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How to dual boot Windows 8/10 with Free Macrium Rescue.
With the paid version of Macrium. There is an option that allows you to create a dual boot environment with Macrium Recue disk. However, with the free version, this option is not available.
The advantage to dual boot with Macrium Rescue disk are as follows:
- If you own an old PC which does not have the Boot Menu available. You don't need to change the Boot Priority in the BIOS to boot from the Macrium Rescue disk (CD/USB)
- Save yourself a CD/USB for other use.
- Boot faster from the SSD/HD.
- Start up repair if your PC becomes unbootable.
- Macrium rescue disk does have its own "File Explorer" version so you can recover data using drag and drop from unbootable Windows partition.
Here's how:
- Create a folder called macrium under C: drive
- Copy everything from the Macrium Rescue disk to this folder (C:\macrium)
- Create a BAT file as shown below. You can use copy/paste to create a BAT file and save it as .bat extension.
NOTE: there's are 2 red lines in the code, one for the MBR type installation and the other for UEFI. Use only one line that applies to your Windows Installation type MBR/UEFI and remove the other.Code:@echo off echo Configuring Dual boot Macrium Recovery Environment bcdedit.exe /CREATE {ramdiskoptions} /d "Ramdisk Options" bcdedit.exe /SET {ramdiskoptions} ramdisksdidevice partition=C: bcdedit /set {ramdiskoptions} ramdisksdipath \macrium\boot\boot.sdi for /f "tokens=2 delims={}" %%g in ('bcdedit.exe /create /d "Macrium Recovery" /application osloader') do (set guid={%%g}) echo GUID = %guid% created !!! bcdedit /set %guid% device ramdisk=[c:]\macrium\sources\boot.wim,{ramdiskoptions} bcdedit /set %guid% osdevice ramdisk=[c:]\macrium\sources\boot.wim,{ramdiskoptions} bcdedit.exe /SET %guid% systemroot \windows REM use the next line for UEFI style installation bcdedit /set %guid% path \Windows\system32\winload.efi REM For MBR, use the next line bcdedit.exe /SET %guid% path \Windows\system32\winload.exe bcdedit.exe /SET %guid% winpe yes bcdedit.exe /SET %guid% detecthal yes bcdedit.exe /SET %guid% nx OptIn bcdedit /displayorder %guid% /addlast bcdedit /timeout 5 echo "Done... Reboot your PC" pause- Save the current BCD: Open Admin command prompt and type: bcdedit /export myBCD
and save this myBCD file to somewhere else.- Right click on the BAT file and run as Admin
- Reboot. You should see the dual boot menu with the timeout set to 5.
To remove the dual boot environment:
- Open the Admin command prompt and type: bcdedit /import myBCD
- Delete the folder C:\macrium.
Hope this helps !!!