Set up UEFI disk

Are there advantages to setting up your system to BIOS and if so how do you go about it?

I have an ASUS M5A97 EVO rev 1 board which has a UEFI BIOS. As far as I can make out you have to set it to boot on UEFI disk. So not sure how to achieve this. I am running Win 7/8/64

Any help appreciated

 

If you're looking to install Windows 8 with the UEFI interface this may help. http://forums.tweaktown.com/asrock/53396-asrock-z87-extreme6-windows-8-pro-64-bit-secure-boot.html

 

Thanks for your reply.

I had a look at that and some other ways.

I have an ASUS m/b and although it is a UEFI board there is no option to set it to UEFI. Instead you first have to create a UEFI disk to boot from, and then it will recognise it as such and boot.

I found an easy way to do it was as follows:

Convert disk to GPT using Paragon HDM

Use Rufus (http://rufus.akeo.ie/) to produce an UEFI bootable USB stick with the Win 8 iso installed.

Then used method one on this link

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/15458-uefi-bootable-usb-flash-drive-create-windows.html

Process is quite simple. I tried it out on a spare HD I have. Came to the conclusion that there is no appreciable speed in booting.

Drawbacks are that any other disks you have will also have to be converted to GPT or else it will not boot.

As I expected, but had to try it, you cannot restore a previous image from non UEFI. So that means re-installing all your software from scratch.

Interesting experiment but I am not going to bother further with it unless there is some great benefit that I have missed.

 

Almost every UEFI BiOS I've looked at has offered a mode (selectable) where the system can be booted in MBR mode (sometimes called LEGACY mode) instead... which allows the use of the older styled BOOT disks.

 

Not on the ASUS board. Although it says UEFI at the top of the BIOS screen there is no option of switching. I have been right through the manual. However once you have created a UEFI disk then you have the option of which you want to boot.

 

it is sometimes labeled as 'Secureboot' on asus motherboards.

i have a similar motherboard to yours, change the view to 'advanced mode' and look for 'Secureboot'

 

other boards like some msi simply say uefi boot.

 

David,

I have an Asus MB and it is in UEFI mode by default. To set it to Legacy mode....

Boot
..CSM Launch Enabled
....Boot Device Legacy OpROM only
....Boot X3 Legacy OpROM first
..Secure Boot State - OS Type - Other OS
..Boot Option 3 4 5 changed from UEFI to Disabled

 

That is my case. I think when I updated my BIOS it lost that function and I had to re-enable it by making a UEFI disk.

 

Brian

There is no option to set it to legacy mode. What I have now is an option to set the boot to MBR or UEFI which I guess is the same thing. There is no other setting on the board. But anyway this is academic since I found that there was no especial advantage with UEFI for me.

 

David,

That is easier than my BIOS. Good.

Same here. I thought it was a disadvantage.

 

Glad you find the same. Thought I was missing some aspect of it given all the hype.

 

I've also had the same questions about which protocol is the best UEFI vs Legacy. I've installed Win 7 and 8 on this XPS 8500 in UEFI mode. Liked the secure boot feature for Windows 8.

When I installed Win 7 in Legacy mode I needed to provide the storage controller driver on a USB key to even install the OS. Other than that I found a somewhat smoother experience when running in Legacy. Just installed a BIOS update last night so we'll see if I notice any improvement. I'm running Windows 7 on UEFI for the moment. I have multiple images for different setups to play with.

It would be nice to learn more about the advantage vs. disadvantage of both.

 

Here is an article that features an ASUS MB. http://codechief.wordpress.com/2013/02/14/how-to-setup-windows-8-in-uefi-bios-in-uefi-mode/

According to that article I am booting using UEFI despite having CSM enabled (ASRock MB). I don't see a Windows logo when booting but my boot option #1 is set to Windows Boot Manager. I have to boot with CSM enabled if I want to use my 7970 graphics card as it's not compatible. I did install Windows with my onboard GPU instead of the 7970 though. I wanted to install in UEFI in hopes that one day my 7970 card would update their firmware but I honestly don't think they will.

 

Interesting. Looking at the m/b he is using and judging by the initial BIOS dates, my board is about 6 months earlier. He is also using an Intel CPU as against my AMD. So don't know if that makes any difference. Mine definitely does not have the CSM option but I can create and boot a UEFI HD. Whether or not it is as fully implemented I have no idea.