Windows – Can i delete {fwbootmgr} and system will defualt to {bootmgr}

bootmgrefimulti-bootwindows

{Fwbootmgr} skips {bootmgr}

I used bcdboot C:\Windows /l en-gb /s B: /f ALL from bootable usb when ASUS K55A – HI5014L magically corrupted boot information when multiple f1-12 keys were pressed at a start up. I was able to boot into win7 64bit, one of two Os in dual-boot setup. I then recreated bootentries for {bootmgr}. However every time i restart system continues just boot straight to win7. I cant figure out how to link fwbootmgr to bootmgr.

I have tried Bcdedit /set {FWbootmgr} displayorder {Bootmgr} /addfirst

I couldnt find any info on google as to what will happen if i delete fwbootmgr, however it is an option in "Visual BCD Editor"

C:\Users\Administrator>bcdedit /enum firmware

Firmware Boot Manager
---------------------
identifier              {fwbootmgr}
displayorder            {bootmgr}
                    {9090be8e-4d7c-11e3-b2e3-08606e0fb7bc}
timeout                 15

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier              {bootmgr}
device                  partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume2
path                    \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi
description             Windows Boot Manager
locale                  en-us
inherit                 {globalsettings}
default                 {default}
resumeobject            {9090be92-4d7c-11e3-b2e3-08606e0fb7bc}
displayorder            {default}
                    {9090be91-4d7c-11e3-b2e3-08606e0fb7bc}
                    {9bde5715-4ba3-11e3-b02d-08606e0fb7bc}
                    {aea50cdf-4ba3-11e3-b02d-08606e0fb7bc}
toolsdisplayorder       {memdiag}
timeout                 15

Firmware Application (101fffff)
-------------------------------
identifier              {9090be8e-4d7c-11e3-b2e3-08606e0fb7bc}
device                  partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume1
path                    \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi
description             Windows Boot Manager

Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
Volume 0     A   SYSTEM       FAT32  Partition    300 MB  Healthy    System
Volume 1     D   Win8x64      NTFS   Partition     93 GB  Healthy
Volume 2     C   Win7x64      NTFS   Partition    249 GB  Healthy    Boot




Edited

When I tried to set partition to ACTIVE and got an error I learned that GPT do not use Active partition. All my partitions are gpt. Also read that MBR is not related to EFI.

After messing around with bcdedit bootrec and bcdboot earlier today… I completely locked myself out. System wouldnt boot,
bcdedit of a USB couldnt find data.
Bootrec /rebuildbcd was identifying two installations but said "The requested system device cannot be found."
bcdboot d:\windows "failure when attempting to copy boot files"

I tried to do repair of win8 usb got
"required file is missing or contains errors"
file: \windows\system32\winload.efi

so I cheated and used EUFI modded usb installation to install a second w7

I now have Working Windows Boot Manager that i can add entries to. But when I use EasyBCD to add simple entry like

Name: w7
BCD ID: {be824de0-829d-11e3-bafc-f6ea108bac12}
Drive: F:\
Bootloader Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe

the system hangs on start up..

my BCD files may be corrupted





Another Edit

I can see now what EasyBCD did wrong it added entry with winload.exe … changed that to winload.efi and now I can boot to original w7, next tried to do that with w8 but get "windows cannot very the digital signature of this file"

btw looked at diskpart, w7 install created a new fat32 system partition, my old 300 mb fat32 at some pointed turned into primary losing its system to a 900mb partition that came out of nowhere… so that my have contributed to mayhem…

DISKPART> list vol

Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  -------
Volume 0     A   SYSTEM       FAT32  Partition    300 MB  Healthy
Volume 1     D   Win8x64      NTFS   Partition     93 GB  Healthy
Volume 2     C   Win7x64      NTFS   Partition    249 GB  Healthy    Boot
Volume 3     E                NTFS   Partition    102 GB  Healthy
Volume 4     F   Restore      NTFS   Partition     20 GB  Healthy
Volume 5                      FAT32  Partition    100 MB  Healthy    System




Booted into eufi win7 usb , bootsect went thru, but bcdboot and sfc got rejected.
enter image description here

i tried label command inside \system32\ and it gave me "invalid win32" but if i ran it off
C:\Users\Administrator> it'll go thru so how do i run bcdboot or sfc and have it work on specific partition because my thinking is going into \system32\ on D: partition would isolate commands used to that partition and OS.

And for offline sfc scan the /offbootdir should be the fat32 100mb where efi is or I'm seeying thru partition manager there is also "Microsoft Reserved" 128mb is what i should have selected.

enter image description here

Best Answer

So after your update.

EasyBCD only displays UEFI BCD because it redirects bcdedit output but cannot create UEFI loader entries.

  1. Boot any 64-bit Win 7/8 USB/DVD using UEFI boot !!!

  2. Find Windows 8 drive letter. Assuming it is Q.

  3. Change to Q drive, Then cd \Windows\System32.

  4. Fixing MBR is not an empty operation as MBR must be a "protective MBR" for GPT disks. bootsect /nt60 all /force /mbr

  5. bcdboot Q:\windows /s Q: /f UEFI

if bcdboot fails it means that the copy of system boot files kept in Windows 8 are damaged and you should repair Windows 8 which can be done offline using "sfc" command. google "sfc offline" for exact syntax or "sfc /help"

This should fix Windows 8 booting and preserve existing Windows 7 entry.

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