Installing Windows 7 x64 in UEFI mode?

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mike_j_johnson

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My motherboard supports booting in UEFI mode. Does anyone here know how to install Windows 7 x64 in UEFI mode? It keeps booting into legacy BIOS mode and I have no idea how to get into the UEFI shell to choose the UEFI boot option so I can install in a native UEFI environment.

Please help!
 
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Intel DP55KG

No idea which UEFI version, but I would assume 2.0+

There is only one option in the BIOS called "Boot to UEFI OS". Problem is that since the motherboard supports both UEFI and legacy BIOS, whenever I attempt to install Windows 7 x64, it defaults to legacy BIOS mode.
 
*taken from technet*

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Install Windows by running Windows Setup from an EFI boot entry on the master computer. Use the EFI shell or the firmware’s Boot from file menu to launch the Windows EFI Boot Loader on the installation disk. Refer to your firmware documentation for more information.

From the EFI shell, select the device with the Windows installation media, and then start the EFI boot application. Assuming that the DVD device is fs0, use the following commands for x64-based computers:

Shell> Fs0:
fs0:> \EFI\BOOT\BOOTX64.EFI
 
I remember seeing a thread over on ARS that said there were a lot of problems & caveats with the P35/G33 chipsets & EFI, i don't know if any of this applies to the P55.

But it sounds like you might have to change the sata setting to legacy for EFI to work.

Ars Technica Forum: Thoughts on EFI
 
Thanks guys! I figured it out with help from someone on Intel's forums. Since my Intel DP55KG supports both the legacy BIOS and UEFI, I had to turn UEFI boot ON and then disable all other boot devices in the boot menu. I also had to use the Windows 7 installation DVD rather than my USB thumb drive installation. Apparently the DVD has UEFI boot code on it or something. Anyways, this forced the Windows installation into UEFI mode.

Oh and by the way, it works with my SSD in AHCI mode. I luckily had the latest Intel RST AHCI driver on a USB thumb drive to install after creating the partitions and formatting the drive. So all the info on the web about UEFI not supporting AHCI mode is not true anymore (at least for the DP55KG and probably the rest of the 5 series Intel boards).

Thanks again!! :)

Mike
 
Are there performance implications by running in EFI mode? It seems having another software layer between the OS and hardware would just cause problems.
 
UEFI is the replacement for legacy BIOS.

GPT is the replacement for legacy MBR.

My April 2010 Macbook Pro is running OSX on an Intel SSD and OSX natively uses UEFI and GPT. This setup is the fastest booting computer I have ever owned.

My gaming PC would be considered upper high-end and it too has an Intel SSD running Windows 7 x64. From everything I have read around the net, UEFI & GPT should not only correct a lot of faults with old school BIOS/MBR, but it should make Windows boot faster.

I am going to work on it again later this week and start over (completely reformat into UEFI/GPT mode and reinstall all the latest patches, drivers, etc.). I will let you guys know if there is a boot-up time difference.
 
mike_j_johnson said:
UEFI is the replacement for legacy BIOS.

GPT is the replacement for legacy MBR.

My April 2010 Macbook Pro is running OSX on an Intel SSD and OSX natively uses UEFI and GPT. This setup is the fastest booting computer I have ever owned.

My gaming PC would be considered upper high-end and it too has an Intel SSD running Windows 7 x64. From everything I have read around the net, UEFI & GPT should not only correct a lot of faults with old school BIOS/MBR, but it should make Windows boot faster.

I am going to work on it again later this week and start over (completely reformat into UEFI/GPT mode and reinstall all the latest patches, drivers, etc.). I will let you guys know if there is a boot-up time difference.
Click to expand...
I thought even the Core i5/i7 MacBook Pros have not been updated to use UEFI 2.x.
Can you show us some graphical evidence (photograph or screenshot)?
 
SwordAngel said:
I thought even the Core i5/i7 MacBook Pros have not been updated to use UEFI 2.x.
Can you show us some graphical evidence (photograph or screenshot)?
Click to expand...

Macs have been using UEFI exclusively since they went Intel. Mac OS didn't need the UEFI 2.0 spec. Hence the need for Boot Camp to get MS OSs to boot on Macs. Boot Camp is a BIOS emulator that runs on UEFI.

He's not booting Windows 7 using UEFI on his Mac, he's booting it on an his Intel DP55KG based box. He was mentioning boot speed of Mac OS X on his Mac as an example.
 
nessus said:
Macs have been using UEFI exclusively since they went Intel. Mac OS didn't need the UEFI 2.0 spec. Hence the need for Boot Camp to get MS OSs to boot on Macs. Boot Camp is a BIOS emulator that runs on UEFI.

He's not booting Windows 7 using UEFI on his Mac, he's booting it on an his Intel DP55KG based box. He was mentioning boot speed of Mac OS X on his Mac as an example.
Click to expand...

Correct me if I'm mistaken. Technically, Intel Macs (at least the earliest ones) have been using EFI, not UEFI. The name "UEFI" only applies to revisions 2.0 and later of the specifications. The way mike_j_johnson phrased it suggests that the April 2010 MacBook Pros have UEFI (2.x), which is what leads to the confusion.
 
If you install in native UEFI mode, it has to use GPT right?
 
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