dipper (Mi 8) - stook on 'Boot Partition: None Click more to specify it manually' "If you boot with UEFI, it needs a FAT16/ FAT32 partition'

Hi,my first post on this forum, already with a problem of booting Win11 image from partition created on Mi 8 (NTFS partition).

I was guided by those three sources :

  1. Original project Renage installation guide:

Renegade Project

Renegade Project

renegade-project.org

Renegade Project

Renegade Project

BTW Xiaomi Mi 8 is on supported decives list: Renegade Project

  1. this yt wideo about installing Win 11 on Mi 8 (unfortunately, in Russian and the youtuber is showing some tips too fast, so I had to slow it down to 0.25 in some parts)

Windows 11 на СМАРТФОНЕ - ТЕСТ, УСТАНОВКА

  1. yt tutorial about installing Win 11 on OnePlus 6T
    Dualboot Windows & Android on OnePlus 6T - YouTube

So, I have manage to remove and create userdata partition, I have eacreated smaller userdata partion with 30 GB instead of 100-ish something GB,
I have created also \pe partition for WinPE boot (works from UEFI boot), \win (formatted in NTFS) with about 70-something GB, and ESP partition in FAT32.

The UEFI Boot for Mi 8 (device code: dipper) is not installed on the device, I am booting it by flashing it via fastboot (single time, the normal boot image on the device is still genuine boot.img from Xiaomi).

So, just like in the beforementioned guides / tutorials, I am able to boot WinPe (part English, part Chinese), able to start DISM+, able to open prepared Win11 disk (tried either on whole image or n single .wim file) and then:

  1. I am asked for choosing a disk to install Win11;
  2. I choose \win parttion in NTFS
  3. I see window titled ‘Bootmgr Repair-UEFI’ with a message: 'Boot Partition: None Click more to specify it manually
  4. If I choose NTFS partition, I see windwos titled “Tips” with message "If you boot with UEFI, it needs a FAT16/ FAT32 partition
  5. I choose ESP Partition 3 Things You Should Know about EFI System Partition (ESP), install it, then install drivers; enabling Enable Test-Signing mode and reboot device with shutdown -s -t 0
    After installation I reboot application → no UEFI boot so i go to fastboot mode (by combinatin of buttons) from my PC i flash uefi dipper img i choose pption with Windws Bootloader from UEFI boot option, I am waiting and after a lot of time i see that there was a problem with installation of Windows.

What I am doing wrong here? Any thoughts?

have you added esp flag to your esp?

1 Like

You forgot to set esp on using parted through twrp
I know that because I did the same
set 21 esp on (21 in my case, check your esp numer using “print” command on parted)
and try again

1 Like

Hi, thanks @BigfootACA @AdrianoA3 for reply,
yup, I have forgot to set esp on, I have done it, now it looks like this:

but the new error occured.
I have installed the windows on NFTS partition (85 GB nfts Name: win Flags: msftdata), with options Format and Bootable
then I have installed the drivers from WOA and I have ended up with Stop Code: Driver PNP Watchdog.

I am installing it from latest release from 25 May 2022 https://github.com/edk2-porting/WOA-Drivers/releases
I have also run all the commands from the installation solution.

What should I do now? What on the Disk D: should I check (maybe there are some logs for this)?

Another thing is: how make bootable slots in Mi 8, just to swich between one and another boot image (slotA and slotB)…

It’s Vistulack here, writing from the other account.
Seems that the issue is resolved.
More in this thread:

and this thread:

https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/q-project-renegade-windows-arm64-on-dipper-mi-8-boot-partition-none.4445347/#post-88219547

If anyone was interested with installing some old apps build on Net Framework 2.0 or 3.5, it looks like it will not work on arm64 architectue.

After installing one of such apps, I saw and error

The following feature couldn’t be installed:
.NET Framework 3.5 (includes .NET 2.0 and 3.0)
The changes couldn’t be completed. Please reboot your computer and try again.
Error code: 0x80240023

I have tried to fix it using advices from this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT_Y0PTUTOE
and managed to formally ‘install’ Net 3.5 by script in PowerShell from sxs folder copied into TEMP folder but now the app is showing message:

"An error occurred:

System.NullReferenceException: Object not set to an instance of an object."

So it looks like it won’t work (or maybe on some Virtual Machine build on arm64 for i.e Win Xp or Win7, but it maybe an overkill…)