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Asus P8P67 GPT Boot Compatible?

bigdogchris

bigdogchris

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Joined
Feb 19, 2008
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In the past I've tried to install 7x64 onto my SSD as a GPT disk, but have failed. In lieu of this post in the OS forum, I've decided to experiment again, but am still failing. Let me walk you through what I'm doing so you can spot where I am making a mistake.

  • I take a hard drive and zero it off.
  • I verify my installation USB is FAT32 and has the .efi boot files
  • I boot to my installation media and select UEFI:USB from the boot menu.
  • In the hard drive installation screen, I see unallocated disk.
  • I press Shift+F10 to bring up command prompt
  • I type list disk and find my hard drive as disk 0
  • I type select disk 0
  • I type convert GPT
  • Disk has been successfully converted to GPT
  • I type list disk again and verify the * is under the GPT column for the hard drive.
  • I exit diskpart, then close command prompt.
  • I refresh, then choose unallocated space and press next.
  • I wind up at a Windows desktop and view the hard drive in Disk management to see that it is MBR.
 
The ASUS P67 boards work fine with GPT. The folder/file structure as found on the Win7 install disk will not work on a USB stick. There are a couple of modifications that need to be made. I did mine a long time ago so don't remember the exact steps but a Google search should return plenty of info.
 
jkramp said:
The ASUS P67 boards work fine with GPT. The folder/file structure as found on the Win7 install disk will not work on a USB stick. There are a couple of modifications that need to be made. I did mine a long time ago so don't remember the exact steps but a Google search should return plenty of info.
Click to expand...
I've read that and understand USB in NTFS will not work with installing in GPT, but I've read that Fat32 will.

Now I did just find this video which says to create a boot folder in the EFI folder, which I did not do.
 
Some of the files in the EFI folder have to be moved, I think to the root of the USB stick, and one file form an existing Win7 install has to be copied to the USB stick best I can remember..
 
jkramp said:
Some of the files in the EFI folder have to be moved, I think to the root of the USB stick, and one file form an existing Win7 install has to be copied to the USB stick best I can remember..
Click to expand...
Yep, that's exactly what that video shows.

Why does Microsoft make you do all that run around with zero documentation on how to do it?

Also, this guy successfully installed as GPT and did not mention doing all the file moves/renames, which I would think is critical. Why would he ignore that part... :confused:
 
After doing some more reading, I think I am getting to the bottom of the issue.

There seems to be three steps to install to GPT disk for Windows.

1. You must boot into the EFI shell (using the UEFI:Device option)
2. The installation media must have an installer that is GPT aware (this is where people get hung up)
3. You install to GPT disk

The Youtube video I linked shows how to force the installation media into GPT 'aware' PE. Simply converting the disk to GPT alone is not going to work because the WinPE installer is not GPT aware.

So, there has got to be an easier to way to make the setup environment (WinPE) GPT aware.

*edit*

Here is a Technet article confirming that you must boot to EFI capable PE. It shows you how to launch the EFI PE as well but I'm not sure how it will work. My computer does not seem to want to boot to EFI PE even though I select UEFI option from the boot menu.
 
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When I did my EFI installation I made sure that the boot setting disableded any legacy booting option, nor did I chose for both (later after the EFI partitioning is done by the installer you can chose both, so as to be able to boot from a non EFI capable media). Now, note, this is with my Z77 motherboard, but should be similar to yours. I took a look at the manual, but it did not have what I was looking for to explain the EFI options better.

If the boot option is is set properly, the installer will do the EFI partitioning automatically. There is no need to invoke the prompt to convert the partition. Make sure that the installing drive/media is configured just as the video,which is perfect and works. Note, you may also want to slipstream Sp1 too if you have not done so. Select the drive and partition it within the installer after the AHCI/RAID drivers have been installed. Do not select the drive and click on next if you want confirmation that the partition was done properly for EFI. When it is done, it wont take long, you will see 3 partitions created; one will be deleted automatically after installation. The 3rd NTFS partition is what you select to install the OS to.

Proceed with the installation and after the first reboot set the boot to the hard drive. If done correctly, the drive should have a UEFI /Windows boot manager label to it and bootable. Continue with the installation normally after such.
 
Shikami said:
Make sure that the installing drive/media is configured just as the video,which is perfect and works.
Click to expand...
I will make that change when I get home.

However my question remains unanswered as to why Microsoft has no documentation on how to create this "GPT Ready" installation media, since it's more than just selecting to boot to UEFI device.
 
However my question remains unanswered as to why Microsoft has no documentation on how to create this "GPT Ready" installation media, since it's more than just selecting to boot to UEFI device.
Click to expand...

Because UEFI is not "the" standard yet, but shall be the future standard. 1155 sockets are being forced by Intel to be UEFI. So, when it comes to what it shall be and ready to install, we are in the middle of the transitioning to what it IS supposed to be.

I was surprised with all the needed to be done to be in UEFI non-compatibility mode/legacy and have a GPT installation too.
 
Well I just did some testing of 7 different Windows 7 installations.

If using a USB drive, if you do not configure the files shown in the video, it will not boot to EFI, even if you select the EFI shell option. You must configure the files when using USB. If using a configured USB and booting to the EFI shell, you do not need to shift+10. Simply select unallocated space.

If booting to a DVD, all you need to do is select the UEFI shell option. If you delete the partitions and select the unallocated space, even if it is a MBR drive, it will convert the drive to GPT and install the OS. You do not need to shift+F10. You do not need to modify the EFI boot folder on DVD's.
 
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If using a USB drive, if you do not configure the files shown in the video, it will not boot to EFI, even if you select the EFI shell option. You must configure the files when using USB. If using a configured USB and booting to the EFI shell, you do not need to shift+10. Simply select unallocated space.

If booting to a DVD, all you need to do is select the UEFI shell option. If you delete the partitions and select the unallocated space, even if it is a MBR drive, it will convert the drive to GPT and install the OS. You do not need to shift+F10. You do not need to modify the EFI boot folder on DVD's.
Click to expand...

Exactly. There area two things that are important the EFI boot media, whatever it may be, and also the EFI boot selection to be non-legacy.
 
Wiped my system and reinstalled with both my SSD and storage HDD as GPT disk. So far so good :cool:
 
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