jpz4085/bcd-sys

Setup the Windows BCD and boot files from Linux or macOS.

BCD-SYS

BASH script utility to setup the Boot Configuration Data store and system files for the Windows Boot Manager (WBM) from a Linux or macOS environment. This can be used to add boot files after applying a Windows image with the wimlib tools, configure the computer to boot from a virtual hard disk (VHDX) file, add a Windows installation to the current boot menu or recreate a system partition that has been corrupted or formatted. Similar to the bcdboot utility.

Example 1: Copy boot files then create BCD store for a physical Windows installation.

Example 2: Copy boot files then create BCD store for a Windows installation on a virtual hard disk.

Usage

Show help

bcd-sys --help

Create a new Windows entry

bcd-sys /media/user/mountpoint

Create a virtual hard disk entry

bcd-sys /media/user/mountpoint/images/windows.vhdx

Specify a system volume (no firmware entry)

bcd-sys /media/user/mountpoint -s /media/user/volname

Specify both UEFI and BIOS firmware

bcd-sys -f both /media/user/mountpoint

Add the WBM to the end of the UEFI boot order

bcd-sys -e /media/user/mountpoint

Specify a custom description

bcd-sys /media/user/mountpoint -n Windows\ 11\ Professional

Specify the locale parameter

bcd-sys -l en-us /media/user/mountpoint

Remove existing stores and create new entries

bcd-sys -c /media/user/mountpoint

Installation

Download from Releases or clone the repository.

git clone https://github.com/jpz4085/bcd-sys.git

Enter the folder for your platform and run for temporary usage.

cd $(uname)
./bcdsys.sh /media/user/mountpoint

Install or uninstall using the setup script if desired.

./setup.sh install | uninstall

Features

BCD-SYS has the following features and differences compared to bcdboot:

• Global objects and settings remain unchanged when modifiying an existing BCD.
• Any existing osloader objects for a Windows volume are replaced and not merged.
• The system BCD-Template is ignored and a Windows10/11 equivalent is used.
• The clean option will delete the existing configuration and create entries in new stores.
• The boot files will be copied by default to a system partition on the Windows device, the
  current root device, or the first disk listed by the system if different from the previous.
• When specifying a virtual hard disk the script will present a list of partitions contained
  in the file. Enter the device name of the volume which contains the Windows image.
• The position of the WBM entry in the UEFI boot order will be preserved when updating
  an existing BCD. A new entry will only be created if missing or creating new stores.
• The description can be specified when creating a new Windows entry.

Requirements

Common Packages: hivexsh and hivexregedit, (readpe - PE Utils¹) pev/peres

Linux Packages: attr/setfattr and fatattr, VHDX Support: qemu-utils and NBD client module.²

macOS Packages: bash (above version 3.2), mtools, bootoption³, signmbr⁴ and NTFS write support.⁵⁶

Legacy BIOS: ms-sys⁷

Footnotes

1. Download and build from source when necessary. ↩

2. These are optional if only working with physical disks. ↩

3. This is optional and only tested on Hackintosh and VirtualBox. ↩

4. Create a Windows Disk Signature on MBR media before running the script. ↩

5. The script supports NTFS-3G as well as the commercial Tuxera and Paragon products. ↩

6. This is optional if not writing to any NTFS partitions (including system) from macOS. ↩

7. This is optional and not required if only using UEFI. ↩

bcd-sys's Issues

BCD Error - Windows Failed to Start

Hello,

We received the attached error after doing this script. This is a Windows 10 (build 17763).

Here is the log from this:

Get block device for mount point (sudo required later)...
/root/.hivexsh: Read-only file system
Remove entry at {cf4ca6b0-57e3-46f1-85ed-e8a96bd010e6}
/root/.hivexsh: Read-only file system
/root/.hivexsh: Read-only file system
Remove {cf4ca6b0-57e3-46f1-85ed-e8a96bd010e6} from WBM display order.
/root/.hivexsh: Read-only file system
/root/.hivexsh: Read-only file system
Remove entry at {d32da8ce-d3d7-4017-a889-79e9afc61bcf}
/root/.hivexsh: Read-only file system
/root/.hivexsh: Read-only file system
/root/.hivexsh: Read-only file system
Remove {d32da8ce-d3d7-4017-a889-79e9afc61bcf} from WBM resume object.
/root/.hivexsh: Read-only file system
Update main BCD hive with new entries...
/root/.hivexsh: Read-only file system
Loader GUID: {f697c3eb-534d-41f1-b3c4-816ccbf55481}
Resume GUID: {6371cb56-ea7f-4867-99a2-02d97ab025f9}
/root/.hivexsh: Read-only file system
/root/.hivexsh: Read-only file system
/root/.hivexsh: Read-only file system
Update recovery BCD hive with new entries...
/root/.hivexsh: Read-only file system
/root/.hivexsh: Read-only file system
Clean up temporary files...
Finished configuring UEFI boot files.

And here is the XML:

15371843041

109262 335963 41920901581 7696989766 0x01D8B2A8 0x8818FD5F 0x01D8B2A8 0x9C39C2D5 0 9 Microsoft® Windows® Operating System EnterpriseS Client 0 10.0.17763.2989;2016-01-01T00:00:00Z IMAGE_STATE_COMPLETE acpiapic WinNT Terminal Server en-US en-US 10 0 17763 3287 0 WINDOWS Factory_0

1 0 0 0 0x01D8B2A8 0x98BDFB35 0x01D8B2A8 0x9C3C254D 0 Factory_1 20-58977715 0 17 8 2022 15 16 2 0 0 99970187264 NTFS Factory_0 OS 2 3 0 0 4923064320 NTFS Factory_1 Imaging 2 5 3 0 6

Let me know any feedback or needs.

Thanks!

some minors errors with flash devices like /dev/nvme0n1

i got some errors when run: bcd-sys -v /mnt/windows
where /mnt/windows is mount point to /dev/nvme0n1p3 (win part) and EFI part /dev/nvme0n1p1

DEBUG: Length=3, String=MUI
DEBUG: Length=11, String=BOOTMGR.XSL
DEBUG: Length=3, String=MUI
DEBUG: Length=11, String=BOOTMGR.XSL
sfdisk: cannot open /dev/nvme0n1p: No such file or directory
Update main BCD hive with new entries...
Loader GUID: {005a0c6e-67ad-4e92-99e9-a0546faf8732}
Resume GUID: {71992148-7aca-4e78-afc5-4742c3e3e41f}
sfdisk: cannot open /dev/nvme0n1p: No such file or directory
sfdisk: cannot open /dev/nvme0n1p: No such file or directory
sfdisk: cannot open /dev/nvme0n1p: No such file or directory
sfdisk: cannot open /dev/nvme0n1p: No such file or directory
Update recovery BCD hive with new entries...
Clean up temporary files...
Finished configuring UEFI boot files.

error is "/dev/nvme0n1p", should be "/dev/nvme0n1".
probably same with device /dev/mmcblk0

Install hivexregedit in macOS

BCD-sys -help

The following packages are required:  hivexregedit

How do I get hivexregedit in macOS?

Missing License

Awesome work, thank you! But there are some things I would like to change (and eventually pitch it to you). Would you care to add a license to your code?

Windows Install.app

Hello. I wrote to you there https://sourceforge.net/p/windows-install/discussion/general/thread/2fd478e439/?limit=25#ed25/cbdd/c114/1a05/5e38/eb08/67b0
But I think it’s convenient to communicate here.
I adapted the creation of BCD UEFI for the program and it works well. But there are difficulties with BCD BIOS.
This is an MBR disk

 iMac:~ sergey$ diskutil info /Volumes/Windows
 Device Identifier:         disk6s1
 Device Node:               /dev/disk6s1
 Whole:                     No
 Part of Whole:             disk6

 Volume Name:               Windows
 Mounted:                   Yes
 Mount Point:               /Volumes/Windows

 Partition Type:            Windows_NTFS
 File System Personality:   ExFAT
 Type (Bundle):             exfat
 Name (User Visible):       ExFAT

 OS Can Be Installed:       No
 Media Type:                Общий
 Protocol:                  USB
 SMART Status:              Not Supported
 Volume UUID:               7F7C6600-E4EC-32D9-9064-A2DBA7EFCD2A
 Partition Offset:          1048576 Bytes (2048 512-Byte-Device-Blocks)

 Disk Size:                 320.1 GB (320071532544 Bytes) (exactly 625139712 512-Byte-Units)
 Device Block Size:         512 Bytes

 Volume Total Space:        320.1 GB (320060129280 Bytes) (exactly 625117440 512-Byte-Units)
 Volume Used Space:         11.3 MB (11272192 Bytes) (exactly 22016 512-Byte-Units) (0.0%)
 Volume Free Space:         320.0 GB (320048857088 Bytes) (exactly 625095424 512-Byte-Units) (100.0%)
 Allocation Block Size:     512 Bytes

 Media OS Use Only:         No
 Media Read-Only:           No
 Volume Read-Only:          No

 Device Location:           External
 Removable Media:           Fixed

 Solid State:               Info not available

I get:

 iMac:~ sergey$ /Users/sergey/Desktop/test15 ; exit;
 part - /dev/disk6s1
 disk - /dev/disk6
 FDisk_partition_scheme
 Password:
 Disk: /dev/disk6	geometry: 38913/255/63 [625142448 sectors]
 Signature: 0xAA55
          Starting       Ending
  #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1: 07 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [      2048 -  625139712] HPFS/QNX/AUX
  2: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused      
  3: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused      
  4: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused      
 FDisk_partition_scheme
 disksig - 00000000
 partoffset - 1048576
 diskbytes - 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,0
 partbytes - 00,00,10,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
 logout

 Saving session...
 ...copying shared history...
 ...saving history...truncating history files...
 ...completed.

GPT disk with hybrid MBR

 iMac:~ sergey$ diskutil info /Volumes/Windows
 Device Identifier:         disk6s3
 Device Node:               /dev/disk6s3
 Whole:                     No
 Part of Whole:             disk6

 Volume Name:               Windows
 Mounted:                   Yes
 Mount Point:               /Volumes/Windows

 Partition Type:            Microsoft Basic Data
 File System Personality:   NTFS
 Type (Bundle):             ntfs
 Name (User Visible):       Windows NT File System (NTFS)

 OS Can Be Installed:       No
 Media Type:                Общий
 Protocol:                  USB
 SMART Status:              Not Supported
 Disk / Partition UUID:     0E7E4ACF-CE00-4595-B642-D972CDFEAB57
 Partition Offset:          139829706752 Bytes (273104896 512-Byte-Device-Blocks)

 Disk Size:                 100.1 GB (100092870656 Bytes) (exactly 195493888 512-Byte-Units)
 Device Block Size:         512 Bytes

 Volume Total Space:        100.1 GB (100092866560 Bytes) (exactly 195493880 512-Byte-Units)
 Volume Used Space:         11.1 GB (11061256192 Bytes) (exactly 21604016 512-Byte-Units) (11.1%)
 Volume Free Space:         89.0 GB (89031610368 Bytes) (exactly 173889864 512-Byte-Units) (88.9%)
 Allocation Block Size:     512 Bytes

 Media OS Use Only:         No
 Media Read-Only:           No
 Volume Read-Only:          Yes (read-only mount flag set)

 Device Location:           External
 Removable Media:           Fixed

 Solid State:               Info not available

I get:

 iMac:~ sergey$ /Users/sergey/Desktop/test15 ; exit;
 part - /dev/disk6s3
 disk - /dev/disk6
 GUID_partition_scheme
 Password:
 Disk: /dev/disk6	geometry: 29185/255/63 [468862128 sectors]
  Signature: 0xAA55
          Starting       Ending
  #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1: EE    0   0   2 -   25 127  14 [         1 -     409639] <Unknown ID>
  2: AF   25 127  15 - 1023 254  63 [    409640 -  272431832] HFS+        
 *3: 07 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [ 273104896 -  195493888] HPFS/QNX/AUX
  4: 08 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [ 272841472 -     263424] AIX fs      
 FDisk_partition_scheme
 disksig - 00000000
 partoffset - 139829706752
 diskbytes - 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,0
 partbytes - 00,00,80,8e,20,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
 logout

 Saving session...
 ...copying shared history...
 ...saving history...truncating history files...
 ...completed.

Script-Test for testing

#!/bin/bash

endian () {
 v=$1
 i=${#v}

 while [ $i -gt 0 ]
 do
     i=$[$i-2]
    echo -n ${v:$i:2}
 done
 echo
}

guid_bytes () {
guidstr="$1"
IFS='-'

read -a strarr <<< "$guidstr"

guidbytes=$(endian ${strarr[0]})
guidbytes+=$(endian ${strarr[1]})
guidbytes+=$(endian ${strarr[2]})
guidbytes+=${strarr[3]}
guidbytes+=${strarr[4]}

echo $guidbytes
}

blksize () {
sectsz=$(diskutil info $1 | grep "Device Block Size:" | awk '{print $4}')
echo $sectsz
}

mntpoint=/Volumes/Windows
part=$(diskutil info "$(basename "$mntpoint")" | grep "Device Node:" | awk '{print $3}')
echo part - $part
disk=$(printf $part | sed 's/s[0-9]*$//')
echo "disk - $disk"
scheme=$(diskutil info $disk | grep "Content (IOContent):" | awk '{print $3}')
echo $scheme

if [[ "$scheme" == "GUID_partition_scheme" ]]; then
    if [[ ! -z $(sudo fdisk "$disk" | grep -E '2:|3:|4:' | grep -v unused) ]]; then
       scheme="FDisk_partition_scheme" #Use fdisk option for GPT disk with hybrid MBR.
    fi
fi
sudo fdisk -y "$disk" <<EOF
   p
   quit
EOF
echo $scheme  

if   [[ "$scheme" == "GUID_partition_scheme" ]]; then
     sectsize=$(blksize $disk)
     echo "sectsize- $sectsize"
     diskbytes=$(sudo xxd -u -p -s $(($sectsize + 56)) -l 16 $disk | sed 's/.\{2\}/&,/g;s/,$//')
     partguid=$(diskutil info $part | grep "Partition UUID:" | awk '{print $5}')
     echo "partguid - $partguid"
     partbytes=$(printf "%s" $(guid_bytes $partguid) | sed 's/.\{2\}/&,/g;s/,$//')
     schemebyte="00"
elif [[ "$scheme" == "FDisk_partition_scheme" ]]; then
     disksig=$(sudo xxd -u -p -s 440 -l 4 $disk)
     partoffset=$(diskutil info $part | grep "Partition Offset:" | awk '{print $3}')
     echo "disksig - $disksig"
     echo "partoffset - $partoffset"
     if [[ -z $partoffset ]]; then
        hidsect=$(sudo fdisk $disk | tail -n +6 | awk -v partnum=${part##*s} 'FNR == partnum {print $11}')
        sectsize=$(blksize $disk)
        partoffset=$(($sectsize * $hidsect))
     fi
     diskbytes=$(printf "%s" $(printf "%x%024x" "0x$disksig") | sed 's/.\{2\}/&,/g;s/,$//')
     partbytes=$(printf "%s" $(endian $(printf "%032x" "$partoffset")) | sed 's/.\{2\}/&,/g;s/,$//')
     schemebyte="01"
fi
echo "diskbytes - $diskbytes"
echo "partbytes - $partbytes"

exit

Recovery\BCD Error

I am back with this Recovery\BCD Error:

I have tried several times, and the issue repeats.

Attached is the file from the error:
BCD.zip

Let me know any information you need or anything you would like to try.

BCD-SYS with .WIM files

Hi,

I am trying to use your scripts in conjunction with .WIM images.

If possible, I would like to discuss this with you.

Let me know. Thanks!