Author: Mr. Robot

₪CAUTION: This guide will walk you through the procedures of converting a legacy MBR disk to GPT without wiping or reinstalling windows.

Before proceeding with this guide, ensure that the drive being modified has at least 229MB of free space before the C:\ partition. You can confirm this in Disk Management.

If the drive does not, you won’t be able to complete this guide without resizing the C:\ partition first, which can be done with any partition editor freeware for Windows or Linux. I recommend using PartedMagic‘s built-in partition editor.

1. Prepare Windows Bootable USB (see How to wipe and reload Windows – Mr. Robot)
   
   
2. Identify which disk you want to convert (usually is #0). This can be done by looking at the number in the Windows Disk Management.
   
   
3. Download gptgen from http://sourceforge.net/projects/gptgen
   This tool will allow you to convert your MBR disc to GPT with the data included. 
   
   
4. ATTENTION: After this step, your computer CANNOT BOOT until the whole process is completed. DO NOT Shut Down Unless Instructed
   
   Unzip gptgen and then run CMD with elevated privileges. (replace the 0 with the identified disk number).
   
   This *will* result in a BSOD shortly after and it’s to be expected:
   
   gptgen.exe -w \\.\physicaldrive0

1. Boot up using your Windows bootable USB prepared in Step 1.
   
   
2. Choose language and preferences, and then select
   Repair Your Computer -> Troubleshoot -> Advanced options -> Command Prompt
   
   
3. We will need the disk partitioning tool. With this, we will recreate the boot partitions.
   Type:
   diskpart
   
   
4. Identify the boot disk where Windows is located, typing:
   list disk 
   
   Something like this should appear:
   
   Disk ###  Status  Size  Free  Dyn  Gpt
---------  ------  -----  ----  --- ---
* Disk 0   Online  128 GB  0 B       *
   
   
5. Once identified, select the disk (replace with the correct number):
   select disk 0
   
   
6. Verify the partitions:
   list partition
   
   
7. Something similar at the info below should appear.
   Partition ###  Type         Size     Offset
-------------  -----------  -------  ------
Partition 1    Primary      350 MB  1024 KB
Partition 2    Primary      126 GB   350 MB
   
   
8. Delete the previous system partition:
   select partition 1
delete partition
   
   
9. Create the new boot partition, Microsoft reserved partition:
   create partition EFI size=100 offset=1
format quick fs=fat32 label="System"
assign letter=S
create partition msr size=128 offset=103424
   
   
10. If you list the partitions again, you should have ended up with something like this:
    Partition ###  Type          Size     Offset
------------  -----------  -------  -------
Partition 1   System        100 MB  1024 KB
Partition 2   Reserved      128 MB   101 MB
Partition 3   Primary      126 GB   229 MB
    
    
11. Ensure that your Windows installation is mounted, replacing X with the volume number of the Windows installation (usually 1)
    list volume
select volume X
assign letter=C
    
    
12. Exit diskpart:
    exit
    
    
13. Generate boot partition data, replacing C: with the letter of the Windows installation (usually C:):
    bcdboot c:\windows /s s: /f UEFI
    
    
14. You should see the message boot files successfully created
    Remove USB drive and restart your computer

tails.net/install

₪CAUTION: Following these steps will guide you to create & deploy an image, which will destroy any data that was previously on the destination system.

1. Connect the USB Drive
2. Download Macrium Reflect from MajorGeeks, choose bootable rescue option
3. Download Rufus
4. Launch Rufus
5. Click SELECT
6. Choose the file you downloaded in step 1
   “Macrium Reflect Free Rescue Disk.iso”
7. Change the file system drop down menu option to NTFS
8. Click Start
9. Click OK
10. When it’s done, it will say READY
11. Close Rufus

1. Download Macrium Reflect from MajorGeeks, choose 64-bit option
2. Install Macrium Reflect
3. Launch Macrium Reflect
4. On the first disk listed, Click Image this disk
   ^{_{If you have a system with multiple drives, you’ll need to determine which one is the primary drive}}
5. For Destination, click the folder icon then choose the USB drive, click OK
6. Type a name for the image
7. Click Next x2 then Finish then OK
8. When the image is done, you will be notified by a pop up window. Now the image is ready for deployment.

1. Plug in the USB drive you prepared into the system you want to be imaged
2. Power on the computer and immediately press the boot menu key repeatedly for the boot menu before windows boots
   
   BOOT MENU KEYS
   Asus: F8
   ASRock: F11
   Gigabyte: F12
   MSI: F11
   Dell: F12
   HP: Esc then F9 or F10
   Lenovo: Enter or Novo pinhole then F12
   Apple: hold OPTION key
   For a complete list of boot keys by brand, visit:
   https://kb.wisc.edu/helpdesk/page.php?id=58779
   
   
3. You will see a menu with various boot options
4. Choose the USB with the arrow keys, press enter
5. The system is now booting to USB
6. Macrium Reflect is now launching
7. Click browse for an image file
8. Click the USB drive and choose the image file you saved in stage II
9. Click restore
10. Click Copy Partitions > Shrink or Extend
11. Click Next
12. Click Finish
13. The system is now restoring the image from the USB
14. When finished, you can click the red X to reboot