Boot to UEFI Mode or legacy BIOS mode

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Choose UEFI or legacy BIOS modes when booting into Windows PE (WinPE) or Windows Setup. Afterward Windows is installed, if you need to switch firmware modes, you may be able to apply the MBR2GPT tool.

In general, install Windows using the newer UEFI way, as it includes more security features than the legacy BIOS mode. If you're booting from a network that only supports BIOS, you lot'll need to boot to legacy BIOS mode.

After Windows is installed, the device boots automatically using the same mode it was installed with.

To boot to UEFI or BIOS:

  1. Open up the firmware menus. You can use any of these methods:

    • Kick the PC, and press the manufacturer's primal to open the menus. Common keys used: Esc, Delete, F1, F2, F10, F11, or F12. On tablets, mutual buttons are Volume up or Volume downwards (find more common keys and buttons). During startup, in that location's often a screen that mentions the central. If there'south not i, or if the screen goes by too fast to see information technology, cheque your manufacturer's site.

    • Or, if Windows is already installed, from either the Sign on screen or the Commencement menu, select Ability (Power button icon) > concord Shift while selecting Restart. Select Troubleshoot > Advanced options > UEFI Firmware settings.

  2. From the firmware menus, boot to a drive or network while in UEFI or BIOS mode:

    On the boot device bill of fare, select the control that identifies both the firmware mode and the device. For instance, select UEFI: USB Bulldoze or BIOS: Network/LAN.

    You might come across separate commands for the same device. For case, you might come across UEFI USB Bulldoze and BIOS USB Drive. Each command uses the same device and media, but boots the PC in a different firmware mode.

    Some devices only support one mode (either UEFI or BIOS). Other devices will only permit yous to boot to BIOS fashion past manually disabling the UEFI security features. To disable the security features, go to Security > Secure Boot and disable the feature.

    Note

    Some older PCs (Windows 7-era or before) support UEFI, but crave you to scan to the boot file. From the firmware menus, await for the option: "Boot from file", then browse to \EFI\Kicking\BOOTX64.EFI on Windows PE or Windows Setup media.

UEFI and BIOS modes in WinPE

Detect if WinPE is booted into BIOS or UEFI Way

Query the registry to determine which manner the device is in. Yous can practise this from the command line:

              reg query HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Command /5 PEFirmwareType
Return code Firmware mode
0x1 BIOS
0x2 UEFI

Utilize it in a script:

              wpeutil UpdateBootInfo for /f "tokens=two* delims=    " %%A in ('reg query HKLM\Organization\CurrentControlSet\Control /5 PEFirmwareType') DO Set Firmware=%%B :: Annotation: delims is a TAB followed by a infinite. if %Firmware%==0x1 echo The PC is booted in BIOS style. if %Firmware%==0x2 repeat The PC is booted in UEFI mode.

Annotation that betwixt delims= and " %%A is a tab, followed by a space.

Make sure you kick into the right mode every time

Here are a couple of means yous can make sure you lot're booted into the right firmware fashion every fourth dimension yous start your PC.

Utilise preformatted hard drives, and use a method that doesn't automatically format the bulldoze.

If you lot want to ensure that your bulldoze boots into a certain style, use drives that you've preformatted with the GPT file format for UEFI mode, or the MBR file format for BIOS mode. When the installation starts, if the PC is booted to the incorrect mode, Windows installation will neglect. To fix this, restart the PC in the correct firmware manner.

Remove the UEFI or BIOS kicking files

If you want a PC to only kicking into a certain mode, you lot can remove the files that Windows PE or Windows Setup use to boot in UEFI or BIOS manner. Remove the following files, depending on the mode you want to boot to.

Boot only when in UEFI mode

Remove the bootmgr file from the root of the Windows PE or Windows Setup media. This prevents the device from starting in BIOS style.

Boot merely when in BIOS manner

Remove the efi binder from the root of the Windows PE or Windows Setup media. This prevents the device from starting in UEFI mode.

WinPE: Create USB Bootable drive