Issue with Windows 8.1 boot (Chimera)

[frankie666]

Dear all, I have a Hackintosh working perfectly well since a couple of months (with Chimera boot to select either my OSX drive or my Win8 drive). But this week-end I have upgraded to Win8.1 and since then I have the following issue. It is still OK if I select Mavericks in Chimera but it does not boot anymore with WIn8.1 due to the following error => "Windows failed to start .... File \Boot\BCD ....". But when I boot my computer and press F12 to change the boot order, and select my Win8.1 drive in UEFI mode, it starts perfectly. What is the issue through Chimera? Any clue? Thanks for your help. Frankie666

 

[Going Bald]

hardware in profile/sig

 

[frankie666]

I have updated my hardware profile. May I ask for an answer now? Thanks for your help!

 

[beelzebozo]

Do you see something called "Recovery" next to your Windows partition name? Try selecting that to boot from.

 

[Going Bald]

I have updated my hardware profile. May I ask for an answer now? Thanks for your help!

While you do not say if same drive/separate drive, boot UEFI Win8.1 should only occur if separate drives and you installed 8.1 UEFI. Chimera cannot boot UEFI Windows because it doesn't "see" the partition the Win8.1 boot files are in.
Either re-install Win8.1 in Legacy Mode or use Clover boot loader.

 

[frankie666]

Thanks for your feedback

While you do not say if same drive/separate drive, boot UEFI Win8.1 should only occur if separate drives and you installed 8.1 UEFI. Chimera cannot boot UEFI Windows because it doesn't "see" the partition the Win8.1 boot files are in.
Either re-install Win8.1 in Legacy Mode or use Clover boot loader.

2 separate drives (OSX on 240Gb SSD drive / Win8.1 on 1Tb standard drive). What is the difference between Chimera and Clover? How install 8.1 in legacy mode? When I installed it it did not ask me which mode? WHat are the differences between the 2 modes? Thanks for your help

Do you see something called "Recovery" next to your Windows partition name? Try selecting that to boot from.

In chimera bootmenu, I don't see anything like "Recovery" but when I am in windows (Disk management tool) I have 3 partition on my WIn8.1 disk. (300Mb - Recovery partition / 100Mb System partition / 931Gb Win8.1)

 

[Going Bald]

2 separate drives (OSX on 240Gb SSD drive / Win8.1 on 1Tb standard drive). What is the difference between Chimera and Clover?

Chimera/Chameleon is a boot loader really meant for legacy style BIOSes. Clover is for EFI booting. If you want to make full use of your UEFI BIOS on your mainboard, then Clover is the way to go. It also allows you to dual boot Win8.1 in UEFI, which will speed up boot times.

How install 8.1 in legacy mode?

When you boot for the install, hit the hotkey that allows you to choose a boot device. You will see your install disc listed twice - the one you want will not have EFI in it and will be something like P0: Windows Install (or it might show your DVD-RW model)
You can also, on some boards, change the boot setting - it may have UEFI Only, UEFI and Legacy, and Legacy Only listed. Choose Legacy only and it forces legacy install.

When I installed it it did not ask me which mode? WHat are the differences between the 2 modes?

If UEFI is available, Win8 installer will install UEFI by default.
Google is your friend here, but basically legacy mode uses the old style BIOS and EFI make full use of the UEFI of the new mainboards.

In chimera bootmenu, I don't see anything like "Recovery" but when I am in windows (Disk management tool) I have 3 partition on my WIn8.1 disk. (300Mb - Recovery partition / 100Mb System partition / 931Gb Win8.1)

If you had installed legacy mode you would only see System Reserved and Win8.1, so you definitely installed it UEFI.

 

[frankie666]

Thanks a lot Going Bald!
I tried to search on Google if it is possible to convert a disk Win8.1 UEFI into a Legacy version but it seems not possible... Could you confirm?
As I don't want to reinstall windows, I will try to move from Chimera to Clover. I am a bit worried after seeing some video on youtube about Clover, it seems complicated.... No risk to destroy the OSX drive?
Thanks a lot for your help.

 

[Going Bald]

Thanks a lot Going Bald!
I tried to search on Google if it is possible to convert a disk Win8.1 UEFI into a Legacy version but it seems not possible... Could you confirm?
As I don't want to reinstall windows, I will try to move from Chimera to Clover. I am a bit worried after seeing some video on youtube about Clover, it seems complicated.... No risk to destroy the OSX drive?
Thanks a lot for your help.

No, once you install UEFI it is not possible to change without re-install. You could always use the BIOS hotkey to select a boot device when you wanted to boot Windows if you wanted to continus to use Chimera.
No risk - you can leave the existing boot method in place and put Clover on a USB and boot from the USB until you are satisfied with Clover.

 

[frankie666]

No, once you install UEFI it is not possible to change without re-install. You could always use the BIOS hotkey to select a boot device when you wanted to boot Windows if you wanted to continus to use Chimera.
No risk - you can leave the existing boot method in place and put Clover on a USB and boot from the USB until you are satisfied with Clover.

OK, thanks I will try this week-end. Rdgs