UEFI & GTP & Multi-OS & Multi-Partition Installation

[Brian K]

When the laptop arrives, enter the UEFI-BIOS and go to the Boot tab. Check it's set for UEFI booting, not Legacy. If CSM is present (Compatibility Support Module), turn it Off. Secure Boot, your choice.

Save and exit.

[Bob Coleman]

when you copy the partitions, tick the box to add to boot menu.

This assumes the copy is being done in Partition Work of BIU, correct?

[deler123-+]

Sorry, Brian K and staff.
The laptop arrived, and I have already finished installing Windows 10.
I just saw the updated reply today.
Currently, there is a single 4TB SSD.
Regarding the partitions, I deleted the MSR and recovery partitions created during the OS installation
and merged them into the C: primary partition.
The remaining partitions are as follows:
EFI System Partition: 100MB
C: Primary Partition: 3.7TB
I watched the video you recommended (BootIt UEFI, Windows 10, and Ubuntu),
but the installation process differs, so I am quite confused.
I would appreciate your advice once again

[deler123-+]

Brian K
Please note that UEFI is the default setting for BIOS booting.
Also, the CSM (Compatibility Support Module) option you mentioned
does not appear in the BIOS.

[Brian K]

deler123,

Unfortunately, you haven't followed the recommended advice and you have created a mess. You need to start again.

Create a BIU UFD
Boot the UFD in Maintenance mode and delete all partitions on the SSD
Boot the UFD and install BIU
Resize the EFI System Partition to 1000 MiB
Watch the video and install Win10 to a 100000 MB partition
Don't delete the MSR or RE partitions

Any questions?

[Brian K]

In BIU, if you try to delete the MSR you get a message...

*WARNING* Windows requires a reserved partition.

In BIU, if you try to delete the RE partition you get a message...

*WARNING* This partition is marked as REQUIRED.

[deler123-+]

Hi, Brian K

Thanks to your advice, I successfully installed Windows 10

Here is the current hard drive and partition information:

Bus : OS
Drives : Hard Drive 0 - NVMe

GPT Partitions
EFI System : 1000 MiB
Microsoft Reserved Partition : 16 MiB
Windows 10 : 100,000 MiB
Free Space : 3,714,430 MiB

Now, I would like to copy the installed Windows 10
and create 9 partitions

I would appreciate a detailed guide and further advice

[Brian K]

deler123,

Good work. It should be easy from here. Attention to detail is important.
I'm assuming your Win10 partition is labelled Windows. It doesn't matter if it's named something else. Leave it.


In Partition Work select the Windows partition
click Copy
select your Free Space and click Paste
The Name field is empty (partition label). Type Win10-2 (Bear with me with these names. You can change them next week if you prefer other names)
put a tick in Add to Boot Menu (and leave the tick in Data Only). The tick in Add to Boot Menu creates a Boot Item.
click OK
The copy happens. It's fast.
Click Close when you see Completed.
Close Work with Partitions
Click Boot Edit
Select the new Windows item. Second in the list. Click Edit.
Change the Identity to Win10-2
In GPT Details, select the Windows partition (your original Win10)
Press Spacebar on your keyboard and you will see Hide appear on the line
Click OK
Click OK again

Click Boot Edit
Select the original Windows item. First in the list. Click Edit.
Change the Identity to Win10-1
In GPT Details, select the Win10-2 partition (your copy)
Press Spacebar on your keyboard and you will see Hide appear on the line
Make sure there is no Hide on the original Windows line
Click OK
Click OK again

Click Resume and boot Win10-1
In Win10-1 you should not see a Win10-2 partition in This PC
Restart and boot Win10-2
In Win10-2 you should not see a Win10-1 partition in This PC

Please stop there and let us know everything is working.

Edit... When you boot the Win10-1 Boot Item, the partition in This PC might not be called Win10-1. That's OK. What is it called?

[deler123-+]

Brian K
All features are working well.
Thank you very much.
Now, I would like to add a third OS and partition.
If I succeed in adding the third OS and partition,
I think I'll be able to add the remaining ones on my own.
I would appreciate your advice.

[Brian K]

deler123,

Nice.

You didn't mention the label of your original Windows partition. No problem, but do this...
Open Partition Work, select the Windows partition, click Properties. In the Name field, change Windows to Win10-1.
OK. Close.

If you haven't already done a backup of your original Win10 partitions, consider doing one.

In Partition Work select the Win10-1 partition
click Copy
select your Free Space and click Paste
The Name field is empty (partition label). Type Win10-3 (Bear with me with these names. You can change them next week if you prefer other names)
put a tick in Add to Boot Menu (and leave the tick in Data Only). The tick in Add to Boot Menu creates a Boot Item.
click OK
The copy happens. It's fast.
Click Close when you see Completed.
Close Work with Partitions
Click Boot Edit
Select the new Windows item. Third in the list. Click Edit.
Change the Identity to Win10-3
In GPT Details, select the Win10-1 partition (your original Win10)
Press Spacebar on your keyboard and you will see Hide appear on the line
Select the Win10-2 partition
If it's not Hidden, press Spacebar on your keyboard and you will see Hide appear on the line
Click OK
Click OK again

Click Boot Edit
Select the Win10-1 item. Click Edit.
Hide Win10-2 and Win10-3
Click OK
Click OK again

Click Boot Edit
Select the Win10-2 item. Click Edit.
Hide Win10-1 and Win10-3
Click OK
Click OK again

Make sure each 3 Windows Boot Items boot properly. "This PC" should only show one partition.

Got the idea about copying Win10-1 multiple times and hiding the non booting partitions from the booting partition?
Basically, for the Win10-x Boot Item, all Windows partitions except Win10-x should be hidden in that Boot item. If you mistakenly hide the Win10-x partition in the Win10-x Boot Item, Win10-x won't load into Windows.

Over to you. Plan for success. Let us know.