Bootable USB or UEFI USB ?

aviwil

New Member
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4
I have read the " Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 ISO - Download or Create " Tutorial - very helpful - thanks . I have an new ASUS X551M laptop with Win 8.1 , and want to create a bootable USB Flash Drive . I see 2 possibilities - bootable USB or bootable UEFI USB . Which one should I use ?
Thanks .
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1
if you use the create media tool (link in sig below) it creates both..

as long as the usb has the file > bootmgr.efi and a folder "efi" it is bootable via UEFI

View attachment 56825
 

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
As far as I know if it is UEFI bootable, it is also legacy bootable, if that is what your wondering. KYHI can likely confirm this, he may already have actually with his "it creates both" comment.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
As far as I know if it is UEFI bootable, it is also legacy bootable, if that is what your wondering. KYHI can likely confirm this, he may already have actually with his "it creates both" comment.

Confirmed..

To prevent booting from one or the other..
Say to make disk boot only UEFI just delete "bootmgr"

or boot only legacy just delete EFI folder
 

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
As was mentioned, most Windows 8 flash drives will boot either way. What is important to you is how to boot the drive which means you need to select either the UEFI version or the Legacy version when you boot. It might be through a Boot Device Menu or from within the bios using the same type of menu. This also applies to Install DVDs.

If you have a new system, it might be set to boot UEFI devices only, so it may not require any intervention from you.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Grown
    CPU
    i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8Z77 -v Pro, Z87-Expert
    Memory
    16 G
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GTX 680 Classified (2)
    Hard Drives
    Kingston SSD 240 GB
As far as I know if it is UEFI bootable, it is also legacy bootable, if that is what your wondering. KYHI can likely confirm this, he may already have actually with his "it creates both" comment.

Confirmed..

To prevent booting from one or the other..
Say to make disk boot only UEFI just delete "bootmgr"

or boot only legacy just delete EFI folder

Thank you, I was 99.99% sure, but it doesn't hurt to have somebody else confirm it too. :thumb:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
As was mentioned, most Windows 8 flash drives will boot either way. What is important to you is how to boot the drive which means you need to select either the UEFI version or the Legacy version when you boot. It might be through a Boot Device Menu or from within the bios using the same type of menu. This also applies to Install DVDs.

If you have a new system, it might be set to boot UEFI devices only, so it may not require any intervention from you.

It looks like what you see varies depending on the PC and what BIOS is on it. On my ASUS laptop I only see the UEFI Kingston .... option for my UEFI thumb drive. There is no second Legacy entry. My Wife's Acer never ever shows any UEFI option in the boot menu, but you can still install in UEFI mode. They both have UEFI BIOS. The Acer threw me for a loop the first time I did a clean install on it. It had me scratching my head for a while. I finally just installed anyway and then discovered latter that it did in fact install in UEFI mode. Live and learn.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
Thanks for all those replies everyone .
I understand KYHI , that I can use the same mediacreationtool.exe as in the Tutorial , and to Save the Installation File to USB drive , instead of ISO file as shown , and this will give me both types - UEFI and regular ( legacy ? ) ?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1
Yes
 

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
I found this topic in the wee hours of the morning . I've had Win 8 for 2 years and have tried to install 8.1 almost the same # of times . Once I found that link that was posted - Create installation media for Windows 8.1 - Windows Help - Incredible that MS had not made that setup more available to us . Best install of 8.1 that I have experienced . Thanks .

MS finally broke down and supplied an option to upgrade a little while age - rather then loading 8, doing windows 8 updates, going to store, download a 4GB update,

system crash, repeat all over again.. Big Complaints to MS one that one..
 

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
@aviwil:

Here is more info: link

1. How to create UEFI Boot Mode compatible Windows 8 64-bit USB flash drive, which is only bootable in UEFI Boot Mode.

2. How to create UEFI Boot Mode compatible Windows 7/8 64-bit USB flash drive, which is only bootable in UEFI Boot Mode.

3. How to create Legacy BIOS Boot Mode compatible Windows 7/8 32/64-bit USB flash drive, which is only bootable in Legacy BIOS Boot Mode.

4. How to create UEFI Boot Mode and Legacy BIOS Boot Mode compatible Windows 8 64-bit USB flash drive.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo G580
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-3230M
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD Graphics 4000
    Browser
    Microsoft Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, standard user account
    Other Info
    UEFI firmware (BIOS) embedded Windows 8 product key.
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