AOEMI Partition Assistant Boot CD

Ravi

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to confirm with you guys if after installing AOMEI Partition Assistant in windows 8.1, I create a bootable cd from the make bootable cd wizard, will it boot in UEFI mode on my laptop?

bodgy

I have found that where a brand name PC/laptop comes with W8/8.1 preinstalled and it uses the UEFI system then one of two things have to happen. This may also depend on whether the CD hardware is part of the device or an external add on, as in the case of USB flash drives and CD/DVD players.

If the CD/DVD player is integral to your laptop there will probably be no problem.

If though it is an external device, the following applies to it and USB connected drives/sticks.

You will need either burning software or a file manager that will allow you to edit files in ISO containers. Windows 8.1 can open and allow you to view WIM and ISO files by default.

1. Due to the approved items certificate used in firmware the only way to get an externally plugged in device to work is to run the Windows 8.1 recovery program (not the manufacturers one but the actual Microsoft one), and select make a bootable recovery environment. Untick the option to copy the PC/laptop recovery folder to the CD/USB device. 

This will put the bare bones booting environment on to the CD or USB device and most importantly it will contian a certificate that the UEFI security firmware will accept. From here you can then make an AOEMI booting envirnonment.

2. Now make your AOEMI bootable media as an ISO but don't burn it directly to a CD, keep the ISO file on your actual system for the moment.

3. Double click on the ISO file made by Windows Recovery utility.

3a. Click on the Sources folder and open it.

3b. Rename the boot.wim to boot_old.wim or any name you fancy.

We need to swap the boot.wim in this file with the one that AOEMI has just made.

4. Double click on the AOEMI recovery ISO, navigate as above to the Sources folder.

5. Copy the boot.wim in the AOEMI ISO to the one made by the Windows Recovery utility.

6. Close both the ISO's  and then either burn the edited Windows copy to your CD or copy over to a USB stick with a program that can boot from ISO such as RMPREPUSB.

First though try just disabling Secure Boot in your UEFI firmware. This probably won't work due to Microsoft requirements in providing OEM versions of W8/8.1 .

If though your PC is not a brand name one or didn't come with W8.1 preinstalled, just disabling Secure Boot or enabling Legacy boot should work right off the bat. 

I should add my W8.1 environment is a Medion Akoya P2212T hybrid tablet 64 bit, and the above steps are those I have to take in order to boot from any USB device.