ngobach/ntloader

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         /:/  /                \:\__\\::/__/      |:|  |    
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        NTloader -- Windows NT6+ OS/VHD/WIM loader
                Copyright (C) 2021 A1ive.

Usage

Boot Windows NT6+ WIM/VHD/VHDX

• GRUB4DOS

title Boot Windows NT6+ PE
uuid (hdx,y)
kernel /ntloader uuid=%?_UUID% file=/path/to/winpe.wim
initrd /initrd.lz1

• a1ive GRUB2

menuentry "Boot Windows NT6+ PE" {
    probe -s dev_uuid -u (hdx,y);
    if [ "${grub_platform}" = "efi" ];
    then
        linuxefi /ntloader uuid=${dev_uuid} file=/path/to/winpe.wim;
        initrdefi /initrd.lz1;
    else
        linux16 /ntloader uuid=${dev_uuid} file=/path/to/winpe.wim;
        initrd16 /initrd.lz1;
    fi;
}

• GNU GRUB2

menuentry "Boot Windows NT6+ PE" {
    probe -s dev_uuid -u (hdx,y);
    if [ "${grub_platform}" = "efi" ];
    then
        chainloader /ntloader initrd=/initrd.lz1 uuid=${dev_uuid} file=/path/to/winpe.wim;
    else
        linux16 /ntloader uuid=${dev_uuid} file=/path/to/winpe.wim;
        initrd16 /initrd.lz1;
   fi;
}

Boot Windows NT6+ OS

• GRUB4DOS

title Boot Windows NT6+
uuid (hdx,y)
kernel /ntloader uuid=%?_UUID%
initrd /initrd.lz1

• a1ive GRUB2

menuentry "Boot Windows NT6+" {
    probe -s dev_uuid -u (hdx,y);
    if [ "${grub_platform}" = "efi" ];
    then
        linuxefi /ntloader uuid=${dev_uuid};
        initrdefi /initrd.lz1;
    else
        linux16 /ntloader uuid=${dev_uuid};
        initrd16 /initrd.lz1;
    fi;
}

• GNU GRUB2

menuentry "Boot Windows NT6+" {
    probe -s dev_uuid -u (hdx,y);
    if [ "${grub_platform}" = "efi" ];
    then
        chainloader /ntloader initrd=/initrd.lz1 uuid=${dev_uuid};
    else
        linux16 /ntloader uuid=${dev_uuid};
        initrd16 /initrd.lz1;
   fi;
}

Advanced options

• Enable Test Signing mode

kernel /ntloader uuid=%?% file=/xxx.vhd testmode=1

• Use the highest graphical resolution

kernel /ntloader uuid=%?% file=/xxx.wim hires=1

• Disable hardware abstraction layer (HAL) and kernel detection.

kernel /ntloader uuid=%?% detecthal=0

• Load the Registry SYSTEM hive as a volatile hive (WinPE mode)

kernel /ntloader uuid=%?% minint=1

• Disable the use of VGA modes

kernel /ntloader uuid=%?% novga=1

• Disable VESA BIOS calls

kernel /ntloader uuid=%?% novesa=1

• Configure Physical Address Extension (PAE)

kernel /ntloader uuid=%?% pae=Enable|Disable|Default

• Configure Data Execution Prevention (DEP)

kernel /ntloader uuid=%?% nx=OptIn|OptOut|AlwaysOff|AlwaysOn

• Set Windows load options

kernel /ntloader uuid=%?% file=/xxx.vhd loadopt=XXX

• Specify the path of winload.exe or winload.efi

kernel /ntloader uuid=%?% winload=/Windows/System32/winload.efi

• Specify system root

kernel /ntloader uuid=%?% file=/xxx.vhd sysroot=/Windows

• Boot Windows 7 (UEFI)

kernel /ntloader uuid=%?% win7

• Hook UEFI SecureBoot variable (UEFI)

kernel /ntloader uuid=%?% file=/xxx.vhd secureboot=off

• Change the boot logo (UEFI) When booting on a UEFI-based computer, Windows may show a vendor-defined logo which is stored on the UEFI firmware in a section called Boot Graphics Resource Table (BGRT).

kernel /ntloader uuid=%?% file=/xxx.vhd bgrt

• Disable debug messages You can disable debug messages by using the 'quiet' command-line option. For example:

kernel /ntloader uuid=%?% file=/xxx.vhd quiet

• Disable graphical boot messages You can force the Windows boot manager to display error messages in text mode by using the 'text' command-line option. For example:

kernel /ntloader uuid=%?% file=/xxx.vhd text

• Disable paging (BIOS)

kernel /ntloader uuid=%?% file=/xxx.vhd linear

• Troubleshoot You can add the 'pause' command-line option for ntloader.

  This will instruct ntloader to wait for a keypress

  before booting Windows, to give you a further opportunity

  to observe any messages that may be displayed.

  For example:

kernel /ntloader uuid=%?% file=/xxx.vhd pause

Compilation

You will need to have at least the following packages installed in order to build NTloader:

• gcc
• binutils
• make

You can use the following command to create initrd.cpio:

cd utils/rootfs
find * | cpio -o -H newc > ../initrd.cpio
cd ..

You can also use lznt1 to compress initrd to reduce its size:

python lznt1.py initrd.cpio initrd.lz1

License

NTloader is released under the GPLv3 License. See LICENSE.txt for details.