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Converting a Legacy Boot Windows 10 Template to UEFI

If you have a DaDesktop machine and wish to use a GPU or other pass‑through capability, you'll first need to switch it to UEFI boot.

We continue to suggest using win10-template-v53 or later, but if you feel upgrading the machine manually works better for you, here are the steps to follow:

  1. Enable the defragmentation service
  2. Create boot files on the C drive
  3. Mark the C drive as Active
  4. Convert the system to UEFI mode
  5. Update the KVM configuration for UEFI support
  6. Correct the DaDesktop BIOS boot option
  7. Upgrade the virtio-win drivers
  8. Disable the defragmentation service
  9. Optional: Move the partition before the system partition to allow automatic disk resizing
     

1. Enable the Defragmentation Service

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

2. Make the C: Drive Bootable

  1. In an administrator command prompt, execute:

    bcdboot.exe c:\windows /s c:

3. Set the C: Drive as Active

  1. Open Disk Management
  2. Right-click the C: partition
  3. Select 'Mark Partition as Active'
     

4. Convert the System to UEFI

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

 

5. Modify KVM Configuration for UEFI Support

  1. SSH into the ddnode server
  2. Ensure you are running commands as root

  3. Copy the OVMF_VARS.fd and qemu.conf files from a template that supports UEFI boot, for example:

    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 start the machine using the dd4t.dadesktop.com GUI or API
  2. The system will boot into the UEFI Shell
  3. Type: "exit"
  4. Go to Boot Management (TODO: FINISH IT)
  5. Press F10 to save
  6. Exit the BIOS
     

7. Upgrade Virt-io Drivers

Some templates may still have an outdated VGA driver, which can cause issues like being unable to change the screen resolution. To fix this:

  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 the system
     

8. Disable the Defragmentation Service

  1. Launch Command Prompt as Administrator
  2. Run:
    sc config defragsvc start= disabled

 

9. Optional: Move Partition Ahead of System Partition for Automatic Disk Resizing

 

  1. Boot the system into Rescue mode
  2. Use GParted to shift the partition before the system partition
  3. Reboot

10. Install Idd Drivers

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