Installation of Windows 7 SP1 UEFI failing

[supervinnie40]

Hello,

A while ago my boss told me I needed a laptop, so I bought a nice second hand one, and bought a fresh new copy of Win7 SP1. It always worked fine, until the laptop died.
My boss bought me a nice new laptop, but we found out that some programs don't run well on Win10. We also have an outdated server setup, and Win10 seems to have some problems with it.

So we decided that I need to go back to Win7 64bit. And I decided to start reading up on that UEFI thing. I double checked that my Acer E5-721 has UEFI activated.

Via the tutorials on this forum I found out that I need a UEFI compatible ISO from Windows. The one I have is not. Apparantly I need BOOTx64.EFI in the EFI folder. Which I don't have.

So I unpacked the ISO, and unpacked INSTALL.WIM to find the BOOTMFGR.EFI file, and copied it to the EFI folder. I then used IMGBURN to turn it all back into an ISO and Rufuc to create me a bootable USB.

But it just don't work. I don't get the Win7 install screen. The laptop either goes to Win10 or gives me a screen that says: "Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. Status: 0xc000000f."

I also tried to put the required EFI files into the BOOT folder (seeing as some tutorial I found via Google suggested it). But nothing seems to work.

Can somebody help me to fix this??

I've read:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...e-firmware-interface-install-windows-7-a.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html
UEFI boot from Windows 7 Install ISOs :: Easy2Boot
http://www.sevenforums.com/installa...ake-windows-7-dvd-sl-4-7gb-uefi-bootable.html
Cannot use USB drives to install Windows 7 OR 8.1 in UEFI mode - windows 8.1 - Laptop Tech Support

But nothing works.

 

[AddRAM]

Disable Secure boot in the bios

Enable Legacy Boot in the bios

Make sure the drive is initialized as MBR, not GPT

Install Windows 7 from a normal non UEFI dvd

 

[supervinnie40]

Disable Secure boot = check
Enable Legacy mode = really don't want to, I would prefer to get it working on UEFI (partly just because I know it is possible)
The drive as MBR not GPT = do you mean the hard drive or the USB/DVD?
Install Win7 as non-UEFI = As above, I'd prefer to get it working with UEFI. I know it is possible, and I want to get all the benefits that it brings (even if they are small).

Yesterday I tried a different Bootx64.EFI that I downloaded. And it gave me a very weird Shell command screen. With yellow, gray and white letters. If I didn't press any key, it would auto start startup.nsh? Didn't know what it was, so I turned off the laptop again.
The other Bootx64.EFI I downloaded seems to work to an extend. I get the "Starting Windows" screen, but it freezes at loading the Windows logo....

 

[AddRAM]

The drive as MBR not GPT = do you mean the hard drive or the USB/DVD? Are you serious ?

There are no benefits to UEFI, if it were so easy, you would not be having such trouble.


You could be enjoying windows 7 instead of battling to install it.

 

[AddRAM]

If you really want to use UEFI then,

Use a regular unmodified Windows 7 install dvd

Disable secure boot

Initialize the drive as GPT

Reading this should help you solve all your problems.

Clean install of Windows 7 Pro 64-bit on a UEFI laptop with GPT partition? - Super User

 

[supervinnie40]

Thank you for the advice. I'll give this a read and then try it out.

Having said that, I should add that I might not have time to do it until Saturday. But I'll report back.

 

[kakarot]

Does your BIOS has CSM setting? If so, try to enable it.

If no CSM setting found, then you have to use WinPE8 + WinNTSetup + Integrated Graphic Card Driver slipstream method. I have posted the method explanation here.