Clover Install - Selected Win8 at boot and now can no longer boot into windows

[dreambig207]

So my clover install on yosemite 10.10.1 went great and the mac is running fine, but my windows 8.1 UEFI install (on a separate hard drive) won't boot ever since I accidentally selected it within the clover boot screen.

Has anyone heard of this or know of a fix? The hard drive is still recognized by the bios but lost the "UEFI" tag line and when I try to boot into it a get a message saying along the lines of the drive is unbootable and needs install media.

I tried repairs from my windows CD that didnt' work, I tried the automatic fix windows start up from the CD and command prompt bootrec fixboot... neither have worked.

Now I'm a complete newb so I'll throw this in too, I had changed the sata cable connections (and switched them back) didn't know if that could change things.

Would be great to know only have a fix but also know why it happened? Because I feel like I've read other people access windows through the clover boot screen?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Going Bald]

So my clover install on yosemite 10.10.1 went great and the mac is running fine, but my windows 8.1 UEFI install (on a separate hard drive) won't boot ever since I accidentally selected it within the clover boot screen.

Has anyone heard of this or know of a fix? The hard drive is still recognized by the bios but lost the "UEFI" tag line and when I try to boot into it a get a message saying along the lines of the drive is unbootable and needs install media.

I tried repairs from my windows CD that didnt' work, I tried the automatic fix windows start up from the CD and command prompt bootrec fixboot... neither have worked.

Now I'm a complete newb so I'll throw this in too, I had changed the sata cable connections (and switched them back) didn't know if that could change things.

Would be great to know only have a fix but also know why it happened? Because I feel like I've read other people access windows through the clover boot screen?

Thanks in advance!

Did you disconnect all other drives from the build before installing Windows to the ONLY drive connected?
If you had more than just the Windows-to-be drive connected, Windows installer might have put some of its files on a different drive and if you moved or disconnected that drive connection Windows main drive can no longer be booted from it because the recorded path is gone.

Suggest you start all over and connect only the drive you are currently installing an OS on, reformat it, install an OS, disconnect the drive, connect the other drive, reformat it, install the other OS.

Suggest also that the Windows drive be connected to the lowest numbered SATA port and the OS X drive to the next one, then the other drives, if any.

If you install Windows UEFI you should see 5 icons at the Clover boot screen for Windows. Try each one until you find the one that actually boots Windows and remember what the label is for future boots.

 

[dreambig207]

Did you disconnect all other drives from the build before installing Windows to the ONLY drive connected?
If you had more than just the Windows-to-be drive connected, Windows installer might have put some of its files on a different drive and if you moved or disconnected that drive connection Windows main drive can no longer be booted from it because the recorded path is gone.

Suggest you start all over and connect only the drive you are currently installing an OS on, reformat it, install an OS, disconnect the drive, connect the other drive, reformat it, install the other OS.

Suggest also that the Windows drive be connected to the lowest numbered SATA port and the OS X drive to the next one, then the other drives, if any.

If you install Windows UEFI you should see 5 icons at the Clover boot screen for Windows. Try each one until you find the one that actually boots Windows and remember what the label is for future boots.

First thank you so much for your quick response!

Hm I had intentionally disconnected the drives, but now that I think of it I had accidentally left another hard drive plugged in so that helps make sense of this. I assume by "moved the drive" you mean connected it to a different SATA port? am i also correct to assume you mean that windows records the path of sata ports?

How can I learn more about SATA ports and how placement effects things, I've I read my mobo manual and wikipedia and neither is really explaining some of the functionality idiosyncrasies. for instance my boot menu consistently will only allow me to pick my evo840 as a primary boot option, and never allows me to pick the evo850 as a primary no matter what numbered SATA port I plug them in.... can you explain that or point me to some resource to understand?

Thank again!

 

[prometa]

My guess is that Clover somehow munched the UEFI loader on the windows driver and/or hosed the EFI partition. My second guess, seemly confirmed in the link that follows, is that the repair tools don't know how to properly fix a UEFI install. Have you tried following this guide: http://superuser.com/questions/460762/how-can-i-repair-the-windows-8-efi-bootloader

If you try it, unplug all drives other than the one you are trying to repair.

With respect to your question about SATA, all SATA ports are bootable. The issue you're probably having is the other drives you want to boot from don't have a properly formatted EFI partition or bootloader on them. You can put the EFI on one drive and the OS on another, but the BIOS will tell you that you can only boot from the drive with the EFI on it. BIOS loads EFI, which then loads the OS on the other drive.

 

[dreambig207]

My guess is that Clover somehow munched the UEFI loader on the windows driver and/or hosed the EFI partition. My second guess, seemly confirmed in the link that follows, is that the repair tools don't know how to properly fix a UEFI install. Have you tried following this guide: http://superuser.com/questions/460762/how-can-i-repair-the-windows-8-efi-bootloader

If you try it, unplug all drives other than the one you are trying to repair.

With respect to your question about SATA, all SATA ports are bootable. The issue you're probably having is the other drives you want to boot from don't have a properly formatted EFI partition or bootloader on them. You can put the EFI on one drive and the OS on another, but the BIOS will tell you that you can only boot from the drive with the EFI on it. BIOS loads EFI, which then loads the OS on the other drive.

Thanks for your thoughts prometa, ironically I found the link about the same time you responded lol...I tired the mothed and yup the EFI wasn't even on the OS installation disk which confirms what Going Bald said... it was loaded on another HD and Clover broke the connection between the 2. When I realized there was no hope restoring it I just reinstalled windows with NO other drives plugged in, and will do the same for the mac side as well. I'm assuming that will prevent the crash/disconnect in the future.

Thanks to both of you!

 

[prometa]

For reference for others reading: with Windows installed while it thinks it's the only drive in the system, it will have to put the EFI partition on that same drive. The nice thing about that is you don't need Clover to boot Windows then. Just hit "F12" or whatever command your BIOS requires to select a boot drive and choose the Windows drive.

I'm sure it's a reasonably easy edit to the Clover.plist file to prevent it from showing the Windows boot loader, so you can't choose it accidentally in the future.