How to Use Vista Beta 2 Boot Manager to Dual Boot Vista and OS X on a MacBook
UPDATE: [The trick detailed below only works if your default startup disk is set to Mac OS X. The boot.efi file only let you reboot the machine, it DOES NOT boot the system to Mac OS X partition. My MacBook was set to boot to OS X by default when I tried it, therefore I got the false sense that by booting the boot.efi, I actually boot the machine to OS X. I am sorry for the misinformation. I'll research more about how to actually use Vista's boot manager to boot OS X. What I really wanted to achieve is to have a boot manager to dual boot Vista and OS X at the startup without holding the Option key, and there is a perfect program for that. It's called rEFIt.]
Windows Vista comes with a new boot manager, that is very flexible. I thought it would be nice if I could use that to specify an entry for Mac OS X. However, the technology is new and I cannot find many documentations about it. The FAQ in Microsoft’s web site does not tell you how to create a boot loader for Mac OS X. It only tells you how to create a boot loader for legacy systems like Windows XP.
I then found out that people are using a chain0 file with Vista’s boot manager to dual boot OS X and Vista for the OSx86 project. I tried that, but it did not work. The problem is that the chain0 file is not for booting Mac OS X on MacBook. What I really need is already on my MacBook. It’s called boot.efi and it’s under /usr/standalone/i386/ . The file is hidden from Finder. You will need to use Terminal application to copy it. Here are the steps.
- Boot to Mac OS X. Open Terminal application and type in the following to copy boot.efi to the Desktop.
cp /usr/standalone/i386/boot.efi ~/Desktop/
- Copy the boot.efi file to a USB key.
- Boot to Vista and copy the boot.efi file from the USB key to C:\
- Now open Command Prompt as administrator. If you don’t know how to do this, please follow the steps 1~3 in this post.
- We need to determine if you have a legacy boot loader in your system. Type in the command in the Command Prompt window.
bcdedit /enum all | find "{ntldr}"If this command returns
identifier {ntldr}, that means you already have a legacy boot loader in your system. Follow step 6 and skip step 7. If the command didn’t return anything, skip step 6 and follow step 7.
- Type in the following to copy the legacy boot loader.
bcdedit /copy {ntldr} /d "Mac OS X" bcdedit /set {YOUR-GUID-HERE} device boot bcdedit /set {YOUR-GUID-HERE} path \\boot.efi bcdedit /displayorder {YOUR-GUID-HERE} /addlastNote that you need to replace YOUR-GUID-HERE with the actual GUID returned by the first command. To illustrate this, the following are the actual commands and responses.
C:>bcdedit /copy {ntldr} /d "Mac OS X" The entry was successfully copied to {bcfa924e-07e0-11db-9d86-accf6fd346a1}. C:>bcdedit /set {bcfa924e-07e0-11db-9d86-accf6fd346a1} device boot The operation completed successfully. C:>bcdedit /set {bcfa924e-07e0-11db-9d86-accf6fd346a1} path \\boot.efi The operation completed successfully. C:>bcdedit /displayorder {bcfa924e-07e0-11db-9d86-accf6fd346a1} /addlast The operation completed successfully. - Type in the following to create a new legacy boot loader.
bcdedit /create {ntldr} /d "Mac OS X" bcdedit /set {ntldr} device boot bcdedit /set {ntldr} path \\boot.efi bcdedit /displayorder {ntldr} /addlast
Now you can see there is an entry for “Mac OS X” whenever you boot to Vista, select that and you can boot to Mac OS X.
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on July 24th, 2006 at 11:59 am
nice Tutorial.
Thanks alot!!
on July 25th, 2006 at 2:47 am
Wow. That’ll come in quite handy with my new MacBook Pro. Thanks.
on July 25th, 2006 at 11:30 am
The only question now is. Is this also possible on a windows platform laptop. So if i first install Vista on my Dell inpiron 8200 and then install MacOSX86 on a different partition. And then fix the bootloader it should work. Anyone tested this theaorie already?
on July 25th, 2006 at 12:05 pm
thanks
on July 25th, 2006 at 2:09 pm
Insp|r0n_,
If you install Vista on a Dell Inspiron first and then install MacOSX86, you might need to use the chain0 file not the boot.efi file mentioned in this post.
on July 25th, 2006 at 7:54 pm
I tried the chain0 method on vista. But in the first attempt it didn’t work. Haven’t had time sice to try it another why. I had it working with acronis. But that was so slow during boot i switched back to my usual HDD and decided to spend so time on it again when i actually had time. If the chain0 method works for vista i will give it a try again soon.
on July 27th, 2006 at 4:57 pm
Hello,
After reading this good tutorial.. i will need to buy some new glasses. The letters are so small to read..
See Ya !
on July 27th, 2006 at 5:24 pm
YaBlog!,
I know. I think it’s too small myself, too. However, WordPress.com doesn’t allow me to change the template and this is the only template I like. The work around is to change the display font size in your browser. You can do this by pressing Ctrl key and + key simultaneously in Firefox.
on July 27th, 2006 at 11:33 pm
Change the display font size in your browser Safari= Apple +
on August 1st, 2006 at 6:08 am
[...] Computer Bits » Blog Archive » How to Use Vista Beta 2 Boot Manager to Dual Boot Vista and OS X on a MacBook [...]
on August 1st, 2006 at 6:59 am
ArsTechnica has the scoop on a new feature Microsoft recently added into builds of Windows Vista.
Pak Car
on September 2nd, 2006 at 9:58 am
[...] Everyone knows that you can use OS X to dual boot Windows Vista. But how many of you have done it the other way around… booting OS X from the “doesn’t play well with others” Vista? This guy has (and he mentions our site!) and he shares his story. [...]
on September 3rd, 2006 at 3:47 am
so after reading all the statements in this forum it is possible to use a mac os x on a pc ryt?
all you need is a windows vista, mac os and this tutorial is that ryt?
on September 5th, 2006 at 5:13 pm
Juan,
The tutoral is for Intel based Mac. If you need to run OS X on a PC, please refer to OSX86 Project.
http://www.osx86project.org/
on September 16th, 2006 at 5:07 pm
does this work with a pc?
on September 16th, 2006 at 9:09 pm
Jordan1212,
No, it doesn’t work on a PC.
on December 1st, 2006 at 3:18 am
[...] Vista和MacOS的双启动 Technorati tags: vista, linux, grub, bcd [...]
on December 7th, 2006 at 8:10 am
[...] Vista和MacOS的双启动 Technorati tags: vista, linux, grub, bcd [...]
on March 14th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
When i type the following in the command window,
bcdedit /create {ntldr} /d “Mac OS X”
bcdedit /set {ntldr} device boot
bcdedit /set {ntldr} path \boot.efi
bcdedit /displayorder {ntldr} /addlast
i get the following message :
The boot configuration data store could not be opened.
Access is denied.
please help!!!
on March 14th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
Aliasa,
You need to use an elevated command prompt to type the commands.
http://computerbits.wordpress.com/2007/02/14/vista-elevated-command-prompt/
on January 16th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
how to sent msg form cmd?(vista)
on October 27th, 2008 at 2:57 am
amida168 thnx buddy, u really rocks, ur tutorials really hlpd me a lot to dual boot vista and mac.
thanx again.