How to add an existing VHD to boot menu? Please help.

5th

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Hello everyone!

A few years ago I setup my computer with Windows 8/8.1 on the local hard drive C:, just as usual. Then I added to VHDs to th menu, one Win 8.1 for games and one Windows Server 2012 R2 that I use from time to time for virtualization, where I run sort of my training environment.
Now my computer broke and I had it repaired at a shop, where they put in a new power supply. When I got my PC back on Friday, they said the'd tested it and it would boot to Windows.

Well, it does, but my boot menue has disappeared. Also, I noticed that system date was Dec 31st of 2017, so there might have been a BIOS/Firmware reset issue. Unfortunately I do not remember if my previous setting was to boot in BIOS or UEFI mode.
I do not know if or what they did to my BCD and I have a hunch they won't tell me, once I tell them about my problem. (And even if they did, my previous BCD won't just reappear by magic.)

As all my files still exist I thought it would be an easy job to add the two VHDs to the boot manager menu, but either I did not write down what I did last time or I can't find it. So I went through the internet, trying lots of tutorials and how-tos, but to no avail. One of the last ones was this one from the vendor. No matter what I try, after booting to one of my new boot menu items, the screen just stays black. It may also make a short beep, then reboot, but then the second time in a row it just stays dark. There is no error message.

I also tried to copy the original, working item, then point it to a VHD, but this also did not work.


I am probably missing something small, but I really have no idea. So every hint is appreciated here! :) After spending a few hours Friday night and Saturday on trying to get this running again, I am now here, kindly asking for your help.

BCD is attached below. Items are:
1: boot manager
2: local Windows on C:, as I got it back from the shop.
3: VHD for gaming. Apparently my config is currently not shown / got lost:
device vhd=[G:]\VMs\Games.vhd
osdevice vhd=[G:]\VMs\Games.vhd
4: VHD with my Windows Server 2012 R2 training environment
5: Copied #2 and had set
device vhd=[G:]\VMs\Games.vhd
osdevice vhd=[G:]\VMs\Games.vhd
which is not shown for some reason.

Thank you for your help! :)

Code:
Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier              {bootmgr}
path                    \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi
description             Windows Boot Manager
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {globalsettings}
default                 {current}
resumeobject            {a5d8c201-f0a6-11e1-aad7-9ef4fb42ac84}
displayorder            {current}
                        {d6bce695-d6d9-11e7-8499-ac220bc55fa4}
                        {d6bce696-d6d9-11e7-8499-ac220bc55fa4}
                        {d6bce697-d6d9-11e7-8499-ac220bc55fa4}
toolsdisplayorder       {memdiag}
timeout                 30
noerrordisplay          No

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {current}
device                  locate=\windows\{0e11e480-c500-47e8-8228-e97b0ba49ef5}
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.efi
description             Microsoft Windows
locale                  en-US
loadoptions             DDISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
osdevice                locate=\windows\{0e11e480-c500-47e8-8228-e97b0ba49ef5}
systemroot              \Windows
custom:22000005         \windows\{0e11e480-c500-47e8-8228-e97b0ba49ef5}
resumeobject            {a5d8c201-f0a6-11e1-aad7-9ef4fb42ac84}
nx                      OptIn
pae                     Default
driverloadfailurepolicy UseErrorControl
detecthal               Yes
nocrashautoreboot       Yes
uselegacyapicmode       Yes

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {d6bce695-d6d9-11e7-8499-ac220bc55fa4}
device                  locate=\Windows\system32\winload.exe
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows 8.1 Games ][ (SSD)
osdevice                locate=\Windows
systemroot              \Windows
nx                      OptIn

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {d6bce696-d6d9-11e7-8499-ac220bc55fa4}
device                  vhd=[E:]\Daten\VirtualMachines\HV\vhd\WinSrv2012R2.HyperV-Bootcamp.vhdx
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows Server 2012R2 Bootcamp
osdevice                vhd=[E:]\Daten\VirtualMachines\HV\vhd\WinSrv2012R2.HyperV-Bootcamp.vhdx
systemroot              \Windows
nx                      OptIn

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {d6bce697-d6d9-11e7-8499-ac220bc55fa4}
device                  locate=\Windows\system32\winload.exe
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows 8.1 Games #2 (SSD)
locale                  en-US
loadoptions             DDISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
osdevice                locate=\Windows
systemroot              \Windows
custom:22000005         \windows\{0e11e480-c500-47e8-8228-e97b0ba49ef5}
resumeobject            {a5d8c201-f0a6-11e1-aad7-9ef4fb42ac84}
nx                      OptIn
pae                     Default
driverloadfailurepolicy UseErrorControl
detecthal               Yes
nocrashautoreboot       Yes
uselegacyapicmode       Yes
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    custom
    CPU
    Intel64 Family 6 Model 60 Stepping 3 GenuineIntel ~3401 Mhz
    Motherboard
    Asus H87-Pro
    Memory
    32 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD 7970 6GB
    Hard Drives
    SATA only
    2 x 3 TB as RAID 1 = C:, D:
    3 TB = E:
    3 TB = F:
    Keyboard
    Logitech K800 (cordless)
    Mouse
    Logitech G700s (cordless)
    Internet Speed
    Cable (5GBit up, 70GBit down)
    Browser
    IE 11, FF 34
    Antivirus
    Avira
In an elevated command prompt I have just tried to fix the missing device/osdevice of #3and #5:
bcdedit /set {d6bce695-d6d9-11e7-8499-ac220bc55fa4} device vhd=[G:]\VMs\Games.vhd
bcdedit /set {d6bce695-d6d9-11e7-8499-ac220bc55fa4} osdevice vhd=[G:]\VMs\Games.vhd

returned "The operation completed successfully.", but it still reads:
device locate=\Windows\system32\winload.exe
:think:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    custom
    CPU
    Intel64 Family 6 Model 60 Stepping 3 GenuineIntel ~3401 Mhz
    Motherboard
    Asus H87-Pro
    Memory
    32 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD 7970 6GB
    Hard Drives
    SATA only
    2 x 3 TB as RAID 1 = C:, D:
    3 TB = E:
    3 TB = F:
    Keyboard
    Logitech K800 (cordless)
    Mouse
    Logitech G700s (cordless)
    Internet Speed
    Cable (5GBit up, 70GBit down)
    Browser
    IE 11, FF 34
    Antivirus
    Avira
This thread has been moved. Please note that my issue is about native boot, not virtualization.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    custom
    CPU
    Intel64 Family 6 Model 60 Stepping 3 GenuineIntel ~3401 Mhz
    Motherboard
    Asus H87-Pro
    Memory
    32 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD 7970 6GB
    Hard Drives
    SATA only
    2 x 3 TB as RAID 1 = C:, D:
    3 TB = E:
    3 TB = F:
    Keyboard
    Logitech K800 (cordless)
    Mouse
    Logitech G700s (cordless)
    Internet Speed
    Cable (5GBit up, 70GBit down)
    Browser
    IE 11, FF 34
    Antivirus
    Avira
Use a free program like EasyBCD > Software Library - NeoSmart Technologies

and delete every BCD entry ( other than the current OS )

Mount each VHD and note the drive letter assignment (% = drive letter assignment)

then from a command prompt (admin) type:

bcdboot %:\ windows

it will create the boot entry for that certain vhd.. then you can again use EasyBCD to rename the description of the vhd boot entry...

I will also note that your BOOTMGR is using bootmgfw.efi
and your Current OS is using winload.efi

which means your system has a UEFI system partition.
Your VHD's are setup to use a Legacy / MBR boot

I assume these are x64 VHD's > if so > then you can just edit winload.exe to winload.efi
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
Hello KYHI!
I apologize for my late reply; my employer sent me on a bunch of business trips before Christmas which barely left me a day at home, so all my private stuff hat to wait. I was lucky I had all my presents ready before.

Thank you very much for your much appreciated help! I followed your procedure and it worked! :)

If I remember correctly, when I setup this installation some years ago, UEFI was pretty new (at least to me) and as I had heard of some problems it might bring, I decided to go with traditional BIOS. At a later time I changed this to UEFI for reasons I do not remember anymore - I think this was when I configured my training environment.

Unfortunately I only have a very vague idea of how booting works with Windows 8 and above. I bought two books on Windows 8/8.1, but both do not go deeper than listing all bcdedit commands. As I do not understand the boot process, when there is a problem, all I can do is look it up on the internet and follow the steps, not actually knowing what I am doing.
So if you (or anyone) has a recommendation on a book explaining this I'd appreciate this!

Thank you again for your post, which helped me a lot and saved me a lot of time and frustration! :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    custom
    CPU
    Intel64 Family 6 Model 60 Stepping 3 GenuineIntel ~3401 Mhz
    Motherboard
    Asus H87-Pro
    Memory
    32 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD 7970 6GB
    Hard Drives
    SATA only
    2 x 3 TB as RAID 1 = C:, D:
    3 TB = E:
    3 TB = F:
    Keyboard
    Logitech K800 (cordless)
    Mouse
    Logitech G700s (cordless)
    Internet Speed
    Cable (5GBit up, 70GBit down)
    Browser
    IE 11, FF 34
    Antivirus
    Avira
Read Your Boot Manager
Code:
{bootmgr}
path                    \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi
description             Windows Boot Manager
Read Your {Current} Windows Boot Loader
Code:
Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {current}
device                  locate=\windows\{0e11e480-c500-47e8-8228-e97b0ba49ef5}
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.efi

All You needed to do was >
bcdedit /set { } Path=\Windows\system32\winload.efi

UEFI uses BootMGR and WinLoad with EFI extention
BIOS uses BootMGR and Winload with EXE extension
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
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