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ubcd2usb in Windows 8.x

Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2014 8:51 am
by BaiginLong
I've found that when trying to create bootable UBCD flash drives, the command only seems to run properly when used in Windows 8.x. This is with "Run as Administrator" applied. After everything is done though, the drive won't boot. This hasn't occurred in older versions of windows.

Re: ubcd2usb in Windows 8.x

Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2014 11:47 am
by ady
Your system is most probably using a UEFI firmware, not BIOS.

Almost all tools included in UBCD need a BIOS firmware.

If your UEFI has CSM (aka. BIOS legacy compatibility) mode, you could use it so to boot UBCD. In such case, to boot Windows 8+ again you would need to turn the setting back to UEFI mode.

Re: ubcd2usb in Windows 8.x

Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2014 12:15 pm
by BaiginLong
ady wrote:Your system is most probably using a UEFI firmware, not BIOS.

Almost all tools included in UBCD need a BIOS firmware.

If your UEFI has CSM (aka. BIOS legacy compatibility) mode, you could use it so to boot UBCD. In such case, to boot Windows 8+ again you would need to turn the setting back to UEFI mode.
This isn't the issue. The problem is that the drive, after being made in Windows 8 with ubcd2usb, does not work as a bootable USB in any system, UEFI or traditional BIOS.

I can make these drives just fine using Windows 7 and below, but going forward, I probably will be using a Windows 8 machine for myself. The issue is I have to fix computers for people using older machines and I would like the option of using your natural usb creator on my clean Windows 8 testbed machine.

Re: ubcd2usb in Windows 8.x

Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2014 5:15 pm
by ady
The Windows-based "ubcd2usb" script included in UBCD uses "syslinux.exe", which is a 32-bit Windows executable to be executed in a PC-BIOS system.

The script could be modified so to be used under a 64-bit Windows in a PC-BIOS system.

Default installations of Windows 8 are 64-bit UEFI systems, so installing SYSLINUX to a USB drive in such conditions would need an alternative method, at least for now.

Re: ubcd2usb in Windows 8.x

Posted: Tue Feb 18, 2014 12:54 pm
by BaiginLong
ady wrote:The Windows-based "ubcd2usb" script included in UBCD uses "syslinux.exe", which is a 32-bit Windows executable to be executed in a PC-BIOS system.

The script could be modified so to be used under a 64-bit Windows in a PC-BIOS system.

Default installations of Windows 8 are 64-bit UEFI systems, so installing SYSLINUX to a USB drive in such conditions would need an alternative method, at least for now.
Yeah...I would appreciate a built-in maker that is compatible with Win 8 under a 64bit UEFI. I don't mind at all if it doesn't boot in UEFI, I just want it to boot what in what it used to...maybe we need to look into using Rufus?

Re: ubcd2usb in Windows 8.x

Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 8:50 am
by StopSpazzing
I have windows 8.1 64bit, running a Legacy BIOS. I will see if I can replicate this issue. Curious myself why this wouldn't work for you. Obviously with UEFI that is another story all together. Putting a reminder for myself to test it tonight.

For now, you could use SARDU, Rufus, XBOOT, or YUMI to get it working with a legacy BIOS.

Re: ubcd2usb in Windows 8.x

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2014 11:05 am
by BaiginLong
I do have UEFI for the Windows 8.1 machine I was attempting to create the UBCD USB on. While I understand that this is what causes this, is there anything to circumvent this issue that can be included into future editions of UBCD?

Re: ubcd2usb in Windows 8.x

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2014 8:00 pm
by ady
BaiginLong wrote:...that can be included into future editions of UBCD?
UBCD, in its ubcd2usb scripts, can only make use of the tools already provided by the boot loader itself. It is, after all, just a script.

At this point, there is not much that UBCD can do. Currently, the closest we could go would be to modify the script so to support syslinux64.exe too. Yet, AFAIK, that would be for BIOS systems, not UEFI. I could be wrong (as I have not actually tested the originally BIOS-based 'syslinux64.exe' installer under a UEFI-based system).

Considering that most tools included in UBCD require (as in, "depend on") BIOS anyway, accommodating the specific needs of a UEFI-based script seems, at this time, not realistic. Potentially, this could change in the future.

If the only system available for a user is based on UEFI, I tend to think that, at this time, using alternative methods (such as those already-mentioned GUI tools) would be a more-realistic option for users, instead of waiting for an updated ubcd2usb script to support UEFI.

Re: ubcd2usb in Windows 8.x

Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2014 12:07 pm
by BaiginLong
ady wrote:
BaiginLong wrote:...that can be included into future editions of UBCD?
UBCD, in its ubcd2usb scripts, can only make use of the tools already provided by the boot loader itself. It is, after all, just a script.

At this point, there is not much that UBCD can do. Currently, the closest we could go would be to modify the script so to support syslinux64.exe too. Yet, AFAIK, that would be for BIOS systems, not UEFI. I could be wrong (as I have not actually tested the originally BIOS-based 'syslinux64.exe' installer under a UEFI-based system).

Considering that most tools included in UBCD require (as in, "depend on") BIOS anyway, accommodating the specific needs of a UEFI-based script seems, at this time, not realistic. Potentially, this could change in the future.

If the only system available for a user is based on UEFI, I tend to think that, at this time, using alternative methods (such as those already-mentioned GUI tools) would be a more-realistic option for users, instead of waiting for an updated ubcd2usb script to support UEFI.
There ARE times when I'd like superuser access to all files on the system for manual virus removals. There are times when Parted Magic would be helpful in diagnosing a disk and managing its partitions or cloning a drive, etc. UEFI support isn't entirely necessary for these functions, but it would help a lot with Windows 8 systems whose UEFI settings are hard to bypass.

Re: ubcd2usb in Windows 8.x

Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2014 8:03 pm
by StopSpazzing
I have no problem using Command Prompt and ubcd2usb on Windows 8.1 64bit. I even compiled an ISO with ubcd2iso and tested that also. I ran into no problems and even booted into Parted Magic and ran a couple tools to make sure it wasn't a fluke. Please check your ISO file you have downloaded. Match sure MD5 matches.

I will note, that when I tried using Windows Powershell, had issues running ubcd2usb properly. Could have been user error considering I don't normally use Windows Powershell or in the way it runs scripts.


Again, I'm running Legacy BIOS, not UEFI.