[Q:] Is it possible to refer to BCD without drive letter?

Discussion in 'Windows 8' started by moderate, Oct 10, 2014.

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  1. moderate

    moderate MDL Guru

    Aug 31, 2009
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    #1 moderate, Oct 10, 2014
    Last edited: Oct 10, 2014
    Hello,

    I need to add to BCD 2nd entry to 2nd OS on the disk D:\ (extracted install.wim).
    But BCD is on the separate 100MB hidden partitition and it is not possible to assign drive letter to it (Windows RT).

    Is it possible to do same effect like this below, but without referring to drive letter (instead C: below)?

    bcdboot D:\Windows /s C:

    Is it safe to avoid /s parameter entirely?
     
  2. abbodi1406

    abbodi1406 MDL KB0000001

    Feb 19, 2011
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    #2 abbodi1406, Oct 10, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 20, 2017
    bcdboot D:\Windows will do the job

    or you may go the long way:
    Code:
    bcdedit /copy {current} /d "Windows on drive D"
    then change "device partition" and "osdevice" to D:
     
  3. HALIKUS

    HALIKUS MDL Addicted

    Jul 29, 2009
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    #3 HALIKUS, Oct 10, 2014
    This is maybe obvious, but when using bcd edit, if you use bcdedit /store and then the location of your offline BCD, it will edit that. If you don't use the /store switch, it automatically adds to the BCD you booted with, usually the main BCD on the hidden partition.

    Also, if you want to edit the hidden BCD partition to do something like replace EFI\microsoft\boot\bootmgfw.efi with rEFInd, use the command :

    mountvol z: /s (The S switch assigns drive letter to the hidden partition.)
    mountvol z: /d (Hides partition, unmounts partition, and removes drive letter)
     
  4. moderate

    moderate MDL Guru

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    #4 moderate, Oct 10, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 20, 2017
    (OP)
    "Long way" will probably not work, since C:\Windows is RT v8-1 and D:\Windows is RT v8-0. There is UEFI Secure Boot and each system is signed by different certificate, so boot entry probably can't be just doubled.
     
  5. moderate

    moderate MDL Guru

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    #5 moderate, Oct 11, 2014
    Last edited: Oct 11, 2014
    (OP)
    I forgot to convert drive D: to GPT (I think with Secure Boot active, it is a must.), so I have to repeat the whole procedure again. *<:)
     
  6. bracki

    bracki MDL Novice

    Oct 11, 2014
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    #6 bracki, Oct 11, 2014
    thank you very much
     
  7. moderate

    moderate MDL Guru

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    #7 moderate, Oct 12, 2014 (OP)
    Another thing was, that ARM system supports booting from USB stick only, if it is FAT32, so I had to repeat the whole procedure once again. *<:)