New motherboard with UEFI and installing Windows 7 64 bit

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by TheKid7, Oct 30, 2014.

  1. TheKid7

    TheKid7 Registered Member

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    I have ordered a new Gigabyte Motherboard for building a new Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit PC.

    When I install Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit, I want a simple 'Legacy MBR' installation. What are the settings that need to be changed in the UEFI BIOS to omit the UEFI OS installation? One is to select 'Legacy MBR', but I am not sure if there are any more settings that need to be changed.

    Thanks in Advance.
     
  2. Minimalist

    Minimalist Registered Member

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    If you enable Legacy MBR you will disable UEFI all together (at least that's the case on my system).
     
  3. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    TheKid7... that's all I ever had to do, get it into its LEGACY mode. Some MBs make that hard to find... but it's there, be patient in your searching.
     
    Last edited: Oct 30, 2014
  4. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    ...and if you want the SIMPLEST system possible, partition your disk first (FREE Partition Wizard HOME edition CD or some other mechanism) then do a clean install of W7 to your EXISTING partition of choice... result: no EFI partition, no MSR (MicroSloth System Reserve) partition, no RECOVERY partition... just a plain ol' ACTIVE SYSTEM partition like in the ol' days.
     
  5. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    TheKid7,

    Are you able to post a link to the motherboard PDF?

    Do you plan to install BIBM to the HD?
     
  6. TheKid7

    TheKid7 Registered Member

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  7. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    This is my guess.

    BIOS Features, Boot Option Priorities
    ...Windows 8 Features... Other OS
    ...CSM Support... Always (but this might not be changeable)
    ...Boot Mode Selection... UEFI and Legacy (but this might not be changeable)

    When you boot your Win7 DVD or UFD, bring up the Boot Menu with F12 and choose the non UEFI option.
     
  8. TheKid7

    TheKid7 Registered Member

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    Thank you.
    The 'UEFI and Legacy' is preferred over 'Legacy Only'?

    Should there be any changes to the 'Storage Boot Option Control' from the default of 'Enables legacy option ROM only'?
     
  9. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    It doesn't matter if you choose the combined option or the Legacy option. I've tested both. The only thing that matters is to choose "Other OS" and select the non UEFI boot disk in the Boot Menu when you install Win7.

    By leaving the default of "UEFI and Legacy" in various menus you have the option of more easily booting UEFI devices. If you want to.

    Edit.... If you have both options available you will see two entries in the Boot Menu. For example...

    Sandisk.. Description
    UEFI: Sandisk.. Description

    To install your Win7, choose the first.
     
    Last edited: Oct 31, 2014
  10. TheKid7

    TheKid7 Registered Member

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    I am up and running now with only one issue described here:

    https://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/bsod-recommended-troubleshooting-steps.369894/#post-2423919

    Partitioning Question: I made the 128 GB SSD Drive one Partition with BootIt Bare Metal (to avoid having the Windows 7 System Reserve Partition). I 'thought' that I had selected to Align the Partition to 1 MB. However, I noticed today that BootIt Bare Metal is showing that this Parittion is not aligned to 1 MB. Should I try to Align this Partition to 1 MB? Will aligning this partition after the OS has been installed adversely affect the OS installation?

    Thanks in Advance.
     
  11. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    TheKid7.

    In View MBR, what is the LBA for the Win7 partition? Easy to fix if it isn't 1MiB aligned.
     
  12. TheKid7

    TheKid7 Registered Member

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    LBA = 63
     
  13. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    This will make it as good as new.

    Make sure you have these selections in BIBM Settings
    tick in Align on 1 MiB Boundaries
    no tick in Align on Cylinder

    In Partition Work, select the partition
    click Resize and make it 3 MiB smaller
    you should see 3 MiB of Free Space below the partition
    select the partition and click Slide. Accept Free Space Before= 0 (the slide could take longer than a few minutes as all the "sectors in use" in the partition have to be moved)
    select the partition and click Resize. Make it Max Size

    Click View MBR. The LBA should be 2048 or a multiple of 2048.
     
  14. TheKid7

    TheKid7 Registered Member

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    Thank you.

    What are the negatives if I do not do the alignment? The hard drive is a SSD drive.

    I am considering (not sure) doing a Clean Install in the near future. If I do the Clean Install, I will Delete the Partition and align it properly this time. I figured out what I did wrong before when I 'thought' that I had aligned it.
     
    Last edited: Nov 3, 2014
  15. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    There are no negative in aligning the partition to 1MiB boundaries. If it's not aligned the SSD will suffer performance loss.

    The alignment process will take about 5 minutes on your SSD. You could also align the partition by creating an image and then restoring the image using the 1MiB option. But this will take longer than using BIBM.

    Doing a clean install will just waste your time. The partition won't be any better than aligning it with BIBM.
     
  16. TheKid7

    TheKid7 Registered Member

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    The reason that I am considering doing a clean install is that I am 'Paranoid' about the 'Killer NIC'. I remembered that I have an Intel PCI NIC that I am not using, and I am thinking about turning off the on-board NIC in the BIOS, installing the Intel PCI NIC Card, and then do a 'Clean Install'. I don't need the 'Killer NIC' Bloatware.
     
  17. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    OK, I understand. Prior to deleting the partition you might like to spend 10 minutes and do the BIBM convert to 1MiB. Just for the exercise, to understand what happens.
     
  18. TheKid7

    TheKid7 Registered Member

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    I performed the steps and BIBM is now showing a LBA of 2111. The partition size is showing 1 MB less than before I started. I tried the process again, but I am not able to Resize the partition.
     
  19. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Can you resize the partition 10 to 1000 (your choice) MiB smaller and then slide with choosing 3 MiB Free Space Before. LBA of 2011 is not what we wanted.
     
  20. TheKid7

    TheKid7 Registered Member

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    Thank you.

    I now have the LBA at 2048.
     
  21. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Great news.

    Out of interest, how long did the slide take? It's much faster on your SSD than a HD.
     
    Last edited: Nov 6, 2014
  22. TheKid7

    TheKid7 Registered Member

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    I did not time the slide, but it seemed like less than 5 minutes.
     
  23. TheKid7

    TheKid7 Registered Member

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    I turned off the on-board NIC and installed the Intel PCI NIC.

    I then deleted the Windows Partition, created and new Partition and properly aligned the new Partition. Windows is Installed, Activated and Updated. The necessary Drivers and Software are installed and configured.
     
  24. ratchet

    ratchet Registered Member

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    What does everyone have against UEFI?
     
  25. Robin A.

    Robin A. Registered Member

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    Some people expect "improvements" in Windows operation and don´t see any, or want to use complicated multi-boot schemes that can´t be easily implemented in UEFI, or don´t like the multi-partition scheme in GPT disks.
     
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