Bootable USB or UEFI USB ?

aviwil

New Member
Messages
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 .
 
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
 
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.
 
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
 
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.
 
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:
 
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.
 
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 ? ) ?
 
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..
 
@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.
 
Back
Top