BIOS only 64-bit Intel PC and Confusing Instructions

[AshlandSG]

OK, so I've been trying for two days to make heads and tails out of all these, especially when Clover is so focused on mackintosh instead of Windows. My goal is very simple:

 

1. I only have a BIOS-only PC, 64-bit CPU.  No EFI/UEFI and no firmware upgrade available.

2. I want to run some sort of UEFI emulator on top to boot Windows 10 on a 3TB disk (or otherwise lose 750GB).

3. I do not want multi-loading capability.  I just want it to boot Windows 10 and see the entire 3TB disk, that's all.

 

So, I created a Clover USB stick using a wonderful tool called Easy2Boot.  I placed the Clover ISO in the _ISO\MAIN folder as instructed.

 

I was able to boot Clover but all I got was the Clover BIOS setup.  I clicked "continue" to continue booting but nothing happens; takes me back to the same menu.

 

All I wanted for it to do is magically install UEFI emulator on my HDD, boot that up then boot Windows UEFI drivers afterward.  Doesn't look hard but, for the life of me, I could never get that to work.  I'm missing some instruction after putting Clover on USB.  I had expected Clover to start up and give me options to format disk, partition as required and install appropriate UEFI emulators and drivers.  Nothing but just the Clover menu. :-(

 

Can anyone give me a simple step-by-step in getting exactly what I need to emulate UEFI to boot Windows 10?  I can get it to boot the Windows 10 installation but, after installing, it converted my GPT disk to MBR.  Aurg.  Thank you.

 

Sincerely,

 

John Babbitt

Ashland Support Group

[Steve Si]

Clover is used to boot from an EFI boot file. Since you have no EFI boot file around, you won't see any boot option!

 

I would not advise you to follow the route you are going because Clover is very hardware dependant.

I would suggest you buy another hard disk (e.g. 128GB SSD) and use that as the Windows boot disk and install Windows onto that in normal MBR BIOS mode.

Then use the 3TB drive for storage, etc. (use GPT partition/format on it for 3TB capacity).

 

If you really want to try using Clover (I really don't advise it!)

 

1. Get a Windows x64 Install ISO

2. Drag-and-drop onto the MPI_FAT32 toolkit to make a .imgPTN file (see E2B website for details)

3. Copy .imgPTN file to \_ISO\WINDOWS\WIN10 on your E2B drive

4. Boot to E2B and select .imgPTN file - you should now see a CSM menu

5. Select Clover option and install Windows in UEFI-mode

6. Each time the system reboots, boot from the E2B drive - choose Clover - choose the Windows EFI boot file using the new hard disk icon  (not the Windows Install EFI file on the E2B USB drive!)

 

You will need to boot from USB and run Clover each time you boot to Windows and there may be hardware issues!

 

if you get an error when Windows Setup first tries to copy files copy files to the 3TB drive, you may need to use Diskpart and 'clean' and 'convert GPT' first (Google for it).

 

If you want to make a 'Clover boot USB drive' - then make a new small E2B USB drive. Then make a new .imgPTN file using an empty folder as the source (drag-and-drop and empty folder onto the MPI_FAT32 Desktop shortcut). Then boot to E2B and switch to the .imgPTN file. Now you can edit the \menu.lst file and add a default line and a timeout line - e.g.

 

default 4

timeout 3

 

This will pick menu option #4 with a timeout of 3 seconds.

 

Now it will boot to Clover automatically but you will still have to select the correct boot icon.

 

 

 

HTH

[AshlandSG]

First of all, I did consider adding a 2nd HDD but this is a Dell Optiplex 980 Small Form Factor.  It only has room for one 3.5" drive, unless I remove the much-needed DVD-RW drive.  So constrained.  Thus, I purchased a larger drive and need to use all of the space there.  Unfortunately, it only has BIOS, no UEFI.  Thus, my attempt in using an UEFI emulator.

 

If Clover is not the best UEFI emulator for my situation, what do I need to use to get it to bootload a UEFI emulator and finally start up Windows 10 in UEFI mode on a BIOS-only PC?  I don't just want to leave an USB stick there, either, though if it comes down to that, I imagine I could do that with a really small USB that doesn't protrude too much to get knocked around.  Thanks!

[Steve Si]

The thing about SSD drives is that they are fast and do not need mounting in a chassis as they have no moving parts

As long as you have a spare SATA connector on the mainboard and a power lead, you are good to go!

I have my SATA SSD's attached with sticky-sided velcro to my PC chassis!

You can even run them hanging off the SATA cable if you like!

[AshlandSG]

In other words, there's no solution to booting an UEFI emulator off HDD that can in turn boot Windows UEFI and go about its merry business as if it thinks the computer has UEFI?  Oh, well, guess I'll have to junk this computer even though it's quite powerful. :-(  Mobo not quite replaceable because too many Dell proprietary parts like the PS, etc., plus SFF mobo hard to find.  I just wish there were people who succeeded getting that to work to speak up here; I guess that's the reason why I couldn't find a solution after researching for 3 days!

[Steve Si]

Well, it can be made to work by MBR booting to  a single GPT disk and I have it working at the moment and will make a Tutorial soon.

But there are problems. Windows Recovery will not work, so if you accidentally mess up your drive, you cannot easily repair it using the Microsoft Tools.

Also Windows Update could at any time screw up the boot process. Also, Sleep\Hibernation may not work or may need a registry tweak to get it working.

 

UEFI-emulators (e.g. Clover) are notoriously unreliable. They may not even work on many systems and on others they may not work correctly (e.g. Hibernate, Windows Updates, etc.).

 

Basically, there is a good reason why MS do not support MBR-booting to a GPT disk...

[Steve Si]

http://www.rmprepusb.com/tutorials/bios_gpt_boot

 

You can try these instructions if you are feeling brave!