UEFI Partition?

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My grandson is trying to build a computer. It seems that the hardware is working. He now is trying to install Windows 8, but the hard drive GPT (?) is UEFU, and the Windows 8 DVD says it won’t/can’t install to that partition.

How do I “fix” this?

Do I delete the partition (How?)? Can I change it to MBR?

Chuck

Chuck Billow

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My grandson is trying to build a computer. It seems that the hardware is working. He now is trying to install Windows 8, but the hard drive GPT (?) is UEFU, and the Windows 8 DVD says it won’t/can’t install to that partition.

How do I “fix” this?

Do I delete the partition (How?)? Can I change it to MBR?

Chuck

Is that a new HDD or from another computer? In either case I have downloaded GPARTED to create the bootable CD then wiped all partitions from the HDD, give Windows a clean start. It usually will pick up what the BIOS reports. A lot depends upon the age of the computer/motherboard, if older it may have only an MBR BIOS or if newer it may have a choice to set.

Before you wonder "Am I doing things right," ask "Am I doing the right things?"

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Berton, this is a new HDD that my GS bought (he built the PC). I’ll give it a shot.

Thanks,
Chuck

Chuck Billow

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The install should also give you the option to delete the existing partitions. UEFI GPT boot (usually if not always) requires a small Fat32 partition for windows loader. Windows should do this all automatically if you delete the existing partition.

:cheers:

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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Windows (asll vers) has set up a boot section during setup. But this time the install wouldn’t even start as it said it couldn’t be installed on that drive. I was able to use Easus Partition Manger to delete everything and then it all worked.

Chuck

Chuck Billow

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Stick with UEFI / GPT, it’s the current standard.
Can W8 “see” the disk? You may need to load drivers to access the disk controller.
What mobo?

cheers, Paul

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It would have been nice to do so, Paul, but not if Windows 10 wouldn’t / couldn’t install to the disk.

Now Paul, since I have “reverted” to MBR, if I wanted to go to UEFI, what would I need to do, especially since the Windows install wouldn’t even recognize it?

My machine says it is UEFI ready, but I got myself into all kinds of muck when I started messing around with it.

Chuck

Chuck Billow

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Once formatted as MBR you can’t easily change to UEFI – easiest is probably a fresh install.
Windows 8 and above automatically uses UEFI / GPT if available. Did you perform a manual partition / format?

cheer,s Paul

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Paul, my grandson bought the drive (new) and it came partitioned. Since I am really new to this, I didn’t watch or look for anything unique. He had it all installed, and I tried both a Windows 8 DVD and a Windows 10 USB, and, although it showed as having 900+ gigs free, I got an error that Windows could not be installed on the drive.

I was, as an aside, surprised that it came partitioned at all.

As it is still at the install and setup stage, I can always start over without issue — IF I can find out why it wouldn’t install in the first place. There were no BIOS changes that I know of before or after.

Also, some time back, and I double-checked at this point, I checked and saw that my laptop is UEFI capable.When I bought it however (2 years prior) it came preset with Windows 7 Home Premium, and when I then erased and set up Windows 7 Ultimate, I had none of these issues even come up, so mine was set up with MBR, even though it had and has UEFI capability. I got myself totally screwed up one day thinking that changing to UEFI looked like a great idea, and was thankfully able to revert back.

Chuck

Chuck Billow

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Maybe the disk was already MBR / something else.
Take an image backup, delete the partition(s) and re-install. Let us know how it goes?

cheers, Paul

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Paul, when I went and looked at the “steps” for UEFI, it seemed, for this poor soul, just a but daunting. It involved setting up multiple partitions (?) and then…

What if I just deleted everything and then started over? Couldn’t UEFI (like MBR) just set up what it needed and carry on from there? Also, I checked and my laptop is UEFI compatible, but I don’t remember any choices / questions when I installed Windows 7 or 10, and that was, once at least, after deleting all the partitions and starting “from scratch.”

So, is it a BIOS issue or change that I never addressed or had to deal with that made the difference?

And, I am assuming from the lack of warnings, that Windows installs fine on a “normal” UEFI setup? Because the inability to do so is what started this whole discussion, because Windows 10 wouldn’t install to a partition of 910 gigs.

Chuck

Chuck Billow

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Paul, when I went and looked at the “steps” for UEFI, it seemed, for this poor soul, just a but daunting. It involved setting up multiple partitions (?) and then…

If you let W8/10 set up the disk from scratch you won’t need to do anything with partitions. You should find an option to delete everything on the disk during installation.

cheers, Paul

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Paul, if I could find THAT (n option to delete everything on the disk during installation) I’d be happy. What I found trying to install Windows 10 was an error code that W-10 couldn’t be installed, even though it showed so 900+ gigs of free space.

So, should I just delete everything, including te partitions, and “start over”?

AND, If I back up what I have installed so far, will I be able to restore (MBR) it if I DO set up UEFI?

I’m seeing info that it is UEFI v. MBR and GPT…enough so that I am near-totally confused.

If all I needed to do was delete everything and start from scratch, I could do that, and even in a away, understand it.

But I keep coming back to my same quandary / question: If I started out with a blank drive set up as UEFI, why wouldn’t W-10 install on it, while, once I totally deleted all partitions and set them up (as I am familiar at this point) in MBR, all went fine?

What was or is the determinant here that I need to accommodate if I try to start from scratch?

Chuck

Chuck Billow

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“You can do this yourself by reformatting the drive using the instructions below…”

??

Chuck Billow

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Omitted.

I’ll jump in with a guess here: the “Omitted” refers to the URL for the MS page quoted from, likely to be this one.

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If you have an image backup you will always be able to return to it.

Why Windows installs to an MBR disk but not GPT I don’t know. Maybe the computer does something a bit weird if the disk is GPT. As has been said, delete all partitions and let Windows set them up.

cheers, Paul

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OK, thanks Paul.

Chuck

Chuck Billow

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