Two copies of BOOTMGR???

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  1. Posts : 141
    Win10 Pro 21H1
       #1

    Two copies of BOOTMGR???


    Hi

    I have a simple question which I hope has a simple answer but since it involves BOOTMGR I somehow suspect its not quite so simple as I hope.

    I have Windows 10 Pro and for some time I've been a little puzzled by the fact that I have a copy of BOOTMGR in both my "Reserved Partition" and the root of Drive C:. Its not over bothered me as I tend to leave it well alone. However, could someone please tell me where my BOOTMGR file should be as I've never actually found a definitive answer on this. I am not aware that I have done anything to copy the file anywhere but I now find I have a copy in both my ACTIVE partition ("Reserved Partition") AND my Windows 10 BOOT partition (DriveC).

    So could someone please tell me: should I have two BOOTMGR files and if it should only be one, where should it be located? Also, is it safe to simply delete the incorrectly located file?

    Any help would be most appreciated. Many thanks.

    Tracey

    PS My husband also has a BOOTMGR file in the roots of both Windows 7 and Windows 10 (Windows 7 is his active partition). Is this right?
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  2. Posts : 2,799
    Linux Mint 20.1 Win10Prox64
       #2

    @dalchina
    You are showing OP the disk layout of GPT style installation while her Windows is MBR.

    @OP
    Yes, I have seen what you described. If Disk management shows the Reserved partition is active then IMO, you don't need the Bootmgr from C: Here's my Windows 7 MBR:
    Reserved Partition shows:
    Two copies of BOOTMGR???-p2.jpg
    and root of C: is:
    Two copies of BOOTMGR???-p1.jpg
    Note that in C: there's no Bootmgr. Sometimes if you use command such as bcdedit to look at the bootmgr , it does create a backup copy of Bootmgr.

    From C drive, rename Bootmgr as Bootmgr.BAK then reboot. If it still works then you can safely delete it.
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  3. Posts : 42,737
    Win 10 Pro (22H2) (2nd PC is 22H2)
       #3

    @topgundcp - out of curiosity, now I've deleted my UEFI post, how other than intuition do you know it's MBR without a screenshot? Because only 2 partitions are referred to?
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  4. Posts : 2,799
    Linux Mint 20.1 Win10Prox64
       #4

    dalchina said:
    @topgundcp - out of curiosity, now I've deleted my UEFI post, how other than intuition do you know it's MBR without a screenshot? Because only 2 partitions are referred to?
    Because OP talked about "Reserved Partition" & "Active". Both do not exist with GPT style.
    And yes, MBR has only 2 partitions: Reserved and C drive.
    Cheers !!!
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  5. Posts : 141
    Win10 Pro 21H1
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Hi

    Thanks for your prompt reply.

    Yes, my Windows partitions are indeed MBR although I do have two 3TB disks which are GPT. I have now captured a graphic of the partition contents and I shall endeavour to post them along with the post. I hope you can see what I mean about the two copies of BOOTMGR. Any further info required then let me know.

    Two copies of BOOTMGR???-drive-c-bootmgr.pngTwo copies of BOOTMGR???-resdrv-bootmgr.png

    I also thought it may help to include a snapshot of my disk layout from Disk Management as below:

    Two copies of BOOTMGR???-disk-management-map.png

    Tracey
    Last edited by TraceyW; 13 Nov 2017 at 17:07.
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  6. Posts : 2,799
    Linux Mint 20.1 Win10Prox64
       #6

    From disk management. I can tell that you initially have Windows 7 installed then installed Windows 10, that will give you dual boot. As I said, installing Windows 10 with an extra Recovery partition created, also might be the cause to have a backup copy of Bootmgr created. Since System Reserved partition is marked "Active" that means the Bootmgr is used from this partition.
    There is a log file Reflect_install.log, if I am not mistaken, you also have Macrium installed in Windows 10. If you've already have a backup image then go ahead and delete Bootmgr from Windows 10 C drive. Reboot to see if it works. You can always restore from the backup.

    WARNING: Since your disk 0 is already max out the number of partitions(4) for MBR. You might encounter problem with future update.

    I can also see that your disk 1 MBR max out with 4 partitions. Should convert it to GPT so you can create more primary partitions without getting into business of logical drive....GPT support up to 128 primary partitions.
    Your disk 2 & 3 are GPT so they are OK.
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  7. Posts : 141
    Win10 Pro 21H1
    Thread Starter
       #7

    Hi

    Yes, I'll agree regarding the partitions on Drive 0 but why should I encounter problems with a future update and do you mean Windows 10 update? If necessary I'll remove Windows 7 to make space if a partition is required for any future update. As it is I'm debating whether to remove Windows 7 now. I should also add that Windows 10 installed the Recovery partition -- not me -- I didn't tell it to install it!

    As for Drive 1, if you look carefully you will see it has only logical drives. Over the years I have learnt a bit about partitioning and know full well that to have five partitions on a drive at least one of them must be logical but they all are. Therefore, Drive 1 is MBR. I have had this arrangement for many years and do NOT keep any data (unless I can't avoid it) on Drive C. I keep C: as much as possible purely for Windows hence the small size of the partition (approx 29GB).

    I don't know how you work it out that Drive 2 is GPT but I can assure you it is MBR. As I said in my initial post, my GPT drives are both 3TB one of which is an external drive. I also have two other external drives of 1 TB each not shown on the Disk Management graphic. Both are MBR with just one primary partition each. Both are used for backups. For security purposes I disconnect my external drives when not in use since they are only used for backups and I have ALL the drives shown in the above graphic backed up.

    Having got that out of the way -- when I feel brave I'll probably go ahead and delete BOOTMGR in Drive C but just at the moment its 3.15am (I can't sleep) and I just can't face such a problem at present so I'll leave that for a future time. Nevertheless, thanks for taking the time to help out. Very much appreciated.

    Tracey
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 2,799
    Linux Mint 20.1 Win10Prox64
       #8

    Yes, I'll agree regarding the partitions on Drive 0 but why should I encounter problems with a future update and do you mean Windows 10 update? If necessary I'll remove Windows 7 to make space if a partition is required for any future update. As it is I'm debating whether to remove Windows 7 now. I should also add that Windows 10 installed the Recovery partition -- not me -- I didn't tell it to install it!
    With major update, extra Recovery partition(s) will be created and will run into problem dealing with logical drive. The Recovery partition was created by Windows to store WinRE.wim which is a WinPE and the size is more than 300MB, your Reserved partition is only 100MB under Windows 7, not enough room. A normal Windows 10 installation will have 550MB Reserved Partition and C drive. That's why it always better to deal GPT so you can take advantage of having up to 128 primary partitions on one single disk.

    As for Drive 1, if you look carefully you will see it has only logical drives. Over the years I have learnt a bit about partitioning and know full well that to have five partitions on a drive at least one of them must be logical but they all are. Therefore, Drive 1 is MBR. I have had this arrangement for many years and do NOT keep any data (unless I can't avoid it) on Drive C. I keep C: as much as possible purely for Windows hence the small size of the partition (approx 29GB)
    .
    That was the old technology and still work because of the primary partition limitation of MBR. Just thought it would be cleaner not having to deal with logical.
    I don't know how you work it out that Drive 2 is GPT but I can assure you it is MBR. As I said in my initial post, my GPT drives are both 3TB one of which is an external drive. I also have two other external drives of 1 TB each not shown on the Disk Management graphic. Both are MBR with just one primary partition each. Both are used for backups. For security purposes I disconnect my external drives when not in use since they are only used for backups and I have ALL the drives shown in the above graphic backed up.
    Because you said you had other 2's as GPT so I misunderstood that. With HD < 2.2 TB in size, it does not matter if you initialize it as MBR or GPT. The only way to find out is to right click on the HD->Properties or change the top view to show view disk list then you'll know exactly what type they are.
    Two copies of BOOTMGR???-p3.jpg

    In conclusion,
    If your HD/SSD is < 2.2TB and don't plan to create more than 4 primary partitions then it does not matter if you use MBR or GPT.

    If your HD/SSD is > 2.2TB you must use GPT.
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  9. Posts : 141
    Win10 Pro 21H1
    Thread Starter
       #9

    Ok, I'm up for learning about running with UEFI instead of BIOS.

    So how do I do it. I've reason to believe its not just a case of converting drives to GPT since I understand there are settings on the Mobo that need to be set. Elsewhere I've seen references that imply you need to reinstall Windows 10 as well. Can you therefore please run it by me as to how I can convert from running with BIOS to UEFI including any setting up of the Mobo. And yes, I know all Mobo firmwares are different but run it by me in general terms. Also if this is not the thread to do this and I need to start a new thread then please let me know.

    Alternatively, if there is already a tutorial on this or other threads that have covered the topic please point me in the right direction and I'll take a look at what they have to say.

    Tracey
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 2,799
    Linux Mint 20.1 Win10Prox64
       #10

    Here's the tutorial:

    Convert Windows 10 from Legacy BIOS to UEFI without Data Loss Installation Upgrade Tutorials

    NOTE: This tutorial works if the Windows disk partitions layout correctly. Some people do have problem with it.
    And definitely you will have too based on the layout of your Disk 0.
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