Say you buy Windows 10 from Amazon. When installing, does Windows 10 also install the EFI system partition? If not how do you get that partition installed on a new drive?
Yes, Windows creates this partition as part of the installation process. If your PC was made after about 2007 it will have a UEFI option in the Boot Menu section of the BIOS. This must be selected before starting the installation.
Thanks very much. I would not have known to select an option in the BIOS
You're welcome. You need to check for this as Windows may be installed as the old MBR/BIOS based system if this is how it was setup at the factory.
And also check the mode the SATA disk drive interfaces are set for. You want AHCI mode before you begin the Windows 10 install.
If, for some reason, you did get a PC on which someone installed W10 using Legacy mode on a MBR drive, you would not have that partition.
And there would be no reason to want to try to create it.
It`s only created when you install windows using UEFI on a GPT disk.
Research, Research, Research :)
If legacy BIOS setting of off, it will install as UEFI. If legacy setting is on, boot menu will give you a choice between UEFI and normal MBR. If you don't go through boot menu, I think it's like random selection.
If you have an older motherboard, it will install as normal MBR.
For windows 32-bit, it's normal MBR, unless you have one of the special 32-bit UEFI firmware/BIOS. I've seen few.
You can move between MBR and UEFI/GPT easily using Macrium software. I've done it many times.
Restoring a UEFI/GPT System image to MBR - KnowledgeBase - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase
How to Restore an MBR System image to UEFI/GPT (Convert, GPT, MBR, Restore)
You can move between AHCI and IDE by booting from a separate SATA controller card, then changing the BIOS and drivers. Or the hard way by changing the device ID in registry or something like that, which I've done few times.
Last edited by dimar; 07 Apr 2017 at 23:48.
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