dual boot vista/os x guid partition table

[tungmeister]

hey guys, recently i decided to change the partition map i was using on my os x install HD and since i've done this i've been unable to boot mac with vista's boot loader, i've tried using easybcd to add the os x entry but it's still not working, if i select os x at boot it just comes up with a hfs+ partition error, i can only boot mac from manually selecting a boot device, has anyone any ideas on fixing this? cheers

[newmacky]

hey guys, recently i decided to change the partition map i was using on my os x install HD and since i've done this i've been unable to boot mac with vista's boot loader, i've tried using easybcd to add the os x entry but it's still not working, if i select os x at boot it just comes up with a hfs+ partition error, i can only boot mac from manually selecting a boot device, has anyone any ideas on fixing this? cheers

 

Can u briefly give me ur installation method you have followed .... I have Retail Leopard and Windows Vista 64 bit Home Premium version on a MBR partition schema !! may be you could give it a shot ... Mind you though it is a lengthy procedure !!

 

~~

[Graebags]

hey guys, recently i decided to change the partition map i was using on my os x install HD and since i've done this i've been unable to boot mac with vista's boot loader, i've tried using easybcd to add the os x entry but it's still not working, if i select os x at boot it just comes up with a hfs+ partition error, i can only boot mac from manually selecting a boot device, has anyone any ideas on fixing this? cheers

 

 

Mate, i was in the same position till early this morning, when i came across a post by ' crawle' on Infinitemac, saying how to do it so easily its sic. The original post by crawle, which I loosely followed and lazily adapted is here:

 

http://www.infinitemac.com/how-to-add-a-gu...ows-bootloader/

 

I've changed this to suit my situation, and i assume yours:

 

I have Vista on a mbr partitioned drive, and Leopard on a GUID drive, using pc_efi_v8.

 

Initially when I had Leopard on an mbr drive, I used Easybcd to modify the Vista boot menu, and copied the file chain0 from the Leopard root into the folder c:\nst, that was created by Easybcd on the Vista drive, renaming it (ie chain0) to be nst_mac.mbr.

 

For my new GUID Leopard setup, i copied the file boot0 into the same nst folder on the Vista drive ie c:\nst, and now simply renamed it to be nst_mac.mbr, after deleting the original. Thats all, vista boot menu now works again!

 

I took the boot0 file directly from the EFI_v8.zip download. Its contained in the folder "EFI_v8\EFI v8\pc_efi_v80\guid".

 

EFI_v8.zip: http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?act...st&id=27771

[iHack13]

actually this is very tricky

 

Since I have Core Duo this goes only to 32 bit users as 64 bit users could use x64 editions of vista and xp to run those OS on their GPT.

 

well I installed osx on my lappy (1 HD only) in GPT style and also wanted to boot windows. Well it seemed there is no way but then I read that the SP1 of Vista 32bit included GUID support.

 

So installed Vista SP1 included and it all worked fine. It was flagged so I was able to boot it but of course I couldnt boot osx at that moment.

 

After setting Vista up and installing all the drivers I reinstalled the Darwin Bootloader with pc-efi8.

I was able to boot my osx again but it didnt show my Vista Partition in the f8 menu.

 

I tried chameleon too but nothing changed except it also hid the useless efi partition.

 

Well I talked with uphuck and he told me that it works best with gptsync.As far as I did understand this gptsync makes a vista-install think that you are using mbr for vista and fools it.

 

I will try it out and install a Vista without SP1 and see how it works. Will report back.

 

Btw gptsync is included in the iAtkos distros. It will install it rightaway if you choose to install the Darwin Bootloader

 

regards

iHack

[Nealio]

For my new GUID Leopard setup, i copied the file boot0 into the same nst folder on the Vista drive ie c:\nst, and now simply renamed it to be nst_mac.mbr, after deleting the original. Thats all, vista boot menu now works again!

 

I took the boot0 file directly from the EFI_v8.zip download. Its contained in the folder "EFI_v8\EFI v8\pc_efi_v80\guid".

 

EFI_v8.zip: http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?act...st&id=27771

 

I've seen so many variations on this advice, and so far none have worked. This thread caught my attention because

you're trying to do the same thing, and succeeding where others have failed. Before my question, my setup is:

 

Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3P, 2.4ghz Q6600 Quad, 8gb RAM, Nvidia 8800 GT 512mb

500gb drive (GUID), retail Leopard install per this thread (uses Chameleon)

500gb drive (MBR) , Vista Ultimate x64 (MBR)

 

I copied boot0 from /usr/standalone/i386/, renamed it to nst_mac.mbr, and put it in C:\NST\. I used EasyBCD

per the article to add an entry for MacOSX (iMac/Macbook). I have the MacOSX drive set to E:\ in EasyBCD.

 

Any ideas why this doesn't work ? When I select MacOSX from the boot menu, it says it's unable to boot.

What's also confusing me is that EasyBCD instructs you to take boot.efi and rename it nst_mac.efi.

[thefinalprophecy]

You have to install Chameleon on your OS X partition, but after you do, you have to manually run fdisk and mark your Vista partition as active!

 

When you reboot into Vista x64, run EasyBCD, add an entry for Generic x86 PC, and it should work just fine. It will create a file called "nst_mac.mbr" in your /NST/ directory.

[Nealio]

You have to install Chameleon on your OS X partition, but after you do, you have to manually run fdisk and mark your Vista partition as active!

 

When you reboot into Vista x64, run EasyBCD, add an entry for Generic x86 PC, and it should work just fine. It will create a file called "nst_mac.mbr" in your /NST/ directory.

 

I tried this last night and get a black screen with the text "chain booting error." I also tried using the chain0 renamed as nst_mac.mbr

(same error), and boot0 renamed as nst_mac.mbr (error w/ "MBR" in it, flash back to selection screen).

 

Not sure where to go from here ...

[thefinalprophecy]

I think chain0 only works with MBR partitions. Anyway, which partition comes first, your Leopard or Vista? My Leopard partition is before Vista so maybe that's why the nst file detects Leopard. Just a thought... I'll look into my setup because it seems like we are in the same situation.

[Nealio]

I think chain0 only works with MBR partitions. Anyway, which partition comes first, your Leopard or Vista? My Leopard partition is before Vista so maybe that's why the nst file detects Leopard. Just a thought... I'll look into my setup because it seems like we are in the same situation.

 

Thanks. Comes first ? I'm using two separate drives, so whichever one is currently set in the BIOS hehe...

[Big Kahuna]

BUMP.

 

Because I feel like we're so close to a solution on this.

 

Two separate drives!

 

One with Vista Ultimate x64

One with Leopard (chameleon, vanilla kernel) GUID not MBR

 

Would I need to copy boot0.guid rather than boot0?? Just curious.

[Hill Beast]

I copied boot0 from /usr/standalone/i386/, renamed it to nst_mac.mbr, and put it in C:\NST\. I used EasyBCD

per the article to add an entry for MacOSX (iMac/Macbook). I have the MacOSX drive set to E:\ in EasyBCD.

 

When I did something along those lines for dual booting, all I did was use BCDEDIT.EXE to copy the Windows Vista entry and just changed the target or whatever it was called from 'C:\WINDOWS\WINLOAD.EXE' to 'C:\CHAIN0'. I didn't change the drive or anything. Worked perfect.

 

The idea is simply to hand control over to the Darwin Bootloader, not boot Mac OS.

[guilliamo]

Just to report that Graebags fix for EasyBCD (above) worked perfectly for me on both my desktop (Intel DP35DP motherboard) and laptop (HP DV9230US).

 

Both have two hard drives, 32-bit Vista on the primary drive and OSX Leopard on the secondary hard drive which is GUID formatted.

 

EasyBCD rocks again thank to Greabags & Crawle !!!

 

 

 

G

[guilliamo]

For those still having difficulty:

 

I've included a snip of what my EasyBCD "ViewSettings" window looks like. In my case, Leopard is set as the default OS.

 

Note that you must still use the "generic X86 pc" selection, and point OSX to the Vista partition or drive where the NST folder with the renamed "boot0"

 

resides...drive C: in my case.

 

Note also that you may accidentally overwrite your new nst_mac.mbr with the stock version when making changes to EasyBCD...in that case just once again delete

 

the stock nst_mac.mbr, copy in the boot0 file again and rename it to nst_mac.mbr.

 

 

 

G

[Jingu]

On disk1 I have Vista on mbr disk

On disk2 I have Leopard on GUID disk

 

I did exactly as you say but I get boot1:error

I am using chameleon EFI instead of EFI_v8. I don't know if that's what's making the difference. But thanks for your instructions.

[Big Kahuna]

On disk1 I have Vista on mbr disk

On disk2 I have Leopard on GUID disk

 

I did exactly as you say but I get boot1:error

I am using chameleon EFI instead of EFI_v8. I don't know if that's what's making the difference. But thanks for your instructions.

 

Getting exact same thing. Using Chameleon and Fresh vanilla install.

[guilliamo]

Sorry, no Chameleon here, so I can't be any help.

 

Other posters here seem to be claiming success with both EasyBCD & Chameleon ???

 

G

[Big Kahuna]

BUMP. Gotta be close here.

[willpower101]

actually this is very tricky

 

Since I have Core Duo this goes only to 32 bit users as 64 bit users could use x64 editions of vista and xp to run those OS on their GPT.

 

well I installed osx on my lappy (1 HD only) in GPT style and also wanted to boot windows. Well it seemed there is no way but then I read that the SP1 of Vista 32bit included GUID support.

What does that mean exactly? I'm not sure what gpt is and I don't get what's special about x64 editions?

 

 

For those still having difficulty:

 

I've included a snip of what my EasyBCD "ViewSettings" window looks like. In my case, Leopard is set as the default OS.

 

Note that you must still use the "generic X86 pc" selection, and point OSX to the Vista partition or drive where the NST folder with the renamed "boot0"

 

resides...drive C: in my case.

 

Note also that you may accidentally overwrite your new nst_mac.mbr with the stock version when making changes to EasyBCD...in that case just once again delete

 

the stock nst_mac.mbr, copy in the boot0 file again and rename it to nst_mac.mbr.

 

G

When this hands over the booting to osx is it automatic or do you have to go through a windows boot menu first?

Does it default to osx as the primary OS if you don't touch anything like booting, or is there a way to make that happen?

 

 

 

p.s. - I hope it's not chameleon because I have to have chameleon installed to eliminate conflicts with this 45nm Q9300.

[stibra]

Getting exact same thing. Using Chameleon and Fresh vanilla install.

 

 

Hi, same problem here also, boot0 error. Anyone with solution for Chameleon EFI?

[valenumr]

Hi all. Okay, I am also using Chameleon, with Vista on my first HDD (MBR) and OS X on my second (GPT) and the EFI V8 boot0 for some reason always generates an error. I didn't try to find the code for the EFI Boot0, but I looked over the assembly for the Chameleon boot0 and found the problem. The Chameleon boot0 only boots an OS X install on the "boot" drive. Also, it will try to boot the "Active" partition first, then try for an HFS partition. This pretty much results in rebooting the vista loader if you set up the boot0 to load from vista (or NTLDR for XP). Anyhow, I just ripped out a few relevant chunks of code and put together a very simple chain loader (attached).

 

This is simply a boot sector image that just loads the boot sector (MBR, and yes, GPT has a "fake" MBR with boot code) from the "next" hard drive after your default boot device and boots that one. Simple really... just point vista to boot this file, and it will be like your BIOS booted your second drive. It is by no means robust or intelligent... it will only try to boot your (normally) second hard drive if it boots from your first, or your third hard drive if it boots from your second, etc. The target drive must have a properly bootable image on it's first sector (usually Boot0 from chameleon or efi_v8, but hell, it could be GRUB, XP, whatever). And I'm pretty sure it works, because I just used it to boot into OS X so I could post this

 

Anywho... what to call it?

 

BTW, you should be wary about randomly executing boot code on your computer, so you know, I take no responsibility for anything horrible that may result from you using this file. I did however include the source code, so you could always read it (its not very complex) and compile it with nasm (free).

chain0.zip

[warped1]

This worked for me with:

 

disk1 Vista 64 MBR

disk2 OSX retail install chameleon

 

 

Your awesome, thanks!!!!

[DNTSNT]

Hi all. Okay, I am also using Chameleon, with Vista on my first HDD (MBR) and OS X on my second (GPT) and the EFI V8 boot0 for some reason always generates an error. I didn't try to find the code for the EFI Boot0, but I looked over the assembly for the Chameleon boot0 and found the problem. The Chameleon boot0 only boots an OS X install on the "boot" drive. Also, it will try to boot the "Active" partition first, then try for an HFS partition. This pretty much results in rebooting the vista loader if you set up the boot0 to load from vista (or NTLDR for XP). Anyhow, I just ripped out a few relevant chunks of code and put together a very simple chain loader (attached).

 

This is simply a boot sector image that just loads the boot sector (MBR, and yes, GPT has a "fake" MBR with boot code) from the "next" hard drive after your default boot device and boots that one. Simple really... just point vista to boot this file, and it will be like your BIOS booted your second drive. It is by no means robust or intelligent... it will only try to boot your (normally) second hard drive if it boots from your first, or your third hard drive if it boots from your second, etc. The target drive must have a properly bootable image on it's first sector (usually Boot0 from chameleon or efi_v8, but hell, it could be GRUB, XP, whatever). And I'm pretty sure it works, because I just used it to boot into OS X so I could post this

 

Anywho... what to call it?

 

BTW, you should be wary about randomly executing boot code on your computer, so you know, I take no responsibility for anything horrible that may result from you using this file. I did however include the source code, so you could always read it (its not very complex) and compile it with nasm (free).

 

I used it and now is working.

 

Disk1 - Windows Vista HP

Disk2 - MAC OS X Leopard 10.5.6 with Efi boot.

 

Thanks!!!