Remote boot sector ?

S

Satamax

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 17, 2003
Messages
203
Hi everybody. I'm not a frequent visitor here. Sorry.

I like to play with old Tyan server boards. And have two, with NVME, which are not bootable. Obviously.

At the time of Windows 98 and 2000, it was possible to have a boot sector on one disc. And the rest of the OS, on another disc. For example, boot one the IDE, and the rest would be on SCSI, wired to a card.

Is it still possible with modern windows ?

It would be rather interesting for me now, to have a boot sector on a SSD, or onboard USB key. Which would charge the OS from the NVME.

Any idea on how to do this ? Worth it ?

There was at the time; with some versions of windows i had; a manual, with all sorts of stuff you could do with the OS

Thanks a lot guys, if you can help this ageing dumbass.
ordi.jpg
 
There is a kind of odd semi-back-assward way that I think you can do it. Using the built-in method by which Windows will allow you to boot from multiple drives. Windows will generally try first to boot from the drive that you have listed first in your BIOS (sometimes this requires CSM to be enabled). But if Windows also detects other drives with Windows on it, it will give you a list with a 30 second timer. If you select the OS installed on the non-boot drive, then it will reboot and boot into that drive instead.

So here's what I'd do:
-Put the target NVMe drive into another computer and install Windows 10 or 11 onto it (yes I know doing this is a pain in the ass). On the temporary computer that you use to install the OS, make sure to switch from UEFI to Legacy boot in the BIOS first.
-Once Windows is installed, put the NVMe drive back into the Tyan server board.
-Put a SATA drive in the computer also. Boot from a Windows install USB stick or DVD drive and install Windows 10 or 11 onto the SATA drive.

While windows installs onto the SATA drive, it should recognize the other Windows install on the NVMe drive, and create the dual boot menu. The next time you boot to the SATA drive, you will have an option to boot to the other Windows install, which when selected will reboot the computer and boot into the Windows install on the NVMe drive. It should work, in theory, but I can't guarantee it.
 
GotNoRice said:
There is a kind of odd semi-back-assward way that I think you can do it. Using the built-in method by which Windows will allow you to boot from multiple drives. Windows will generally try first to boot from the drive that you have listed first in your BIOS (sometimes this requires CSM to be enabled). But if Windows also detects other drives with Windows on it, it will give you a list with a 30 second timer. If you select the OS installed on the non-boot drive, then it will reboot and boot into that drive instead.

So here's what I'd do:
-Put the target NVMe drive into another computer and install Windows 10 or 11 onto it (yes I know doing this is a pain in the ass). On the temporary computer that you use to install the OS, make sure to switch from UEFI to Legacy boot in the BIOS first.
-Once Windows is installed, put the NVMe drive back into the Tyan server board.
-Put a SATA drive in the computer also. Boot from a Windows install USB stick or DVD drive and install Windows 10 or 11 onto the SATA drive.

While windows installs onto the SATA drive, it should recognize the other Windows install on the NVMe drive, and create the dual boot menu. The next time you boot to the SATA drive, you will have an option to boot to the other Windows install, which when selected will reboot the computer and boot into the Windows install on the NVMe drive. It should work, in theory, but I can't guarantee it.
Click to expand...


Thanks a lot GotNpoRice.

Well, that defeats the purpose of using NVME. What would be interesting is the speed of bootup. Otherwise, SSD is good enough.


Anybody knows the oem manual for W10 ?
 
Well, something which crossed my mind.

Making a virtual partition between a tiny part of the ssd, which would host the mbr, and the nvme would host the rest of the system. Mind you, it has to use inherited bios. Starting to get over my actual head. I need to delve back into microsoft website. I bet someone there know the proper easy answer.
 
I doubt the boot up time differs much between a SATA SSD and an NVME drive. The drive is not the only thing that determines how fast your OS will load, at some point it probably becomes unimportant.

You either need to find a bootloader that can do it. The famous Linux bootloader "grub" cannot do it by itself as far as I know. I don't know if GotNoRice's method qualifies as a bootloader. Or you need to mod your motherboard's BIOS to support NVME booting, and to find out if it's even possible, you need to consult someone knowledgeable in places like these:
https://winraid.level1techs.com/c/bios-uefi-modding/7
https://forums.mydigitallife.net/forums/bios-mods.25/
https://www.bios-mods.com
https://www.wimsbios.com
 
Thanks a lot Ribcage.

I didn't dare doing that, the last time i looked into it.
 
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