Difference with UEFI or Legacy BIOS in Win7 64bit

lassemann · 25 Mar 2017

Well, I have 3 questions before I proceed with new clean Win7 installation

1. Action before Win7 UEFI install "Disable secure boot", but after installation, should user "Enable secure boot" or will this lower security continue and give a vulnerable system ?

2. Is it really a big difference when using Win7, if it was installed with UEFI or Legacy BIOS mode (only 2 partitions) ?

3. Will Win7 Pro 64bit installation DVD really create 3 partitions automatic (System,MSR,Primary Win7) with UEFI boot device or do user have to do partitions manually with clean SSD drive ?

During my unsolved problem with migration of Win7/software from old motherboard to new motherboard with Acronis I have tried to understand the necesssity/development of UEFI and read many articles about it and found many answers, but not all.

Since my new motherboard Z170M-Plus really use UEFI, it seems that I have to make clean Win7 install and install all different softwares with licenses sigh, sigh, sigh

Best regards

AddRAM · 25 Mar 2017

Windows 7 does not support secure boot, so it should be disabled. Although my motherboard has always said secure boot is enabled and it`s grayed out so it can not be changed.

I always install in Legacy mode on 1 partition. I`ve compared UEFI vs Legacy and I have never noticed a difference in anything. And I like having 1 partition.

3) First question, Yes Second question, No

As for your last subject, I would do a clean install. But if you really wanted to try cloning your old system then you should not be using UEFI on the new board.

But I would never even attempt that. Much easier to just clean install Windows 7, no more Windows 10 update headaches to deal with.

With UEFI you need a GPT drive, with Legacy you need to use a MBR drive, that is your issue. You`re trying to use a MBR drive (or image in your case) in a UEFI atmosphere.