Installed Win 7 Ult x64 on mSata SSD, EFI System Part on other drive?

gregrocker said:

Actually Win7 can also be installed to UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 7 with - Windows 7 Forums.'

But a Win8 PC not only has UEFI but also Secure Boot.

So to install Win7 you must at least turn off Secure Boot in BIOS setup, then either install to UEFI per above tutorial or Bypass UEFI to Install WIn7 to a normal MBR hard drive you've wiped to clear the GPT formatting.

In this case if you say that copying to the HD the EFI System partition allows it to boot then it is likely UEFI but still seems unusual since that normally requires two special partitions as such.

You can confirm that the disk is a GPT disk if you right click on the disk # in Disk Mgmt and it has Convert to MBR Disk now. (See screenshot below)

So I do recall having to disable secure boot. I also remember having a problem allowing partitions during the Windows 7 Install process (manual) to let Windows get installed to them. I would see the yellow warning symbol saying I can't install. I was booting up via Legacy DVD mode, but once I booted via UEFI dvd mode, then it worked.

It's interesting, I never saw a "Convert to MBR" option when right clicking (the new or the old). I do remember I attempted, prior to installing Windows 7, of using the command prompt on the Windows DVD and tried to convert to MBR..and it gave me an error saying it couldn't do it.

When I tried last night to select my SSD disk, then select the partition and choose "ACTIVE" via the cmd prompt, it gave me the error that a GPT partition cannot be set to active.

So maybe I have a real unusual fringe case here that just happens to be working for some odd reason.

So you have a GPT disk now, for certain?

I realize you copied the UEFI partition onto the HD to make it boot, but that itself could have been overwritten with Win7 MBR System Active boot files earlier even though not named System now. Everything else is strange about this.

Guess I should clarify something.

Before installing the mSATA SSD, I had installed a copy of Windows 7 on the 750GB HDD just to try it. I remember the process was difficult, because even though I deleted the partitions and erased them..and they were empty, it wouldn't allow me to install Windows to it. I changed something in my BIOS, and I remember booting from the UEFI dvd...and at some point, the warning symbols on the Windows install partition screen went away and I was able to select one.

gregrocker said:

So you have a GPT disk now, for certain?

I realize you copied the UEFI partition onto the HD to make it boot, but that itself could have been overwritten with Win7 MBR System Active boot files earlier even though not named System now. Everything else is strange about this.

I just loaded up MiniTool Partition Wizard and I see this

VistaKing said:

Was it the AHCI inside bios ?

I have ATA, AHCI, and Intel Smart Response something.

So I have it enabled right now to Intel Smart Response...I think to install Windows 7 the first time, I did use AHCI.

Can you post a screen shot of Disk management?

Screenshots and Files - Upload and Post in Seven Forums
Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image

I did, in this post Installed Win 7 Ult x64 on mSata SSD, EFI System Part on other drive?

Looking at your screenshot in post 18, partitions are in the wrong places.

Windows 7 UEFI partition setup.

Somehow OP installed Win7 in UEFI mode on SSD creating no EFI partitions, so when he unplugged the HD it would not boot. He then copied the 500mb EFI partition onto the SSD and it booted.

I was hoping you could shed some light on what happened here, Ray. How is this possible? Will it boot off of EFI partitions on another HD? Why was it only necessary to copy one EFI partition over, and no repairs were necessary?

Please correct this if I got any of it wrong, Champ.