jaclaz Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 There should be no problems in adding the entries for Windows 7 to the BCD store it is just a sequence of BCDEDIT commands, *like* here:http://diddy.boot-land.net/bcdedit/files/examples1.htm#vista/7(in your case you would not use the /store parameter as - from your 8.1 the BCD would be automatically selected, i.e. the <EFISys partition>\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD - but of course before doing any attempt you need to backup the BCD "as is" AND have a tested, alternative way to boot the system - an instal CD/DVD would do nicely) The potential issue (for which I do not have a definite answer ) is about drive letter assignment, since the BCD stores a drive letter I don't know if this is "carried" over to the booted OS or not. Forget for the moment the first and last Windows 7 installs. The two middle ones get respectively:In Windows 8.1 E: (_A647s) and G:(_V647s)In Windows 7 D: (_A647s) and E:(_V647s) Nothing should prevent you from manually assigning (in the two 8.1 installs) the D: letter to the _A647s and the E: drive letter to the _V647s (you will need to assign another drive letter to the _X647s). Then you can run (from the Windows 8.1) the BCDEDIT:bcdedit.exebcdedit.exe /store /create /application osloader Running the above command will return a Globally Unique IDentifier (GUID) value - e.g. {e05b4c23-618a-11df-89c6-001d925a73cf}. In all subsequent commands replace {guid} with this value -bcdedit.exe /set {guid} device partition=D:bcdedit.exe /set {guid} path \Windows\system32\winload.exebcdedit.exe /set {guid} osdevice partition=D:bcdedit.exe /set {guid} systemroot \Windowsbcdedit.exe /set {guid} description "Windows 7 _A647s"bcdedit.exe /displayorder {guid} /addlast In theory this should add an entry "Windows 7 _A647s" to the Windows 8.1 boot menu and at next boot you should be able to boot to the second windows 7 install.It is possible that another couple BCDEDIT commands could be necessary, *like*: If this works, you can repeat the same replacing the drive letter with E: and the string with "Windows 7 _V647s".What I don't have an idea is what will happen with the two other installs that have a conflicting drive letter. Once you have the backup and a verified alternative way of booting, you can also try running bootrec /rebuildbcd See:http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixtheproblem/ht/rebuild-bcd-store-windows.htm But cannot say if it could automagically add the Windows 7's (but you would anyway need to rename the entries). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dundertaker Posted March 9, 2016 Author Share Posted March 9, 2016 (edited) Back here for the continuation of my issues. Thanks for all the support. Unplugged the Windows 7 partition and the storage drive for backups. Formatted the former Win8.1 hard disk and started from scratch this time using with partition scheme -- MBR partition scheme for BIOS or UEFI-CSM instead of "GPT partition for UEFI computers". This is done to check if there will be no issues with the Windows 7 hard disk which is MBR in nature. Did a clean install with only one hard disk plugged-in. As mentioned, erased the hard disk(1TB) using Minitool boot disk and left it as unallocated. Installed Win 8.1 via the Rufus created usb (with partition scheme -- MBR partition scheme for BIOS or UEFI-CSM). Booted the Minitool boot disk to shrink the main partition(first) and create an "unallocated" space for the second partition. The second partition I formatted with the same Rufus usb. (BIOS set to boot to Rufus usb). Formating went fine and fast (just as the first partition). When both partitions are booting fine and after I have installed all "initial" programs I use(including security suites), I re-created 3 more partitions for file/data storage/internal backups. Recovered the data for those storage partitions via ATI 2014. Please see the images attached of the Minitool Partition Wizard image and of the Disk Management of the default Win 8.1 partition. Please see also the diskpart>list volume image of the default Win 8.1 partition (W811) versus the second Win8.1 partition (W812). There is a slight difference there. In the default Win 8.1 partition (W811) Volume 5 ST1TQY_A is marked as (G:) while on the second Win8.1 partition it is marked (D:). Is that normal or we need to correct this before I plug-in the Windows 7 hard disk..? How may we correct this if needed..? What maybe the necessary things that I need to do/check and backup prior doing so..? Will wait for your replies Thanks Edited March 9, 2016 by Dundertaker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaclaz Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 Well, no. You did not address the main issue, which is the letters used by the Windows 7 systems conflicting with the ones that Windows 8 assigns by default at install time. Re-installing in MBR-CMS mode will maybe solve the issues with the EasyBCD you use, and possibly will allow some other tricks, see below, but not what should be (IMHO) the right way to have a system configured.The real issue is the conflict in drive letter assignment. Now that everything is MBR-CSM, you could install grub4dos and freely chainload the Windows 7 boot manager, and/or hide other partitions when booting, but though it will probably work nicely it remains a non optimal setting. You must understand that the drive letter assigned inside the OS to the "system" volume (what the good MS guys call - backwards - "boot" ) is almost like "carved in stone", it cannot be changed after install. You have already "taken" in the two installs of Windows 8.1 the drive letter C:(assigned to volume 3 when booting W811 and to volume 4 when booting W812) so you will have a conflict with _X647 that will get anyway a different drive letter (instead of it's own C:), as said this is usually not a good idea, as you have already noticed on just the new partitioning, most of the volumes get different drive letters when you boot the one or the other Windows 8.1 installs Volume 3 C: or E:Volume 4 D: or C:Volume 5 G: or D: What happened.You installed your first Windows 8.1.When setup started it detected an unpartitioned device and proceeded to automagically create a 350 mb "reserved" partition (that you don't really-really want) and a huge NTFS partition with the rest of the disk.Then Windows was installed having PERMANENTLY set that first partition as drive letter C:.Then you shrinked that partition and installed the second Windows 8.1.When setup started for the second install it automagically assigned to "itself", again the drive letter C:, and this is PERMANENT.You have already created a PERMANENT conflict between the two new installs. Mind you there are two theories on "proper" drive letter assignment, "mine" (which is the right one BTW ) that says that no matter which OS you boot ALL volumes must appear with the SAME drive letter and the "other" one (wrong but still having some merit) of having the "system" partition being always C: (this makes things easier, as an example, with programs that insist on installing on C:\ ). From the way you had partitioned/installed your Windows 7 systems it seems like you used "my" approach, i.e. first partition (primary) on that disk (that is now second) is always C:, second (logical volume) is always D:, third (logical volume) is always E:, fourth (logical volume) is always F:, my guess is that you want to maintain the same approach. If this is the case, what you should do would be to:connect the "old" disk as "first disk" boot the Windows 7 _X647 delete all partitions on the new 1 Tb disk create a new partition (primary, NTFS) on it sized 80 Gb <- this will become your new W811 <- it will probably be drive letter G: create a new partition (primary, NTFS) on it sized 80 Gb <- this will become your new W812 <- it will probably be drive letter H: boot from the stick and BEFORE running the setup/install [*] CHECK which letter the WinPE has assigned to the four partitions on the old disk (they need to be C:, D:, E:, F: but they likely won't be those) AND CHECK which drive letter has the W811 partition, it needs to be G: but likely it would be D: ), change drive letter assignment in DSKPART so that they are what they should be. test that the installed W811 boots and gets drive letter G: if everything is OK, repeat for the W812 install, checking that the C:, D:, E:, F: and G: are properly assigned and that the W812 gets drive letter H: Please note that at this point the BOOTMGR and \boot\BCD that actually boots all the OS's (two win8.1's and four win7's) wll be on first partition on first disk (the _X647), the net effect being that should you remove the first disk neither of the Windows 8.1's will be able boot anymore, but if you succeed till here we will later see how to make this second (new, 1 Tb) disk capable of booting the Windows 8.1's by itself. jaclaz [*] this means that when you are prompted to either install or repair, etc. you should press SHIFT+F10, which will open a command prompt form which you can run DISKPART Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dundertaker Posted March 9, 2016 Author Share Posted March 9, 2016 Thanks for your reply.Re-installing in MBR-CMS mode will maybe solve the issues with the EasyBCD you use, and possibly will allow some other tricks, see below, but not what should be (IMHO) the right way to have a system configured.The real issue is the conflict in drive letter assignment.Now that everything is MBR-CSM, you could install grub4dos and freely chainload the Windows 7 boot manager, and/or hide other partitions when booting, but though it will probably work nicely it remains a non optimal setting.You must understand that the drive letter assigned inside the OS to the "system" volume (what the good MS guys call - backwards - "boot" ) is almost like "carved in stone", it cannot be changed after install.-- I have not yet installed EasyBCD on Win8.1 yet and not keen on installing it. EasyBCD is on all the Win 7 partitions and will not attempt to add the W811 and W812 in it until you have replied. I stopped after the Re-installing in MBR-CMS mode.What happened.You installed your first Windows 8.1.When setup started it detected an unpartitioned device and proceeded to automagically create a 350 mb "reserved" partition (that you don't really-really want) and a huge NTFS partition with the rest of the disk.Then Windows was installed having PERMANENTLY set that first partition as drive letter C:.Then you shrinked that partition and installed the second Windows 8.1.When setup started for the second install it automatically assigned to "itself", again the drive letter C:, and this is PERMANENT.You have already created a PERMANENT conflict between the two new installs.....-- Yes that is correct there. I thought that the 350mb reserved partition was a must. I did read something about it somewhere that if a disk was unallocated it will create the 350mb reserved partition. I have understood it wrong.If I have formatted the W812 via the ISO in desktop>sources folder>setup would Windows "still" ..automatically assigned to "itself", again the drive letter C...?From the way you had partitioned/installed your Windows 7 systems it seems like you used "my" approach, i.e. first partition (primary) on that disk (that is now second) is always C:, second (logical volume) is always D:, third (logical volume) is always E:, fourth (logical volume) is always F:, my guess is that you want to maintain the same approach. -- That was what I wanted. It was a long time since I have formatted a disk. I even forgot I how I removed the System reserve there so that any of the Win 7 partitions are able to boot independently. I tried that and they do boot independently.I also want that in the Win8.1 partitions, that they have the capability to boot independently.If this is the case, what you should do would be to: connect the "old" disk as "first disk" boot the Windows 7 _X647 delete all partitions on the new 1 Tb disk create a new partition (primary, NTFS) on it sized 80 Gb <- this will become your new W811 <- it will probably be drive letter G: create a new partition (primary, NTFS) on it sized 80 Gb <- this will become your new W812 <- it will probably be drive letter H: boot from the stick and BEFORE running the setup/install [*] CHECK which letter the WinPE has assigned to the four partitions on the old disk (they need to be C:, D:, E:, F: but they likely won't be those) AND CHECK which drive letter has the W811 partition, it needs to be G: but likely it would be D: ), change drive letter assignment in DSKPART so that they are what they should be. test that the installed W811 boots and gets drive letter G: if everything is OK, repeat for the W812 install, checking that the C:, D:, E:, F: and G: are properly assigned and that the W812 gets drive letter H:-- Will take note of that and prepare for it. Will Re-installing in MBR-CMS mode suffice..? Or will we go back to GPT? Doing that re-installing again, will the Win 7 partitions not be affected? I mean loose it's capability to boot independently..?Please note that at this point the BOOTMGR and \boot\BCD that actually boots all the OS's (two win8.1's and four win7's) will be on first partition on first disk (the _X647), the net effect being that should you remove the first disk neither of the Windows 8.1's will be able boot anymore, but if you succeed till here we will later see how to make this second (new, 1 Tb) disk capable of booting the Windows 8.1's by itself.-- Okay that is ultimately also what I want to make all partitions boot independently. Incidentally I erased the 4th Win7 partition as it was used for trial software only t is vacant now.Thanks for the time you spend helping me out. Really appreciate the help here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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