ZOTAC WinUSB Maker - Official Support Thread

Discussion in 'MDL Projects and Applications' started by Josh Cell, Aug 12, 2013.

  1. tedascuen

    tedascuen MDL Novice

    Aug 26, 2009
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    Thank you very much.

    I used RC 4 with my sandisk cruzer blade 32gb and windows 8.1 in spanish language and all is ok now.

    You are the best :worthy::worthy::worthy:
     
  2. BugsB

    BugsB MDL Junior Member

    Apr 30, 2009
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    RC4 formats NTFS not FAT32 = not UEFI, GPT compatible anymore

    Dear Josh,

    thank you very much for this awesome, amazing tool, which is ALMOST perfect, and for providing it for free here!

    I do need to report one bug however, which I think is a rather huge bug.

    I'm in Windows 8 x86 and ran your tool latest version RC4, dragging my already FAT32 formatted USB flash drive drive letter into it.

    Next I drag the folder Win7-64SP1 into it. Correctly detected: Windows NT 6.x; click onto the button "Make USB Bootable", confirm, and the action starts.

    However, afterwards my USB flash is formatted NFTS, NOT FAT32 .. and is needless to say NOT bootable on a UEFI computer with BIOS in UEFI boot mode. On the same computer is is bootable in CSM mode, but needless to say the Windows 7 installer complains that it cannot install onto a GPT disk ..

    This beets the purpose of your tool. Windows 7 x64 is very well capable of being installed on a UEFI computer w/ GPT HDD, as long as the installer volume is either FAT32 or UDF.

    So please would you look into this bug. I don't have time right now to test this in my Win8.1 64 on my other computer, but I dare say that it needs to be possible to create a UEFI/ GPT compatible FAT32 install volume even when running your tool in a x86 Windows ..

    Thank you, and looking very much forward to your reply,
    Bugs

    PS: for now I'll just burn to DVD because I must roll on

    UPDATE: I used Rufus latest version 1.3.4, also in Win8 32bit, with default hybrid setting MBR/ FAT32/ UEFI. The resulting USB Flash Drive booted just fine on a Toshiba UEFI Laptop in UEFI (non-CSM) mode w/ a GPT HDD (and also boots just fine in CSM mode) ..

    so Josh, please look at the code for Zotac again - basically it should NEVER create a NTFS formatted volume because ONLY FAT32 volumes are compatible with both worlds, BIOS and UEFI ..
     
  3. Josh Cell

    Josh Cell MDL Developer

    Jan 8, 2011
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    Hi. The UEFI Compatibility Mode is only compatible with Windows 8 and 8.1 x64 by cross compatibility issues.

    The main problem is something about the poor support of Windows 7 x64 to UEFI in USB devices. The most problem is because the bootx64.efi file is not signed under the media, and many computers will not work with that.

    To prevent these problems, we have disabled the Windows 7 support inside the UEFI Compatibility Mode. We have no secure way to turn it working.
     
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  4. Mr.X

    Mr.X MDL Guru

    Jul 14, 2013
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    @Josh Cell:
    I suggest you should highlight this at the OP to avoid confusion.
     
  5. BugsB

    BugsB MDL Junior Member

    Apr 30, 2009
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    Why then DOES the Win7 SP1 64bit DVD install to A LOT UEFI based PCs w/ GPT HDDs??

    Josh I am sorry but I strongly disagree. Actually your very own choice of words points to that both your conclusion AND the limitation you impose w/o any choice for the user are wrong: you correctly write "many", vs. "most" .. I have myself successfully installed Win7 SP1 64 from both, FAT32 USB media and DVD (UDF FS) onto GPT HDDs in UEFI based boards .. I am convinced that still the most recent Win7 SP1 64 ISOs are installing just fine onto most of the UEFI systems out there. Why else would MS have integrated .efi into the boot images??

    Naturally more and more newer boards and UEFI BIOSes which were crafted for Win8.x will not be fully Win7 compatible, but in general I call it a questionable decision to completely rid ANY user of ANY software of existing choices; in this case any Win7 SP1 64bit ISO if burnt to DVD WILL at least start to boot on a UEFI system in UEFI boot mode, and might or might not stall when the Win7 boot.wim does not contain all necessary drivers.

    The Win8.x bootx64.efi file is not signed under the media, either, and I have yet to encounter a UEFI based computer that will not boot from a FAT32 install media because of a signature problem .. Secure boot should be toggled off in UEFI BIOS for Winstall boot regardless of Win7 or Win8, so bootx64.efi does not serve as justification here.

    So to get back to being productive and constructive, here's my request to get things back onto the optimal rail for broadest coverage rather than cutting functionality:

    when a Win7 64bit source is dragged into Zotac, an alert window pops up:

    "Please note that the Windows 7 installer might get stuck on some UEFI based computers, esp. those designed for Windows 8, when booted in UEFI mode. In such cases toggle to CSM in BIOS, boot the Windows 7 installer again, and install to a MBR formatted HDD".

    Right there in that alert will also be a great spot to point users to this issue by sharing your knowledge, keeping them from groping in the dark (provided that alert is remembered).

    Needless to say the base FS would be FAT32, as it is for Win8 64bit..

    For the time being and so that words match reality, my kind request is that you replace the current
    with
    One reason why I still like your Zotac tool better than Rufus is that yours does not format the ENTIRE media as Rufus does, but correctly leaves other partitions on the media intact (Rufus flattens the entire partition table, rather than only reformatting the selected partition .. tss tss).

    I hope you see that I have both, experience with this matter and have thought this thru thouroughly before posting here so I can contribute constructively.

    Looking forward to your reply,
    Bugs

    PS: in case of a Win7 boot installer freeze in UEFI mode:
    - CSM boot in BIOS
    - install Windows to MBR HDD
    - install all updates incl. compatibility updates, + drivers and driver updates (Windows Update, OEM model page, facebook.com/DriverPack.Solution, etc.)
    - UEFI boot in BIOS
    - boot into installed Win8 on GPT HDD
    - migrate the Win7 install over from the MBR HDD onto a partition on the GPT HDD
    - integrate Win7 on that partition into the current BCD via BootIce with
    boot file param: \Windows\system32\winload.efi
    deactivate "Metro Boot Manager (Win8)"
    - boot into Win7 and if needed correct the boot partition in the registry to C (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices: delete the entry '\DosDevices\C:' if still pointing to the org. volume on MBR; rename the appropriate \DosDevices\ entry to '\DosDevices\C:
    - reboot'
     
  6. Josh Cell

    Josh Cell MDL Developer

    Jan 8, 2011
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    On all our six machines UEFI capable with SecureBoot enabled, we have not found any problem when booting with the standard bootx64.efi around the Windows 8 and 8.1 x64.

    However, all that machines can not boot with the bootx64.efi that is found around the Boot.wim file on the Windows 7 x64, all that needs to disable the SecureBoot.

    We prefer to leave it as is until now. Will be required some development out of the scope that us are not waiting.

    Anyway, your report always is responsive. I will look a bit more to see another way to do it.
     
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  7. BugsB

    BugsB MDL Junior Member

    Apr 30, 2009
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    1. Who needs secure boot to begin with .. even for my slightly modded Win7 x64 SP1 DVD I had to disable secure boot .. I survived decades w/o secure boot, and I will die w/o (hopefully not because of..) having relied on it even once .. Plain simple, down at the bottom line, SB is for kids and doters who don't know what they're booting ..
    2. If your companies UEFI computers had a Windows 7 sticker on it, the Windows 7 64 boot installer would most likely not freeze .. You are projecting the experience w/ 6 PCs onto all PCs out there, which might not be representable
    3. So then, possible approaches and hopefully fixes are:
    • replace Win7 64 bootx64.efi with the one from Win8 or 8.1 (if that already does the trick then the working and compatible bootx64.efi could even be part of Zotac and be applied to the target when a Win7 64 source is detected)
    • prep Win7 64 boot.wim index 2 with all the drivers from the Win8.1 boot.wim index 2, e.g. w/ Win Toolkit ..
     
  8. Josh Cell

    Josh Cell MDL Developer

    Jan 8, 2011
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    The Windows 8 EFI file is not compatible with the Windows 7 installation media.

    We really prefer leaving it as is, or a lot of people will protest against these Windows 7 UEFI compatibility problem with SecureBoot. :)

    We already have seen a lot of people claiming the Rufus incompatibility with new UEFI machines using Windows 7, we really don't want to make this image for the current software.
     
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  9. Josh Cell

    Josh Cell MDL Developer

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  10. Mr.X

    Mr.X MDL Guru

    Jul 14, 2013
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    :eek::D:p
     
  11. Josh Cell

    Josh Cell MDL Developer

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    I think I will release the Final version today... lol

    :rastabanana::rasta::rastabanana:
     
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  12. lgj1952

    lgj1952 MDL Member

    Jul 24, 2009
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    Well then, let's hope the new becomes much easier :worthy::D
     
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  13. Mr.X

    Mr.X MDL Guru

    Jul 14, 2013
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    Pardon me? But since its initial release has been quite easy to use interface. Simply, I don't get this.
     
  14. lgj1952

    lgj1952 MDL Member

    Jul 24, 2009
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    I joked, the program has always easy and it's my favorite :p
     
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  15. Josh Cell

    Josh Cell MDL Developer

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  16. samir0558

    samir0558 MDL Novice

    Jul 22, 2011
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    thnak you, great work
     
  17. Josh Cell

    Josh Cell MDL Developer

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  18. a1fa

    a1fa MDL Novice

    Jul 16, 2011
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    Thanks! :D
     
  19. Mr.X

    Mr.X MDL Guru

    Jul 14, 2013
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    Finally we have it... thank you so much Josh.
     
  20. Josh Cell

    Josh Cell MDL Developer

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    #160 Josh Cell, Dec 1, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 20, 2017
    (OP)
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