Boot loader software

[Betts1964]

Hi,

 

I have win 10 installed on my laptop and I have win 11 installed on an external SSD. I would like to setup a dual boot PC using boot loader managing software.

 

Can someone recommend easy to use program that i can use to do this plz?

 

TIA

[Israeli_Eagle]

http://www.softwareok.com/?page=Windows/10/Install/13

[Betts1964]

2 hours ago, Israeli_Eagle said:

http://www.softwareok.com/?page=Windows/10/Install/13

I tried this but I do not see any possible way to add windows 11 as a boot option.

[Israeli_Eagle]

1 hour ago, Betts1964 said:

I tried this but I do not see any possible way to add windows 11 as a boot option.

 

If it's correctly installed & bootable then is auto in that list.
But is the 2nd one really as normal boot option in BIOS and also in F8 after POST??

 

Anyway, you can also edit in BCDEdit.
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/how-do-i-add-a-boot-entry-for-a-partition/e5a3876e-f91b-46f5-99fb-821f2a7a2fe7

 

[Betts1964]

i dont know if we are talking about the same thing but I am looking for an option of when I turn on my computer, I see an option of both operating systems and i either arrow down or up to selct the OS I want to use such as this

 

 

 

I can select f10 and boot into win 11 without issue that way without issue. That is not my problem. Any idea how to get to look like the picture above plz?

 

Thx

[Israeli_Eagle]

7 minutes ago, Betts1964 said:

i dont know if we are talking about the same thing but I am looking for an option of when I turn on my computer, I see an option of both operating systems and i either arrow down or up to selct the OS I want to use such as this

 

 

 

I can select f10 and boot into win 11 without issue that way without issue. That is not my problem. Any idea how to get to look like the picture above plz?

 

Thx

 

https://www.itechguides.com/windows-boot-manager-how-to-edit-bootmgr-and-fix-boot-errors-in-windows-10/

[pc71520]

EasyBCD - NeoSmart Technologies

[neofita]

+1 for EasyBCD

[Betts1964]

8 hours ago, pc71520 said:

EasyBCD - NeoSmart Technologies

I am trying this but I am getting the following error:

 

 

How to bypass so I can use this software plz?

[debebee]

What this means

If your Windows PC is booting in EFI mode, Microsoft has blocked the loading of legacy or non-Windows operating systems from the BCD menu. This means that you can no longer use EasyBCD to add Windows 9x, XP, or Server 2003 entries to the BCD bootloader menu. You also cannot add DOS, Linux, BSD, or Mac entries. You can add multiple Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10 entries; and you can also boot into BCD-based portable media, such as WinPE 2.0+ images.

EasyBCD is 100% UEFI-ready. In UEFI mode, much of EasyBCD’s functionality will be disabled for the safety of your PC. It abides by the restrictions Microsoft has placed on the bootloader that will block any attempts to load non-Microsoft-signed kernels (including chainloaders) from the top-level BCD menu, and it will create 100%-compliant UEFI entries other installed Windows operating systems on your PC. These limitations are not short comings of EasyBCD nor can they be lightly bypassed, they have been put in place by Microsoft.

Option 1: Disable UEFI and Secure Boot

Most PCs and laptops currently shipping with and using the UEFI firmware and bootloader can be configured to disable UEFI entirely and instead revert to “legacy” MBR boot mode. Two separate steps are often required to fully achieve this; we have documented both with visual guides and sample images taken from the more-common UEFI configuration pages:

1. Enabling legacy boot mode on UEFI PCs
2. Disabling Secure Boot

These steps do not turn off UEFI (which isn’t possible, since that’s what your motherboard is running), but they do enable you to boot into Windows the traditional way (via the MBR). However, your Windows installation is already in UEFI/GPT mode, and UEFI installations of Windows cannot be booted via the legacy MBR approach! You will need to either format (making sure to completely reinitialize the disk to get rid of the GPT) and reinstall Windows, or else use a utility like Easy Recovery Essentials which can convert your existing installation to be bootable in both UEFI/GPT and BIOS/MBR mode in-place, without losing any data. Performing a single “Automated Repair” run in EasyRE is sufficient to make your Windows installation bootable in legacy/MBR mode as well as EFI/GPT mode. You may need to give legacy/bios mode loading priority over UEFI in your BIOS setup/configuration (“load legacy first”).

Option 2: Use a virtual machine

With improvements to virtualization technologies in recent years, it’s no longer hard or painful to run another operating system (or several, for that matter) in a virtual machine instead of dual-booting natively. Using any of the popular, free virtualization software like Windows Virtual PC, VirtualBox, or VMware Server it is possible to install Linux, older versions of Windows, DOS, and other operating systems in a so-called “virtual machine” which looks and acts like another PC but runs in a window on your desktop – no rebooting required – letting you run both operating systems at once. This approach is fully compatible (and independent from) the MBR/UEFI issue, and should work fine on most modern machines. On older machines or machines with restricted amounts of RAM (under 4 or 8 GiB) available, this can be a taxing workload for your PC, however.

Option 3: Use GRUB2 EFI as your main boot manager

EasyBCD controls the Windows boot menu, and has traditionally been used as the primary boot manager. With EasyBCD, it is possible to add entries for Linux and older versions of Windows to the top-level BCD menu seen when your machine first boots. Since the Windows boot manager running in UEFI mode does not support the loading of legacy and non-Microsoft operating systems, another option is possible.

When installing Linux or any other 3rd party OS that ships with its own bootloader, instead of choosing to install GRUB to the bootsector as is traditionally done when opting to use EasyBCD to control your boot menu, choose to install GRUB to the MBR (or disk, in this case) and make it the main bootloader for your PC. You can add the Windows boot menu to the GRUB2 EFI boot menu – in this case, you’ll see GRUB’s boot menu when your PC starts, and from there you can choose Windows. You can still use EasyBCD to control the Windows boot menu and set up multi-boots and re-configure Vista+ entries in the BCD boot menu, but with the GRUB2 EFI menu loading first, you can use that to boot into Linux and to chainload NTLDR to boot into Windows 9x.

 

Source

https://neosmart.net/wiki/easybcd/uefi/

[alexxf]

24 minutes ago, Betts1964 said:

I am trying this but I am getting the following error:

 

 

How to bypass so I can use this software plz?

 

It is not an error, just a warning:

 

https://neosmart.net/wiki/easybcd/uefi/

 

[Betts1964]

When I boot up my windows 11 machine, the desktop looks totally different then when I use BIOS option so I think I am going to use BIOS option for when I use win 11.

[Kalju]

@Betts1964

In fact, your problem is that Windows 11 is on an external hard drive. However, the default boot loader provides only the default active hard disk options.
It would be wise to install all the systems on the same internal hard drive and all these problems will disappear.
If this hard drive is too small, there are two options - replace it with a larger one or save your files to another hard drive. It can also be an external hard drive, no problem, but it should always be available and preferably labeled as a logical drive.
PS. But personally I can't understtand why should You have so many OS installed on the same pc if You can buy absolutely new laptop for each OS, if little search, You can get for couple hundred $ and if You buy such one where is Linux preinstalled, can even get cheaper laptop than its components costs.

But that's just my opinion, and it doesn't have to be taken seriously.

[Israeli_Eagle]

53 minutes ago, Kalju said:

@Betts1964

In fact, your problem is that Windows 11 is on an external hard drive. However, the default boot loader provides only the default active hard disk options.
It would be wise to install all the systems on the same internal hard drive and all these problems will disappear.
If this hard drive is too small, there are two options - replace it with a larger one or save your files to another hard drive. It can also be an external hard drive, no problem, but it should always be available and preferably labeled as a logical drive.

 

True, that's the different of really full (desktop) PC versus limited laptops. And HDD/SSD as USB drives (which actually not exist, have a converter between) are not recommended anyway.

 

53 minutes ago, Kalju said:

PS. But personally I can't understtand why should You have so many OS installed on the same pc if You can buy absolutely new laptop for each OS, if little search, You can get for couple hundred $ and if You buy such one where is Linux preinstalled, can even get cheaper laptop than its components costs.

But that's just my opinion, and it doesn't have to be taken seriously.

 

... or simply use a few VMs when needed.  

 

[lurch234]

2 hours ago, Kalju said:

In fact, your problem is that Windows 11 is on an external hard drive.

Like he says. You can always try "Using Rufus To Create Windows To Go USB Drive." Win 10 enterprise used to let you install a bootable Windows on an ext HDD. But you can't anymore as MS removed the tool.

But Rufus is supposed to let you do this. I haven't tried it personally.

 

Using Rufus To Create Windows To Go USB Drive:

 

https://www.intowindows.com/rufus-to-create-windows-to-go-usb-drive/