I am not too sure if I need a boot partition or not

Basic Help & Support
#1

On my actual computer, it turns out I am using an MBR partitioning scheme on my main drive (as I was unable to have 5 partitions). These are my BIOS settings relating to UEFI and Legacy.

20200716_204651
20200716_2046514032×1960 2.31 MB

20200716_204711
20200716_2047114032×1960 2.43 MB

20200716_204750
20200716_2047504032×1960 2.29 MB

I am not too sure what the Other PCI Device ROM Priority means so I am not sure if this is relevant to the question or not.

My question is do I need a boot partition or not if I were to pick the GRUB bootloader? Would this be stored on the MBR without using a boot partition?

Edit: One of my partitions already is a boot partition.

#2

You don’t need one, it will be stored in the mbr regardless.

1 Like
#3

Hey man, the installer is forcing me to setup a /boot partition

image
image936×107 1.12 KB

Edit: My main computer is still booting into ArchLabs as UEFI, not legacy BIOS.

Edit: In this situation where is the booloader even stored. Is it stored on the boot partition or on the MBR. I have no idea who even setted up this computer that I am using so I am not too sure what he did when he setted up Windows.

#4

BIOS -> MBR
UEFI -> EFI partition

#5

You probably have an mbr disk and you loaded for gpt

#6

When I booted was booting into ArchLabs it showed the UEFI version screen

image
image1030×769 2.08 KB

rather than the legacy BIOS verison
image

Yes my drive is formatted as MBR as I was unable to allocated more than 4 primary partitions.

So should I just simply mount the boot partition in this case?

#7

You need to create a partition or mbr >> gpt

#8

You mean a separate boot partition? Can this be an extended logical partition?

#9

Ok in my BIOS settings I changed the Boot Mode Selection from UEFI and Legacy to Legacy Only and Windows seems to boot up just fine. So I guess if I boot into ArchLabs it will detect it as Legacy BIOS rather than UEFI.

Why is there a boot partition for Windows anyways if my drive uses an MBR partitioning scheme? If I remoebed the Windows boot partition will it cause my computer to become unbootable? Shouldn’t the bootloader anyways be stored in the MBR first sector or something?

#10

It is recommended to use always GPT for UEFI boot as some UEFI firmwares do not allow UEFI-MBR boot.

#11

This is from WIKI

#12

I don’t have Windows, maybe your Windows can’t gpt

#13

Unfortunately I did not setup this computer when it came with Windows 8.1 (at the time, it is upgraded to Windows 10). So the guy who set this up must have used MBR partitioning scheme for this drive that I use. But thankfully in my BIOS settings there is Legacy only mode. I do not wish to reformat my entire drive just to use GPT partition as I will lose my Windows installation.

Would you happen to know why is there a boot partition if this drive uses MBR rather than GPT?

Yes it can GPT, but currently the entire drive uses MBR.

#14

You need to redo the bootable media

#15

As in format my entire drive to use GPT rather than MBR?

#16

fsarhiver

#17

I am sorry I don’t know what you mean?

#18

Google Переводчик переводит криво и мы недопонимаем друг друга. Но администрация будет ругатся если я буду писать по-русски.Ушёл.

#19

I didn’t understand the question

#20

As in like when you said this:

You need to redo the bootable media

Do you mean that I should reformat my entire drive?