Boot to UEFI Mode or legacy BIOS mode

  • Article
  • 3 minutes to read

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

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

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

To boot to UEFI or BIOS:

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

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

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

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

    On the boot device menu, select the control that identifies both the firmware mode and the device. For example, select UEFI: USB Drive or BIOS: Network/LAN.

    You might see dissever commands for the same device. For example, you might run across UEFI USB Drive and BIOS USB Drive. Each control uses the same device and media, only boots the PC in a different firmware mode.

    Some devices just support i mode (either UEFI or BIOS). Other devices volition only allow yous to boot to BIOS mode by manually disabling the UEFI security features. To disable the security features, go to Security > Secure Boot and disable the feature.

    Notation

    Some older PCs (Windows 7-era or earlier) support UEFI, just crave yous to browse to the boot file. From the firmware menus, look for the option: "Kicking from file", then browse to \EFI\BOOT\BOOTX64.EFI on Windows PE or Windows Setup media.

UEFI and BIOS modes in WinPE

Observe if WinPE is booted into BIOS or UEFI Manner

Query the registry to decide which mode the device is in. You can do this from the command line:

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

Use it in a script:

              wpeutil UpdateBootInfo for /f "tokens=ii* delims=    " %%A in ('reg query HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Command /v PEFirmwareType') Practice SET Firmware=%%B :: Notation: delims is a TAB followed past a infinite. if %Firmware%==0x1 echo The PC is booted in BIOS mode. if %Firmware%==0x2 repeat The PC is booted in UEFI style.

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

Make sure yous kick into the correct mode every time

Hither are a couple of ways y'all can make sure you're booted into the right firmware mode every fourth dimension you lot beginning your PC.

Use preformatted difficult drives, and use a method that doesn't automatically format the drive.

If yous want to ensure that your drive boots into a sure mode, apply drives that yous'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 wrong mode, Windows installation will fail. To fix this, restart the PC in the correct firmware manner.

Remove the UEFI or BIOS boot files

If you desire a PC to but boot into a certain mode, you tin can remove the files that Windows PE or Windows Setup use to boot in UEFI or BIOS style. Remove the following files, depending on the style y'all desire to boot to.

Boot only when in UEFI way

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

Boot only 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