Win7 installation on UEFI system issues

rabiegler · 15 Aug 2012

I am having difficulty installing creating a dual boot system. The two OSes are Windows 7 and Ubuntu. The motherboard it's an ASUS P9 X79 Pro that automatically detects if UEFI is available on the DVD or hard drive. I cannot set the system to UEFI.

The hard drives are 120 & 128 GB SSD SATA. On one drive I have Ubuntu installed. I want to install Win7 on the other.

Initially when I first installed Win7, it created 3 partitions, ESP, MSR, and the OS. However do to some glitches with dual booting, I had to delete both OSes and start again.

When installing Win7 now it is no longer creating the 3 partitions, just 2, MSR & OS. I am trying to get it to create the ESP partition. The hard drive is GPT.

Suggestions, advise?
Richard.

Saltgrass · 15 Aug 2012

You have to boot the DVD in the UEFI mode. If you have an F key to give you a boot device menu, use that. If not, go into the bios and select the UEFI DVD entry.

Did you install Ubuntu as UEFI?

~~But a GPT drive has a hidden partition, which you say it created earlier. If the drive is already GPT, it does not need to be recreated. It might only create a EFI and OS.~~
I tried several different ways to show only 2 partitions, but even when I preset the drive to GPT, it still showed a 100 MB, 128 MB, and OS.

UEFI can install like MBR in that it may use a single EFI partition for both UEFI installs. So installing with one drive disconnected might be beneficial, but your choice

gregrocker · 15 Aug 2012

Please mark your thread Unsolved if it has not actually been Solved as indicated.

rabiegler · 16 Aug 2012

Thanks for the post.

Yes I have been booting the DVD in UEFI.

I will play around with the system some more tonight. I was/am under the impression that Windows is NOT creating an EFI partition. This is because of the issues I am having dual booting. I used the linux program boot-repair, posted my boot information, and was told that Windows is not EFI.

But like I said, I will play around some more tonight.
Richard

Saltgrass · 16 Aug 2012

If Disk Management shows a EFI partition, then it is a UEFI install.

I played with dual booting Linux as both UEFI installs and it worked fairly well, except there was a problem with the ACPI system and power management during restarts. That was two years ago and hopefully it has been sorted out.

I also ran it for a while with a Linux MBR install dual booting with a Windows 7 UEFI install, which also worked.

If you get a chance, try to copy a picture of your Disk Management Window with the snipping tool and attach using the paperclip. It might help see what is happening. If you think some info on your original problem might be helpful, please include that also.

Edit: I have now installed Ubuntu along side my Windows 7 install on a separate drive. Both are UEFI, and boot from the Boot Device Menu or the Bios. They do not show a boot menu as two Windows installs would.