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

[Bubba9]

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

 

[KYHI]

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

 

[Bubba9]

Is the purpose of UEFI to allow all those partitions?

What Setup disk are you referring to? The microsoft DVD won't have UEFI will it?

 

[KYHI]

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

 

[Nuccii]

This in a nutshell is what UEFI is. Most computers today come equipped with it::

What is UEFI? - Windows Help

and

What You Need to Know About Using UEFI Instead of the BIOS

 

[Bubba9]

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?

 

[Bubba9]

This in a nutshell is what UEFI is. Most computers today come equipped with it::

What is UEFI? - Windows Help

and

What You Need to Know About Using UEFI Instead of the BIOS

thanks

 

[KYHI]

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

 

[Bubba9]

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?

 

[KYHI]

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

 

[KYHI]

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

 

[Bubba9]

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

OK, doing that now!

 

[bassfacer22]

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.. ?

 

[KYHI]

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

 

[Mystere]

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.