re-install win 8. what is uefi and do i need it

Bubba9

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Marietta, GA
I just got a Dell desktop with 8.1 installed.

I would rather have multiple partitions, so i plan to do a clean install.

I've done plenty of installs with MBR but this is the first tike I've seen UEFI, what a slew of partitions.

Before I blow it all away, what benefit is there in having UEFI?

I may want an SSD someday does that make UEFI useful?

thanks
 

My Computer

you can have 128 partitions on a GPT UEFI disk
4 partitions on a MBR

run the setup disk - it will create 4 partitions - with the forth being your windows partition

divide that partition up how you want it.. leave the other 3 alone - they have to be in that order and must be there

350mb - 100mb - 128mb - and the windows partition
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
if you look at the setup file on the disk - you will see two files - bootmgr - bootmgr.efi and also a folder "efi"

you windows setup disk has it and if your pc supports uefi (which I know for sure it does)- it will use it instead of standard bios support

uefi is a newer firmware version of basic BIOS

may first suggestion is to - create a recovery drive - control panel - recovery - create recovery drive

this will write your factory setup to a usb stick.. This is known as a "Bare Metal Reset" recovery drive..

meaning you can write the factory image to a blank drive.. A lot of people do not do this - start messing with things - and then ask what I do wrong.. That recovery usb can prevent a lot of head acke

we can even modifiy the reset scripts two create extra partitions and still keep the factory setup..

when you create the recovery usb - you will find a PBR_diskpart. txt file.. this tells windows how to create the BMR bare metal reset partitions.. we just change that script to what ever we want the partition to be.. then boot the recovery usb - reset our partitions and write the factory image to the windows 8.1 partition.

No fuss No muss - simple really
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8.1 Update 1 Pro 64bit
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Pavillion H8-1202
    CPU
    I7-2600 @ 3.4 GHz
    Motherboard
    PEGATRON
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NIVDIA GeForce GT 520
    Sound Card
    Realtek ALC656GR CODEC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung SyncMaster S22B350
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1080 32 bit color
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 850 EVO SSD 500GB
    Keyboard
    Razer Blackwidow Ultimate 2013
    Mouse
    Logitech M510
thanks
we can even modifiy the reset scripts two create extra partitions and still keep the factory setup..
I suppose I could just shrink the windows partition and then create the other partitions I wanted.
will the administrative tools create additional partitions compatible with UEFI?
 

My Computer

you are using uefi - so everything you do will be uefi

you shrink the windows partition to create other partitions - yes.

BUT, it will force your recovery part farther back in the partition layout. so what we'll do (if you want to keep the recovery partition) is run this command - reagentc /disable - from admin prompt.. and then reregister the recovery image later
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
you are using uefi - so everything you do will be uefi

you shrink the windows partition to create other partitions - yes.

BUT, it will force your recovery part farther back in the partition layout. so what we'll do (if you want to keep the recovery partition) is run this command - reagentc /disable - from admin prompt.. and then reregister the recovery image later

so if I shrink and create partitions will the rcovery partition reflect the systems s it was before I repartitioned or will it get updated?
 

My Computer

don't know for sure - haven't tested that..
BPR creates a diskpart script for the partitions - not sure how it will be written after..

But create a recovery stick before. then you can worry about after
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
rem == ResetPartitions-UEFI.txt ==
select disk 0
convert gpt

rem == Windows RE Tools Partition 1 ==
create partition primary size=350
format quick fs=ntfs label="WINRE"
assign letter="T"
set id=de94bba4-06d1-4d40-a16a-bfd50179d6ac
gpt attributes=0x8000000000000001

rem == System Partition 2 ==
create partition efi size=100
format quick fs=fat32 label="SYSTEM"
assign letter="S"

rem == Microsoft Reserved (MSR) Partition 3 ==
create partition msr size=128

rem === Windows Partition 4 ===
create partition primary
shrink minimum=10240
format quick fs=ntfs label="WIN_OS"
assign letter="W"

rem == Recovery Image Partition 5 ==
create partition primary
format quick fs=ntfs label="PBR_IMAGE"
assign letter="R"
set id=de94bba4-06d1-4d40-a16a-bfd50179d6ac
gpt attributes=0x8000000000000001


this is a common reset partition diskpart script above and below I highlighted the windows partition portion

rem === Windows Partition 4 ===
create partition primary
shrink minimum=10240
format quick fs=ntfs label="WIN_OS"
assign letter="W"

you notice that it says shrink - which means the windows partition was told to use all the remaining disk space and then shrink by 10GB which left room for the recovery partition..

rem === Windows Partition 4 ===
create partition primary size=10240
format quick fs=ntfs label="WIN_OS"
assign letter="W"

in the above - I now told it to set size of windows partition to 10GB

we can do this 124 times.. not sure why we would..

create the recovery usb...


rem === Windows Partition 5 ===
create partition primary size=10240
format quick fs=ntfs label="WIN_7"
assign letter="F"

rem === Windows Partition 6 ===
create partition primary size=10240
format quick fs=ntfs label="WIN_vista"
assign letter="G"

rem === Windows Partition 7 ===
create partition primary
shrink minimum=10240
format quick fs=ntfs label="WIN_10"
assign letter="H"

rem == Recovery Image Partition 8 ==
create partition primary
format quick fs=ntfs label="PBR_IMAGE"
assign letter="R"
set id=de94bba4-06d1-4d40-a16a-bfd50179d6ac
gpt attributes=0x8000000000000001


And then we can modify another file resetconfig.xml to tell it where to put the recovery image and what partition to put windows
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
sorry to just jump in but I'm about to install windows 8.1 64x on a m.2 ngff mini ssd card..

I also have secureboot and uefi enabled.. don't i need to create a uefi enabled usb boot disk to install uefi.. ?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 (HOME not Pro) 64bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    (So not very nice) Lenovo Y410P
    CPU
    i7 quad 2.4Gig
    Memory
    16G ram
    Graphics Card(s)
    nvidia 2gig 755m
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 840 Evo

    supercache2 m2. mini card.
    Antivirus
    Win Defender
sorry to just jump in but I'm about to install windows 8.1 64x on a m.2 ngff mini ssd card..

I also have secureboot and uefi enabled.. don't i need to create a uefi enabled usb boot disk to install uefi.. ?

Nothing special to do - the windows setup media disk/usb will contain the files needed to boot UEFI
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
UEFI is a replacement for the old BIOS.

The old BIOS was extremely limited, and was stuck in a tiny amount of memory, and a text-only display with standard dos-like interrupts. It could only use MBR partitions, with a maximum of 4 partitions and 2TB of maximum addressability of 2TB.

UEFI is a modern firmware that allows rich GUI interfaces, advanced functionality (there are even complete OS's that run in UEFI without having to boot the whole OS). It allows many more partitions, and much larger hard disk sizes, integrated network and RAID functionality, lightning fast POST (power-on self-test), etc...

You want UEFI. Although it does complicate multi-boot situations, it's worth the complication.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    CPU
    Intel i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Z77X-UD4 TH
    Memory
    16GB DDR3 1600
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVidia GTX 650
    Sound Card
    Onboard Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Auria 27" IPS + 2x Samsung 23"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440 + 2x 2048x1152
    Hard Drives
    Corsair m4 256GB, 2 WD 2TB drives
    Case
    Antec SOLO II
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000
    Mouse
    Logitech MX
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