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Switching from Legacy Boot to UEFI for Windows 10 Templates

When you've got a DaDesktop machine that you plan to use for GPU pass-through or similar features, the first step is to switch its boot method from Legacy to UEFI.

While we advise starting fresh with win10-template-v53 or newer, you might find it more convenient to upgrade your existing setup on your own. If that's the case, follow the steps below:

  1. Turn on the defrag service
  2. Generate boot files on the C: drive
  3. Mark the C: disk as Active
  4. Switch the system to UEFI
  5. Adjust the KVM configuration for UEFI support
  6. Fix the DaDesktop BIOS boot option
  7. Update the virtio-win drivers
  8. Disable the defrag service
  9. Optional: move a partition ahead of the system partition to support automatic disk resizing
     

1. Turn on the defrag service

  1. Open an admin Command Prompt
  2. Run the following command:
    sc config defragsvc start= demand

2. Make the C: drive bootable

  1. From an admin command line, execute:

    bcdboot.exe c:\windows /s c:

3. Mark the C: disk as Active

  1. Launch Disk Management
  2. Right-click the C: partition
  3. Set as Active
     

4. Switch the system to UEFI

  1. In an admin command prompt, run:
   mbr2gpt.exe /concver /allowFullOS

 

5. Adjust the KVM config for UEFI support

  1. Use SSH to connect to the ddnode
  2. Be sure to carry out commands as root

  3. Grab the OVMF_VARS.fd and qemu.conf files from a template that already supports UEFI boot, for instance:

    cp /var/lib/kvm/win10-template-v51/OVMF_VARS.fd /var/lib/kvm/yourimagename/
    cp /var/lib/kvm/win10-template-v51/qemu.conf /var/lib/kvm/yourimagename/

6. Fix the DaDesktop BIOS boot option

  1. Stop and then start your machine via the dd4t.dadesktop.com GUI or API
  2. The system will boot into the UEFI Shell
  3. Type "exit"
  4. Head to BootManagement TODO: FINISH IT
  5. Press F10 to save
  6. Exit the BIOS
     

7. Upgrade the Virt-io drivers

Some templates may ship with an outdated VGA driver, which can cause issues like the inability to change resolution. To sort this out:

  1. On your desktop, download the latest driver version from: https://fedorapeople.org/groups/virt/virtio-win/direct-downloads/archive-virtio/virtio-win-0.1.240-1/virtio-win-0.1.240.iso
  2. Install: TODO exact file name
  3. Reboot
     

8. Disable the DEFRAG service

  1. Open an admin Command Prompt
  2. Execute:
    sc config defragsvc start= disabled

 

9. Optional: shift a partition ahead of the system partition to enable automatic disk resizing

 

  1.  Boot the system in Rescue mode
  2.  Use GParted to move the partition in front of the system partition
  3.  Reboot

10. Install Idd drivers

  1. See https://github.com/ge9/IddSampleDriver
  2. Download it from: https://github.com/ge9/IddSampleDriver/releases
  3. Extract to C:\ (otherwise it won’t work)
  4. Install the certificate (as root)
  5. Install the driver (right-click the .inf file and choose Install)