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UEFI and BIOS Bootloader on USB

bootloader grub2 windows uefi bios diagnostic usb

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#1 Oriphen

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Posted 09 December 2013 - 01:20 AM

I work for a small business repairing all manner of PC's and Mac's, laptops and desktops etc.

 

I use GRUB legacy bootloader which pretty much works on anything I deal with for testing hardware.

Memtest, Seatools, etc.

 

Obviously due to the fact that Windows 8 machines being released; the UEFI firmware is now on just about every new PC.

 

It's not a big problem for some with switchable legacy BIOS settings, however:

 

Occasionally there's always that one that's permanently stuck in UEFI; normally InsydeH20 branded machines.

 

My objective, since I don't have a lot of time to use searching for the answer manually, is to create a single bootable USB flash drive with diagnostic tools for both BIOS and UEFI platforms.

 

I've gotten GRUB's config language down but apparently GRUB2 for UEFI is much different and there's no easy way to implement it via Windows.

 

Another question is if I learnt GRUB2 is it still compatible with BIOS?

 

As you may be able to tell I don't have the time to do this for myself, so if someone has some significant answers to save me time that would be great.

 

I repair 20-30 computers a week and every single one absolutely, hands-down needs there memory and hard drive tested.

Having UEFI machines come in throws a spanner in the works so I need to get my protocol up to date with a UEFI bootloader.

 

I'd like just a single Flash drive so if booting to legacy BIOS is impossible with UEFI bootloaders I'm happy with having 2 drives.\

 

Thanks in advance. 

 

 

 



#2 Agent47

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Posted 09 December 2013 - 10:20 AM

Hi
 
What are the diagnostic tools you regularly use ?. None of the DOS based boot disks like Memtest86+ , Seagate Seatools etc won't boot from UEFI if legacy support is disabled. Currently i use Win8x64 based boot disk which can boot fine on both legacy BIOS and UEFI/Secureboot. From the PE, i can run HDtunePro , Passmark Diskcheckup etc to test the hard drive.  



#3 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 09 December 2013 - 10:38 AM

 

I've gotten GRUB's config language down but apparently GRUB2 for UEFI is much different and there's no easy way to implement it via Windows.

 

Another question is if I learnt GRUB2 is it still compatible with BIOS?

See if this fits:

http://reboot.pro/to...17453-grub2win/

http://sourceforge.n...jects/grub2win/

 

And yes, GRUB2 is compatible with both BIOS and UEFI, but in a "MS centric" kind of setup it would make sense to use grub4dos for anything BIOS based (as it has currently a much wider set of options/possibilities) and GRUB2 only for the EFI/UEFI machines.

 

Check also this:

http://reboot.pro/to...-grub-or-grub2/

 

:cheers:

Wonko



#4 wimb

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Posted 09 December 2013 - 01:49 PM

UFD_FORMAT and UEFI_MULTI can help - More Info here

 

http://reboot.pro/to...boot-usb-drive/

http://reboot.pro/to...140-ufd-format/

 
Extra:
 
Section 6. - UEFI Secure Boot - Multi-Boot of Fedora-18 + Windows 8 from USB-harddisk
 
Windows 8 file EFI\Boot\bootx64.efi is renamed as 8bootx64.efi  and then Grub2 EFI Boot Manager of Fedora-18 is used
 
via Fedora-18 Secure Boot files efi\boot\BOOTX64.efi and efi\boot\grubx64.efi
 
Preferred is to use Portable USB-Harddisk with Win8 x64 Pro VHD and PStart folder with Portable Apps on NTFS System Drive (2nd primary partition)
and all other Boot files (Boot + EFI + LiveOS + images + sources folders and Grub4dos files) on FAT32 Boot Drive (1st active primary partition)
UEFI Secure Multi-Boot of Win8x64 Pro 20 GB VHD + Fedora-18 + Win8x64 Recovery sources\boot.wim is working.
Portable App UEFI_MULTI.exe is used to make such configuration.
 
:cheers:






Also tagged with one or more of these keywords: bootloader, grub2, windows, uefi, bios, diagnostic, usb

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