UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 7 with

How to Install Windows 7 Using the "Unified Extensible Firmware Interface" (UEFI)​

   Information

In addition to better interoperability, UEFI firmware provides several technical advantages:

• Compatibility with operating systems that support only BIOS
• Ability to boot from large disks
• CPU-independent architecture
• CPU-independent drivers
• Flexible pre-OS environment
• Modular design

Two of the most notable Windows features for UEFI systems are the following:

• Multicast deployment, which enables large scale network-based image deployment in manufacturing and enterprise settings.
• Fast boot and resume from hibernation, which improves user experience.

The rich UEFI interface provides ample room for innovation in the development of operating system features. Along with the other members of the Unified EFI Forum, Microsoft is investigating the following:

• Rootkit prevention
• Network authentication

-Microsoft Corporation

This method can also be used for the UEFI installation of Windows 8, Windows Server 2008 SP1, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Windows Vista SP1.

   Note

You will need to satisfy the following requirements in order to proceed:

• A Windows 7 compatible system
• A Windows 7 x64-bit installation media. 32-bit is not supported.
• A UEFI v2.0+ compliant PC. Check your chipset manufacturer/firmware documentation.
• A blank, partition-free, hard disk for installation.

   Warning

• Disabling UEFI will make the system unbootable as there is no MBR on the disks.
• You CANNOT make a sector-by-sector copy of GPT disks. The Disk and Partition GUIDs will no longer be unique. This must never happen. You can make a sector-by-sector copy of the contents of ESP or basic data partitions.
• Disable secure boot before installing Windows 7.

Here's How:

1. Do step 2 or 3 below depending on what installation Media you are using.

2. If using a Retail 64-bit Windows 7 Installation DVD A) Insert the DVD, restart the computer, and go to step 4 below.
3. If using a 64-bit Windows 7 Installation USB Flash Drive with UEFI A) If you have not already, you will need to create a Windows 7 installation bootable USB flash drive for UEFI from either a Windows 7 installation ISO or DVD.

B) Connect the USB, restart the computer, and go to step 4 below.
4. Press whatever key (ex: F11) it shows to boot to your motherboard's boot menu, and select to boot from the DVD or UEFI USB. (see screenshot below)
5. Do steps 3 to 7 in the tutorial link below. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html
6. Delete all partitions/volumes on the disk # (ex: Disk 0) that you want to install Windows 7 as UEFI on until that disk # shows as unallocated space. (see screenshot below)
7. When you are finished, click/tap on New, Apply (for full size of disk), and OK. (see screenshot above)

8. You will notice that the disk has now been formatted as GPT with 3 partitions. Select the "Primary" partition 3, and click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: You might receive a "Windows can't be installed on drive 0" warning, but as long as you can click on the Next button, you're fine.

   Note

The 3 partitions are:

• Partition 1 - System - The EFI System partition that contains the NTLDR, HAL, Boot.txt, and other files that are needed to boot the system, such as drivers.
• Partition 2 - MSR - The Microsoft Reserved (MSR) partition that reserves space on each disk drive for subsequent use by operating system software.
• Partition 3 - Primary - Where Windows is to be installed to.
  
  It is imperative that these 3 partitions remain in the exact order as they are

9. You can now finish doing the steps in either tutorial below.

• Pick up at step 9 here - http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html
• Same as picking up at step 9 above, but also pick up at step 2 in any of the OPTIONs here - http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/31402-clean-install-upgrade-windows-7-version.html

10. That's it. You have successfully installed Windows 7 on an UEFI system.

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Downgrade Windows 8 to Windows 7
• How to Create a Bootable UEFI USB Flash Drive for Installing Windows 7 and Windows 8
• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2432-usb-windows-7-installation-key-drive-create.html
• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html
• How to Clean Install Windows on a MSATA (SSD) Drive
• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/31402-clean-install-upgrade-windows-7-version.html
• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/26193-convert-mbr-disk-gpt-disk.html
• How to Convert a GPT Disk to a MBR Disk
• How to Enable or Disable Secure Boot in UEFI
• How to Check if Windows is Booted in UEFI or Legacy BIOS Mode

External Links:

---

Windows and GPT FAQ
Unified Extensible Firmware Interface - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
UEFI and Windows

 

[gregrocker]

What is the problem with NTFS if you're not using UEFI? An MBR disk install can always take NTFS stick format.

You can't really use UEFI on that PC if you install 32 bit. Did it have 32 bit Windows 8? Surely it did with only 2gb RAM and an Atom.

 

[dezzirable]

Yes it did have a 32bit Windows 8.1 originally.

The UEFI on the computer only reads a USB which is formatted in FAT32 otherwise it does not show in the booting devices or anywhere if it has NTFS. That is the whole problem, otherwise I have no problem using it in NTFS

 

[gregrocker]

You cannot install 32 bit to UEFI, period.

 

[mccannon]

Hi,

Whenever I click 'New' in drive options, only 2 partitions are created: MSR and Primary. This happens with both UEFI 64-bit Windows 7 USB created with Rufus and with the manual steps.

Does anyone have any idea how to fix this? I have Clover bootloader installed on a separate SDD, so there is an EFI partition on a separate drive, would that affect this in any way? I'm new to this so I'm a little lost..

Thanks

 

[Brink]

Hello McCannon, and welcome to Seven Forums.

It sounds like it just created or used the EFI partition on the SSD as the boot drive instead. That's fine if you don't mind it using the SSD for this.

 

[mccannon]

Hi Brink, thanks for the response.

I don't mind the installation using the EFI partition on the SSD, that is fine. I actually went ahead with the install even though I was only seeing 2 partitions, and it seemed to work okay -- except for the fact that when I installed the AMD Catalyst graphics card drivers and restarted my computer, the reboot got through the windows logo, but then hangs on a black screen before the 'Welcome' and log in screen ever show up.

To try to fix this, I booted into safe mode and removed the AMD drivers, which allowed me to start the computer normally again. I tried installing several different versions of the graphics card driver, with the same result each time.

Do you have any instinct if these two things might be related? Tonight I'll be formatting the disk, reinstalling Windows 7 UEFI, and reinstalling my motherboard, networking, and graphics card drivers one at a time, while rebooting in between. Besides this, I'm not sure how else to approach this problem.

Thanks for any help you can give!

 

[Brink]

If you do reinstall, it would be recommended to remove all non OS hard drives to avoid one being used as the boot drive like your SSD instead of the drive you are installing Window 7 on.

Were you using the latest AMD drivers?

http://www.sevenforums.com/graphic-cards/329659-latest-amd-catalyst-video-driver-windows-7-a.html

 

[mccannon]

All non-OS drives meaning all drives except the one I would be installing Windows on?

 

[mccannon]

And yes, I was using the latest drivers.

 

[Brink]

All non-OS drives meaning all drives except the one I would be installing Windows on?

Correct.

 

[mccannon]

Okay, I will likely give that a try and report back. Thanks for the help.

 

[Brink]

I hope it goes smoothly.

 

[mccannon]

Installing Windows with other drives disconnected worked perfectly, all 3 partitions were created as shown, and my graphics card is back up and working.

Although for some reason my Clover EFI Partition (on another disk) is now acting as a Windows Boot Loader Partition, and then fails if you use it. I can still use a Clover EFI Partition I have on a USB, though, so I think I'll reinstall that EFI Configuration to the Clover SSD (with the Windows EFI SSD disconnected), and then hopefully everything will be sorted out. Thanks for you help.

 

[Brink]

Good news so far.

 

[florosus]

Can I Use an OEM Windows 7 x64 DVD to install in UEFI mode?

The article says that I can use a Retail (big plastic box) DVD of 64-bit Windows to install in UEFI mode. Can I use my OEM ("System Builder") DVD to install windows in UEFI mode or will I need to make a boot USB from my DVD?

Please Help! First Question!

 

[Brink]

Hello Florosus, and welcome to Seven Forums.

I'd say give it a try and see. You can check to see what mode Windows is running in using this below afterwards.

BIOS Mode - See if Windows Boot in UEFI or Legacy Mode

 

[sgtsixpack]

When I installed it said that it was not optimal. Disk 0 is an SSD with MBR partitioning and Disk 1 is a HGST 4Tb with GPT partitioning. The HGST is one drive that won't get swapped out. Before I installed an OS to the HGST I had already transferred lots of data to it.

Do u think it will be fine? What is your opinion of using a separate partition for page file with 16Gb ram with/without an SSD?

 

[Brink]

Hello sgtsixpack, and welcome to Seven Forums.

If it's booting fine, then you're good to go.

It's fine to move the page file to another drive if you like. Usually, you would only do so if the Windows drive is low on free space, or the drive you're moving the page file is faster (ex: SSD vs HDD) than the Windows drive.

 

[etacarinae]

Not sure if this isn't already noted in the instructions: but attempting to boot via UEFI a Windows 7 install on a USB 3.0 drive while inserted in a USB 3.0 port results in the Windows installation stating a driver is missing.

A required CD/DVD drive device driver is missing. If you have a driver floppy disk, CD, DVD, or USB flash drive, please insert it now. Note: If the Windows installation media is in the CD/DVD drive, you can safely remove it for this step.

I was able to remedy this by inserting the USB 3.0 thumb drive into a USB 2.0 port instead.

Anyone know why this happens?

This was with a fresh X17-59186.iso and RUFUS.

 

[gregrocker]

This is because there are no USB3 drivers in the Win7 installer due to it never getting a Service Pack 3. SP2 was issued in 2010 and is the last available version of the installation media, just prior to USB3 coming online.

Most commonly, however, that error means a bad installer.