I just transitioned to UEFI for both Windows and Linux and have three questions after being unsuccessful in restoring a Windows Image.
1. If I'm not using secure boot, do I need to copy and restore the MSR, EFI and the Recovery partition as well as the Windows OS partition? (I tried just restoring Windows and it didn't work.)
2. Do I need to boot with the IFW UEFI recovery disk to complete a restore, as opposed to trying to restore Windows by booting to my Linux partition?
3. Will Linux have the same restore issues if I try to restore from Window? i.e., do I need to restore the swap as well as any home partition in addition to the boot partition?
Thanks.
UEFI imaging
Re: UEFI imaging
Yottabytes wrote:
>
> 1. If I'm not using secure boot, do I need to copy and restore the MSR, EFI
> and the Recovery partition as well as the Windows OS partition?
Yottabytes,
Secure boot or not, the restore is no different. For the backup image you should backup the 4 partitions as you will need them if you have a drive failure. But if restoring for a software issue, restoring the Windows partition should be sufficient. Although you may need to restore the ESP as well. See below.
> 2. Do I need to boot with the IFW UEFI recovery disk to complete a restore,
> as opposed to trying to restore Windows by booting to my Linux partition?
You can restore the Windows partition when using IFL in Linux. You probably can't restore the ESP as it is mounted.
> 3. Will Linux have the same restore issues if I try to restore from Window?
> i.e., do I need to restore the swap as well as any home partition in
> addition to the boot partition?
>
I don't use Home, Boot or Swap partitions but I'd expect just restoring the Root partition would be sufficient. Yes, you can restore the Linux image from Windows.
With GPT/UEFI your Linux booting files (grub) are in the ESP and not in the Linux partition or the "MBR". Both the Windows and Linux booting files are in the ESP. Worth remembering.
>
> 1. If I'm not using secure boot, do I need to copy and restore the MSR, EFI
> and the Recovery partition as well as the Windows OS partition?
Yottabytes,
Secure boot or not, the restore is no different. For the backup image you should backup the 4 partitions as you will need them if you have a drive failure. But if restoring for a software issue, restoring the Windows partition should be sufficient. Although you may need to restore the ESP as well. See below.
> 2. Do I need to boot with the IFW UEFI recovery disk to complete a restore,
> as opposed to trying to restore Windows by booting to my Linux partition?
You can restore the Windows partition when using IFL in Linux. You probably can't restore the ESP as it is mounted.
> 3. Will Linux have the same restore issues if I try to restore from Window?
> i.e., do I need to restore the swap as well as any home partition in
> addition to the boot partition?
>
I don't use Home, Boot or Swap partitions but I'd expect just restoring the Root partition would be sufficient. Yes, you can restore the Linux image from Windows.
With GPT/UEFI your Linux booting files (grub) are in the ESP and not in the Linux partition or the "MBR". Both the Windows and Linux booting files are in the ESP. Worth remembering.