UEFI Install of Windows 7 Pro

That was a wealth of information guys, thank you very much. I'm going to think this over a while, but looks like I'll go with MBR.

Just to clarify, I have not installed anything yet, I've only booted Linux from Live USB to Test Hardware, along with the built in Dell Test's. I am however using 8.1 on a different machine (laptop) just to test it out to see if I like it. I've been using it for a while, but I installed using an old Retail Image and made some changes that affected the performance so could not get a good idea if it is going to be good for me.

@ThrashZone, hmm, VM? don't have much experience with that but good idea, maybe I'll run Linux in that due to it's small footprint and quick updates. I only have 4GB of RAM so VM's may have to wait for best performance from what I understand. I could do it but that would be pushing the RAM to it's limit's and beyond LOL, I would think.

Fast Start, yes I'm familiar with that. I do a lot of reading, so am a little familiar with some of this stuff, just not in real Practice.

@dg1261, yes, I was aware of all the options of the 660s, did lot's of research before asking questions. But I don't have the hands-on experience all you guys have. And the MBR thing, thanks! I've also used EasyBCD once, and have Dual-booted with Linux quite a few times, but that has been pretty straight forward with one Windows install, then one Linux install behind it on older MBR pc's. I'll try that bootloader you suggested as your saying there may be issues with the Windows way. And I have read that it's harder to do backups with GPT, so that is a good point. I'll look at your website also.

I'm also out of cash ATM, so this is all going to be done on the Cheap for now. When I get a little cash I'll put some more RAM in it, now it's got 4GB. Running late, till later.

Thanks, Nasty7

In my opinion, Win 7 is the best OS.
Win 10 is a better OS than 8.1. Between the two, I'll would install Win 10. And as AddRam mentioned, you can use win 8.1 COA key to do a clean install it and it will activate (or just do a upgrade over 8.1).

I had used Legacy MBR in a older computer with multi boot (Win 7 and Lubuntu). Now I have a UEFI BIOS and have multi boot (Win 7 and Lubuntu) on a GPT drive and I think is a better solution. As I mentioned, UEFI boot is like having multi disks on a single disk.

Megahertz07 said:

In my opinion, Win 7 is the best OS.

Yes, I agree as any sane person would LOL, kidding...just a little humor!

Megahertz07 said:

Win 10 is a better OS than 8.1. Between the two, I'll would install Win 10. And as AddRam mentioned, you can use win 8.1 COA key to do a clean install it and it will activate (or just do a upgrade over 8.1).

Agreed! other than all the changes 10 has gone through it seems to be a better OS IMO. I already have 8.1 on my laptop, so it looks like I need to get Windows 7 on their and download a third party Bootloader, and then install Windows 10 along side of it. Although someone was saying to install 10 first? I think I'd rather install 7 First?

This brings up some confusing questions for me. I'm uncertain exactly how to install Windows 10 and have it activate? This pc already had Windows 8 on it, so, can I just boot a Retail DVD and install? I don't have the COA because never had access to Windows 8 to get the Key. I think AddRam is saying, that it will just activate because Windows 8 was on there before, and the COA is in BIOS??? I was unaware of this, I thought one had to go through the official link to Upgrade from an already installed system?

Megahertz07 said:

I had used Legacy MBR in a older computer with multi boot (Win 7 and Lubuntu). Now I have a UEFI BIOS and have multi boot (Win 7 and Lubuntu) on a GPT drive and I think is a better solution. As I mentioned, UEFI boot is like having multi disks on a single disk.

Yes, this was one of my concerns and still thinking over the whole situation.

Thanks, Nasty7

A small update on the problem I was facing:
Loading Windows 7 on GPT along with Win 10 had solved that the startup hanging problem temporarily. I realized the actual problem is Windows 10 boot manager. After formatting one of my Linux partition on hdd by booting through external usb disk the win7 startup hanging problem reappeared. Still not clear what is the exact problem or its solution.

COA (Certificate Of Authenticity) label on OEM computers is normally on the side of the case. On Laptops they are at the bottom or below the battery.
COA Key is the code you find on the COA label.
When installing Win 10, when asked for the key, use the Win 8 or 8.1 COA Key. It will activate the win 10 installation.

Finally found the root cause of behind Windows 7 crashing on the startup screen:

My system has x99 motherboard, Xeon CPU with NVIDIA GTX 1070 GPU. Loading Window 7 on GPT helped windows 10 bootloader always correctly map the partitions on my system as GPT has unique ID for each partition. This needs the Option ROM (OpROM) for storage of the UEFI to be in UEFI mode. To do that when I turn off compatibility mode of UEFI (UEFI-CSM) it makes the OpROM for Graphics also in UEFI mode (as per my understanding), which was causing Win 7 freezing a bit later (after playing the startup sound) in the starting phase.

Now enabling UEFI-CSM with Storage OpROM "UEFI only" and Graphics OpROM "Legacy Only" solves both the issues with Windows 7 starting with Windows 10 bootloader. Now the system is stable with Win7, Win10 and Linux.

Thanks.

AddRAM said:

You can just use your windows 8 key to activate W10, you do not have to install 8 then upgrade to W10.

I don't have the Key, there was no OS on this Tower when I got it, so was not able to dig it out, and it is not on the Tower anywhere? This is why I was thinking I would have to Upgrade from 8 to 10, but I am unsure and don't really want to do all that work. Reason being, wanting to do the Dual Boot 7 and 10 thing, so that will be a lot of work. Is there any way to dig out that Key without an OS installed? I'll do some googling.

Thank you AddRAM! 7 Is the best, but I'm helping out a friend with computer repair and need to learn windows 10 a little better. I would love to avoid the whole thing, but it's hard to work on this stuff without having one around to test and learn on. I may have to bite the bullet and install 7 or 8 to get the 10 upgrade, then reinstall everything in Dual Boot after. I wonder if I can do this with 7, and Image 7 before I Upgrade to get that license.

Would like to get the Full Windows 10 experience if possible and this seems to be the only way to do it. I prefer to Dual Boot 7 with Linux haha, that's my MO, 10 don't seem all that bad and am liking Windows 8 a little, I think it is just for the graphics, they are a little better than 7.

Trying to figure out how to get ProduKey to work off a Bootable USB? but don't see anyone doing that. I wonder if I can just put it on a Bootable DOS USB Created with Rufus?