Setup Installation :: Recover Legacy Boot And Remove Old Entries From UEFI Boot
Aug 21, 2013
First, some context: I have a Dell Inspiron 15R SE that came with Windows 8.
I've managed to get a working dual-boot system with Ubuntu 12.10. I can't remember exactly how I done that, but I remember that I had to disable secure boot. I think that the boot configuration those days was:
Secure boot: DisabledLoad legacy option rom: EnabledBoot list option: Legacy
This "configuration" worked perfectly for 6-7 months.
Then, one day (last week, can't remember the exact day), when I was using Windows 8 the computer crashed. I hard-rebooted and got this screen:
After executed boot-repair from a Ubuntu LiveCD dozens of times I've decided to eliminate Ubuntu temporarily and focus to get a system with Windows 8 working nice.
Then I used my recovery DVDs to recover the system. Yup, Windows has booted. But when I restarted first time I got the same error. Then I, digging a solution, pressed F12 after a reboot and got here:
The highlighted option allows me to boot into Windows 8. So I went to boot options (F2) and changed the following configuration:
Load legacy option rom: DisabledBoot list option: UEFI
Now I can boot directly to Windows without need to press F12.
But my objective isn't complete. I want to erase all Ubuntu entries from the seconds image and restore the legacy boot from the first imagem (because they worked before).
I did two things:
I erased all partitions related to Ubuntu (root partition and home partition).I created a Windows recovery disk (not a system recovery disk).
I used the recovery disk to run the automatic recovery procedure (I forgot the exactly name). I've runned it at least 10 times with no success. Then I went to command prompt to try the famous triad: bootrec /fixmbr, bootrec /fixboot and bootrec /rebuildbcd. Still, no solution.
After creating a UEFI bootable USB thumb drive with Rufus (using Windows 8.1 Enterprise ISO x64), for a Dell Optiplex 3010 (configured as UEFI only, no CSM, latest firmware version, Windows 8 installed), I didn't see a USB boot option, so I tried to add one manually. Unfortunately I erased the existing boot option (boot manager) by mistake. Although there were two boot options for PXE booting, the machine will not start anymore, even when there is an active WDS server on the network.
I also see Led's 2 and 3 lighting up, meaning according to the manual 'hardware ok but bios possibly damaged/corrupt'.
I understand I cannot start the machine from a bios boot disk because of GPT partitioning, and the UEFI USB boot disk I made might be corrupt (as it didn't show up as a boot option), however I don't understand why it won't boot from the PXE network card, as these boot options are still there.
Windows 8. I am confused with the Legacy and the UEFI boot methods. The reason I am confused I think, is because I read to darn much on the Internet. One bit of confusion is with respect to changing from UEFI to Legacy. It would appear from some comments that if I do that, Windows 8 won't boot anymore. I would have to change back to UEFI for indows 8 to boot.
I also read that changing back to UEFI could be a major problem when trying to access the BIOS. No, I am confused. My ultimate goal is to set my laptop up to dual boot Windows 8 and Ubuntu. Like I have been doing for the last multiple years with XP and Windows 7.
Dell Inspiron 5721 Windows 8 Intel i7 @ 1.9 GHz BIOS Version - Dell Inc. A06 2/22/2013 SMBIOS - 2.7 BIOS Mode - UEFI Secure Boot State - On Memory - 8 GB[/QUOTE]
I am having an issue with downgrading to Windows 7 and It's not nearly as easy as normally installing an OS. I get to the expanding files screen, and once the system reboots it goes back to the Windows 7 install screen. This is an issue, because it should continue with the installation.
I have an older Dell laptop with no secure boot that has Windows 8.1. I shrank the partition and installed Linux for a dual boot setup. Normally I install the GRUB2 to the root of the Linux partition so I don't "see" the Linux installation at all until I use easybcd to create a boot menu item. Easybcd wipes out the pretty blue GUI boot screen and you end up with the black and white "legacy" menu. This was all expected.
Now the weird part. Sometimes when I boot the computer I get the black and white boot screen and sometimes I get the modern GUI boot screen. I prefer the black and white boot screen because the modern boot screen does a second reboot when you select a linux installation.
So my computer is a Windows 8 Laptop, with UEFI on it..... I want to have Legacy instead of UEFI, and I was told on this site that I could do it, but I needed to reinstall Windows 8.....
Right before I performed a clean install of Windows 8.1 x64 on my Inspiron 3520, I switched to the Legacy BIOS *facepalm*.
When I enter the legacy BIOS and enabled "secure boot", I performed a restart that gave the following message "internal hard disk drive not found, to resolve this issue, try to reseat the drive. No bootable devices--strike F1 to retry boot, F2 enter setup menu, F5 enter PSA". Of course, when I go back into the BIOS and disable secure boot, it reverts back to legacy and boots up Windows 8 just fine. What I'd like to know is, how can I revert back to UEFI so I can change the boot-up option and perform a clean install under UEFI.
I've made a UEFI Win8PE by WADK , then burn it to a CD. I boot normal and I can see X:WindowsSystem32.
I use EasyBCD to [Add New Entry] to append new boot item to existing Windows 8. The boot menu becomes like this :
Windows 8 Win8PE
But the Win8PE fail to boot with error message like insert Windows disc again ...... in the primary black and white screen.
Should I not to use EasyBCD to [Add New Entry] ? As I do the same thing in BIOs + MBR harddisk that booted perfect. In UEFI + GPT partition , do I better not to use EasyBCD , instead to use BCDEDIT , if so , what's the command line to do this with bcdedit ?
I have an ASUS Zenbook UX32V, which came with win 8 preinstalled.
I was having endless problems with Windows 8, such as software compatibility, and formatted the laptop (removing all partitions), and installing Windows 7 over it.
This has worked fine to date, but I now need to switch to Win 8 again.
I know my laptop supports UEFI, and that the Windows 8 installations are no longer probably on the computer. Is there a way to recover the cd key from the UEFI and use this to download the Win 8 installation files again? The CD key was not supplied in the laptop documentation...
Originally my laptop came with Windows 7 and when i looked at disk management my disks were formatted with UEFI schema. One of my friend gave me a UEFI bootable USB drive loaded with Windows 8. So, i thought why not give it a try. So, I created a backup of my OEM Windows 7 and saved the iso files in a seperate external HD (created twice just to be sure . Now, i decided to load the Windows 8. Booted into the BIOS and there is an option to select the USB drive along with the UEFI option for that USB drive. I selected the UEFI option but some reason it does not boot into UEFI.
So I decided to select the standard USB install and this option let me install windows 8. In the process of installing i formatted the partitions and made a single partition and installed Windows 8 on it. I am guessing now the drive is not GPT but MBR. I also noticed that his installation USB disk had an option to select either 32bit or 64bit of Windows 8... Would Microsoft create a same iso file with both versions? I am guessing he created the USB from a illegitimate source.
I am planning on purchasing Windows 8 Pro version as an iso but wanted to be confident that it would work with UEFI architecture.
Questions: 1. Why would the system NOT boot from UEFI? 2. If I download the legitimate iso from Microsoft and wanted to install Window8 Pro via UEFI, I am sure i would have to format my SSD to GPT and how would i go about formatting it during installation? 3. How would i create a recoverable USB for my iso image i created for Windows 7 via ASUS AI Recovery. Do I need to follow the same procedure as stated in creating bootable USB disk (i.e. FAT32 system) via diskpart utility?
I just install windows 8 using BIOS , but now i want to change it to UEFI boot. so i followed steps below
1.create and format a new FAT32 partition K:
2.my windows8 is in I: so , i use this command bcdboot i:windows /f all /s k: and succeeded.
3.i checked with the bootice about the BCD in my K: and found it indeed point to i:windows just like the picture below [URL]
4. and i restart, choose uefi boot in BIOS configuration and it showed like this: [URL]
5. i checked my k:/windows/system32/ , there is a winload.efi file... [URL]
The most strange thing is that i've copyed my winload.efi to other computer which is already in UEFI mode , and also i've copyed it in my virtual machine, it works fine! So my winload.efi should be OK.
I've downloaded a legal iso from MAPS, i ve slisptremed all latest updates into it with Windows download integrator (it uses dism afaik) , then the problems comes in - i cannot use USB as my install.wim is 4,8 GB. I ve burned a Dual layer DVD with Windows 8 stock recorder and the PC doesnt see the DVD drive as bootable. When using stock it boots uefi from pendrive without any problems. How to make this updated iso boot into UEFI mode ?
During POST enter "BIOS Boot Selector Menu" by pressing F7.
Intel says: <F7> No uefi setup option in boot selection Others say: <F8> No uefi setup option in boot selection I say: <F12> No uefi setup option in boot selection
Lenovo Z580, my brand new laptop that is, its UEFI based and vymrdal's ISO from MSDN is also created to be installed as an UEFI Install.
I recently bought a new SSHD for my laptop and after initial problems with trying to install Windows in UEFI, I turned to Legacy and that worked. But now when I change it to UEFI, it just comes up as "Operating system not found".
1st partition is Win7 SysPrep and the 2nd partition is Windows 8.1 Sysprep. I install Win7 and press Ctrl-Shift-F3 to form SysPrep, same as Windows 8.1 in 2nd partition. I made this becuase I've 25 Dell new Windows 8.1 Computer which are UEFI. I want to clone it to the other 24 Dell computers.
CASE 1 : 2 different partitions with 2 different Windows : --------------------------------------------------------------- If I install both Windows like above, when Sysprep Generalize Win7, it works fine. But if I SysPrep Generalize Windows 8.1, it's fine also, but never can boot again back to Win7. The start boot option is like this : Windows 7 Windows 8.1 If I choose to boot Windows 8.1, it's fine. If I choose to boot Windows 7, it ever boot to Windows 8.1. It means nomatter I choose to boot which Windows, it all goes to Windows 8.1 ?
CASE 2 : 1 partition for Win7 + Win81.VHD : --------------------------------------------------------------- I install Win7 (C and press Ctrl-Shift-F3 to form SysPrep. I create a Win81.VHD in Drive D: , imagex Windows 8.1 install.wim in it. Also press Ctrl-Shift-F3 to form SysPrep. Sysprep Generalize Win7 is OK , SysPrep Generalize Windows 8.1 is also OK. But after that I can only boot to Windows 7 fine, when choose to boot Windows 8.1 , it always restart and back to the boot menu ?
So I've searched, and I've tested, and now I'm about to turn my laptop into a frisbee and never buy a Samsung PC again. In short, I bought an ATIV 7 whose previous owner had downgraded to Win7. I wanted to put Win 8 on and I have a volume license as well as the OEM key so I burned the ISO (actually 2 different ones) using every method I could find (ImgBurn, Rufus, Iso2Disc, Win7 Download tool, etc.) It became clear that the USB needed to be formatted FAT32 with GPT filesystem, however in UEFI mode it shows the USB but won't allow me to select it - it just flashes. If I set it back to CSM and UEFI I can make a USB boot, but even if I use diskpart to clean the drive and convert to GPT it will fail to install because it detects I didn't boot in UEFI mode.
Here's the deal. When I'd installed it earlier this week in CSM and MBR mode, and then converted to UEFI it worked fine. So....I tested several recovery programs we use at work to make sure they'd restore it okay via bootable media. Paragon, Aomei, Macrium, Lazesoft - all boot media failed. ONLY True Image 2014 DOES ACTUALLY BOOT in UEFI mode on my laptop. The only thing I can figure is that the way WinPE 5 or 5.1 (whatever it uses) is set up on it agrees with my laptop. So how I can modify the Acronis recovery media or create similar WinPE media that might actually boot on my laptop.
I have a desktop PC Acer XC600, the hard disk is formatted in the UEFI-Scheme. Now I want to do a clean install of a fresh Windows 8, but I cannot manage to boot into UEFI-mode, neither from DVD or USB.
I can reach a boot menu by pressing F12, but there is nothing like shown in the article about installing Windows 8 in UEFI mode. Only standard bios devices show up. There are simply no UEFI devices. I tried different usb sticks, dvds, formatted them different ways, but the best I can get is the point where setup says "cannot install because the disk is formatted GPT".
But the acutal system is definitely running in UEFI mode (?)
Yesterday, after many, many problems with my computer, I finally decided to reinstall Windows 8.1 Pro onto my ASUS X200CA netbook. However, after backing up and reinstalling the OS, I found that when I tried to disable "Launch CSM" in my BIOS, all of my boot options would disappear and my laptop would continually boot into my BIOS. When I re-enabled "Launch CSM", the boot options would reappear - however, it had not included the "Option #1 - Windows Boot Manager" that I had seen in my other installation.
I had ubuntu within my windows 7 earlier. Later when i installed windows 8, i formatted the partition ( E: ) in which ubuntu was installed, since the wubi uninstaller was not working. Still when i start my system, it shows ubuntu listed in the boot list. I tried to load it once. It gave an error. There is no error when i select the default windows 8.
Now i checked the boot option in the msconfig as per the thread, but only windows 8 is listed there, no ubuntu. But still it is listed in the boot menu. I tried the disk manager, the only partition without NTFS file system is the one with status "healthy (OEM partition)". I dont know whether its a ubuntu partition. And there is no option to delete it also. No other ubuntu partition. I want to remove the ubuntu boot option from my os list. How to do it?
If I remove the boot drive from my old Windows 7 computer and put it into my new Windows 8 computer, how can I set up the new computer to allow dual boot at start-up?
I had a computer with windows 7 home premium x64. A while ago I decided that I wanted to up grade to windows 8 and so I partitioned my os drive and installed (OEM) windows 8 Pro on the new partition. During the set up I was able to set up a duel boot system with windows 8 and windows 7. When I look at the drive structure I noticed that there isn't a system recovery partition for windows 7 or windows 8.
I would like to generate a system recovery partition for windows 8 and remove windows 7 but I am not sure how to go about doing this.
not sure if this has been posted but download this update from the Ms site if your watermark with this message doesn't disappear after you've activated your Windows 8.1 installation.
Download Update for Windows 8.1 for x64-based Systems (KB2902864) from Official Microsoft Download Center
I got the message after updating an HP sleekbook 4 laptop to Windows 8.1 enterprise (TechNet version from ISO) from the Windows 8 pro that was pre-installed with the laptop (plus all the other zillion bits of bloat /ad / crapware).-- I disabled protected boot -- more trouble than it's worth - especially if you are testing OS'es -- but KEPT the UEFI .
So I fresh installed Windows 8 on Legacy boot, deleting all partitions even the factory restore partitions, everything. I realized late that the new trendy thing is to install on UEFI, however I'm having difficulty doing this. How exactly do I go about this?
My laptop has a 256 gb SSD mSATA where Windows and apps are installed, and a media HDD sized at 750 gb. I deleted every partition I had when I installed Windows 8 and made new ones for a fresh install, however I think this is preventing me from doing a UEFI install correctly..
my graphics card, Nvidia GT650 is not ready for UEFI installation and I have no way to flash the bios. If I boot using legacy bios, install the card, then can I flash the card BIOS and then return to UEFI booting?
The card is currently not installed and I have no other system to use to flash the cards bios.
I have installed Blue 8.1 on a separate drive in my system along side 8.0. When I restart the 8.0 boots unless I manually select the 8.1 drive in bios. How can I alter the Boot menu to add the option to boot from either OS?
Late last Fall I bought a new Desktop, an HP H81414, with Windows 8 installed with the intention of installing Windows 7 on an SSD. I migrated Window 8 to an SSD, removed that from the system, installed new SSD and put Windows 7 on it. Both worked fine. I wound up with 2 SSD's. capable of running on the EFI BIOS machine with Secure Boot turned off. I later bought a new laptop with Windows 8. I found the Win 8 with Classic Shell to be very acceptable.
What I would like to do now ,if possible, is to mount both SSD's in the HP case and switch to either one of them at boot.
I had windows 7 running on my computer. When windows 8 came out I used a second harddrive as the windows 8 installation drive. Windows 8 automatically setup a dual boot system where every time I started the computer it took me a windows screen where I could select either windows 7 or windows 8. This has been going on since Windows 8 was released.
I decided it was getting old so I decided it was time to remove the old windows 7 harddrive. I tried doing it inside the windows 8 dual boot screen but could not find an option. So I decided to reformat the windows 7 harddrive. I did this in command prompt mode. After doing so when my computer restarted it said it could not find any harddrive to boot. Windows 8 is installed on the other harddrive, the one that was not reformatted. So how do I get it to start using that harddrive as the boot drive? I checked my bios and even physically disconnected the old HD that had windows 7 on it, but none of that seemed to work even though the Windows 8 HD is definitely in the boot order in the bios.
I've had Win 7 Pro on my laptop for over a year. I installed a 2nd hard drive to it recently and today I installed Windows 8 Pro on the 2nd hard drive. It's been a roller coaster of good & bad luck.
The first install went fine, until I tried to install the Windows 8.1 upgrade from the Windows store, then things went bad and I had to go into Windows 7 and eventually delete the Windows 8 volume and change it from MBR to GPT because of UEFI (no secure boot enabled). What a stretch of error messages telling me I can't install Windows 8 on the blank hard drive because it was or wasn't MBR or GPT, or the automagically made partitions weren't in the right order.
After spending over 7 hours twice in a row installing Windows 8, I finally find out that there's no boot option for Windows 7 anymore.
The only clue I have is to use a Windows 7 repair disk and use diskpart.exe and make the Win 7 drive "active" but that's a little foreign to me at this point.
I'm looking in Computer Management / Disk Management from within Windows 8.
Disk 0: SYSTEM D: 438 MB NTFS (lengthened from 199 MB with EaseUS because Acronis 2014 thought it too small while crashing), Healthy (Active, Primary Partition); Win 7 E: 930.98 GB NTFS Healthy (Primary Partition); HP_TOOLS F: 102 MB FAT 32 Healthy (Primary Partition)
I made two install of win 8 : one is enterprise , the second is pro with the free mc key and one of kubuntu that are well working . i used a drive with every os , with the others not connected to prevent errors and be more easy to select the one i want to boot .
By now I would like to clean my efi boot partitions because after testing ubuntu and removing it for kubuntu , I have two entry for them while one is no longer valid . I also would like to select between the two win8 without having to get in the bios . One thing that is weird with ebcd, it does not see my two windows 8, may be because they use the same loader name or file .
At last, how to turn win8 vga menu selector to the text one used by win7 . i ll be glad .
