UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 7 with

How to Install Windows 7 Using the "Unified Extensible Firmware Interface" (UEFI)​

   Information

In addition to better interoperability, UEFI firmware provides several technical advantages:

• Compatibility with operating systems that support only BIOS
• Ability to boot from large disks
• CPU-independent architecture
• CPU-independent drivers
• Flexible pre-OS environment
• Modular design

Two of the most notable Windows features for UEFI systems are the following:

• Multicast deployment, which enables large scale network-based image deployment in manufacturing and enterprise settings.
• Fast boot and resume from hibernation, which improves user experience.

The rich UEFI interface provides ample room for innovation in the development of operating system features. Along with the other members of the Unified EFI Forum, Microsoft is investigating the following:

• Rootkit prevention
• Network authentication

-Microsoft Corporation

This method can also be used for the UEFI installation of Windows 8, Windows Server 2008 SP1, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Windows Vista SP1.

   Note

You will need to satisfy the following requirements in order to proceed:

• A Windows 7 compatible system
• A Windows 7 x64-bit installation media. 32-bit is not supported.
• A UEFI v2.0+ compliant PC. Check your chipset manufacturer/firmware documentation.
• A blank, partition-free, hard disk for installation.

   Warning

• Disabling UEFI will make the system unbootable as there is no MBR on the disks.
• You CANNOT make a sector-by-sector copy of GPT disks. The Disk and Partition GUIDs will no longer be unique. This must never happen. You can make a sector-by-sector copy of the contents of ESP or basic data partitions.
• Disable secure boot before installing Windows 7.

Here's How:

1. Do step 2 or 3 below depending on what installation Media you are using.

2. If using a Retail 64-bit Windows 7 Installation DVD A) Insert the DVD, restart the computer, and go to step 4 below.
3. If using a 64-bit Windows 7 Installation USB Flash Drive with UEFI A) If you have not already, you will need to create a Windows 7 installation bootable USB flash drive for UEFI from either a Windows 7 installation ISO or DVD.

B) Connect the USB, restart the computer, and go to step 4 below.
4. Press whatever key (ex: F11) it shows to boot to your motherboard's boot menu, and select to boot from the DVD or UEFI USB. (see screenshot below)
5. Do steps 3 to 7 in the tutorial link below. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html
6. Delete all partitions/volumes on the disk # (ex: Disk 0) that you want to install Windows 7 as UEFI on until that disk # shows as unallocated space. (see screenshot below)
7. When you are finished, click/tap on New, Apply (for full size of disk), and OK. (see screenshot above)

8. You will notice that the disk has now been formatted as GPT with 3 partitions. Select the "Primary" partition 3, and click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: You might receive a "Windows can't be installed on drive 0" warning, but as long as you can click on the Next button, you're fine.

   Note

The 3 partitions are:

• Partition 1 - System - The EFI System partition that contains the NTLDR, HAL, Boot.txt, and other files that are needed to boot the system, such as drivers.
• Partition 2 - MSR - The Microsoft Reserved (MSR) partition that reserves space on each disk drive for subsequent use by operating system software.
• Partition 3 - Primary - Where Windows is to be installed to.
  
  It is imperative that these 3 partitions remain in the exact order as they are

9. You can now finish doing the steps in either tutorial below.

• Pick up at step 9 here - http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html
• Same as picking up at step 9 above, but also pick up at step 2 in any of the OPTIONs here - http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/31402-clean-install-upgrade-windows-7-version.html

10. That's it. You have successfully installed Windows 7 on an UEFI system.

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Downgrade Windows 8 to Windows 7
• How to Create a Bootable UEFI USB Flash Drive for Installing Windows 7 and Windows 8
• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2432-usb-windows-7-installation-key-drive-create.html
• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html
• How to Clean Install Windows on a MSATA (SSD) Drive
• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/31402-clean-install-upgrade-windows-7-version.html
• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/26193-convert-mbr-disk-gpt-disk.html
• How to Convert a GPT Disk to a MBR Disk
• How to Enable or Disable Secure Boot in UEFI
• How to Check if Windows is Booted in UEFI or Legacy BIOS Mode

External Links:

---

Windows and GPT FAQ
Unified Extensible Firmware Interface - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
UEFI and Windows

 

[bunicu]

Hi Guys,

Just bought the Asus n56vm and I don't have the recovery partition so I need to install windows 7.

I have followed all the above and it does not work.
I have formatted all partitions to NTFS,using gparted, did all the steps from: UEFI Bootable USB Flash Drive - Create in Windows , but no success.

These are the images of the install process, where I can't hit next and the boot option.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/z459ke9p552dsgy/EC9e5BuhlT

Can you please help me out guys? I just bought the laptop and if I can't install windows, I will have to give it back, although it was a bargain...

 

[Brink]

Hello Bunicu, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Do you have a 32-bit or 64-bit Windows 7?

You will not be able to install Windows 7 using UEFI unless it's a 64-bit Windows 7. It will not work with 32-bit Windows 7.

In addition, you do not have your drive setup properly for an UEFI installation.

Since you have the hard drive as GPT, you will need to convert the drive to MBR first.
How to Convert a GPT Disk to a MBR Disk
Next, pick up at step 7 in the tutorial on the first page here.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[bunicu]

hey shawn,

I just had to erase all partitions to get the installer to work.
Now I have only two.

How can I make more without damaging the existent information?

 

[Brink]

After you have finished installing Windows 7, you will be able to shrink and create new partitions in Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc).

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2672-partition-volume-shrink.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2674-partition-volume-create-new.html

....or

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/146694-partition-extended-logical-drives.html

 

[gregrocker]

I notice Win7 makes two other partitions when installed in UEFI. Does this mean it won't install in a Dual Boot with Win8 when only a single 300mb System partition exists?

I find nothing showing that Win7 can be installed second in a UEFI Dual Boot with Win8 successfully. I am trying with UEFI flash stick formatted per the tutorial, is detected as UEFI device to boot, and getting black error screen that EFI\Boot cannot be read after doublechecking the mods and FAT32 format, but wonder if its worth try trying DVD install.

Is it known for sure that Win7 can be installed in UEFI second to preinstalled Win8 for a Dual Boot after turning off Secure Boot and enabling CSM?

 

[Linbury]

Unable to install Win 7-64 bit using the UEFI tutorial

Hi All,
This is a great forum , and I've used a number of guides to help me understand Win 7 installation. I have a new PC with a 250gb SSD and a 2tb HDD. My mb is Asus P8Z77-V
I followed the instructions on how to install Win 7 using the UEFI tutorial, but didn't get the desired result. Firstly, at step 8., the SSD is only formatted with 2 options, not 3 as indicated. I have disabled secure boot, and both AHCI and CSM is enabled in the BIOS, so I don't know what's up. I did get Win 7 to install though from the DVD, albeit not through UEFI.
I then decided to create a bootable UEFI USB flash drive from my Win 7 DVD to see if this would be any better. I've followed the tutorial, and it boots fine as a UEFI USB, but as the Win 7 files are loading it says
"File: \windows\system32\boot\winload.efi
Status: 0xc000000f
Information:....not loaded...application is missing or corrupt".
I made a Win 7 recovery DVD to repair this installation, but it says no errors are found. This is really annoying as I twice made this UEFI USB using the original Win 7 DVD which I had successfully installed with.
So what am I doing wrong? I've trawled the forums looking for help, but I keep getting to the same solutions that I've already read!
Regards,
Linbury

 

[theog]

Hi All,
This is a great forum , and I've used a number of guides to help me understand Win 7 installation. I have a new PC with a 250gb SSD and a 2tb HDD. My mb is Asus P8Z77-V
I followed the instructions on how to install Win 7 using the UEFI tutorial, but didn't get the desired result. Firstly, at step 8., the SSD is only formatted with 2 options, not 3 as indicated. I have disabled secure boot, and both AHCI and CSM is enabled in the BIOS, so I don't know what's up. I did get Win 7 to install though from the DVD, albeit not through UEFI.
I then decided to create a bootable UEFI USB flash drive from my Win 7 DVD to see if this would be any better. I've followed the tutorial, and it boots fine as a UEFI USB, but as the Win 7 files are loading it says
"File: \windows\system32\boot\winload.efi
Status: 0xc000000f
Information:....not loaded...application is missing or corrupt".
I made a Win 7 recovery DVD to repair this installation, but it says no errors are found. This is really annoying as I twice made this UEFI USB using the original Win 7 DVD which I had successfully installed with.
So what am I doing wrong? I've trawled the forums looking for help, but I keep getting to the same solutions that I've already read!
Regards,
Linbury

Are you booting the DVD in UEFI mode?

 

[Linbury]

Hi theog,
Many thanks for your reply. When I go into the boot menu by pressing the F8 key when the Asus logo shows, I get the following options:
1. P3: ATAPI iHAS 124 D (i.e. the DVD-RW drive)
2. P4: ATAPI iHO104 (i.e. the BD-ROM drive)
3. IBA GE Slot 00C8 v1381 (i.e. Intel Boot Agent)
4. P2: Samsung SSD Series (i.e. the SSD)
5: ST2000DM001-9YN164 (i.e. the HDD)

So, there is no option, as you have shown, for booting from a "UEFI-enabled DVD drive".
But, if I copy the Windows 7 install .iso to a USB, and plug this in, it DOES show both the USB drive AND a UEFI USB at the boot menu. That's why I tried to install it through this USB method, but kept getting the winload.efi corrupt/missing message, so I couldn't do it that way anyway.
Is there a setting I have forgotten to enable/disable in the bios menu that means the UEFI DVD option is not showing? (The motherboard is an Asus P8Z77-V.)
Regards,
Linbury

 

[theog]

Hi theog,
Many thanks for your reply. When I go into the boot menu by pressing the F8 key when the Asus logo shows, I get the following options:
1. P3: ATAPI iHAS 124 D (i.e. the DVD-RW drive)
2. P4: ATAPI iHO104 (i.e. the BD-ROM drive)
3. IBA GE Slot 00C8 v1381 (i.e. Intel Boot Agent)
4. P2: Samsung SSD Series (i.e. the SSD)
5: ST2000DM001-9YN164 (i.e. the HDD)

So, there is no option, as you have shown, for booting from a "UEFI-enabled DVD drive".
But, if I copy the Windows 7 install .iso to a USB, and plug this in, it DOES show both the USB drive AND a UEFI USB at the boot menu. That's why I tried to install it through this USB method, but kept getting the winload.efi corrupt/missing message, so I couldn't do it that way anyway.
Is there a setting I have forgotten to enable/disable in the bios menu that means the UEFI DVD option is not showing? (The motherboard is an Asus P8Z77-V.)
Regards,
Linbury

1) Your SSD should be first boot device.
2) If using a USB Pendrive to install x64, take note of step 11 in this tutorial.
UEFI Bootable USB Flash Drive - Create in Windows

 

[Linbury]

Hi theog,
Many thanks for your reply. When I go into the boot menu by pressing the F8 key when the Asus logo shows, I get the following options:
1. P3: ATAPI iHAS 124 D (i.e. the DVD-RW drive)
2. P4: ATAPI iHO104 (i.e. the BD-ROM drive)
3. IBA GE Slot 00C8 v1381 (i.e. Intel Boot Agent)
4. P2: Samsung SSD Series (i.e. the SSD)
5: ST2000DM001-9YN164 (i.e. the HDD)

So, there is no option, as you have shown, for booting from a "UEFI-enabled DVD drive".
But, if I copy the Windows 7 install .iso to a USB, and plug this in, it DOES show both the USB drive AND a UEFI USB at the boot menu. That's why I tried to install it through this USB method, but kept getting the winload.efi corrupt/missing message, so I couldn't do it that way anyway.
Is there a setting I have forgotten to enable/disable in the bios menu that means the UEFI DVD option is not showing? (The motherboard is an Asus P8Z77-V.)
Regards,
Linbury

1) Your SSD should be first boot device.
2) If using a USB Pendrive to install x64, take note of step 11 in this tutorial.
UEFI Bootable USB Flash Drive - Create in Windows

So why is it not showing a "UEFI enabled DVD drive" in the boot options when I press F8 as the Asus logo shows? The 5 options I listed are in the order they are printed on the screen, but if I access the Asus Boot Menu-Advanced Settings, the SSD is the first option, followed by the IBA, then the DVD-RW. Again, in this menu, there isn't an option for a UEFI enabled DVD drive.
Is there a setting I have forgotten to enable/disable in the bios menu that means the UEFI DVD option is not showing? (The motherboard is an Asus P8Z77-V.)

[I can't use the USB installation route, as despite correctly making the UEFI USB drive twice, (surely the computer wouldn't list it as a UEFI USB if I hadn't made it correctly) I keep on getting the winload.efi corrupt/missing message.]
Regards,
Linbury

 

[theog]

[I can't use the USB installation route, as despite correctly making the UEFI USB drive twice, (surely the computer wouldn't list it as a UEFI USB if I hadn't made it correctly) I keep on getting the winload.efi corrupt/missing message.]
Regards,
Linbury

Where do you buy your Windows 7 x64 DVD from?

 

[Linbury]

Errrm, it was "downloaded"...

 

[Golden]

Errrm, it was "downloaded"...

Please expand on the term "downloaded"

 

[Linbury]

From torrents.

 

[Golden]

From torrents.

Genuine or not?

 

[Linbury]

I don't think so.

 

[z3r010]

You will need to go and buy a genuine copy then.

 

[mneal]

A question - is it possible to make a 64 bit UEFI USB stick from within a 32 bit installation? I know there's issues with doing so on a 'normal' (non-UEFI) USB install.

 

[Brink]

Hello mneal, and welcome to Seven Forums.

If you have a 64-bit Windows 7 ISO file, then yes using OPTION ONE in the tutorial below.

UEFI Bootable USB Flash Drive - Create in Windows

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[mneal]

Thanks, Shawn - looking forward to trying it out once all the hardware gets here. Just wanted to make sure there weren't any 'gotchas' to trip me up.