changed depending on the windows version and EFI only really needs to hold the EFI boot files - around 25 MiB if created by bcdboot on my system.
 

Currently retrying (TEST #6) but this time using Wimb diskpart script (here).

Won't hurt to try - other than the lost time.
 

I stick to starwind 5.0 free edition for now but i am pretty sure latest edition (starwind san free) is all fine.
Side note : I had contacted them to let them now that I was doing them as lots of good publicity (one example here) and would "enjoy" a complete version but failed to convince :)

If you don't ask, you don't get. Shame it didn't work.
 

My "IRL" meeting went nice and I had a nice and tasty belgium beer on a nice terasse with Noel as the kind of senior guys we are did comment on our IT world today vs yesterday :)

I hope the senior comment is not about age and is about time in the field. I believe that you and I are around the same age Erwan.

Glad you enjoyed the IRL visit and the beer. I do love a nice belgium beer.

:cheers:

Misty

P.s. Using a different PC (a Thinkpad T440) with Starwind 5.2 resulted in the same distorted display. I'm out of ideas and very tired, so I will be taking a break for now.

#49 misty

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Posted 18 May 2019 - 02:48 PM

@Erwan
What are you doing to resolve the missing EFI partition following stage 1 of Windows setup? I've been booting into WinPE and selecting and shrinking the target disk > create and formatting EFI partition in the newly created space > running bcdboot.

Are you following a similar process?

#50 erwan.l

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Posted 18 May 2019 - 03:21 PM

@Erwan
What are you doing to resolve the missing EFI partition following stage 1 of Windows setup? I've been booting into WinPE and selecting and shrinking the target disk > create and formatting EFI partition in the newly created space > running bcdboot.

Are you following a similar process?

 

I believe this is where our process goes wrong when we go the manual route.

I am currently redoing a default installation and will carefully look at how partitions are created in order to redo it manually as close as possible as the original partitioning.






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