Guide: Multi Booting Legacy on Separate Drives

[Methanoid]

Me again and after some special @Going Bald help, please!

I have 2 SSDs.
One GPT/UEFI MacOS/Linux - works fine but boots in UEFI
One MBR/Legacy WinXP/10 - NEEDS to be MBR/Legacy for WinXP

I hate having to boot into BIOS and disable Legacy for Mac/Linux or vice versa. Clover sees two Legacy partitions but wont boot my Windows installs.

I used a guide which provides the EFI partition Clover. Ideally I'd like to be on latest Clover but that can wait.

How can I get Clover to boot my Legacy parts AND my UEFI parts, please? I dont want to keep randomly trying stuff which inevitably breaks my system

 

[Going Bald]

Me again and after some special @Going Bald help, please!

I have 2 SSDs.
One GPT/UEFI MacOS/Linux - works fine but boots in UEFI
One MBR/Legacy WinXP/10 - NEEDS to be MBR/Legacy for WinXP

I hate having to boot into BIOS and disable Legacy for Mac/Linux or vice versa. Clover sees two Legacy partitions but wont boot my Windows installs.

I used a guide which provides the EFI partition Clover. Ideally I'd like to be on latest Clover but that can wait.

How can I get Clover to boot my Legacy parts AND my UEFI parts, please? I dont want to keep randomly trying stuff which inevitably breaks my system

zip and upload config.plist
is BIOS set for Legacy and UEFI booting?

 

[Methanoid]

My hero returns . I would have responded earlier but I had to re-do my whole Mac drive (so lost my Ubuntu for now). I tried changing the Legacy setting from PBR to LegacyBiosDefault after reading here https://web.archive.org/web/2016040...wiki.zetam.org/configuration/boot#boot_legacy

That means (with my BIOS set to UEFI & Legacy enabled) it boots Clover from the Mac HDD and then shows me the Mac partition (I have Recovery hidden) and two Legacy HD entries (1 & 2) - These are WinXP and Win10. Booting either loads the Metro Bootloader and after 3 second countdown defaults to Windows 10.

Q: Is it possible to boot those partitions directly (if I remove Metro Bootloader Win10 wont boot for sure)
Q: If not (as I suspect) then how do I hide an unnamed partition (Clover sees no name but the partitions are named WinXP and Win10) so I only have one to worry about?
Q: I forget how I did it but suspect you will know. When installing Ubuntu I do a normal UEFI install and tell it to install the Grub bootloader on the / Linux partition not the HDD root ?

Thanks for your help (as always!). (Plist attached - I'll sort serials etc later)

 

[Going Bald]

My hero returns . I would have responded earlier but I had to re-do my whole Mac drive (so lost my Ubuntu for now). I tried changing the Legacy setting from PBR to LegacyBiosDefault after reading here https://web.archive.org/web/2016040...wiki.zetam.org/configuration/boot#boot_legacy

That means (with my BIOS set to UEFI & Legacy enabled) it boots Clover from the Mac HDD and then shows me the Mac partition (I have Recovery hidden) and two Legacy HD entries (1 & 2) - These are WinXP and Win10. Booting either loads the Metro Bootloader and after 3 second countdown defaults to Windows 10.

Q: Is it possible to boot those partitions directly (if I remove Metro Bootloader Win10 wont boot for sure)
Q: If not (as I suspect) then how do I hide an unnamed partition (Clover sees no name but the partitions are named WinXP and Win10) so I only have one to worry about?
Q: I forget how I did it but suspect you will know. When installing Ubuntu I do a normal UEFI install and tell it to install the Grub bootloader on the / Linux partition not the HDD root ?

Thanks for your help (as always!). (Plist attached - I'll sort serials etc later)

It is impossible to boot Legacy mode Windows with Clover UEFI. You can boot Legacy Windows only with Clover installed Legacy mode. OTOH, at the Clover UEFI boot screen if you select to exit Clover and Legacy mode boot + CSM enabled in BIOS, you may be able to boot directly into Win7/8/8./10. Not sure about WinXP - probably have to hit function hotkey to select a boot device and select the WinXP drive to boot.
Do you have CSM enabled in BIOS?

 

[Methanoid]

It is impossible to boot Legacy mode Windows with Clover UEFI. You can boot Legacy Windows only with Clover installed Legacy mode. OTOH, at the Clover UEFI boot screen if you select to exit Clover and Legacy mode boot + CSM enabled in BIOS, you may be able to boot directly into Win7/8/8./10. Not sure about WinXP - probably have to hit function hotkey to select a boot device and select the WinXP drive to boot.
Do you have CSM enabled in BIOS?

I do have Legacy boot enabled and UEFI (its an HP BIOS so nothing normally named) but it makes no difference if I don't since Clover is booted in UEFI mode. I'm happy with being able to boot to Windows Metro Bootloader and have a 3s wait till it boots Win10 if I dont tell it otherwise.

More worried now about not having Boot from Legacy HD1 and Boot from Legacy HD2 as my options .. I'd like to remove on (both do the same thing for me) and rename the remainder as "Windows"

 

[Going Bald]

I do have Legacy boot enabled and UEFI (its an HP BIOS so nothing normally named) but it makes no difference if I don't since Clover is booted in UEFI mode. I'm happy with being able to boot to Windows Metro Bootloader and have a 3s wait till it boots Win10 if I dont tell it otherwise.

More worried now about not having Boot from Legacy HD1 and Boot from Legacy HD2 as my options .. I'd like to remove on (both do the same thing for me) and rename the remainder as "Windows"

see Clover wiki on hiding boot entries
I have a vague memory of HP using the escape key on power up to select boot options instead of the function keys like most other OEM BIOSes.
Installing Linux UEFI you need to install EFI Grub boot loader (not the same as regular grub boot loader you may be used to) in the EFI partition.

 

[trs96]

I have a vague memory of HP using the escape key on power up to select boot options instead of the function keys like most other OEM BIOSes.

HP desktops use F9 for boot options. F10 gets you into BIOS.