Solved MBR to GPT


/f
 

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Before I input does it look right?

bcdboot g:\windows /s \Device\HarddiskVolume8 /f uefi

What figure should I be using after "Volume" because it changes, first 7 then 8 now 5, it keeps changing under device path in DiskGenuis?

Further down I see next to " Partition Name " it says EFI System Partition but next to Partition Attribute it says no drive letter.

Next to the heading ESP in the left pane I have assigned a drive letter, letter Y, I thought EFI System Partition and the ESP partition was one of the same, could this be the issue, with BCD, bit confused?
 

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I thought EFI System Partition and the ESP partition was one of the same

Yes, ESP=Efi System Partition

As you have assigned letter Y to the esp, you can use the letter if it is easier for you.

bcdboot g:\windows /s Y: /f uefi

from your screenshot :

jaylob-esp-letter-Y.jpg
 
Last edited:

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Yes, ESP=Efi System Partition

As you have assigned letter Y to the esp, you can use the letter if it is easier for you.

bcdboot g:\windows /s Y: /f uefi

from your screenshot :
Success I think.
 

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The ESP partition existed before UEFI became the standard. Originally in legacy bios, the boot files were included in Windows C drive but at some point they were separated and new system partition was created. The E originally stood for something different but over time people (erroneously) started saying the E stood for EFI.

It is a moot point as the ESP partition is ONLY for legacy bios on mbr drives.

The old ESP partition could be on a fat32 or NTFS partition.

The same is technically true for the EFI gpt partition but regrettably most pcs implement a subset of UEFI and pcs will only boot from a fat32 EFI partition.

Be absolutely clear - the ESP partition and EFI partition ARE NOT the same thing. The superficially do the same thing i.e. contain files that boot Windows but HOW they boot Windows is completely different.
 

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Originally in legacy bios, the boot files were included in Windows C drive but at some point they were separated and new system partition was created. The E originally stood for something different but over time people (erroneously) started saying the E stood for EFI.
You are thinking of a system reserved partition.

The Three letters ESP stand for Efi System Partition

microsoft
The device must contain a system partition. On GPT drives, this is known as the EFI System Partition, or the ESP.
 
Last edited:

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You are thinking of a system reserved partition.

The Three letters ESP stand for Efi System Partition

microsoft
Yeh but not on legacy bios.

How can ESP mean EFI system partition before EFI was even developed?

It was just called the System Partition. The E came later and confused people with typical MS obfuscation.

People can throw links all they like to wikipedia etc. but all that proves is wikipedia is only as good as the quality of input. To quote a very old phrase GIGO.

Pointless discussing any more if people do not remember Windows history before UEFI. To quote Max Boyce "I know, I was there".
 

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Yeh but not on legacy bios.
Pointless discussing any more if people do not remember the history before UEFI.
Windows 7 setup creates a system reserved partition when installing to mbr disk. That is not the same as ESP

Try creating ESP on mbr disk.
 

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Windows 7 setup creates a system reserved partition when installing to mbr disk. That is not the same as ESP

Try creating ESP on mbr disk.
Sea man ticks.
 

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It seems to be perfect but can't be sure as Disk manager doesn't show many drive partition.
Use Minitool instead.

Shut down, detach drive 0 (power or SATA cable), start the computer enter BIOS and select UEFI boot and make Windows boot loader (on drive 1) the first priority boot drive.
It should now boot as UEFI-GPT
That's exactly what I did and success, drive 1 boots in UEFI mode, I can go ahead with a lot more confidence and now convert drive 0 to UEFI and get it working from the BIOS, Thank you.
 

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Well done
Please mark this thread as Solved
 

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That's exactly what I did and success, drive 1 boots in UEFI mode, I can go ahead with a lot more confidence and now convert drive 0 to UEFI and get it working from the BIOS, Thank you.
Now you know how to do the manual method, you should be able to do it easily next time.


Screenshot walkthrough starts at post#17 below


 

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Well done
Please mark this thread as Solved
Not yet but soon, if only because whilst I have obtained new found confidence and knowledge, not quite ready to lose this comfort zone.

I have yet to convert my C drive, disk 0, just making sure others are around to catch should I screw up. :-)
 

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Not yet but soon, if only because whilst I have obtained new found confidence and knowledge, not quite ready to lose this comfort zone.

I have yet to convert my C drive, disk 0, just making sure others are around to catch should I screw up. :-)
By marking this thread as solved, it will let others know that there is a solution(s) in this thread that works. You'll still be able enter new post.
 

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Not yet but soon, if only because whilst I have obtained new found confidence and knowledge, not quite ready to lose this comfort zone.

I have yet to convert my C drive, disk 0, just making sure others are around to catch should I screw up. :-)
I've screwed up, been trying for the last few hours to resolve it, here goes.

Converted my disk 2 ( G ) to GPT following I thought the same procedures I had done previously'

I used DiskGenius same as before to convert, created an ESP partition, same as before, gave it a drive letter, ( Z ) and populated it using the bcdboot command, it hung for a long time but finely received a success message, ( see images ).

I restarted PC knowing It would boot to BIOS to make a couple of changes, ( select UEFI mode and select TPM 2 ), restarted PC fully expecting to get to the desktop but it returned to the BIOS page, checked again, restarted PC, back to the BIOS page.

While trying again a MS warning page appeared, ( see image ) and that's where I'm at.

I have checked the partitions to both drives in Disk Management, disk 0, is working fine, a difference in descriptions, circled, ( see image ) other then that both drives look mostly the same.

Not so much what have I done but what should I do now?
 

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Sorted, one of the GKs suggested running sfc /scannow, haven't run that for a while.

It found and repaired some corrupted files, restarted PC, shut it down then reconnected it as the OS drive and it booted straight to desktop.
 

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    Cooler Master

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