How to make active@boot disk bootable on uefi/gpt?

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  1. Posts : 201
    Kernel 4.x.x
       #11

    Ok I got my hands on a copy of their boot disk utility. After installing the demo, it comes with 2 bootable images.

    One is WinPE based, the other is DOS.
    The DOS one it worthless for UEFI booting. The WinPE one is the one that should work.


    It's located by default at: "C:\Program Files (x86)\LSoft Technologies\Active@ Boot Disk\BootDisk.ISO"

    I looked at the images filesystem, and it should support UEFI booting.

    Unfortunately by looking at the structure of their boot image, they clearly have no clue how a windows boot disk should be laid out.


    Overall this boot disk is pretty shitty.
    But if you must..

    To UEFI boot this thing:

    Obtain your copy of the BootDisk.ISO file.
    Format a USB as FAT32, you can do this from "My PC" or "My Computer" depending on your Windows version.
    Once formatted, either mount the BootDisk.ISO file or open it win 7zip.
    Copy all files inside BootDisk.ISO onto the flash drive.

    That's it. Now it can be used to UEFI boot.
    Last edited by Hydranix; 21 Aug 2015 at 03:15.
      My Computers


  2. Posts : 441
    Windows 10
       #12

    Hydranix said:
    Ok I got my hands on a copy of their boot disk utility. After installing the demo, it comes with 2 bootable images.

    One is WinPE based, the other is DOS.
    The DOS one it worthless for UEFI booting. The WinPE one is the one that should work.


    It's located by default at: "C:\Program Files (x86)\LSoft Technologies\Active@ Boot Disk\BootDisk.ISO"

    I looked at the images filesystem, and it should support UEFI booting.

    Unfortunately by looking at the structure of their boot image, they clearly have no clue how a windows boot disk should be laid out.

    They also use a bunch of free and/or open source software in their WinPE image. I'm surprised anyone would pay money for otherwise free software.

    Overall this boot disk is pretty shitty.
    But if you must..

    To UEFI boot this thing:

    Obtain your copy of the BootDisk.ISO file.
    Format a USB as FAT32, you can do this from "My PC" or "My Computer" depending on your Windows version.
    Once formatted, either mount the BootDisk.ISO file or open it win 7zip.
    Copy all files inside BootDisk.ISO onto the flash drive.

    That's it. Now it can be used to UEFI boot.
    Like I said in my earlier post this can be done with numerous programs, MS often used to release iso's that needed to be converted. Any mounting software will convert it for you, last time I needed to do this was about 5 years ago and I used daemon tools I believe.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 107
    Windows 10
       #13

    LSoft Technologies Inc. Data recovery software


    Last update: Active@ Boot Disk 10 April 30, 2015

    Major improvements:
    WinPE upgraded to version 5.1 (Windows 8 SP1-based);
    • Switched from 32-bit (x86) to 64-bit (x64) architecture;
    Added support for UEFI Secure Boot mode;
    • Boot Disk Creator can setup default application startup;
    • Virtual RAM Disk (X:) available size increased to 512MB;
    How to make active@boot disk bootable on uefi/gpt?-active-boot-disk-1.png

    How to make active@boot disk bootable on uefi/gpt?-active-boot-disk-2.png

    How to make active@boot disk bootable on uefi/gpt?-active-boot-disk-3.png

    This USB flash drive can be booted in both UEFI and Legacy BIOS boot mode. This USB flash drive is also compatible with Secure Boot.

    If you are booting from a USB flash drive (FAT32 file system) in UEFI Boot Mode, then UEFI firmware run \efi\boot\bootx64.efi file.

    How to make active@boot disk bootable on uefi/gpt?-asus-boot-menu.png
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 68
    10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #14

    Hey Guys

    Thank you for the replies. @Hydranix you were correct in stating it was not an Os I was trying to install; their web site does state uefi supported. @genet thank you also for the detailed guide, which I was following anyway.

    It seems their support dept gave me incorrect info, v9 was the problem ( no uefi support), v 10.03 works flawlessly.

    I appreciate your assistance
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 7,606
    Windows 10 Home 20H2
       #15

    Bazz said:
    Extract the contents of the ISO to a folder, insert your usb drive.
    [...]
    copy all the contents to your USB from the folder.
    Will the USB drive be bootable if all the contents are copied to a folder on the USB drive?
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 201
    Kernel 4.x.x
       #16

    Matthew Wai said:
    Will the USB drive be bootable if all the contents are copied to a folder on the USB drive?
    Not without configuring the firmware. The standard requires certain files with exact names be in particular places on the partition to be chosen automatically as the default efi application to execute.

    Most implementations of UEFI also will not detect external drives as bootable unless a file is in the standard location.

    You can configure the firmware manually to know where to find the bootloader. You can even install filesystem drivers and execute bootloaders of non-FAT filesystems if you desire.

    In the UEFI shell, the bcfg command can write boot entries to the firmware's NVRAM.
    Example:
    Code:
    bcfg boot add 0 "fs1:\directory\application.efi" "Application Description"


    If you're making a flash drive that will have several different options to boot to, you'll need to use a boot manager in the default location, and preconfigure it to know where to look for the bootloaders.

    Some default locations
    Code:
    \bootx64.efi
    \EFI\bootx64.efi
    \EFI\boot\bootx64.efi
    And for the shell, if you desire to have one. (always a good idea)
    Download for shell:
    shellx64.efi v1
    Shellx64.efi v2

    Clover boot manager modified shellx64.efi for pre-2.3 firmware
    link

    Default shell location for some firmware's built in "boot shell from filesystem device" menu option:
    Code:
    \shellx64.efi
      My Computers


  7. Posts : 7,606
    Windows 10 Home 20H2
       #17

    Bazz said:
    SELECT PARTITION 1
    ACTIVE
    I cannot select partition 1, beside which there is an asterisk, so I cannot mark it as active.
    See the screenshot below. I don't want to clean it because it already contains files.
    Can anyone help?
    How to make active@boot disk bootable on uefi/gpt?-diskpart1.jpg
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 201
    Kernel 4.x.x
       #18

    Matthew Wai said:
    Can anyone help?
    The asterisk to the left of the partition indicates that it is the currently selected partition.

    When selecting a volume that is synonymous for a partition, diskpart will also select the partition.

    In the context of the image you posted, It appears to me that volume 5, the NTFS formatted volume labeled "USB drive" has a single partition. So selecting volume 5 is the same as selecting partition 1 of the USB drive.

    But diskpart is having a problem with the disk it appears, so you should backup any important data on the drive, select the disk, and issue the clean command. This will wipe out the partition information, data will be intact if you accidentally clean the wrong disk, but assume that clean will destroy all data on the disk.

    After you use the command clean on the flash drive, you will be able to create a new partition on the drive and access it from diskpart like you are attempting.

    Also, if you are attempting to boot this flash drive in UEFI mode, you'll want to use FAT32 as the filesystem, instead of NTFS. NTFS can only work if your BIOS includes an EFI NTFS filesystem driver (I know ASUS and some MSI UEFI implementations include one), or if you manually install an EFI NTFS filesystem driver and configure your firmware to load this driver prior to boot.

    The following are some details about windows' treatment of partitions on usb flash drives that aren't relevant to your current post, but most likely will arise in the future for you.

    Windows is limited on the way it treats usb flash drives, it only allows a single partition (the first) to be accessible at a time. Other operating systems treat flash drives exactly like any other disk and allows partition-tables, multiple partitions, or partition less full disk filesystems. There are workarounds for this, but shortof a microcontroller firmware reconfiguration of the flash drive, window's will only allow one partition be mounted (assigned a drive letter) on flash drives.
      My Computers


  9. Posts : 7,606
    Windows 10 Home 20H2
       #19

    On Disk Management, the USB drive partition is not active.
    On MiniTool Partition Wizard, it is shown as active.
    Actually, is it bootable or not? See the screenshots below.

    How to make active@boot disk bootable on uefi/gpt?-disk-management.jpg

    The following is MiniTool Partition Wizard.
    How to make active@boot disk bootable on uefi/gpt?-minitool-partition-wizard.jpg
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 201
    Kernel 4.x.x
       #20

    If the Bootable flag is set for that partition in the mbr partition table entry for the partition, a proper bios will look for and attempt to execute the boot code at the beginning of that partition, So yes it should be bootable if the above is true.

    However, since Windows Disk Manager and Diskpart.exe are not detecting the partition as active, I would have to assume there is something wrong with the partition table of the flash drive (ie it is ill-formed)

    Have you tried actually booting the flash drive? If it fails to boot I suggest wiping the flash drive, and writing a new partition table and partition entry, and then formatting a fresh filesystem to it.

    Partition Wizard has an option to repair the MBR. You can also try that.
      My Computers


 

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