An Open-Source Bootloader For Windows Lets You Run Off Btrfs, Other Possibilities

Written by Michael Larabel in Operating Systems on 13 February 2020 at 05:47 AM EST. 47 Comments
OPERATING SYSTEMS
Quibble is a new open-source bootloader that supports booting Windows XP through Windows 10 and opens up new possibilities like booting a Windows installation off Btrfs.

Developer Mark Harmstone who has been known for his work on WinBtrfs the past several years as a port of the Btrfs file-system to Windows is the one who has started this new Quibble project as an open-source bootloader for Windows.


The Quibble boot-loader right now is at a proof of concept stage but is enough to boot Windows from other non-NTFS file-systems like Btrfs. He has Quibble working for Windows 10 1909 back through Windows XP. There are also a number of other known caveats and it appears to be most reliable right now when running Windows within a virtual machine.

But if this sounds like something of interest to you, hit up Harmstone's new GitHub project site on Quibble. Thanks to Mark for letting us know about his newest open-source effort for Microsoft Windows.
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Michael Larabel is the principal author of Phoronix.com and founded the site in 2004 with a focus on enriching the Linux hardware experience. Michael has written more than 20,000 articles covering the state of Linux hardware support, Linux performance, graphics drivers, and other topics. Michael is also the lead developer of the Phoronix Test Suite, Phoromatic, and OpenBenchmarking.org automated benchmarking software. He can be followed via Twitter, LinkedIn, or contacted via MichaelLarabel.com.

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