HP ZBOOK 15 G2 m.2 SSD boot

[Abel1157]

Hello there!
I have a slight problem, I cannot boot from the m.2 ssd on my Zbook G2, without a third party boot manager.
Right now I am using Clover boot manager, with that I can boot from the m.2 ssd, i got a Crucial P3 1TB, 2280 form factor.

There is a custom boot option which goes something like: EFI\SHELL\SHELL_FULL.EFI, with this script i should be able to use without a boot manager but 3 tries, and i gave up, didnt work. Currently it works with Clover only. 

Did I get the script wrong?

Thanks in advance!

[tk_srq]

@Abel1157,

HP Elitebook/Probook G1 models have the custom boot option in BIOS, too, and if this option is enabled and the boot path space is filled with \EFI\Boot\bootx64.efi, Windows will load from the drive. And "Customized Boot" will be listed in UEFI boot order in BIOS.

I read on the internet years ago that the custom boot option does not work on G2 models, but you can certainly try. If the above boot path doesn't work, try \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi.  For the custom boot option to work, your M.2 ssd has to have the original unedited efi partition.

Let me know how it goes.

[Abel1157]

Sadly, neither seemed to work, only tried restarting 3 times, though. Tried the second option with and without CSM. Would enabling/disabling CSM make a difference?

[tk_srq]

@Abel1157,

I don't think enabling/disabling CSM makes a difference in this case.

Windows boot manager resides in the efi partition. I don't know anything about Clover boot loader. Does it modify the efi partition anyway? When you ran the custom boot option, Clover's boot configuration settings could've interfered with the custom boot operations. You may need to uninstall Clover to determine whether the custom boot option works or not on your machine.

If you haven't seen a user's manual for your model, here's a link to it. Pages 28 and 45 mention that M.2 PCie 2280 SSD is supported even though Zbooks 15 G2 come with i7 4th gen processors.

HP ZBook 15 G2 Mobile Workstation Maintenance and Service Guide

Boot Options in BIOS provides an enabling/disabling boot option to various devices, such as CD ROM drive, USB and SD card. You don't see M.2 ssd there? You can find Boot Options in Advanced in BIOS. 

[Abel1157]

The disk containing clover boot manager was removed while I tried the custom boot options.
I also do see the M.2 SSD boot option, even moved it up to the first place. I will try the user manual, even though ive already read it through once.

[SheedaTalli]

Could you send me a guide to how did you boot from Nvme SSD with clover boot loader?

Any link to documentation or video?

[Abel1157]

https://youtu.be/hUs7k-OPHdE
heres the video explaining. But basically, you can install win10 on the nvme, and copy installation files there. But when you restart, it wont boot feom there. So, install win10 on your nvme, and on your other drive in the laptop, put this clover bootloader. This will slice a bit off of your secondary drive to make a boot drive. It will act like a usb stick thats constantly there. But follow instructions on the video, and you will be able to work with the nvme as primary, and there has to be a secondary, either a usb containing clover or a drive.

The interesting, and funny thing is, these laptops came factory configured with nvme-s. And now, noone can say how they did it 😄 it has to do something with the custom boot options.

[SheedaTalli]

Thanks and Yeah it's weird. I mean All the NVMe Options are there in Bios. Even after enabling everything it didn't boot neither Windows 10 nor Windows 11. I asked chatgpt for possible solutions. I felt like those could be helpful tips but I never got to try it as my Laptop screen is 75% Broken. Will try everything once I get Screen replaced