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I am a long term user of Hiren's Boot CD, but the CD does not support booting on UEFI/EFI/SecureBoot hardware, is there some kind of update/patch to apply to the cd image to be able to boot without BIOS? Can I make this myself? (By putting some files in the iso image?)

Edit: Running Hiren from USB on EFI counts too as an alternative.

To clarify before accepting an answer: I will test the solution on:

  • A EFI computer (SecureBoot enabled)
  • A EFI computer (SecureBoot disabled)

Edit 2:

There are many suggestion to use tools which make an ISO bootable with UEFI on a flash disk, however it's not that easy as you can only do that with UEFI-enabled ISO's. By UEFI enabled ISO's I mean that the ISO files contain a BOOT\EFI directory with a EFI bootloader. Hiren does not have this so the tools will not work. This is why I am asking the question - is there any way to make ourselves / copy another bootloader into HIREN and make it work?

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  • This is bugging me as well. Hirens is awesome, but EFI screwed it up, just like it screws up everything. cough SecureBoot cough
    – Kaz Wolfe
    Jul 10, 2014 at 1:46
  • We share the pain indeed, everything is becomming harder, simple problems which could be fixed in minutes take now hours :(
    – Gizmo
    Jul 10, 2014 at 2:37
  • I know there is some bootable rescue linux distros with UEFI boot enabled, but yeah would be cool for hiren to prepare ourselves for the future. This question will become more and more important I think.
    – Gizmo
    Aug 3, 2014 at 15:26
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    Have you seen this? tipsandtricksforum.com/thread-245.html - Apparently just selecting a GPT partition you should be able to make the ISO UEFI? I've not used this before and know little about it.
    – Joey
    Aug 4, 2014 at 10:19
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    OEM's will be allowed to lock a device to Secure Boot ON, so there will be no way to turn off secure boot, This may pose a problem to all utilities that we will see. Just a note here.
    – Gizmo
    Mar 27, 2015 at 12:42

9 Answers 9

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Short answer: No; you cannot make Hiren's Boot CD EFI compatible.

Even when Hiren's uses Syslinux and it is true Syslinux 6.03 now supports UEFI (syslinux.efi) you will face at least 2 problems when upgrading your Hiren's CD to Syslinux 6.03:

  1. syslinux.efi is not an UEFI signed application then forget about the SecureBoot scenario.

  2. Syslinux.efi (as the rest of EFI boot managers) can only boot kernels that were built with certain EFI parameters turned "ON" i.e.

    CONFIG_EFI=y
CONFIG_RELOCATABLE=y 
CONFIG_EFI_PARTITION=y
CONFIG_EFI_VARS=y 
CONFIG_FB_EFI=y

Hiren's kernel is not built with those flags "ON" and you (surely) do not have the exact sources/config for re-building the kernel while adding the above mentioned missing EFI related parameters.

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Have you tried via USB with rufus? Try Rufus USB. Rufus is a utility that helps format and create bootable USB flash drives, such as USB keys/pendrives, memory sticks, etc. Handles UEFI as well as legacy booting

Important: Select "MBR partition scheme for BIOS or UEFI computer"

Link: http://rufus.akeo.ie/?locale=en_US

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    Tried, result: i.imgur.com/xZfxQ6o.png , like I said, we somehow need to modify the iso to contain some EFI bootup files, I think..
    – Gizmo
    Aug 8, 2014 at 15:50
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I could successfully manage that by doing 2 things:

  • Disable UEFI boot
  • Enable the "Launch CSM" option

Then, in the boot order list, I got a new option for USB boot, without "UEFI" written on it. Put that one in the first place and your Hiren's USB stick should now boot up!

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4
  • This isn't always possible. Most mainstream OEM UEFI configs don't support CSM.
    – Ramhound
    Nov 3, 2014 at 13:33
  • +1, it helped me a lot. Also you may disable "Secure Boot Option".
    – Jet
    Jan 6, 2015 at 18:56
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    just for clarity, there are already alot of UEFI-ONLY firmwares out there. (no bios/csm/other stuff)
    – Gizmo
    Mar 8, 2015 at 17:00
  • It did not work for me by enabling the "Launch CSM" and disabling "Secure Boot Option" and enabling some other legacy suports. The other reason for not working is because some devices may be locked to run only Microsoft-signed operating systems (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_10#System_requirements) @Gizmo . =|
    – Eduardo Lucio
    Sep 15, 2017 at 22:40
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Hirens Boot CD uses ISOlinux (part of Syslinux) to create it's environment. ISOLinux now supports UEFI.

Look in to their guides on how to make an image to change the the Files you need to UEFI-capable ones.

I used PXELinux (also part of Syslinux) to boot Hirens over PXE and had to basicly port some of hirens menu's en files and switch out the BIOS ISOLinux files for the UEFI ones.

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I made one following this: https://ttcshelbyville.wordpress.com/2014/10/10/rufus-usb-boot-and-hirens-boot-iso/

It boots on my new system and works on all the computers I get in for repairs. If you are looking for a read only copy (CD/DVD), there are tools that can make a EUFI bootable CD and then copy the files over... but that probably won't work for you...

because, what I usually find (and why I use the USB) is that many systems come with the boot-to-optical drive disabled. Especially if this is an OEM computer. some Toshiba's dont' even give the option to change that in the bios. The OEM Windows has to be booted, and the drive order enabled and changed from there! That presents a mess of catch-22.

The systems are designed to be reverse compatible with old boot disks, which makes "converting the Cd to EUFI" irrelevant. Its that "legacy optical boot" being automatically disabled is what is probably causing your problems.

So what you are most likely looking for is enabling the system to boot from a legacy optical drive which may not be an option from the bios. :(

One fallback/test option is to remove all the other drives from the system, and see if the bios/boot falls back to a optical drive boot when no other devices are found. That will tell you if its the CD or BIOS.

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maybe this is the solution:

http://softx86vn.blogspot.com/2015/01/ultimate-dlcd-boot-2015-v10-uefi-gpt.html

It's very similar to HBCD - something like HBCD upgrade. I have made bootable HDD with small partition for DLCD and other partition with ghost images and other software tools... I was using 2014 without UEFI but this new 2015 is described to support UEFI.

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    While this link may answer the question, it is better to include the essential parts of the answer here and provide the link for reference. Link-only answers can become invalid if the linked page changes. Your last three statements do not make logical sense please clarify them when you edit your answer to include the relevant information from the blog you reference.
    – Ramhound
    Sep 1, 2015 at 12:46
  • Other options are "DLC Boot" (is the most current and complete), "FalconFour's Ultimate Boot CD", "Acronis True Image", "Parted Magic" (RECOMMENDED, DOES NOT CONTAIN ILLEGAL APPLICATIONS) and "Ultimate DLCD Boot".
    – Eduardo Lucio
    Sep 18, 2017 at 14:48
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So, as i suggested, you should boot in with the Hiren Boot cd somewhere you can do it successfully. I suppose it has a builtin grub in it, so try grub2-install --target=x86_64-efi --> or i don't know what instruction set your laptop has, but read grub's man page for help (first make sure, you have a boot directory, if not, then make one:))

After this has gone well, you're gonna find the .efi file in somewhere /boot/efi/.../.

Now you have the efi file, so you can modify the ISO content. (i would copy it either in /boot/EFI and /boot/EFI/boot for some reason).

Hope this helps you to solve the problem. (i'm also curious if this would be good)

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  • If I understand correctly 1)Hiren uses GRUB 2) I need to boot into a linux distribution 3) install grub2 4) copy the installed grub2 onto the iso 5) I can boot hiren CD into ANY uefi PC? If yes I will try that right now.
    – Gizmo
    Sep 14, 2014 at 14:21
  • I don't know nothing about Hiren's Boot CD, but if it doesn't, then you have to find out what bootmanager it uses, and how to make efi file with it.
    – AdamK
    Sep 14, 2014 at 14:23
  • Installing grub2 is another solution of course:)
    – AdamK
    Sep 14, 2014 at 14:24
  • I can't really find any clear instructions on how to put Grub2 onto a USB drive and then use the existing hiren menu.lst file
    – Gizmo
    Sep 14, 2014 at 15:33
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Make Bootable Hiren's USB in easy steps.

"Hiren's CD to Bootable USB" is a free to use tool to make bootable USB disk from Hiren's CD iso.

Features: - Create ‎Bootable USB from Hiren's ‎iso file. - Easy to use. - Free Tool. - Just 1 2 3 and get your bootable USB. - Test Your USB.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hirens-CD-2-Bootable-USB/1440129386302328

Download Link: https://sourceforge.net/projects/hirenscd2bootableusb/

Download, Test & give your feedback.

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  • Welcome to Super User. Your post needs to be expanded. A good answer includes specific instructions (not just links to them) and an explanation as to how or why the answer addresses the OPs question. Please edit your post to add detail explaining how your solution addresses the OPs question.
    – I say Reinstate Monica
    Jun 8, 2015 at 17:15
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    I didn't see any indication that this deals with UEFI.
    – fixer1234
    Sep 2, 2015 at 1:10
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An alternative CD which has many of Hirens capabilities is SPOTMAU. SPOTMAU includes EFI.

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