UEFI/LEGACY BIOS Question

[pbenologa]

As seen in my sig, I have a MSI G45. It has a feature named Fast Boot that supports Win8's fast boot. But whenever I enable it I always end up bootin in a UEFI Shell. Any idea how to fix that UEFI Shell redirect?

[Ivyk]

Change the boot order?

[pbenologa]

Change the boot order?

Tried it. But whenever the boot mode is UEFI. My HDD and SSD were not detected. It's as if those parts has no UEFI support.

[GoodBytes]

Do you mean it cant find the OS? Or it really can't detect your drives in the UEFI setup?

[pbenologa]

Do you mean it cant find the OS? Or it really can't detect your drives in the UEFI setup?

Can't detect the drives in the UEFI Setup. Dunno wtf is happening when i turn it to UEFI. 

[mgsstar]

Can't detect the drives in the UEFI Setup. Dunno wtf is happening when i turn it to UEFI. 

Is your windows installation installed in UEFI mode (partition should be a GPT partition and not a MBR)? i don't think it supports UEFI unless your installation was installed on a GPT partition.

Open a CMD, type diskpart and hit enter. There should be a new CMD window opened after the elevated prompt. Then type in list disk to list your disks. If the drive is GPT, there is a star beside the disk in the GPT category.

[pbenologa]

Is your windows installation installed in UEFI mode (partition should be a GPT partition and not a MBR)? i don't think it supports UEFI unless your installation was installed on a GPT partition.

Open a CMD, type diskpart and hit enter. There should be a new CMD window opened after the elevated prompt. Then type in list disk to list your disks. If the drive is GPT, there is a star beside the disk in the GPT category.

Ohh. So how do that UEFI mode installation?

[mgsstar]

Ohh. So how do that UEFI mode installation?

You would have to either reformat and install it in UEFI mode (USB method: use this method to avoid losing your data (be sure to backup first):http://sdnalloh.com/converting-win7-from-mbr-to-gpt/

I used the second method to convert my Windows 7 to UEFI before upgrading to WIndows 8 but this may not work in Windows 8 as this guide was intended for windows 7. If you do want to try it, back up your data before proceeding.

 

I booted into Linux using Hiren's Boot CD I think:http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd

[pbenologa]

You would have to either reformat and install it in UEFI mode (USB method: use this method to avoid losing your data (be sure to backup first):http://sdnalloh.com/converting-win7-from-mbr-to-gpt/

I used the second method to convert my Windows 7 to UEFI before upgrading to WIndows 8 but this may not work in Windows 8 as this guide was intended for windows 7. If you do want to try it, back up your data before proceeding.

 

I booted into Linux using Hiren's Boot CD I think:http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd

Will I be able to use my cd key again if I reformat mine?

[mgsstar]

Will I be able to use my cd key again if I reformat mine?

Yes but you would have to go through phone activation to reactivate it again:http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/24636-activate-windows-8-phone.html 

It is a automated system so you don't have to speak to anyone unless your code doesn't go through for some reason (but I don't think you would have problems as I transferred my Windows 8 key from my laptop to my computer using phone activation and everything went smoothly).

[pbenologa]

Yes but you would have to go through phone activation to reactivate it again:http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/24636-activate-windows-8-phone.html 

It is a automated system so you don't have to speak to anyone unless your code doesn't go through for some reason (but I don't think you would have problems as I transferred my Windows 8 key from my laptop to my computer using phone activation and everything went smoothly).

Woow. Hope that is not tedious. I'll try it over the weekend. Thanks man! Does uefi boot faster?

[pbenologa]

snip

Uhm another question, do I have to format other drives that is inside my system? Or just format the OS Drive to use this UEFI Feature?

[mgsstar]

Woow. Hope that is not tedious. I'll try it over the weekend. Thanks man! Does uefi boot faster?

Generally it boots faster but I have used Windows 8 on a non UEFI hard drive and I think its boot times are not bad. The main features of UEFI is having Secure boot which protects the bootloader by verifying its integrity before booting to avoid any hidden malware/rootkit to hijack the boot process and hiding itself in the OS and the support of booting off of a more than 2TB drive. You only have to reformat the drive that you will put your OS into. I have two drives: My SSD is GPT while my storage drive is MBR and it works fine with UEFI boot. As you can see its a bit faster but personally I would just save the trouble in converting it since its not that big of a difference unless you want to have a secure OS: 

 

EDIT: I did it because I wanted UEFI before going to Windows 8 and with the method I suggested above I didn't have to lose data so I did it (but backup as it may not work with Windows 8). It still kept the integrity of my programs and files after the conversion. 

[pbenologa]

Generally it boots faster but I have used Windows 8 on a non UEFI hard drive and I think its boot times are not bad. The main features of UEFI is having Secure boot which protects the bootloader by verifying its integrity before booting to avoid any hidden malware/rootkit to hijack the boot process and hiding itself in the OS and the support of booting off of a more than 2TB drive. You only have to reformat the drive that you will put your OS into. I have two drives: My SSD is GPT while my storage drive is MBR and it works fine with UEFI boot. As you can see its a bit faster but personally I would just save the trouble in converting it since its not that big of a difference unless you want to have a secure OS: 

 

EDIT: I did it because I wanted UEFI before going to Windows 8 and with the method I suggested above I didn't have to lose data so I did it (but backup as it may not work with Windows 8). It still kept the integrity of my programs and files after the conversion. 

Oooh. I thought it would lessen the boot time by as much as half. But I guess i'll just stick to what I have. Thanks for the help though!

[mgsstar]

Oooh. I thought it would lessen the boot time by as much as half. But I guess i'll just stick to what I have. Thanks for the help though!

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