GPT Partitions with UEFI
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Greetings Everyone.
I really need some help. I have been tasked with the imaging and deployment of 135 Acer Veriton Nettop PCs for one of our clients. Problem is, I can’t get FOG to image and deploy correctly with these Nettops. The PC’s have Windows 7 installed using a GPT Partition table instead of MBR and FOG is not liking it. First try, it appeared I was able to upload an image successfully but could not push it out. After the disk settled down it breezed threw the rest in a matter of couple seconds with a “task complete”. The Disks have 4 partitions. I have sought after software that would allow me to convert these partitions to MBR without loosing data but have found none compatible with system disks. Reinstalling Windows with a MBR partition is not an option due to licencing issues. I need to either be able to successfully pull and push an image with the existing windows 7 installed or somehow convert the partition table to MBR without data loss. (the bios supports legacy boot). Any help would be appreciated!!!
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Hi,
afaik only raw imaging works.
[url]http://fogproject.org/forum/threads/upload-win-7-image-from-vmware-will-only-upload-raw.3731/#post-12389[/url]Greetz X23
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Just an update everyone,
After hour and hours of research, I have found a way to convert a system GPT partition to MBR without losing data. I compiled a crude walkthrew for everyone.
[LIST=1]
[][FONT=Calibri]Boot your Fedora 16 Live media (I used Ubuntu and replaced yum with apt-get) and wait for your session to start. If you’re having troubles booting, press Tab at the boot loader screen and try booting with the [SIZE=12px][FONT=Monaco]nomodeset[/FONT][/SIZE] parameter added.[/FONT]
[][FONT=Calibri]Depending on your graphics card, you’ll either be presented with the new Gnome 3 Shell or with the traditional interface. Start a terminal session by putting your mouse in the top right corner of the screen and typing “terminal” in the search (Gnome Shell) or by selecting Applications > System Tools > Terminal (traditional interface)[/FONT]
[][FONT=Calibri]Install gdisk:[/FONT]
[SIZE=12px][FONT=Monaco][FONT=Calibri]su -
yum -y install gdisk[/FONT][/FONT][/SIZE]
[FONT=Calibri]This may take a few moments.[/FONT]
[][FONT=Calibri]Make a backup of your current GPT scheme:[/FONT]
[SIZE=12px][FONT=Monaco][FONT=Calibri]gdisk -b sda-preconvert.gpt /dev/sda[/FONT][/FONT][/SIZE]
[][FONT=Calibri]Now we will attempt to convert your GPT disk layout to MS-DOS/MBR. Start gdisk:[/FONT]
[SIZE=12px][FONT=Monaco][FONT=Calibri]gdisk /dev/sda[/FONT][/FONT][/SIZE]
[FONT=Calibri]
You should be prompted with:[/FONT]
[SIZE=12px][FONT=Monaco][FONT=Calibri]Command (? for help):[/FONT][/FONT][/SIZE]
[][FONT=Calibri]Press [SIZE=12px][FONT=Monaco]r[/FONT][/SIZE] to start recovery/transformation.[/FONT]
[][FONT=Calibri]Press [SIZE=12px][FONT=Monaco]g[/FONT][/SIZE] to convert GPT to MBR.[/FONT]
[][FONT=Calibri]Press [SIZE=12px][FONT=Monaco]p[/FONT][/SIZE] to preview the converted MBR partition table.[/FONT]
[][FONT=Calibri]Make any modification necessary to the partition layout. See Rod Smith’s [URL=‘http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/mbr2gpt.html#gpt2mbr’][COLOR=#047ac6]Converting to or from GPT[/COLOR][/URL] page for more details on this.[/FONT]
[][FONT=Calibri]When you’re happy with the MS-DOS/MBR layout, press [SIZE=12px][FONT=Monaco]w[/FONT][/SIZE] to write changes to the disk.[/FONT]
[][FONT=Calibri]Shutdown Fedora 16 and boot from the Windows 7 installation media[/FONT]
[][FONT=Calibri]Enter your language & keyboard layout and then select the option to repair your computer in the bottom left corner.[/FONT]
[][FONT=Calibri]From the available options, select Startup Repair. Windows will ask for a reboot.[/FONT]
[][FONT=Calibri]Follow the previous three steps again to boot the Windows 7 installation and run startup repair[/FONT]
[][FONT=Calibri]Once again, boot the Windows 7 installation media but this time opt to open a command prompt instead of choosing startup repair. Type:[/FONT]
[SIZE=12px][FONT=Monaco][FONT=Calibri]bootrec /scanos
bootrec /rebuildbcd
bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot[/FONT][/FONT][/SIZE]
[][FONT=Calibri]Close the command prompt and run Startup Repair one last time.[/FONT]
[/LIST]
[FONT=Calibri][COLOR=#000000][SIZE=14px]Some noted they were successful with skipping the 2nd and 3rd startup repair in the windows 7 install disk. I did all steps. The Rebuildbcd and fixboot threw me an error. That’s when i discovered the next steps necessary.[/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri][COLOR=#000000][SIZE=14px][/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT]
[COLOR=#000000][SIZE=14px][FONT=Helvetica][FONT=Calibri]THEN…[/FONT][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][SIZE=14px][FONT=Helvetica][FONT=Calibri][/FONT][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]
[SIZE=15px][FONT=Helvetica][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Calibri]1: Boot into gparted[/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=15px][FONT=Helvetica][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Calibri]2: Right click on partition with windows[/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=15px][FONT=Helvetica][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Calibri]3: Flag as boot[/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=15px][FONT=Helvetica][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Calibri]4: Run windows recovery to fix any other errors (using startup repair, and sometimes when it scans for OS’s it repairs automatically) Run windows recovery startup repair twice.[/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=15px][FONT=Helvetica][COLOR=#000000] [/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=15px][FONT=Helvetica][COLOR=#000000] [/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE]
[FONT=Calibri][FONT=Helvetica][COLOR=#000000][SIZE=15px]I followed each step listed in order and was able to [/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT][COLOR=#000000][SIZE=15px]successfully[/SIZE][/COLOR][FONT=Helvetica][COLOR=#000000][SIZE=15px] complete this operation. UEFI is here to stay so I hope that .33 supports GPT partitions and UEFI,[/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri][FONT=Helvetica][COLOR=#000000][SIZE=15px][/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT][/FONT]
