[issue]: Adjust boot mode language and behaviour so it makes sense

[Hebgbs]

Official FAQ

• [X] I have checked the official FAQ.

Ventoy Version

All

What about latest release

Yes. I have tried the latest release, but the bug still exist.

Try alternative boot mode

Yes. I have tried them, but the bug still exist.

BIOS Mode

Both

Partition Style

MBR

Disk Capacity

Any

Disk Manufacturer

No response

Image file checksum (if applicable)

None

Image file download link (if applicable)

No response

What happened?

By default, Ventoy describes legacy boot mode as "MBR". This is dumb for a multitude of reasons, but primarily because if one were to check their disk(s) with fdisk in a Linux or BSD session, they'll see the disklabel type as dos if one were to have selected msdos in GParted / GNOME Disks / (KDE) Partition Manager / etc.

Likewise, if one were to perform that same check on a GPT disk, fdisk would declare the disk uses gpt for its disklabel type. I understand the partition style isn't necessarily asking for a boot mode, but the partition style, in no small part influences the boot mode. So here's what I suggest for both the GUI tool and CLI;

1. Rename "Partition style" to "Boot mode"
2. Change "MBR" to "Legacy (DOS)"
3. Change "GPT" to "Modern (GPT)"
4. Make GPT the first option and set it as default

Making GPT default works for a couple of reasons:

1. If it fails to boot in legacy systems, then the end-user can just reformat the disk in V2D / Ventoy to use legacy mode.
2. If a user wants to legacy-boot a modern-boot USB-attached device, then many systems with modern conveniences like Secure Boot and TPM can have both disabled so that legacy boot mode is an option to enable for showing attached devices in legacy mode from their firmware's boot device selection menu.

That is, at least how it works on my machine; a Lenovo IdeaPad S340-15API. I am sure the same applies regardless of board unless the firmware is not developed with such a use case in mind.

Please fix this. I tire of explaining this boot mode stuff to people, especially because tools like Calamares will default with no option to change what partition table is assumed of the target system based on boot mode in effect, which is an installation tool many Linux distros use, and which is compound behaviour that causes so, so many boot-related issues.

[steve6375]

" By default, Ventoy describes legacy boot mode as "MBR". "

Where? And what do you mean by 'Ventoy' in that sentence? MBR and GPT are partition schemes. Legacy BIOS and UEFI are boot modes.

[Hebgbs]

Let's revisit this. Because I know a bit better now.

What Partition Style is now, should be Partition Table Format. MBR should still be DOS, but explicitly for this reason the menu is to declare which partition table format the drive is to use.

This should not be hard to understand. modern iterations of Microsoft Windows writes a GUID Partition Table (GPT) to any media it is installed upon, and writes an ESP, as well an MBR. This is why the language used now sucks; MBRs can be in GPTs.

What DOS cannot have is an ESP, but there may be workarounds for this in GRUB. Not that it matters, because if a drive is GPT-formatted and cannot be read on a legacy system, then the user should not conclude "Ah, it's an older system which supports only MBR" because that makes no sense; sure, DOS and MBR kind of go hand-in-hand logically, but so does Windows' MBR in GPT. The failure is not because of a disk with an ESP, as an MBR can exist in a GPT disk and still fail to boot; it's because the partition table is GPT, rather than DOS.

While I am at it, make GPT default. Most people use this in modern systems, and they use this software in their media with their modern boot system, figuring out this software with its default settings only works with CSM enabled, then they wonder why their machine has boot issues when they need to enable legacy support, which does not always work out well.