Many new computers are shipping with the option to boot Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) instead of standard BIOS. In today’s blog I walkthrough how I installed Windows 7 SP1 X64 Enterprise on a Dell Latitude E6410 laptop that supports UEFI.
The screenshots are specific to a Dell E6410 laptop but you should similar type screens on other UEFI based machines. For more information contact the manufacturer of the computer.
1. Upgrade to latest BIOS. Before you install in UEFI mode you should generally check with the vendor to make sure the BIOS is up to date.
2. Configure the computer for UEFI. Most UEFI based computers will also support legacy BIOS boot. This is configured in the BIOS. The following shows the computer is set for Legacy Boot and the boot options available with Legacy Boot
Figure 1. Legacy Boot Options
Figure 2. Configure BIOS for UEFI or Legacy
3. Insert Windows 7 SP1 X64 DVD. Note: One of the common issues we see is that users try to install X86 version with UEFI enabled in the bios. X86 does not support UEFI so you would have to configure the machine for Legacy boot to install X86 versions of Windows. If you do try to install X86 version setup will run but on the 1st reboot you will get BIOS error similar to “No bootable devices –Strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility. Press F5 to run onboard diagnostics”
4. Press F12 to choose to boot from the DVD and choose the UEFI boot option for the DVD
Note the UEFI option for the DVD under UEFI boot
Figure 3. UEFI boot option for Windows 7 DVD
5. Follow prompts to install Windows 7 just like any other install
Differences between UEFI vs. Legacy BIOS boot install
When complete you will a couple of differences compared to a legacy BIOS boot install.
You have the following default disk configuration:
· 100mb Fat32 EFI System Partition
· 128mb Microsoft Reserved Partition(will not appear in Disk Management but you can see it in the command line Diskpart tool)
Figure 4. Disk Management on UEFI computer
More information on the default partitioning for UEFI based computer can be found at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd744301(WS.10).aspx
In the properties of the disk you also see that we setup a GPT partition table instead of MBR:
Figure 5. GPT Partition Table
If you run Bcdedit /enum you will see the following entries in the BCD store.
Windows Boot Manager
——————–
identifier {bootmgr}
device partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume1
path \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
default {current}
resumeobject {c79ed24a-6d11-11e0-a52b-93ef911fd7fa}
displayorder {current}
toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}
timeout 30
Windows Boot Loader
——————-
identifier {current}
device partition=C:
path \Windows\system32\winload.efi
description Windows 7
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence {c79ed24c-6d11-11e0-a52b-93ef911fd7fa}
recoveryenabled Yes
osdevice partition=C:
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {c79ed24a-6d11-11e0-a52b-93ef911fd7fa}
nx OptIn
On this particular Dell mode you can also see in the BIOS that Windows 7 setup added a new boot option
Figure 6. Windows Boot Manager entry in BIOS
Boot Option Name: Windows boot Manager
File System List: HD(1,GPT, 05F6D08B-563C-480D-AF3CB9FD1E973A33)
File Name: \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi
If you are doing a large deployment to many machines not all deployment tools support UEFI yet so check with the vendor of the deployment tool to see if they support UEFI based computers.
Information on Microsoft deployment tools support for UEFI can be found at http://blogs.technet.com/b/askcore/archive/2011/03/25/deployment-options-for-uefi-based-computers.aspx
Hope this helps with your installs.
Scott McArthur
Senior Support Escalation Engineer
Microsoft Enterprise Platforms Support
I've managed to install Windows 7 in UEFI on a MacBookPro6,2 and have reached the following conclusions:
1) Windows behaves badly when the GraphicsOutputProtocol doesn't support 1024×768 or 800×600. On the Mac it only supports the native resolution of the LCD panel. I would have expected it to show the waving logo in the middle of the screen, without scaling instead of a white screen with junk.
2) Windows does not recognize a VGA card in the installer without a shadowed VGA BIOS and setting the registers listed at (3).
3) Windows does not use a Video card at all without the VGAE register on the PCI bridge leading to the VGA card and Bus Mastering on the VGA card itself. It's ridiculous because you have the NVidia driver loaded, and it doesn't detect any monitors. You can connect with Remote Desktop.
If you somehow do all these things, it will work. My personal opinion is that requiring a VGA Option ROM on a UEFI boot is ridiculous. Requiring the firmware to set the VGA card in Bus Mastering and setting the VGAE and I/O Access registers on the parent bridge is also ridiculous. Windows 7 could detect the active VGA card from the ACPI device tree. See to which Video Card you have the Primary Graphics Output Protocol and use that one while setting the correct registers. It's not Apple's firmware that isn't compliant because it is, it's Windows 7 that still has hooks to old style Video BIOSes, int10h and PCI registers that it can set by itself. The version string of the Apple firmware has nothing to do with booting and Windows (rightfully) doesn't even check it.
If you want to try it by yourself, the EFI shell commands are "mm 0001003e 8 -PCI" and "mm 01000004 7 -PCI" on the MBP6,2 once you load the VGA BIOS ROM. Note: the commands apply only on the MBP6,2, use other easy to determine addresses on other hardware.
Any way in which we can talk with the Microsoft Windows team regarding the Bootloader? I think that there are two ways to fix this: 1) Microsoft does these small fixes to Windows. 2) Someone else (me?) creates an EFI boot loader that does the job and chain loads bootmgfw.efi afterwards.
I'm going to make a guess that the reason individuals are having problems installing Windows 7 on a UEFI system board is because you need to use Windows 7 64-bit SP1.
Windows 7 32-bit will not work (obviously)
Windows 7 64-bit SP0 will not work.
Anon,
What make/model machine are you installing to? Are you using the hologrammed Windows 7 DVD or a burned DVD?
don't have any partitions on my drive, other than the c and d drives. i format my drives so i don't have to use them. as far as i know, my asus mb does not offer legacy bios, either, just uefi. bcdedit has no references to any efi path.
I followed these instructions to a T but ran into an error of no boot devices found right after I select UEFI DVD as my boot volume …
I see two possibilities:
I'm running Ultimate and not enterprise (probably not)
The disk in the system right now is technically TPM protected, I just wanted to see things come up so maybe it's keeping that drive from being written?
this blog basically says "select uefi from the bios, then pop your cd in and hit next until victory" …. but what if that doesn't work? No offense, but most of us tried that the first time and are looking around on blogs to figure out why it didn't work.
Any tips on how to troubleshoot if the disk isn't detected beyond "make sure you are using 64bit edition"?
Are there any support methods to backup an existing non-UEFI Windows installation and restore as UEFI installation
Wow, talk about confusing…
The initial screen shots are of what exactly?
"Configure the computer for UEFI. Most UEFI based computers will also support legacy BIOS boot. This is configured in the BIOS."
So if there is no BIOS how would I configure that in the BIOS exactly as per the statement above?????
There IS a BIOS. You don't have a computer without some sort of BIOS. The initial screenshots are of a Dell system's BIOS setup.
talk about confusing.
Configure the computer for UEFI. Most UEFI based computers will also support legacy BIOS boot. This is configured in the BIOS. The following shows the computer is set for Legacy Boot and the boot options available with Legacy Boot.
SCREENSHOT OF LEGACY ENABLED
so uh, are we supposed to pick uefi or legacy mang? make up your mind!
i have a lenovo ideapad ,model no P580. it was previously installed with windows 8.it has UEFI boot sytem and the partion type of the hard drive was GPT. The system got crashed and i just didnt find any uefi boot disk. the laptops display was dead so that i had to connect the hard drive with a desktop.what i did was conveted the hard drive to mbr format using a windows 7 bootable disk (mbr format supported) and i installed the os succesfully.but the prolem is the laptops display still remains dark and i cannot see anything.is this has anything to do with the mother board type???? because my desktop has an old model mother board (intel DG41wv). i could not install the os using my laptop as the display was previously dead and i had some problems with my dvd writer.can anyone find me some solution please….:( 🙁
I did disable legacy boot on a system where I had GPT partitions. Now, there is no dispay at all. The system starts, reads the DVD but nothing ever happens. I tried to boot with windows 7 install DVD but it does not even start. What can I do from now on apart from changing my band new computer ?
This is an interesting post, – however there are some important information missing. First, Windows 7 x64 is UNABLE to boot at more recent UEFI systems which use GOP video protocol. That's the reason why user Zhi4neng mentioned that his system even "not start". Also, this is the reason why it's so hard to install Windows 7 x64 at any EFI based Mac computer, – they all use GOP protocol instead of old VGA or UGA.
Therefore, if you want to install Windows 7 x64 at any recent UEFI computer, you have to set the video output protocol to "LEGACY VGA". It is NOT necessary to enable the whole CSM!!! You have only to set video mode properly to EFI & "legacy vbios VGA" (or something similar). Note, this option lacks at several EFI based systems, – it is confirmed for some Asus EFI boards.
Short, in summary, there are three start-up variants:
–> no EFI boot, full legacy BIOS CSM mode
–> EFI boot, with legacy vbios mode (for Windows 7 x64 EFI boot needed)
–> EFI boot, with GOP (Windows 8, newer Linux distros)
And at last, you have to disable Secure Boot functionality at any never board to boot Windows 7 x64 in EFI mode.
It would be easy for MS to add GOP support to Windows 7 x64 in a future service pack. Come on Microsoft, stand to the BEST Windows EVER!!!
I have a toshiba Win 8 PC. I changed HD and change dthe uefi to BOIS. IInstalled WIN 7. Now can't find NIC.
Can I install WIN 7 , 674 bit, using UEFI setup?
I've been fighting this for weeks now and NOBODY responds to my questions concerning this issue.
I hope you can guide me to a good install of WIN 7. I very much dislike Win8
Thanks, Jerry
:
CD/DVD actual de instalación de Windows 7 xxx y código de activación.
Controladores Windows 7xxx del fabricante (no todos los fabricantes tiene controladores disponibles
para win 7) por lo tanto hay que comprar el Ordenador de un fabricante/marca que ofrezca estos controladores
a los usuarios, en caso contrario no funcionará win 7 apropiadamente.
Si ya tienes el Portatil comprado y no existen controladores como: Gráficos, Sonido, Uifi, y un gran etc..no
sigas leyendo, porque no debes pasarte a win 7.
I want to install 32 bit of Windows 7. is this possible?
It still fail after I disabled uefi secure boot and enabled CSM.
Is this same as a legacy boot?
thanks
Hi, i need help please, i am trying to install Window 7 over Windows 8. I get a error when at W7 install screen "Windows cannot be installed to Disk 0 Partition 4." Show details "The selected disk is of the GPT partition style." I am lost have been on Google all day and have found nothing that helps ): I am using a Samsung ATIV book 2. PLEASE HELP ME!!!!!!!!! thanks in advance.
I used Hiren’s bootCD, with acronis tool cleared drive(what was GUID Partition Table (GPT)), created 2 new NTFS particions(Master Boot Record (MBR) drive). And then i could set up windows 7 with no problems.
thank you sir, simply great
how to install window 8 in UEFI o partition table of GPT type my Laptop is HP Pro?
New Dell Inspiron 15 I just bought for my wife. I tried installing with UEFI active, but boot security turned off. I could then see the DVD in boot options after F12 to select the DVD. However, the install would start, install files till the four colored
balls start swirling, then just freeze up. Nada. I then tried and selected Legacy boot with security off, and it read the DVD, and is happily installing from a Win 7 with SP1 Enterprise ISO from my MSDN subscription account. After deleting the absurd literally
half a dozen different partitions that were on the machine. It came with Win 8.1, but I refuse to impose that on my wife for what she uses the laptop for. I had to swallow it on my laptop and primary dev PC since I do database and web development, but I refuse
to subject my wife to it.
I can't reformat windows 7 ultimate to my acer laptop. The bios only support UEFI, no Legacy. I change the first priority boot to DVDrom but still don't boot on my DVD. Please help…
I had a warning when reinstalling w7 "cant intall w7 on efi blabla" found this article, went into my bios and changed boot to legacy and uefi > the thing to watch out for is: in the boot options, make sure to select cd/dvd and hdd without "uefi" infront.
Worked for me. The rest, i didnt even read
No doubt, Windows 7 Professional 64bit is a Pro version of Microsoft, Which has all recommended functions, So you can install it with low specs of your system, As you can see; 1GB Processor, 512mb Ram and 8Gb HDD is required to install Windows 7 Professional,
But with these low specs, Your system will not slow, If you're not using any apps, which required high specs.
Microsoft released many new OS, But Still I'm using it and suggest for others to install with its legal license, Which you can buy cheap at
http://products.odosta.com">ODosta Store.
Using Boot into UEFI mode or legacy BIOS-compatibility mode when installing Windows from your USB, DVD, or network location, You'll have full command to use it after having a legal version.
Legal OS will be full & functional with Microsoft updates and make your data safe and sound. Hope to understand.
I thought haven’t read such distinctive material anywhere else on-line.
http://www.citruscomputers.net">Citrus Computers of Tampa Florida.
DJ – "There IS a BIOS. You don't have a computer without some sort of BIOS. The initial screenshots are of a Dell system's BIOS setup."
This is incorrect. BIOS and UEFI are both types of firmware. A PC with UEFI firmware DOES NOT have BIOS. There is no such thing as UEFI BIOS.
Thank You for also observing this point, even some of the OEM’s refers it as ‘UEFI BIOS’, either out of ignorance, or to speak to the customer in terms that we’ve understood for 20+ years.
Both are totally different technologies, BIOS is the past, UEFI is the present.
This helps with a little, but not with a Gigabyte motherboard and a new Pentium. The screens do not look the same , and all these things I have already tried to get PC up. It ran fro 3 days then 3 weeks later, it said no boot mgr. in both Legacy and UEFI,
Figure that one out.