Author Topic: Dual boot Windows 8 + Lion on same (GPT) drive [Temporary Workaround Found]  (Read 12375 times)

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Windows04

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Hi,

Having some problems dual booting windows 8 and os x lion on the same 120gb ssd. I first installed Lion, then installed Windows 8, reinstalled the chameleon bootloader onto the ssd, but then the problems begin. The windows drive doesn't even show up as an option anymore on my chameleon boot screen and I am also unable to mount it in my Lion install... Anyone any suggestions?

Edit:am using the ErmaC branch, version 1924
« Last Edit: May 02, 2012, 05:50:37 PM by Windows04 »

Blackosx

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Re: Dual boot Windows 8 + Lion on same (GPT) drive
« Reply #1 on: May 01, 2012, 01:52:52 PM »
Hi Windows04

hmm..  I can't comment with regards to an SSD as I don't have one for testing.
All I can say is I have no issue dual booting Win 8CP and Lion from a single HDD.

Does the Windows installation appear in Chameleon if you boot from a different drive, for example a bootable Chameleon USB stick?
10.10.5 / 10.11 GM1 | Asus Maximum IV Gene-Z | i7-2600 3.40GHz | 4GB | Radeon 5770 1GB

Windows04

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Re: Dual boot Windows 8 + Lion on same (GPT) drive
« Reply #2 on: May 01, 2012, 04:05:51 PM »
Yeah... That's the weird thing, I already did this on a normal HDD and then it worked! I also have a normal HDD in my system with the same chameleon bootloader (ermaC) from which I can test if another chameleon install (on another drive) will work

Well, I did some more testing and this is what i've come across:

1) Installing Lion first on SSD (GPT), no probs (Lion gets recognized from chameleon install on SSD or another HDD)
2) Installing windows afterwards on the same ssd -> windows bootloader takes over (as expected) and boots automatically into windows 8 if I boot from my SSD. BUT although the chameleon install on my other HDD gives me a Windows NTFS option, windows wouldn't boot (just a blinking white stripe when booting in windows from HDD).
3) Installing only Windows on my SSD -> same problem as in 2 -> I'm unable to boot windows from a chameleon install on my other HDD, booting directly from the SSD gives (obviously) no problems in booting windows...

Could It be because my SSD is a 4kb drive? Although I wouldn't understand then why Chameleon would boot a Lion install from a 4 kb drive, but not a Windows install...

Also, when I install Windows (without Lion or something) onto my SSD and then boot into a Lion install on a seperate HDD, Lion is unable to mount the Windows SSD (again a 4kb problem, or a problem because of something new in Windows 8 CP?)

EDIT: I think it's more a Chameleon issue than anything else... I will try tomorrow to format the SSD to a MBR partition scheme and clone a Lion install onto it once Windows is installed and see if that helps...
« Last Edit: May 01, 2012, 07:00:15 PM by Windows04 »

Windows04

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Allright, a follow up post to this problem.

It seems to be more of a Chameleon bug to me than anything else. Chameleon can boot Windows 8 in any form (dual boot, GPT or MBR, ...) BUT Chameleon apparently doesn't like if Windows 8 is installed on a SSD (4k drive) in a GPT.

My workaround is to either have a MBR drive (you could clone a fresh Lion install to this drive on a second partition if you like) or create a Hybrid MBR Setup on the drive (I chose the second workaround, I like to have Mac OS X installed on a GPT partition).

Maybe it's better to move this topic to bug report, as others have also experienced this problem (forum thread on xda developers: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1319173).

PS: I know there are a lot of negative factors playing in this situation: beta OS, new format hard drive, a dual boot setup which isn't recommended but hey, iboot seems to handle this situation just fine so why does chameleon haveproblems with it :s?
« Last Edit: May 02, 2012, 06:07:43 PM by Windows04 »

Blackosx

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Are you using a UEFI motherboard?
If so then see here.
10.10.5 / 10.11 GM1 | Asus Maximum IV Gene-Z | i7-2600 3.40GHz | 4GB | Radeon 5770 1GB

Windows04

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Nope, am using a ga-ex58-ud5, so legacy bios boot...

dmazar

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My workaround is to either have a MBR drive (you could clone a fresh Lion install to this drive on a second partition if you like) or create a Hybrid MBR Setup on the drive (I chose the second workaround, I like to have Mac OS X installed on a GPT partition).
I would like to know how did you install Win on a pure GPT disk without UEFI? This is not possible with Win 7. Is it possible with Win 8? How did you created that GPT disk, from Win installer?

Windows04

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I know Windows 8 is fully compatible with GPT partition scheme discs (I just partition the drive from disk utility in mac os x and create a fat partition on a GPT drive, which in the Windows installer will be converted to NTFS). Thought Windows 7 was too... I remember myself installing Win 7 on a Guid disk without problems... i think ahci must be enabled in the bios, although I'm not sure.

Windows 8 is fully compatible though ;).

PS: although you could install Windows 8 on a pure GPT disc, note that I'm using a hybrid MBR/GPT in order to support a dualboot of windows an os x on the same drive.

dmazar

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I just partition the drive from disk utility in mac os x and create a fat partition on a GPT drive, which in the Windows installer will be converted to NTFS). Thought Windows 7 was too... I remember myself installing Win 7 on a Guid disk without problems...
Yes, as far a I saw that's the standard way how to it. For any Win. But, you know that as soon as you make FAT32 partition in OSX on a GPT disk, OSX makes this disk hybrid? And this is not Win installation to a pure GPT, but to hybrid disk.

I do not know about Win 8, but Win 7 can not be installed to pure GPT disk from BIOS, just from UEFI. It can be installed to hybrid disk: OSX will see it as GPT, Win will see it as MBR (the easiest way to make hybrid disk is to create FAT partition in OSX). I guess it's the same with Win8. That's how it worked so far. I would not call it temporary workaround.

Windows04

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Allright, but the problem remains: Why doesn't Chameleon want to boot Windows 8 on a Mac OS X-made hybrid drive (SSD), but boots Windows 8 perfectly fine if you create a hybrid drive from a linux terminal?

The temporary workaround is that, for some reason, Chameleon only wants to boot Windows 8 on a dual boot drive if you create the hybrid MBR yourself through a linux terminal and gdisk...

Did anyone else with an SSD tried this setup? Maybe there's something wrong with my SSD Drive, although I would highly doubt that, apart from this issue the SSD runs smooth...

My specs:
GA-EX58-UD5 (Intel i7 cpu)
Radeon HD 4870
Intel SSD 520 series (180 GB)
« Last Edit: May 05, 2012, 09:53:03 AM by Windows04 »