What does a PC use as starting code? (Or specifically: How to create a W10 installation partition from an UEFI install media?)
by Ratamahatta from LinuxQuestions.org on (#5E3M6)
Hi.
I'm not sure this issue is right on linuxquestions.org. Anyway...
I'm trying to install W10 on a friend's laptop (He needs some specialised software for his job that is only available on Windows and needs direct HW access.) The laptop is a Core2Duo and doesn't support UEFI boot according to some web page. (I also checked the BIOS and there is no UEFI/legacy boot option where the later makes of that company have it or anywhere else.) The installation USB I have is a UEFI one, so it doesn't boot on that laptop (works fine on several others via UEFI).
So I'm trying to install via the internal HDD. Booted from linux live media (which boots in UEFI and legacy modes), created a drive, set the bootable flag, copied the contents of the UEFI install media onto it, rebooted. Without the boot flag, the system apparently just waits for any boot drives to show up. With that flag, the system gets into a boot loop, so it recognises the boot flag and tries but doesn't manage to boot. I tried with FAT32 and NTFS.
The contents of the partition is the usual efi and boot folders, setup.exe and an autorun.inf (like on a CD/DVD).
What would be needed for Windows/any other OS to boot? Where does the PC system look within the bootable FS for startup code? Do I need to copy some file to the very start clusters of the partition? (As in copy that file to the partition first?)
I'm not sure this issue is right on linuxquestions.org. Anyway...
I'm trying to install W10 on a friend's laptop (He needs some specialised software for his job that is only available on Windows and needs direct HW access.) The laptop is a Core2Duo and doesn't support UEFI boot according to some web page. (I also checked the BIOS and there is no UEFI/legacy boot option where the later makes of that company have it or anywhere else.) The installation USB I have is a UEFI one, so it doesn't boot on that laptop (works fine on several others via UEFI).
So I'm trying to install via the internal HDD. Booted from linux live media (which boots in UEFI and legacy modes), created a drive, set the bootable flag, copied the contents of the UEFI install media onto it, rebooted. Without the boot flag, the system apparently just waits for any boot drives to show up. With that flag, the system gets into a boot loop, so it recognises the boot flag and tries but doesn't manage to boot. I tried with FAT32 and NTFS.
The contents of the partition is the usual efi and boot folders, setup.exe and an autorun.inf (like on a CD/DVD).
What would be needed for Windows/any other OS to boot? Where does the PC system look within the bootable FS for startup code? Do I need to copy some file to the very start clusters of the partition? (As in copy that file to the partition first?)