This tutorial will show you how to create a Windows To Go USB drive that supports Mac computers, then you can run Windows to go on a Mac computer to complete the work that must be done under Windows.
On these Mac computers, the root of trust for the UEFI firmware is specifically the T2 firmware. This design relies on the T2 to protect the UEFI firmware (and Secure Boot as a whole) from persistent infection, in the much the same way that boot is protected by the A Series SoC’s in iOS and iPadOS. UEFI firmware image viewer and editor. Contribute to LongSoft/UEFITool development by creating an account on GitHub.
I hav a late 2016 MacBook Pro with MacOS and Windows 10 Pro dual systems installed on it, so far so good, but I only use Windows 10 Pro to play some games that can't be run on MacOS. Now I'm trying to get rid of my Bootcamp installation, because of low space on main SSD drive. I noticed that WinToUSB can install Windows to a USB drive, can the Windows USB drive created by WinToUSB be started from a Mac computer? How do I make it? Could let me know step by step for using your tools.
Yes, the Windows To Go USB drive created by WinToUSB can be started from a Mac computer, but not all Windows To Go USB drive created by WinToUSB can be started from a Mac computer. So we need to understand what causes the WinToUSB USB drive to fail to boot and then we can effectively avoid it.
Asus Uefi For Mac Windows 10
1. Now All of Apple's computers use Intel CPUs, and Apple selected the Intel-designed Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) as its BIOS firmware to replace the Open firmware used on the PowerPC architecture. So in order to boot a Mac computer, we have to make sure that the Windows To Go USB drive that we created supports EFI booting.
2. For booting Windows on an (U)EFI-based computer, the Windows version must match the PC architecture, that means a 64-bit (U)EFI-based computer can only boot 64-bit versions of Windows and a 32-bit (U)EFI-based computer can only boot 32-bit versions of Windows. Mac computers use 64-bit Intel CPUs, so make sure you use 64-bit Windows to create Windows To Go.
2. For booting Windows on an (U)EFI-based computer, the Windows version must match the PC architecture, that means a 64-bit (U)EFI-based computer can only boot 64-bit versions of Windows and a 32-bit (U)EFI-based computer can only boot 32-bit versions of Windows. Mac computers use 64-bit Intel CPUs, so make sure you use 64-bit Windows to create Windows To Go.
Tutorial to create and run Windows To Go on a Mac computer with WinToUSB.
Step 1. Download Mac Boot Camp Support Software for Windows To Go, please refer to:
How to download Boot Camp Windows Support Software for Windows To Go?
How to download Boot Camp Windows Support Software for Windows To Go?
Step 2. Copy the Boot Camp Support Software downloaded in the previous step to the computer with an installed copy of WinToUSB, and connect the destination external hard drive or USB flash drive to this computer, then run WinToUSB.
Step 3. Click the button, then click the button and select the Windows installation ISO file from the open dialog box.
Step 4. WinToUSB scans for and lists available operating systems. Pleae select the edition of Windows you want to install, then click 'Next'.
Step 5. Select the destination drive in the drop-down list. If the drive is not correctly recognized by WinToUSB, please click the button for the program to recognize the drive.
Step 6. A pop-up will appear asking you if you want to format it to continue, select the partition scheme you want to use and click 'Yes' to format it. Mac computer is a UEFI based computer, so you have to select the 'GPT for UEFI' or 'MBR for BIOS and UEFI' option as the partition scheme. If you choose 'Keep the existing partition scheme', you need to manually prepare the partitions on the USB drive before this step, and here is the user guide on how to manually prepare partitions for Windows To Go. Please note that the 'Keep the existing partition scheme' option is valid only for an external disk.
Step 7. Select the system partition and boot partition from the partition list, the selected partitions will be marked as red, specify the directory of the additional drivers as the save path of Boot Camp Support Software, then click 'Next'.
Tips:- The directory of the additional drivers you specify should only contain drivers that need to be injected into Windows. If this directory contains too many useless files, the process of injecting drivers will become very slow.
Step 8. After clicking 'Next', WinToUSB begins installing Windows.
Step 9. It takes some time to install. After installation, safely unplug the USB drive from the Windows computer, then connect the USB drive to the Mac computer you want to boot. If you have only the USB-C interface on your Mac computer, you will need to use the USB-C to USB Adapter to connect the USB device to your Mac computer.
Step 10. Power on the Mac computer, and then immediately hold down the Option key, then select the USB drive and press Return to boot from it.
Step 11. Windows normal installation starts up and you have to complete all the installation steps. If the Mac's own keyboard or touchpad does not work, you have to use an external USB keyboard or mouse to complete the installation. After that, you can install Windows Support Software (Boot Camp drivers), programs, copy files, etc.
Now you know how to create and run Windows To Go on a Mac computer with the best free Windows To Go Creator WinToUSB, you can also use WinToUSB to clone existing Windows to a USB drive and then boot Windows from that USB drive on a Mac computer. Related Guides
In this tutorial I will repair a PC with a corrupt UEFI BIOS.
The broken computer is made by Digital Storm which is a Silicon Valley company specializing in performance computers. This model has an Intel i7-6850K CPU running at 4 GHz with 32 GB of DDR4 RAM and a GTX 1080 graphics card.
The motherboard is an Asus X99-A II. Both the CPU and the graphics card are liquidcooled.
The computer is stuck in a rebooting loop. Upon power up, the computer lights up, fansspin and the coolant starts pumping. However, a few seconds later it shuts off. After a few more seconds it powers back on byitself and the loop repeats. The computeris not getting past the POST (Power On Self-Test) so the CMOS is not accessible.
I called Digital Storm tech support. We disconnected all the peripherals, spent a lot of time moving RAM sticks around, tested the power supply, disconnected the CPU and removed the graphics card. None of the aforementioned corrected the rebooting loop. Their conclusion was a bad motherboard (out of warranty) and they estimated $500 to fix it (includes shipping) assuming that it was the actual problem.
A little online research indicated that reboot loops are a common problem with the ASUS X99 motherboard and one possible cause is a corrupt BIOS firmware which could be remedied with a BIOS upgrade, which is more difficult to accomplish when the computer won’t boot. In my previous BIOS tutorial I repaired a Dell with a bricked BIOS using a Raspberry Pi and FlashRom. You may want to check it out because it goes into more detail about the BIOS and shows a low-cost programming solution using a Pi. However, that tutorial featured a traditional BIOS. This newer PC has a UEFI BIOS which complicates things a little bit.
UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) is a specification for a more robust version of BIOS which addresses many of its old predecessor’s short comings. UEFI typically sports a friendly graphical user interface with animation as opposed to text-based keyboard only. UEFI increases maximum hard drive size from 2.2 TB to 9.4 ZB (zettabytes). It implements secure boot which can help prevent malware from hijacking the boot process. There can be enhanced boot speeds and some even provide Internet access and games.
UEFI is a big improvement over legacy BIOS which dates back to the first IBM PC’s created in the 1980’s. Legacy BIOS is 16-bit and limited to 1 MB of memory.
The BIOS firmware is stored on serial flash chip on the motherboard. Fortunately the chip is socketed so no soldering is required. Otherwise, if the chip is soldered there may be a SPI header on the motherboard. Please see my this tutorial for SPI programming and desoldering instructions.
Before removing the chip make sure the computer is unplugged and that you note the pin 1 orientation which is designated by a little notch on one end of the chip and/or a recessed circle.
A small screwdriver works well for socket chip removal. The blade goes between the chip and the socket. Avoid trying to pry the chip up because the screw driver could scratch the traces on the board. A safer approach is to twist the screwdriver blade. Take turns lifting the chips from opposite sides and only lift a little at a time. If you lift one end of the chip too high it can bend the pins.
Note: an alternative to a corrupt firmware could be dirty contacts between the BIOS chip and the socket. Cleaning and reseating the BIOS chip is another possible fix.In my previous BIOS repair tutorial, I used a Raspberry Pi as an EPROM programmer. This time I’ll use a TL866 II Plus which is a very popular, inexpensive USB programmer. Of course, a Raspberry Pi would work too. The chip is a Winbond W25Q128FV which is 3 V 128 Mb serial flash memory. The chip is placed in the programmer with the notched end aligned appropriately. The lever locks it in place.
The programming software that comes with the programmer works well. Click the select IC button and then I type W25Q128FV and choose the first 8 pin DIP package.
Your chip will likely be a different brand/model. Please confirm you specify the correct chip.Click Device Read – Read. The BIOS firmware on the chip should load into the buffer. Click File – Save to store the original BIOS to disk. Please make sure you keep a backup copy of the original BIOS just in case something goes wrong.
A couple of open source tools are required to work with the UEFI files. Both tools are available on the LongSoft GitHub page. The first one’s called UEFITool. It’s a UEFI firmware image viewer and editor. The second tool is FD44 editor. This utility is specifically designed to edit ASUS BIOS files, but there are editors for other brands. Next download the latest BIOS firmware from the manufacturer’s motherboard driver page. Since I’m using an ASUS X99 motherboard, I’ll download the latest BIOS from the ASUS website. Unlike my previous tutorial, the downloaded BIOS file is a capsule and needs some work before it can be programmed to the flash chip. Run UEFI tool. Click File – Open Image File. Select the new BIOS capsule and click open. Click the arrow to expand the AMI capsule. This shows the Intel image. Right click on the image and select Extract as is. Then save it to disk with a name to designate that it is the new BIOS bin file.
This is the actual firmware that will be uploaded to the chip, but not yet. There’s one more modification necessary. Run the FD44 editor. Click Open from BIOS image file. Select the original BIOS (the one read from the computer.) If you get the message “Data format can’t be detected” then you will need to confirm the data format. If GbE version is present than just leave the default data format which should have MAC address storage set to “GbE region and system UUID”.
Otherwise if the GbE version is missing then set “ASCII string and system UUID”. You can set any value for ASCII MAC magic byte, but most boards use values from 20 to 2F. Select “None” as DTS key type. If you prefer to select “Long” DTS key type then, use “Default” as DTS Magic string. Some boards will provide the DTS key on a yellow sticker.
Unlike legacy BIOS, UEFI stores the MAC address, the System UUID and the motherboard serial number. This information needs to be transferred to the new firmware before uploading. Copy the results from the original BIOS to the clipboard, and paste them into a text editor such as Notepad.
If you don’t have the original firmware, you could probably use a fake MAC address. You can’t just make them up. They have to be in the correct format. There are free online tools to generate fake MAC addresses such as this one. Often the MAC address is on a sticker on your computer. You might also be able to retrieve the address from your router logs. If you’re using a different editor, the MAC address is usually the first 6 bytes of the GBE region of the hex file and I think the other numbers are in the padding region. I don’t know much about the System UUID. I assume all computers are supposed to have unique ones. On some boards the System UUID contains the DTS key. The motherboard serial number is usually on a sticker on the motherboard, but I think it does need to be exactly 15 digits so you may need to pad it. The MAC address, System UUID and motherboard serial number are usually located close together in the firmware. You can usually find one of the above using a hex editor. Once you locate one number the others are usually within a few lines.
Click open again but this time select the new BIOS file. Ignore any warnings. The MAC address field is just a placeholder and the UUID and serial number will be missing. Copy the motherboard serial number from notepad and paste it into the appropriate field. Next copy the System UUID. If the MAC address is appended to the system UUID then just copy the first 20 digits. Finally copy the MAC address. If you have a different brand motherboard and are using a different editor there could be additional required fields such as model number, service tag, product key, etc. Click Save to Bios Image File and overwrite the new BIOS bin file. Now the bin file is ready to be programmed.
If you need help finding an editor or are unsure which fields are necessary, I recommend you post a question to the BIOS-mods forum. Also the Win-Raid forum has an excellent BIOS modding section.Run the TL866 programming software again and ensure thecorrect Winbond chip is still selected. Clickopen and select the New Bios bin file. Leavethe default file load options and click OK. Then click Device program and click program. The programming software should erase thechip, program the firmware and verify the chip.
Carefully replace the programmed chip back into the socket in the motherboard. Please make sure the pin 1 notch on the chip is in its prior orientation. Also make sure the chip is firmly seated in the socket. The computer should now boot and display the new BIOS version. The BIOS fields can be verified in Windows using a command prompt and the wmic command:
Display MAC address:
Display System UUID. Please note that the raw byte order of the system UUID will be different because Microsoft uses a format called pretty print but all the hex values should match:
Display motherboard serial number: