Help using MBR2GPT on my system

I've been trying to install Windows 1607 as a dual boot, thread How to downgrade Windows 10 from 1709 to 1607 - Windows 10 Forums. The question came up about converting from MBR to GPT. It's not working for me.
I want to make a separate thread for this particular problem.
Here's my disk configuration:

I run mbr2gpt /verify with disk 0 and disk1, and they both give me errors. What I want to do is install 1607 on the F: partition. It would be nice to convert disk 1 also.
Here are the logs:

PHP Code:

2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         MBR2GPT was explicitly asked to run in full OS mode.
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         MBR2GPT: Attempting to validate disk 0
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         MBR2GPT: Retrieving layout of disk
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         MBR2GPT: Initial partition information
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         ===========================================================
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         Partition layout for disk: 0
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         Partition style          : MBR
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         MBR signature: 555597164
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         Number of partitions     : 3
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         ===================PARTITION===============================
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                              Number: 1
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                                Type: 7
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                                Boot: Yes
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                          Recognized: Yes
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                               Style: 0
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                              Offset: 1048576
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                              Length: 104857600
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                              Volume: \\?\Volume{5e494090-47af-11e5-88cf-806e6f6e6963}\
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                               Drive: None
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                             NT Path: \Device\HardDisk0\Partition1
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         ===================PARTITION===============================
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                              Number: 2
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                                Type: 7
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                                Boot: No
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                          Recognized: Yes
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                               Style: 0
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                              Offset: 105906176
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                              Length: 446313791488
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                              Volume: \\?\Volume{5e494091-47af-11e5-88cf-806e6f6e6963}\
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                               Drive: D:\
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                             NT Path: \Device\HardDisk0\Partition2
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         ===================PARTITION===============================
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                              Number: 3
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                                Type: 7
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                                Boot: No
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                          Recognized: Yes
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                               Style: 0
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                              Offset: 446419697664
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                              Length: 53688139776
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                              Volume: \\?\Volume{211dbd6c-0000-0000-0000-b0f067000000}\
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                               Drive: F:\
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                             NT Path: \Device\HardDisk0\Partition3
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         ===========================================================
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         ESP partition size will be 104857600
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         MBR2GPT: Validating layout, disk sector size is: 512 bytes
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         BCD: Opening store. Flags: 0x0
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         BCD: Store path: "\??\GLOBALROOT\device\harddisk0\partition1\Boot\BCD"
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         BCD: Loaded hive at BCD00000000
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         BCD: Opening object {9dea862c-5cdd-4e70-acc1-f32b344d4795}
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         FindOSPartitions: Default boot entry: {455E0EEC-DECE-11E7-B5B4-EACDE0BAAC56}
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         BCD: Opening object {455e0eec-dece-11e7-b5b4-eacde0baac56}
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         VERBOSE: Device path: \Device\HarddiskVolume3
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         VERBOSE: Dos path: \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolume3
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         FindOSPartitions: Volume name for the default boot entry: \\?\Volume{5e494092-47af-11e5-88cf-806e6f6e6963}\
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         BCD: Opening object {a0455270-dece-11e7-b5b4-eacde0baac56}
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         VERBOSE: Device path: \Device\HarddiskVolume4
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         VERBOSE: Dos path: \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolume4
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         FindOSPartitions: Volume name for the recovery boot entry: \\?\Volume{f68c1638-0000-0000-0000-801c3a000000}\
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         FindOSPartitions: WIM path for the recovery boot entry: \Recovery\WindowsRE\Winre.wim
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         FindOSPartitions: Default boot entry locale: en-US
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Error                        Cannot find OS partition(s) for disk 0
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Info                         MBR2GPT was explicitly asked to run in full OS mode.
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Info                         MBR2GPT: Attempting to validate disk 1
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Info                         MBR2GPT: Retrieving layout of disk
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Info                         MBR2GPT: Initial partition information
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Info                         ===========================================================
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Info                         Partition layout for disk: 1
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Info                         Partition style          : MBR
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Info                         MBR signature: 4136375864
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Info                         Number of partitions     : 2
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Info                         ===================PARTITION===============================
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Info                              Number: 1
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Info                                Type: 7
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Info                                Boot: No
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Info                          Recognized: Yes
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Info                               Style: 0
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Info                              Offset: 1048576
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Info                              Length: 249585205248
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Info                              Volume: \\?\Volume{5e494092-47af-11e5-88cf-806e6f6e6963}\
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Info                               Drive: C:\
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Info                             NT Path: \Device\HardDisk1\Partition1
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Info                         ===================PARTITION===============================
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Info                              Number: 2
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Info                                Type: 39
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Info                                Boot: No
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Info                          Recognized: Yes
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Info                               Style: 0
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Info                              Offset: 249586253824
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Info                              Length: 471859200
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Info                              Volume: \\?\Volume{f68c1638-0000-0000-0000-801c3a000000}\
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Info                               Drive: None
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Info                             NT Path: \Device\HardDisk1\Partition2
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Info                         ===========================================================
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Info                         ESP partition size will be 104857600
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Info                         MBR2GPT: Validating layout, disk sector size is: 512 bytes
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Error                        ValidateLayout: Wrong boot partition count, expected 1 but found 0.
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Error                        Disk layout validation failed for disk 1 


PHP Code:

2018-03-19 18:51:36, Error                        Cannot find OS partition(s) for disk 0
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Error                        ValidateLayout: Wrong boot partition count, expected 1 but found 0.
2018-03-19 18:51:47, Error                        Disk layout validation failed for disk 1 


F: used to be unallocated space as a logical partition. I changed that to a primarty to satisfy one of mbr2gpt's rules. Can I define F as a system partition and would that allow the conversion.
Disk 1 already has a system partition (I think), C:, but there's something else it doesn't like.

If you can figure out what's wrong here, please tell me what to fix.
Thank you.

I made F: a boot partition, so it now reads Boot: Yes. No change.
The problem appears to be in these log messages:

PHP Code:

2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         BCD: Opening store. Flags: 0x0
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         BCD: Store path: "\??\GLOBALROOT\device\harddisk0\partition1\Boot\BCD"
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         BCD: Loaded hive at BCD00000000
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         BCD: Opening object {9dea862c-5cdd-4e70-acc1-f32b344d4795}
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         FindOSPartitions: Default boot entry: {455E0EEC-DECE-11E7-B5B4-EACDE0BAAC56}
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         BCD: Opening object {455e0eec-dece-11e7-b5b4-eacde0baac56}
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         VERBOSE: Device path: \Device\HarddiskVolume3
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         VERBOSE: Dos path: \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolume3
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         FindOSPartitions: Volume name for the default boot entry: \\?\Volume{5e494092-47af-11e5-88cf-806e6f6e6963}\
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         BCD: Opening object {a0455270-dece-11e7-b5b4-eacde0baac56}
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         VERBOSE: Device path: \Device\HarddiskVolume4
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         VERBOSE: Dos path: \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolume4
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         FindOSPartitions: Volume name for the recovery boot entry: \\?\Volume{f68c1638-0000-0000-0000-801c3a000000}\
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         FindOSPartitions: WIM path for the recovery boot entry: \Recovery\WindowsRE\Winre.wim
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Info                         FindOSPartitions: Default boot entry locale: en-US
2018-03-19 18:51:36, Error                        Cannot find OS partition(s) for disk 0 


I don't understand any of it, so someone please help!

Regarding Disk 1... I don't know why C: is Boot: No. The Disk Management SS shows it as Boot. I don't want to fiddle with C: without knowing what I am doing. What can I do to make mbr2gpt see it as a boot partition?

cereberus said:

The problem is the dual boot nature of the pc.

Your system reserved partition for Drive 1 is on drive 0.

So when you try to use MBR2GPT, it falls over.

What you need to do is to shrink C drive a bit and copy the system Reserved Partition fron drive 0 to drive 1.

I don't really have a dual boot system. When I did the 7 to 10 upgrade, somehow it left 7 as a second system on the boot menu, though I never tried it to see if it worked. Since then, I've used bcdedit to remove the entry for 7.

Can you unconfuse me about a couple of other things. (1) How come C: is on disk 1 and D: is on disk 0. I bought disk 0 more recently, and then I probably wanted to use C: just for things that I could only put on C: and put everything else on D:. But how does the BIOS know which SATA port is 0 and which is 1 anyway? If I switched the two connectors, would the numbering switch too?
(2) You're saying that the System Reserve is necessary to boot the system? I didn't know that.

I'll try the moving the System Reserve to the other disk.

I just ran bcdedit command, and it says it cannot find the bcd store.

It must be around somewhere, because the system can boot up. My store has two boot loader records. The second one is just a dummy so that I can get into the boot selection menu and get into the advanced boot options. This still works.

I'm worried that I may lose it altogether and then I'd be hosed.

Someone please tell me how to recover the store. I want to do that before I fiddle with anything else.

Thanks.

You all can ignore all posts after the previous one, as I'm starting over.

Per cereberus advice, I'll try copying the System Reserved from disk 0 to disk 1, then see if mbr2gpt works any better.

I'd like to understand the System Reserved a bit more. From what I've read about it, this partition is used by the boot loader regardless of which actual OS I load (in a dual boot). mbr2gpt seems to want the SR to be on the same disk as the OS partition. Is this the only reason to move SR over to disk 1? Will the boot still use the SR on disk 0?

And how does the system know which is disk 0 and disk 1 anyway? Is it written onto the disk somewhere, or is it a matter of which SATA ports they are plugged into?

I added new partition to Disk 0, and installed Windows 1607 there, as a dual boot.

mbr2gpt still fails on both disks. Here is new setupact.log.

PHP Code:

2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                         MBR2GPT was explicitly asked to run in full OS mode.
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                         MBR2GPT: Attempting to validate disk 0
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                         MBR2GPT: Retrieving layout of disk
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                         MBR2GPT: Initial partition information
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                         ===========================================================
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                         Partition layout for disk: 0
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                         Partition style          : MBR
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                         MBR signature: 555597164
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                         Number of partitions     : 3
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                         ===================PARTITION===============================
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                              Number: 1
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                                Type: 7
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                                Boot: Yes
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                          Recognized: Yes
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                               Style: 0
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                              Offset: 1048576
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                              Length: 104857600
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                              Volume: \\?\Volume{5e494090-47af-11e5-88cf-806e6f6e6963}\
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                               Drive: None
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                             NT Path: \Device\HardDisk0\Partition1
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                         ===================PARTITION===============================
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                              Number: 2
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                                Type: 7
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                                Boot: No
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                          Recognized: Yes
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                               Style: 0
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                              Offset: 105906176
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                              Length: 473157337088
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                              Volume: \\?\Volume{5e494091-47af-11e5-88cf-806e6f6e6963}\
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                               Drive: D:\
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                             NT Path: \Device\HardDisk0\Partition2
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                         ===================PARTITION===============================
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                              Number: 3
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                                Type: 7
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                                Boot: No
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                          Recognized: Yes
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                               Style: 0
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                              Offset: 473263243264
2018-03-21 11:59:13, Info                              Length: 26842497024
2018-03-21 11:59:14, Info                              Volume: \\?\Volume{211dbd6c-0000-0000-0000-b0306e000000}\
2018-03-21 11:59:14, Info                               Drive: H:\
2018-03-21 11:59:14, Info                             NT Path: \Device\HardDisk0\Partition3
2018-03-21 11:59:14, Info                         ===========================================================
2018-03-21 11:59:14, Info                         ESP partition size will be 104857600
2018-03-21 11:59:14, Info                         MBR2GPT: Validating layout, disk sector size is: 512 bytes
2018-03-21 11:59:14, Info                         BCD: Opening store. Flags: 0x0
2018-03-21 11:59:14, Info                         BCD: Store path: "\??\GLOBALROOT\device\harddisk0\partition1\Boot\BCD"
2018-03-21 11:59:14, Info                         BCD: Loaded hive at BCD00000000
2018-03-21 11:59:14, Info                         BCD: Opening object {9dea862c-5cdd-4e70-acc1-f32b344d4795}
2018-03-21 11:59:14, Info                         FindOSPartitions: Default boot entry: {455E0EEC-DECE-11E7-B5B4-EACDE0BAAC5
6}
2018-03-21 11:59:14, Info                         BCD: Opening object {455e0eec-dece-11e7-b5b4-eacde0baac56}
2018-03-21 11:59:14, Info                         VERBOSE: Device path: \Device\HarddiskVolume4
2018-03-21 11:59:14, Info                         VERBOSE: Dos path: \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolume4
2018-03-21 11:59:14, Info                         FindOSPartitions: Volume name for the default boot entry: \\?\Volume{5e494
092-47af-11e5-88cf-806e6f6e6963}\
2018-03-21 11:59:14, Info                         BCD: Opening object {a0455270-dece-11e7-b5b4-eacde0baac56}
2018-03-21 11:59:14, Info                         VERBOSE: Device path: \Device\HarddiskVolume5
2018-03-21 11:59:14, Info                         VERBOSE: Dos path: \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolume5
2018-03-21 11:59:14, Info                         FindOSPartitions: Volume name for the recovery boot entry: \\?\Volume{f68c
1638-0000-0000-0000-801c3a000000}\
2018-03-21 11:59:14, Info                         FindOSPartitions: WIM path for the recovery boot entry: \Recovery\WindowsR
E\Winre.wim
2018-03-21 11:59:14, Info                         FindOSPartitions: Default boot entry locale: en-US
2018-03-21 11:59:14, Error                        Cannot find OS partition(s) for disk 0

< Disk 1... >

2018-03-21 11:59:18, Info                         MBR2GPT was explicitly asked to run in full OS mode.
2018-03-21 11:59:18, Info                         MBR2GPT: Attempting to validate disk 1
2018-03-21 11:59:18, Info                         MBR2GPT: Retrieving layout of disk
2018-03-21 11:59:18, Info                         MBR2GPT: Initial partition information
2018-03-21 11:59:18, Info                         ===========================================================
2018-03-21 11:59:18, Info                         Partition layout for disk: 1
2018-03-21 11:59:18, Info                         Partition style          : MBR
2018-03-21 11:59:18, Info                         MBR signature: 4136375864
2018-03-21 11:59:18, Info                         Number of partitions     : 2
2018-03-21 11:59:18, Info                         ===================PARTITION===============================
2018-03-21 11:59:18, Info                              Number: 1
2018-03-21 11:59:18, Info                                Type: 7
2018-03-21 11:59:18, Info                                Boot: No
2018-03-21 11:59:18, Info                          Recognized: Yes
2018-03-21 11:59:18, Info                               Style: 0
2018-03-21 11:59:18, Info                              Offset: 1048576
2018-03-21 11:59:18, Info                              Length: 249585205248
2018-03-21 11:59:18, Info                              Volume: \\?\Volume{5e494092-47af-11e5-88cf-806e6f6e6963}\
2018-03-21 11:59:18, Info                               Drive: C:\
2018-03-21 11:59:18, Info                             NT Path: \Device\HardDisk1\Partition1
2018-03-21 11:59:18, Info                         ===================PARTITION===============================
2018-03-21 11:59:18, Info                              Number: 2
2018-03-21 11:59:18, Info                                Type: 39
2018-03-21 11:59:18, Info                                Boot: No
2018-03-21 11:59:18, Info                          Recognized: Yes
2018-03-21 11:59:18, Info                               Style: 0
2018-03-21 11:59:18, Info                              Offset: 249586253824
2018-03-21 11:59:18, Info                              Length: 471859200
2018-03-21 11:59:18, Info                              Volume: \\?\Volume{f68c1638-0000-0000-0000-801c3a000000}\
2018-03-21 11:59:18, Info                               Drive: None
2018-03-21 11:59:18, Info                             NT Path: \Device\HardDisk1\Partition2
2018-03-21 11:59:18, Info                         ===========================================================
2018-03-21 11:59:18, Info                         ESP partition size will be 104857600
2018-03-21 11:59:18, Info                         MBR2GPT: Validating layout, disk sector size is: 512 bytes
2018-03-21 11:59:18, Error                        ValidateLayout: Wrong boot partition count, expected 1 but found 0.
2018-03-21 11:59:18, Error                        Disk layout validation failed for disk 1 


This is no longer critical for me, because my reason for the GPT conversion in the first place was to install a second Windows. Now that I was able to do that install with the MBR disks, it's just a matter of academic interests.

The earlier suggestion of creating a second System Recovery partition on disk 1 is doubtful to me, since that would only make disk 1 just like disk 0. And disk 0 still doesn't pass the test. If anyone can figure out what's wrong, from the setupact.log, I'd still be interested, and it would be nice to actually do the GPT conversion. And other readers might benefit and I could mark this thread as solved.

Here's the bcdedit output:

PHP Code:

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier              {bootmgr}
device                  partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume1
description             Windows Boot Manager
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {globalsettings}
default                 {current}
resumeobject            {455e0eeb-dece-11e7-b5b4-eacde0baac56}
displayorder            {current}
                        {b181b965-2c89-11e8-9b2d-e25bbd66e567}
toolsdisplayorder       {memdiag}
timeout                 5

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {current}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \WINDOWS\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows 10
locale                  en-US
loadoptions             DDISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence        {a0455270-dece-11e7-b5b4-eacde0baac56}
displaymessageoverride  StartupRepair
recoveryenabled         Yes
testsigning             Yes
allowedinmemorysettings 0x15000075
osdevice                partition=C:
systemroot              \WINDOWS
resumeobject            {455e0eeb-dece-11e7-b5b4-eacde0baac56}
nx                      OptIn
bootmenupolicy          Standard
debug                   Yes

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {b181b965-2c89-11e8-9b2d-e25bbd66e567}
device                  partition=H:
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows 10 1607
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence        {b181b966-2c89-11e8-9b2d-e25bbd66e567}
recoveryenabled         Yes
allowedinmemorysettings 0x15000075
osdevice                partition=H:
systemroot              \Windows
resumeobject            {b181b964-2c89-11e8-9b2d-e25bbd66e567}
nx                      OptIn
bootmenupolicy          Standard