Multiboot: OpenELEC & Windows

Even with its various preinstalled operating systems some people like me look out for other systems. On the one hand I like OpenELEC since it boots XB C very fast and on the other hand I have always been a !indows user after growing up with "O#. #o creating a multiboot system with !indows and OpenELEC seems to be the perfect combination for me. Prerequisites $ou will need a few things to follow this guide% &. 'n empty()* +"" or ##" which is already installed in the ,ltra -. ' ,#B flash drive for the OpenELEC installer (&-. B/*0 another one for e.g. +iren1s BootC" (& 2B/* 3. !indows installation files on "4" or ,#B flash drive (5 2B/* Creating the OpenELEC installer !e will use vpeter1s build as it is preconfigured for the ,ltra. 2et the latest .tar from the forum% http%66forum.7treamer.net6topic6-389:;openelec;downloads;versions;updates6 and e7tract it somewhere on your computer. <here is now also an official ,ltra build on the OpenELEC page which you can find here% http%66openelec.tv6get;openelec (scroll down*. In the e7tracted folder you will find a create_installstick.bat file (respectively a create_installstick file for Linu7 systems* to create a bootable ,#B flash drive which installs OpenELEC on your ,ltra1s system drive.

ake sure you read the instructions carefully. It will ask you to specify the location of the ,#B flash drive that you want to use. "oublecheck that you enter the correct location) In my case drive letter i% 'fter a few seconds you should hold the key to your own OpenELEC. Installing OpenELEC =lug the OpenELEC ,#B flash drive in your ,ltra and power it on. It will boot the OpenELEC installer and you can choose the first option to >?uick install> OpenELEC. Be aware0 this will wipe everything on your +"" or ##"0 that1s why we chose an empty system drive as prere?uisite)

<he installer creates two partitions. <he first one is a -5- B si@ed (EX<5* partition for OpenELEC itself0 called >#ystem>. <he rest of the drive is used for the second partition (EX<5 as well*0 called >#torage>. +ere0 OpenELEC will store profiles and other data. <he installation should finish after a few seconds. Aemove the ,#B flash drive and reboot your ,ltra. It should boot right into XB C) Bow it1s time to shrink the second partition to make room for !indows) !e will use =arted agic from +iren1s BootC" to do this. Getting a Partition Manager I recommend +iren1s BootC" on a ,#B flash drive because it1s something like the #wiss army knife for your computer and everyone should have it. Collow the guide and create yourself a #wiss army)

'lternatively you can boot ,ltra O# that came with the ,ltra and install 2=arted via the >#ynaptic =ackage anager> under >#ystem D 'dministration>. #tart the package manager and enter >gparted> into the Euick search bo7. It will list the results while typing. Bow rightclick >gparted> and mark it for installation. <hen Fust click the >'pply> button above and 2=arted will be installed. But again0 I highly recommend +iren1s BootC"0 not only because ,ltra O# from the ,#B drive is so bloody slow. But also because it includes =arted agic0 a very comfortable =artition anager based on 2parted. Re-Partition the s ste! dri"e #or Windows Let1s assume you have +iren1s BootC". Boot the ,ltra with it and choose >Linu7 based rescue environment D #tart>. If you prefer other languages than English0 scroll up6down before hitting >#tart> to select the language closest to yours.

!hen =arted agic finished booting0 it will show a simple desktop with some icons. #tart the >=artition Editor>.

Obviously0 people use system drives with different si@es0 so it does not necessarily have to look e7actly like the image on the left. But still0 you have to consider a reasonable partition layout. In my case it1s a 3- 2B model and i will shrink the OpenELEC >#torage> partition down to 5 2B and will install !indows on a &: 2B partition. <he rest will serve !indows as well as drive "% for Cirefo76<hunderbird profiles etc. If you want the same0 read on %* rightclick the second partition0 which is called >#torage> and select >Aesi@e6 ove>. #hrink the #torage partition to 5 2B (5G9:* and >apply> the operation. Bow after a while0 there is unallocated drive space. Aightclick this and choose >Bew>. Create a &: 2B (&:3.5* si@ed partition with B<C# as file system and name it >!indows>.

If you have space left0 make another B<C# partition and name it e.g. >"ata>. !hen you1re done it should look similar to this. <he reason why I don1t use !indows to partition the system drive is because !indows creates an additional small &GG B partition for some system files but I think if you1re not using features like Bitlocker0 this is Fust a waste0 even if it1s Fust &GG B)

Installing Windows Bow you should have your !indows installation files at hand. I recommend installing !indows from a ,#B flash drive0 as this is a lot faster than from a "4" drive. If you don1t know how to create a bootable ,#B flash drive with !indows setup files0 I recommend reading this or this. Install !indows on the &: 2B partition that you have Fust created. Ma$e OpenELEC boot instead o# Windows !hen !indows finished with the installation you will notice that the ,ltra now boots into !indows instead of OpenELEC0 this is because the !indows partition has been marked as the boot partition and the BA (master boot record* has been overwritten. <o revert this we will use =arted agic again. Aeboot the Xtreamer ,ltra with +iren1s BootC" and select =arted agic.

's you can see in the >=artition Editor> the third partition is now the boot partition. <o change this back to the first partition0 rightclick the first partition and select > anage Clags> from the conte7t menu. Check the >boot> flag as shown here. $ou will also need to restore the BA to the previous state. <his can be done with =arted agic too (or a terminal6##+ client like =utty*. #tart the <erminal application (monitor icon with black screen* and you get to the system console. 'lternatively use =utty to connect to =arted agic via ##+. <he username is >root>0 the password is >partedmagic>. <ype the following to download the mbr.bin and write it to the
cd /tmp wget http://files.mavvy.net/xtreamer/mbr.bin dd if=/tmp/mbr.bin of=/dev/sda

BA section%

If your terminal session looks like this0 then everything went fine and you1re ready to boot OpenELEC again. Let1s do this) ,nplug the +iren1s BootC" and restart the ,ltra. If OpenELEC boots into XB C then we are almost done) <he only thing left to do is to activate the bootmenu. %&ti"ate the boot!enu !e can stay in XB C to do this0 since OpenELEC1s ##+ demon is enabled by default. ,se =utty to login to OpenELEC via ##+. <he username is >root> and the password is >openelec>. Cirst of all we need to remount 6flash with read6write permissions to replace the e7tlinu7.conf file.
mount -o remount,rw /flash cd /flash wget http://files.mavvy.net/xtreamer/menu.c32 wget http://files.mavvy.net/xtreamer/chain.c32 rm extlinux.conf wget http://files.mavvy.net/xtreamer/extlinux.conf

Cinished) If you shutdown OpenELEC now and reboot0 you should get the bootmenu to select either OpenELEC or !indows. 'o!e #inal re!ar$s( tips & &redits e7tlinu7 is a simple but useful bootloader and does its Fob very well in my opinion. If you want to read more about its options0 check out the wiki entry at tinycorelinu7.net for instance. $ou can also use a H=2 or =B2 as background image in the bootmenu0 it1s described in the tinycorelinu7 wiki. <o save a few seconds when booting OpenELEC you can disable the OpenELEC splash. <o do so0 remove >vgaIJ9-> from e7tlinu7.conf. If you want to boot OpenELEC directly and show a boot prompt only when #+IC< or 'L< is pressed during boot0 edit e7tlinu7.conf like below. !hen booting0 you get a prompt saying >boot%> where you can enter >windows> to boot into !indows. 'nd if you want !indows to boot directly0 then change the first line to >"EC',L< windows> and enter >linu7> in the boot prompt to boot OpenELEC. Easy enoughK

!"#$%& linux %#'!% linux (!)$ %#'!% *+pen!%!, -!.)!% /-!.)!% #//!) boot=%#'!%=0ystem dis1=%#'!%=0torage vga=232 4uiet i5672.noaux %#'!% windows (!)$ %#'!% *8indows 2 -!.)!% chain.c32 #//!) hd6 3

I hope this guide will help you to get a better user e7perience with your Xtreamer ,ltra. <he following thread in the official OpenELEC forum helped me alot to get this guide done% L+O!<OM ultiboot OpenElec / !indows without ,buntu install ; the thread also describes how to map the two EX<5 partitions in !indows to drive letters. <hat way you can easily modify XB C1s profiles folder etc. <hanks alot for that great post)