Windows 10, and MBR?

jimbo45 · 14 Oct 2014

MikeHawthorne said:

Hi

I can't find anyplace where is says if my hard drive is MBR or GBR?
I looked in Disk Management, and at Disk Properties but I don't see a Volumes tab anyplace.

How did you get to the screen shown above?

The reason I'm interested in this is I don't want to be telling people they can just create a partition and install Windows 10 in a dual boot setup if there is more to it then that.

I didn't have any problems but I have it on a different physical drive then my Windows 8 install.

Mike

Attachment 7005

Hi there

CMD prompt (in admin mode)

DISKPART
LIST DISK

Incidently don't confuse SECURE BOOT with UEFI. You CAN of course boot a UEFI enabled W10 -- SECURE BOOT has to be disabled for booting OS'S not stored in the BIOS for example if you want to boot from a USB or boot say a Linux system.

Even on NON UEFI systems I'd make all HDD's GPT apart from the boot one. On a non UEFI system you can't boot from a GPT HDD but all other HDD's can be GPT.

Cheers
jimbo

MikeHawthorne · 14 Oct 2014

Hi

Ok, I guess that makes sense since part of the instructions for installing it were to turn off Secure Boot, and Fast Boot before doing the dual boot installation.

I am running UEFI but I did turn off Secure Boot.

Mike

badrobot · 15 Oct 2014

Mike, I just wanted to ask. What is GBR?

Mystere · 15 Oct 2014

I think he means GPT, Guid Partition Table.

badrobot · 15 Oct 2014

Mystere said:

I think he means GPT, Guid Partition Table.

That's what I suspected too. I thought it was something else because he kept repeating it on his posts. :)

gregrocker · 15 Oct 2014

Mike looking at your DM screenshot we know that it's MBR because 10 is marked System Active, while GPT disks don't use Active flags pointing to the intended System partition.

What we cannot see without booting into Windows 8 is if System REserved on Disk1 still has its System flag showing that it is still booting Windows 8. Right now we don't know if 10 System partition is Dual Booting both, or if 8 is booting itself from its HD.

UEFI is complicated and has taken us years to adjust the many repair and install protocols for Win7 which were developed at Seven Forums. Since every BIOS is slightly different it requires learning what to look for in BIOS settings and disk listings.

If you wanted to reinstall in UEFI you'd need to boot the Win7 installer as a UEFI device, delete all partitions to reset the disk formatting as a GPT disk. If that failed you'd need to assure that UEFI is enabled to at least some degree in BIOS setup.

More about the difference is here: Technical Note: UEFI BIOS vs. Legacy BIOS, Advantech(EN) - YouTube

revstar20 · 02 Oct 2015

Mystere said:

Yes, you can... *IF* it's not a UEFI bios with secure boot enabled and CSM disabled.

Hi!!! can I install windows 10 on a UEFI bios on a gpt disk drive along side other storage disk drives that are MBR.

genet · 03 Oct 2015

revstar20 said:

Hi!!! can I install windows 10 on a UEFI bios on a gpt disk drive along side other storage disk drives that are MBR.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/lib...or=-2147217396

What about mixing and matching GPT and MBR disks on the same system?

GPT and MBR disks can be mixed on systems that support GPT, as described earlier. However, you must be aware of the following restrictions:

Systems that support UEFI require that boot partition must reside on a GPT disk. Other hard disks can be either MBR or GPT.
Both MBR and GPT disks can be present in a single dynamic disk group. Volume sets can span both MBR and GPT disks.