BIOS Mode - See if Windows Boot in UEFI or Legacy Mode

**Brink** · 09 Aug 2013

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Brink

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Join Date: Jul 2009

Posts: 21,860

How to Check if Windows is Booted in UEFI or Legacy BIOS Mode

Information

When the PC starts, the firmware interface controls the booting process of the PC, and then passes control to Windows or another operating system.

UEFI is a replacement for the older BIOS firmware interface and the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) 1.10 specifications.

For more information, see:

This tutorial will show you how to see if your Windows is booted in UEFI or legacy BIOS (CSM) mode in Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1.

OPTION ONE

Check if UEFI or Legacy in Disk Mangement in Windows 7, 8, and 8.1

1. Do step 2 or 3 below.

2. In Windows 8 and 8.1, open the WIN+X Power Users menu, click/tap on Disk Management, and go to step 4 below.

Name: WIN+X.jpg
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3. Press the

+ R keys to open the Run dialog, type diskmgmt.msc, click/tap on OK, and go to step 4 below.

4. If prompted by UAC, then click/tap on Yes.

5. If your Windows disk shows having an EFI partition like below, then it's installed with UEFI. If not, then it's Legacy BIOS.

OPTION TWO

Check if UEFI or Legacy in System Information in Windows 8 and 8.1

1. Press the

+ R keys to open the Run dialog, type msinfo32, and press Enter.

2. In the right pane of System Summary in System Information, see if the BIOS Mode value says Legacy or UEFI. (see screenshots below)

OPTION THREE

Check if UEFI or Legacy in setupact.log in Windows 7, 8, and 8.1

1. In Windows Explorer (Windows 7) or File Explorer (Windows 8/8.1) navigate to the location below and open the setupact.log file.

C:\Windows\Panther

2. With the setupact.log file opened in Notepad, click on Edit (Menu bar) and Find, or press the Ctrl+F keys.

3. Type in this below, and click/tap on Find Next or press Enter. (see screenshot below)

Detected boot environment

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4. Close the Find dialog.

5. You will see it say EFI (UEFI) or BIOS (Legacy BIOS).

Callback_BootEnvironmentDetect: Detected boot environment: BIOS

Callback_BootEnvironmentDetect: Detected boot environment: EFI

OPTION FOUR

Check if UEFI or Legacy in WinPE for Windows 8 and 8.1

NOTE: This option can be useful if you are unable to boot into Windows or in WinPE.

1. Open a command prompt at boot.

2. In the command prompt at boot, type the command below and press Enter. (see screenshot below)

wpeutil UpdateBootInfo

3. In the command prompt at boot, type the command below and press Enter.

reg query HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control /v PEFirmwareType

4. This command returns 0x1 if the PC boots in Legacy BIOS mode, or 0x2 if the PC boots in UEFI mode.

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

**pennybills** · 27 Oct 2013

I tried all methods but failed to find out the boot mode.

I tried looking for the log file in Windows/Panther but there is no file to search the "Detected boot environment"

I also looked in System Information but there is no category that says 'Bios Mode'.

Also tried method 3 even though I don't have Windows 8/8.1 and still doesn't work.

**Brink** · 27 Oct 2013

Hello Penny,

Are you saying that you do not have a "C:\Windows\Panther\setupact.log" file?

How about with Option One?

What brand and model number is your PC or motherboard?

**pennybills** · 27 Oct 2013

Originally Posted by Brink

Hello Penny,

Are you saying that you do not have a "C:\Windows\Panther\setupact.log" file?

How about with Option One?

What brand and model number is your PC or motherboard?

Yeah, I don't have the setupact.log file in that directory.

I tried option 1 but there is no Bios type category.

My laptop is HP Pavilion g6 Notebook PC.

The BIOS Version is Hewlett-Packard F.34 8/16/2011
SMBIOS Version: 2.7
Boot Device: /Device/HarddiskVolume1

**pennybills** · 27 Oct 2013

I found my problem, there was something wrong with the UAC.

Anyways, looking at my mine attachment, I guess I have Legacy mode right?

**Brink** · 27 Oct 2013

Yep, that's correct. You're Windows 7 has been installed in legacy and not UEFI.

That's typically how OEMs install Windows 7 though.

Do you know the full model number of your HP Pavilion G6? It looks like some models may not support UEFI.

HP Pavilion g6 Notebook PC series

**pennybills** · 27 Oct 2013

Originally Posted by Brink

Yep, that's correct. You're Windows 7 has been installed in legacy and not UEFI.

That's typically how OEMs install Windows 7 though.

Do you know the full model number of your HP Pavilion G6? It looks like some models may not support UEFI.

HP Pavilion g6 Notebook PC series

It's a HP Pavilion g6-1b60us.

HP Pavilion g6-1b60us Notebook PC | HP® Support

**Brink** · 27 Oct 2013

Penny,

Looking through your manual and drivers at the HP site, I only see mention of BIOS and no UEFI. It appears that you model may not support UEFI installations.

**pennybills** · 27 Oct 2013

Originally Posted by Brink

Penny,

Looking through your manual and drivers at the HP site, I only see mention of BIOS and no UEFI. It appears that you model may not support UEFI installations.

So does this mean I can't use Rufus to install Windows 8.1 on my flashdrive?

**Brink** · 27 Oct 2013

You could still use Rufus to create a Windows 8.1 installation USB flash drive, but you would need to do so without using the GPT for UEFI option, you would use MBR for BIOS.

...or you could use this below instead.

Create Bootable USB or DVD with Windows 8 ISO