How to Boot VHD + WIM from USB and How to use Grub4dos menu and SVBus driver for

booting VHD from RAMDISK

Download: VHD_WIMBOOT and WinNTSetup - More Info: VHD_WIMBOOT - April 18, 2019
1. Use WinNTSetup to do Fresh Install of Win10x64 in VHD located on Internal System Drive C: - follow page 2 of this pdf Manual
2. After booting with VHD then use R-mouse menu to Run as admin file instx64.exe of SVBus bin folder to install the driver
3. Boot normal with Win10 and use VHD_WIMBOOT to select System Drive and VHD File and use CAPTURE to make WIM File
4. Make USB Portable SSD as described below and Copy the Captured WIM File from Wimboot folder to NTFS partition of Portable SSD
5. Use VHD_WIMBOOT to APPLY that Captured WIM File to New Created VHD Size 3.9 GB on NTFS partition of Portable SSD
6. When Target Boot Drive is Selected, then APPLY will make VHD boot entry in Boot Manager Menu and in Grub4dos Menu
7. Boot with that New VHD from Boot Manager Menu as FILEDISK Or Boot that New VHD from Grub4dos Menu as RAMDISK

The Button WIM Info will give useful info about your WIM file - wimboot compatible WIM File contains only Index 1
The Button Upd WimBOOT can be used after copy of VHD + WIM set to other NTFS drive to make the set bootable again

The Button Make Boot will make the boot entries on Target Boot Drive - FAT32 partition of USB Portable SSD as described below
- VHD boot entry in Boot Manager Menu for booting VHD as FILEDISK - in BIOS mode and in UEFI mode
- VHD boot entry in Grub4dos Menu for booting VHD from RAMDISK - in BIOS mode only and using SVBus driver
- Booting from USB with Portable SSD needs after BIOS beep to press F8 Or F11 to arrive at BIOS Boot Menu and then select your boot device
After Install of SVBus driver then UEFI booting requires in Boot Manager Menu to press F8 where you can allow unsigned drivers
When file grldr.mbr is Not found at Boot Drive, then Make Boot and APPLY will make Grub4dos entry in Boot Manager Menu on Boot Drive

LZX Compression can be used in CAPTURE to make WIM files of smaller size
Roughly with LZX the time to CAPTURE is doubled and the WIM Size is 30% smaller so that it saves for a 9 GB WIM file about 3 GB
An Expandable VHD will load much faster into RAMDISK, since only the space occupied by files of 600 MB needs to be loaded
It Expands then to the maximum VHD Size of 3.9 GB and gives the RAMDISK of that size a lot of FREE Space

In VHD_WIMBOOT the First Selection is the System Drive.

System Drive is NTFS partition for VHD + WIM Operating System files.
Boot Drive is FAT32 partition for Boot Manager and Grub4dos Boot files.
On Internal Harddisk the System Drive is Drive C: and the Boot drive is Hidden.
You can run WinNTSetup x64 so that Hidden Boot partition is mounted as drive Z:
On USB Portable SSD the Boot and System Drive are made as described below.

Make USB Portable SSD 250 GB - SAMSUNG Portable SSD T5 250 GB with UEFI/MBR Partitioning
- 1st partition 20 GB FAT32 Set Active for Boot Manager and Grub4dos Boot files and 2nd partition NTFS for VHD + WIM System files
1. In Disk Management remove existing exFat Volume and Create new partitions
2. MBR partitioning with 1st partition 20 GB FAT32 Set Active and 2nd partition NTFS
3. In admin command window run DiskPart
4. In DiskPart type list volume and select volume <FAT32 volume nr> and active and exit
BIOS mode booting requires Active partition with BOOTMGR bootsector
UEFI mode booting requires FAT32 partition with x64 file efi\boot\bootx64.efi Or x86 file efi\boot\bootia32.efi
More Info: VHD_WIMBOOT and UEFI_MULTI topic and given by alacran in WIMBOOT Topic and Compression and RAMBOOT Topic
Step 1 is use WinNTSetup to do Fresh Install of Win10x64 in VHD located on Internal System Drive C:

Download Win10_1809_English_x64.iso Or Win10 x64 Setup ISO in your language from TechBench
Mount the ISO with double-click and Copy file sources\install.wim to folder sources created on your internal harddisk drive C:

Download WinNTSetup and run WinNTSetup_x64.exe for the first time to collect some Tools
Download BOOTICE v1.3.3.2 and Add file BOOTICEx64.exe to the Tools\x64 folder

Create W10x64_F.vhd using WinNTSetup x64 for Install of Win10 x64 in VHD
1. Start up with Windows 10 x64 and Start WinNTSetup x64
2. Use VHD Create and make file W10x64_F.vhd Size 25 GB on internal hard disk NTFS partition drive C:
3. Select EFI Boot Drive (Z :) and Installation Drive (Y: Mounted VHD) for Win10x64 Installation
4. Select location Windows Installation files - Select your sources\install.wim file
5. Choose Win10 Edition e.g. Home or Professional and Select Tweaks Disable Hibernate and Page file
6. Select Setup and prepare VHD for installation of Win10x64 - choose OK and not Reboot
7. Run BOOTICEx64.exe from Upper Right Icon - Choose BCD of current system file Z:\efi\microsoft\boot
8. Professional mode - Choose Windows 10 (VHD) entry - BootMenuPolicy set value Legacy
9. Use R-mouse to create New element - AllowPrereleaseSignatures - Yes - needed for SVBus driver
10. Reboot and install Win10x64 in VHD with Offline Account and Install missing drivers using MotherBoard driver CD
11. If not done set Hibernate Off - in admin command window type: powercfg -h off
12. After Restart Install 7-zip using file 7z1900-x64.exe
In 7-zip File Manager menu Tools > Options - select file associations, such as zip 7z rar wim
13. Install Updates and Programs such as Office, VLC player for DVD support
14. Connect Printer and after auto Installation Set as Default Printer
15. Disable LAN Network Adapter and Disable Connect Automatically WiFi for protection and Reboot computer
16. Start > Windows System > Configuration > System > Advanced system > Settings > Startup
Select as Standardsystem your normal Windows 10 and Reboot computer
VHD_WIMBOOT - Apply and Capture of WIM Files for OS in VHD

APPLY of WIM File in wimboot mode to VHD gives Operating System with only variable and boot essential files total about 1 GB in VHD.
The VHD contains also pointers to the non variable files in the WIM archive, so that it seems that the complete OS is present in the VHD.
The VHD content can be generated in 2 minutes from the WIM archive of about 9 GB, so that a backup of the system is always available.
The VHD + WIM set can be copied to any drive so that we have a portable Operating System.
The WIM file cannot be changed by viruses or other malware so that the system is reliable and if needed it is easy to generate new VHD.
The VHD can boot as 25 GB FILEDISK from Portable SSD to allow changes, but also booting always Fresh from 1.5 GB RAMDISK is possible.

First use VHD Size 25 GB booting as FILEDISK on various hardware to collect drivers and install extra programs and for Windows Update.
Then after CAPTURE we can APPLY the Captured WIM File to small VHD of Size about halve of the available RAM
e.g. 3.9 GB for a 8 GB RAM machine and 1.5 GB for a 4 GB RAM machine - Capture followed by Apply re-gains FREE Space in VHD
Such small Expandable VHD is then Universal and can be used to boot always Fresh on any machine fast into RAMDISK

As compared to WinPE the VHD WIMBOOT has the advantage to have support for Office and Printer and any program can be installed
which is all not possible in case of WinPE
In case of VHD WIMBOOT on each machine it takes extra boottime and space to adjust the drivers for that machine
The VHD WIMBOOT solution is Portable, but not as flexible as Win10XPE, where boottime is not dependant on machine hardware

Experts Only - Get Access to your Hidden EFI Boot Drive to Add VHD as WIMBoot option to your machine
- In Windows 10 x64 run WinNTSetup x64 so that EFI partition is mounted as drive Z:
- Or use R-mouse to open admin cmd window and mount the EFI partition using mountvol Z: /s
- Use R-mouse menu to run as administrator Explorer-x64.exe of Explorer++

More Info: VHD_WIMBOOT and UEFI_MULTI topic and given by alacran in WIMBOOT Topic and Compression and RAMBOOT Topic
More Info: WinCmd and bcdedit and bcdboot and bootsect and DiskPart en DISM and Win10_Inst_Eng.pdf

Final Result - Windows 10 x64 in VHD booting from RAMDISK by using Grub4dos menu and SVBus driver
Old description using wimlib-clc to CAPTURE Wimboot Image File from Mounted VHD

Download wimlib-clc and wimlib 64-bit - Extract wimlib to x64 folder of wimlib-clc so that Program is auto recognized

From Mounted W10x64_F.vhd file, browse to it's Windows\system32 folder and copy file WimBootCompress.ini to wimlib-clc folder.
Rename WimBootCompress.ini as WimBootCompress_BCD.ini and Edit this new ini file as follows:
- Add entries \Boot\BCD and \bootmgr to the [PrepopulateList] so that these files are copied as file instead of as pointers
- Remove or disable with ; the [PinningFolderList] since it will give wimlib WARNING Unrecognized Section, which is safe to ignore

In Win10 x64 OS Run wimlib-clc and Select Image file C:\sources\capt_f.wim using Mounted W10x64_F.vhd as Source Y:\
Select --wimboot and Select custom WimBootCompress_BCD.ini file Selected as --config
Select CAPTURE to make sources\capt_f.wim Image file from Mounted W10x64_F.vhd

Download UEFI_MULTI Tool to make USB Bootable from Boot Manager menu with VHD file in BIOS and UEFI Secure mode
UEFI_MULTI can make Grub4dos menu entry for VHD booting with SVBus driver as FILEDISK or as RAMDISK
UEFI_MULTI makes entry in Windows Boot Manager for booting VHD as FILEDISK using Microsoft vhdmp.sys driver

Make Portable SSD 250 GB - SAMSUNG Portable SSD T5 250 GB with UEFI/MBR Partitioning
- 1st partition 20 GB FAT32 Set Active for Boot Manager and Grub4dos Boot files and 2nd partition NTFS for VHD + WIM System files
1. In Disk Management remove existing exFat Volume and Create new partitions
2. MBR partitioning with 1st partition 20 GB FAT32 Set Active and 2nd partition NTFS
3. In admin command window run DiskPart
4. In DiskPart type list volume and select volume <FAT32 volume nr> and active and exit
BIOS mode booting requires Active partition with BOOTMGR bootsector
UEFI mode booting requires FAT32 partition with x64 file efi\boot\bootx64.efi Or x86 file efi\boot\bootia32.efi
Use WinNTSetup to Create 2GB VHD on NTFS drive of Portable SSD and Apply Captured WIM file with Setup

1. Copy file capt_f.wim to folder sources on NTFS drive of Portable SSD connected to USB
2. Start WinNTSetup x64 and use VHD Create to make 2GB file W10x64_F2.vhd on NTFS partition of Portable SSD
3. Select USB Boot Drive and Installation Drive (X: Mounted VHD) for Win10x64 Installation
4. Select location Windows Installation files - Select your sources\capt_f.wim file on USB
5. Select Mode Wimboot and Disable All Tweaks since the Capture contains them already
6. Select Setup and prepare VHD for installation of Win10x64 - choose OK and not Reboot
7. Run BOOTICEx64.exe - Choose Boot\BCD on USB Boot Drive
8. Professional mode - Choose Windows 10 (WimBoot) entry - use Description W10x64_F2.vhd and BootMenuPolicy set value Legacy
9. Use R-mouse to create New element - AllowPrereleaseSignatures - Yes - needed for SVBus driver
10. Reboot from USB with W10x64_F2.vhd from Boot Manager Menu
11. After booting with VHD then use R-mouse menu to Run as admin file instx64.exe of SVBus bin folder to install the driver
12. Reboot with Win10 x64 OS and use UEFI_MULTI to make Grub4dos menu entry for booting VHD WIMBOOT as RAMDISK
13. Reboot from USB and Select in Grub4dos menu your WIMBOOT VHD for booting from RAMDISK
After install of extra programs or after adding drivers of other machines, it will be needed to regain FREE Size in your VHD
CAPTURE - Format - APPLY carried out on mounted VHD results quickly in the original free space, since all file data go in the WIM file

Reboot with Win10 x64 OS and use wimlib-clc to CAPTURE Image file capt_f2.wim from Mounted W10x64_F2.vhd Selected as Source

After Format of Mounted W10x64_F2.vhd as Selected Target, then APPLY capt_f2.wim Image file using --wimboot flag