Windows XP Pro SP2 DOES have EFI Support

[ReanimationLP]

So, yeah, I unhid all the OS files on my XP box. And guess what I found

Theres a folder on the HD called Boot.

Inside of that is a folder called EFI.

Inside of that is all the Windows XP boot files encoded to boot on a EFI based machine.

Someone try a SP2 Pro disc on their Mac and lemme know what happens!

EDIT : Added a picture to show that I'm not crazy.

 

[Steve1496]

So does Home SP2 also have EFI support?

 

[Nermal]

That screenshot is from Media Centre Edition. I've never seen a hidden Boot folder before, it might only be in MCE.

 

[dornoforpyros]

eh I think someone's gonna have to get their grubby little hands on an intelMac before we know for sure if Windows can install. I give it less than 2 weeks.

 

[homerjward]

must be an mce thing. my install of xp pro sp2 doesnt even have a folder called "boot." and are efi files really for booting with efi or just some other file?

 

[iMeowbot]

must be an mce thing. my install of xp pro sp2 doesnt even have a folder called "boot." and are efi files really for booting with efi or just some other file?

Yes, those look like the right boot mangler files for Windows, if that screen shot is real.

 

[dotdotdot]

Windows XP Professional SP2 here, and no C:\Boot folder when I unhide all the files.

MCE might boot on EFI because EFI is the way to go for a Media Center type machine, but not for Professional.

And since you can't buy Media Center Edition (MCE)...

 

[Steve1496]

Windows XP Professional SP2 here, and no C:\Boot folder when I unhide all the files.

MCE might boot on EFI because EFI is the way to go for a Media Center type machine, but not for Professional.

And since you can't buy Media Center Edition (MCE)...

As far as I know, Microsoft is selling a Media Center Edition package with remote?

http://tinyurl.com/ds2dr

http://tinyurl.com/cvthq

 

[homerjward]

Windows XP Professional SP2 here, and no C:\Boot folder when I unhide all the files.

MCE might boot on EFI because EFI is the way to go for a Media Center type machine, but not for Professional.

And since you can't buy Media Center Edition (MCE)...

yes, you can. it's about the same price as pro (oem edition at least)
check out newegg/tigerdirect/whatever

 

[ReanimationLP]

Its quite real.

I cant say if its in Pro or not. I honestly dont know/remember.

You have to uncheck the option that says "Hide protected operating system files. (Recommended)"

You can buy MCE 2005 at newegg.

Its like 140.

Even if it is MCE, all MCE really is is Professional with the Media Center add-on built on top.

Hell, maybe someone will even develop a way to use the Apple Remote with MCE.

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

I just checked Vista Beta 1 and there is a boot folder there too with efi files in it there too:

 

[mcmadhatter]

Happy Days - now all I need is to get a copy of MCE - oh and £939 for an imac - ah well there goes that idea.

Though when i do get the money ...........the possibilities are endless

 

[After G]

Cool. One step closer to dual-boot.

 

[MRU]

Cool I have a copy of MCE 2005, I'll have to give it a try when my new macbookpro arrives sometime in Feb.

 

[ArnehWB]

ReanimationLP,

Did you have any version of Vista installed before or still have a version installed? I've got the exact same files right here in my \boot\efi\ folder and have never installed XP or MCE on the system. I've only got 2003 Server and Vista installed and those files didn't come from my 2003 install.

Reason I'm also asking is because your files are the exact same size as my Vista \boot\efi\ files, which they wouldn't be since Vista is newer and constantly changing, and windowscodeintegrity.luacdf is not a part of XP/MCE, rather its from Vista.

I also noticed your $RECYCLE.BIN in the main dir and the boot.bak. $RECYCLE.BIN is also a feature from Vista and boot.bak implies you've had more than 1 OS installed since it's made a backup of the boot.ini .

--There is one very easy way for you to check. Take for example the bootmgr.efi , RIGHT-click on it, go to properties, then go to the Version tab, if the version is some form of 6.0.5xxx.x , then its from Vista. Ie. my bootmgr.efi, which is also 374 KB, has this file version number: 6.0.5270.9 , which is from the latest December CTP release of Vista.

Also, though I'm not 100% sure on this part since its been a while since I haven't had a system with Vista installed on it, but the \boot\ folder in general is not even a part of XP/MCE/2003 booting. All the files that I have in the general \boot\ folder are all related to Vista booting.

-Arneh

 

[Laser47]

I have MCE 2005 and no boot folder, so I wonder how Reanimation got it. I cant wait til someone tries installing xp on their mac.

 

[ArnehWB]

Yea that's what I thought Laser47. I'm 99.999% sure that his \boot\efi\ and his \boot\ folder in general are from Vista since I've been testing Vista for a long time and the various things in his screenshot seem to prove that at one point or even at the moment he has a version of Vista installed.

I'm not saying that MCE or XP won't work on an Intel Mac. EFI may in fact support legacy BIOS based OS booting, that we'll have to wait and see. However, MCE is just XP SP2 with the MCE app added and nothing else has been changed between the two in regards to boot etc. so we shouldn't expect MCE to have something that XP SP2 doesn't.

 

[MRU]

I have MCE 2005 and no boot folder, so I wonder how Reanimation got it. I cant wait til someone tries installing xp on their mac.

Are you viewing Hidden Files. If not enable it folder preferences. Any luck now?

 

[DOUGHNUT]

according to this article:
http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/News/Details.aspx?NewsId=8628

Gateway Media Center 610 does in fact use EFI

"Gateway, which uses EFI in its all-in-one Gateway 610 Media Center desktop, said it chose to do so because EFI proved a more efficient way to code preboot software and can also help to improve the product from a long-term development perspective, a company representative said."

maybe reanimation runs that specific system?

 

[howesey]

yes, you can. it's about the same price as pro (oem edition at least)
check out newegg/tigerdirect/whatever

Tut tut. You are not allowed to sell WMC, like you are not allowed to sell Windows XP-64. They are all OEM and must be sold with a computer.

 

[ArnehWB]

Maybe DOUGHNUT, but then I think his screenshot would've been widescreen since the Gateway Media Center 610 has a widescreen monitor.

What the Gateway computer proves is one of 2 things:
a) EFI does indeed support legacy BIOS based OS booting, whether Apple kept that feature or not we don't know
OR
b) OEM's are able to modify current Windows versions to load on EFI systems

I really hope that its the first case, it'll simplify matters greatly.

-Arneh

 

[Laser47]

Are you viewing Hidden Files. If not enable it folder preferences. Any luck now?

Of course I enabled hidden files. Its just not there.

 

[ArnehWB]

Are you viewing Hidden Files. If not enable it folder preferences. Any luck now?

MacRumorUser, anyone who hasn't installed Vista at one point or another won't have the \boot\ folder unless they create it themselves for some other use.

The windowscodeintegrity.luacdf in ReanimationLP's screenshot is enough to prove that. Its part of the limited user account or UAP protection that is only part of Vista.

 

[MRU]

Ok guy's dont flame me; I wasn't being patronising, I was just asking

I can't test myself as I swapped my pc (with mce 2005) for my cousins macmini, because i wasn't using it

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

Maybe it'll be possible to get XP to work on an EFI machine by simply copying over that Boot folder.

The ntldr file in my Vista Boot folder is of a different size than the ntldr file from Windows.

XP SP2 ntldr = 250,032 bytes
Vista nltdr = 304,992 bytes
XP SP2 NTDETECT.COM = 47,548 bytes
Vista NTDETECT.COM = 47,564

I just thought I'd add that in case anyone can use this info. Damn, I wish I could afford an Intel iMac right now. I would have tried this out days ago!