In order for a UEFI system to boot from a USB flash drive, it must be formatted in the FAT32 file system. The official Microsoft utility for creating bootable flash drives, windows 7 USB/DVD download tool, formats the drive in the NTFS file system; accordingly, a system with UEFI in native mode will not boot from such media.
Let's try to prepare a USB flash drive ourselves and load the Windows 7 distribution onto it. What we need:
- USB (v2 or v3) flash drive with a capacity of at least 4 GB
- 64-bit Windows 7 distribution (32-bit versions of Microsoft OS will not boot on a UEFI system). The distribution can be in the form of an installation DVD or an ISO file with an image
The procedure for creating an installation USB flash drive with windows7 for a UEFI system:
After completing all the described manipulations, you will have a USB flash drive in your hands, from which you can install Windows 7 on a UEFI system in native mode. We will look at the process of installing Windows 7 on a system with UEFI in more detail and all the pitfalls in the next article.
winitpro.ru
How to make a bootable Windows USB flash drive or UEFI disk
On computers that have a new UEFI interface instead of the usual BIOS, it is advisable to install Windows in EFI mode to improve the performance of the operating system. To install windows in EFI mode, you will need an image of the 64-bit operating system windows 7 SP1 or later. In this case, the system disk on which Windows will be installed in EFI mode must be partitioned not in the usual MBR form, but converted to GPT format. This is done in the 64-bit version of Windows using the Diskpart utility.
Option 1. Create a USB flash drive to install windows in EFI mode.
1) Create a bootable USB drive (flash drive) to install Windows 7.
The bootable USB flash drive must be formatted with the FAT32 file system in order to be recognized as a UEFI boot device. The USB flash drive must be at least 4 GB in size. To create a Windows 7 flash drive in EFI mode, you cannot use the Microsoft program - windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool. This utility formats the installation flash drive in NTFS and UEFI does not recognize it.
We connect the USB flash drive to the USB port. - In the Start menu, enter cmd.exe in the search bar, and right-click on the found object. In the context menu that opens, select Run as administrator. - Enter the commands one by one. After entering each of them, press the Enter key ↵.
here - # is the number of the USB drive obtained in the previous command. Next commands will completely clear everything on the selected disk.
clean create partition primary select partition 1 active format fs=FAT32 assign exit
We unpack the installation disk image (ISO file) and copy all the data from it completely to the flash drive.
Note: To create a boot disk, you can use the UltraISO program, which immediately creates an installation flash disk formatted in the FAT32 file system.
2) On the flash drive, open the folder *:\efi (here * is the letter of the flash drive with the Windows 7 installation files). 3) Create a new one inside this folder with the name boot. (*:\efi\boot). 4) Copy all the contents of the *:\efi\microsoft\boot folder to the *:\efi\boot folder. 5) Using an archiver (for example, 7-zip) open the file *:\sources\boot.wim or *:\sources\install.wim. 6) Go to the folder *:\sources\boot.wim\1\windows\Boot\EFI\ in the archive. 7) Copy the file bootmgfw.efi from the archive to the flash drive, to the folder *:\efi\boot you created. 8) Now you need to rename the copied file bootmgfw.efi (*:\efi\boot\bootmgfw.efi) to bootx64.efi (*:\efi\boot\bootx64.efi)
Ready! Now the *:\efi\boot\ folder should contain all the contents copied from the *:\efi\microsoft\boot folder and the bootx64.efi file obtained from boot.wim or install.wim. Note: For some motherboards, you will additionally need to copy the bootx64.efi file to the root of the flash drive, either with the same file name or with the name shellx64.efi.
Option 2. Create a DVD for installing windows in EFI mode.
1) Download the archive with the Microsoft CD/DVD Premastering Utility program and unpack it to any folder. 2) Copy the oscdimg.exe file to the C:\windows\System32 folder. 3) Unpack the installation disk image (ISO file) into a temporary folder. 4) In the Start menu, enter cmd.exe in the search bar, and right-click on the found object. In the context menu that opens, select Run as administrator. 5) Enter the command to create an ISO image file of the installation disk:
oscdimg -lWin_7_x64_UEFI -m -o -u1 -pEF -e -bD:\Win_7_x64\efi\microsoft\boot\efisys.bin D:\Win_7_x64 D:\Win_7_x64_UEFI.iso
where the following parameters are used: -l - Sets the volume label. Don't use spaces. -m - Ignores the maximum image size limit. -o - Optimizes storage using the MD5 hashing algorithm for file comparison. -u1 - Creates an image that has both a UDF file system and an ISO 9660 file system. The ISO 9660 file system is written using DOS-compatible 8.3 file names. The UDF file system is written using Unicode file names. -p - Specifies a value for the platform ID in the El Torito directory. The EF identifier is used to represent a UEFI system. Don't use spaces. -e - Disables floppy emulation in the El Torito directory. -b - Specifies the El Torito boot sector file to be written to the boot sector or sectors of the disk. Don't use spaces. D:\Win_7_x64 – Specifies the location of the source files. D:\Win_7_x64_UEFI.iso – Specifies the path to the ISO file to be created.
6) Press the Enter key ↵. 7) Write the created image to a disc using the UltraISO utility.
Features of installing windows in EFI mode.
If you have overclocked any of your components, it is better to restore the settings to standard values. - In UEFI/BIOS you need to set the AHCI value for SATA mode and enable ACPI 2.0 if disabled. - If booting from the device does not occur, then in UEFI/BIOS install the flash drive first in the boot queue. - If you have both USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports, then for successful installation it is recommended to connect a flash drive to the USB 3.0 port. USB 2.0 flash drives can also be connected to a USB 3.0 port. Copy the drivers for the USB 3.0 port to your flash drive.
1) Connect the flash drive to the USB connector and restart the computer. 2) When the computer boots, press the key to call up the Boot Menu. Depending on the motherboard manufacturer, this is F8, F11 or F12. 3) In the list of devices you need to select “UEFI:[name of your device]“.
When installing on a blank, unpartitioned disk, go straight to step seven. When installing on a disk with existing partitions and using the old MBR rather than GPT, do the following:
4) After loading into the windows installation screen, press the combination ⇑ Shift + F10.
5) Enter the commands one by one, pressing the Enter ↵ key after entering each of them.
diskpart list disk select disk #
Here # is the number of the hard drive on which windows will be installed. It will be the result of the previous command. Next, enter the commands to completely clean the entire selected disk:
clean convert GPT exit
6) Close the command window and continue installing windows. 7) Download the drivers for the USB 3.0 port if you connected a flash drive to it. 8) In the window for selecting a disk for installing Windows, select the Unallocated disk space item and click the Create button. After this, 3 partitions will be automatically created (EFI system partition (ESP), Microsoft backup partition (MSR) and the main windows partition.) 9) Select the main partition and continue installing windows in EFI mode, like a normal installation.
Note: If the installation is successful and the system does not boot, then in UEFI/BIOS install “windows Boot Manager” first in the boot queue.
set-os.ru
How to create a bootable UEFI USB flash drive
Good day.
On new computers and laptops, many users are faced with the impossibility of booting from an installation flash drive with Windows 7, 8. The reason for this is simple - the advent of UEFI.
UEFI is a new interface designed to replace the outdated BIOS (and incidentally protect the OS from malicious boot viruses). To boot from the “old installation” flash drive, you need to go into the BIOS: then switch UEFI to Legacy and turn off Security Boot mode. In this same article I want to consider the issue of creating a “new” bootable UEFI flash drive...
Step-by-step creation of a bootable UEFI flash drive
What do you need:
- directly the flash drive itself (minimum 4 GB);
- ISO installation image with Windows 7 or 8 OS (the image needs to be original and 64 bits);
- free Rufus utility (Official website: http://rufus.akeo.ie/ If anything, Rufus is one of the simplest, most convenient and fastest programs for creating any bootable flash drives);
- if the Rufus utility does not suit you in some way, I recommend WinSetupFromUSB (Official website: http://www.winsetupfromusb.com/downloads/)
Let's consider creating a UEFI flash drive in both programs.
1) After downloading Rufus, just run it (no installation required). An important point: you need to run Rufus as an administrator. To do this, in Explorer, simply right-click on the executable file and select this option from the context menu.
Rice. 1. Run Rufus as administrator
- device: specify the flash drive you want to make bootable;
- partition scheme and system interface type: here you need to select “GPT for computers with a UEFI interface”;
- file system: select FAT32 (NTFS is not supported!);
- then select the ISO image you want to burn to the USB flash drive (remember, if it’s Windows 7/8 at 64 bits);
- Check three boxes: quick format, create a boot disk, create an extended label and icon.
After making the settings, click the “Start” button and wait until all the files are copied to the flash drive (on average, the operation lasts 5-10 minutes).
Important! All files on the flash drive will be deleted during such an operation! Don't forget to save all important documents from it in advance.
Rice. 2. Setting up Rufus
1) First, run the WinSetupFromUSB utility with administrator rights.
2) Then set the following settings (see Fig. 3):
- select the flash drive on which you will burn the ISO image;
- check the box "Auto format it with FBinst", then check a few more boxes with the following settings: FAT32, align, Copy BPB;
- windows Vista, 7, 8...: specify the installation ISO image with windows (64 bits);
- and lastly, press the GO button.
Rice. 3.WinSetupFromUSB 1.5
Then the program will warn you that all data on the flash drive will be deleted and will ask you to agree again.
Rice. 4. Continue deleting..?
After a few minutes (if there are no problems with the flash drive or ISO image), you will see a window with a message about the completion of the work (see Fig. 5).
Rice. 5. The flash drive is written / work is done
By the way, WinSetupFromUSB sometimes behaves “strangely”: it seems that it is frozen, because... there are no changes at the bottom of the window (where the information bar is located). It actually works - don't close it! On average, the time to create a bootable flash drive is 5-10 minutes. It is better not to run other programs at all while WinSetupFromUSB is running, especially various types of games, video editors, etc.
That’s all, actually, the flash drive is ready and you can proceed to the next operation: installing windows (with UEFI support), but this is the topic of the next post...
Social buttons:
pcpro100.info
Creating a bootable UEFI USB flash drive for Windows
Almost all modern computers and laptops do not come with the old BIOS system, but with the new one - UEFI. Unlike its predecessor, it is more “smart” and intellectual. It is very easy to determine what you are using. Firstly, if your computer came with Windows 8 or 8.1 pre-installed and when you turn it on, the operating system starts immediately, rather than the usual BIOS polling of controllers and a system test - this is UEFI. The same is true if an SSD drive is installed and the Windows 8 or 8.1 operating system is used. Although it is worth noting that the presence of this new product does not deny the possibility of installing older systems both in normal mode and in compatibility mode - legacy. In this post, I will talk about three simple ways to create a bootable UEFI USB flash drive to install Windows 7 or Windows 8 on a computer or laptop.
The first and easiest way is to copy the installation files
For now, this can only be done with Windows 8.1, with Windows 10, which has not yet been officially released, and on the latest versions of Ubuntu and ArchLinux. The procedure is as follows: Download the operating system distribution in ISO format.
Unpack it to any folder on the disk using an archiver. 7zip works great with ISO images:
We format the flash drive to the FAT32 file system. To do this, go to “My Computer”, right-click on the USB drive:
Select the file system and click on the “Start” button. After that, it goes to the folder with the unpacked Windows image and simply copy everything that was unpacked directly to the flash drive:
The trick is that installers of new operating systems are already optimized for UEFI. All that remains is to boot from it and check its functionality.
Method two - using the Diskpart utility
This option is used to install Windows 7 on a computer or laptop with UEFI. The first step is to launch the Windows command line. To do this, press the Win+R key combination and in the “Run” window that opens, enter the command: “cmd”:
Click the OK button. Now launches a utility utility for working with partitions on the command line:
A list of disks available in the system with numbers will open: select disk《Disk_number》 I think it is clear that at this step you need to indicate the number of the USB drive obtained from the list. For example, select disk 2, as in my case. Let's clean it completely:
Create a section:
create partition primary
Select it:
select partition 1
Making the section active:
Format to FAT32:
We assign it a letter automatically:
But that is not all. On the USB flash drive, find the efi\microsoft\boot folder and copy it all to the efi folder. As a result, the efi\boot directory should appear. Now you need to find the file: bootmgfw.efi. To do this, you need to unpack the sources\boot.wim archive with a 7zip or WinRar archiver. The file you are looking for will be located in the sources\boot.wim\1\windows\Boot\EFI\ folder.
Copy the bootmgfw.efi file to the efi\boot folder, and then rename it bootx64.efi. Ready. We made a bootable UEFI USB flash drive with Windows 7.
Method three - using special programs
Some programs for creating bootable flash drives can do this for UEFI. One of these is the free Rufus utility. Install and run the program:
Set the partition scheme and system interface type: - “GPT for computers with a UEFI interface” if you are using a GPT partition. - “MBR for computers with UEFI interface” if using compatibility mode (Legacy mode) and the MBR partition table. Next, we set the file system to FAT32, feed the program the operating system image and start the process of writing installation files to the USB drive by pressing the “Start” button.
After about 10 minutes you will have a ready-made installation flash drive.
Hello.
No matter what anyone says, the popularity of optical disks is rapidly falling: not even all computers and laptops have a drive for them anymore. And, perhaps, this is not surprising: after all, an ordinary flash drive that fits in any pocket can easily replace them.
To install Windows, it is also more convenient to use a USB flash drive (there is a USB port on any computer!). But for this it needs to be written down/prepared correctly.
In this article, I will consider all the typical issues related to creating installation flash drives: programs for this operation, step-by-step settings before recording, the process of creating flash drives with multiple OSes (multi-boot), UEFI flash drives. But first things first...
Note!
You might find this article useful on how to download an ISO image from Windows 10 [officially and legally] -
There are quite a lot of programs of this kind. To cover them all in one article is a thankless and unnecessary task. I will give below those programs that I used (and use) myself repeatedly when recording my bootable media.
Note : How to use this or that program will be discussed in the second part of this article.
Table No. 1 (main)
| Program name / website address | Description | Screenshots |
|---|---|---|
| Ultra ISO
|
One of the best programs for working with ISO disk images. Allows you to edit them, extract files from them (or add), write images to a flash drive/disk, etc. In general, it is an indispensable program for working with the ISO format, and I have repeatedly recommended it in my articles (and, by the way, almost all Windows operating systems are distributed in this format). |
(main program window) |
| Rufus
|
A small free utility that can create almost any bootable flash drive, memory card, etc. It also allows you to prepare flash drives for UEFI. Another advantage of the utility: it works somewhat faster than other analogues. Note: there is both a portable version (which does not require installation) and a classic one. Works on all Windows OS: XP, 7, 8, 10. |
(Rufus settings for writing a bootable USB flash drive) |
| One of the most famous programs for burning bootable media. Allows you to create bootable media with OS: Windows 2000, XP, 7, 8, 10, etc. The program also allows you to create multiboot flash drives (i.e. on which there are 2-3 or more Windows operating systems and when loading you can choose which one to install). In general, indispensable software if you need to create installation media from time to time. |
(setting before writing a flash drive) | |
| WintoFlash | A simple and convenient program for creating bootable media. A wizard will accompany you during the creation and configuration process: the whole process goes step by step, which is very convenient if you have never used such programs before. Possibilities:
|
(WintoFlash main window) |
| Windows 7 usb dvd download tool | A simple and convenient utility for writing bootable flash drives from Microsoft itself (therefore it could not be included in this review). You can burn a bootable USB flash drive with the following Windows operating systems: 7, 8, 10. The entire recording process is divided into several steps: selecting a flash drive, selecting an image, confirming, recording... By the way, there is nothing superfluous in the program: the design is in a minimalist style. In general, I recommend it! Among the disadvantages: it is not always possible to write an ISO image with Windows to a 4 GB flash drive (the program asks for 8, although other similar utilities write this image to the same flash drive...). |
(the first step is choosing an ISO image) |
Support programs
A small free* program for working with images (supports a huge number of different formats: ISO, MDS/MDF, CCD, etc.). After installing this program, you will have a virtual drive in “my computer” (their number can be increased) in which you can open any of the images. For the computer, it will all look as if you had opened a real CD/DVD disc in the drive.
In addition to opening images, you can also create them from various disks. In general, an indispensable program on a PC (especially with the development and popularization of disk images).
*Note: in addition to the free version, you can find a paid version (with advanced functionality) on the developer’s website.
An analogue of Daemon Tools, it has the same functions: creating and opening images, supporting protected disks, etc. Alcohol 120% is a paid version of the program, there is a free version - Alcohol 52%.
In principle, you can work with both Daemon Tools and Alcohol. The choice is a matter of taste!
Step-by-step creation of a bootable USB flash drive
Windows XP
Once one of the most popular OS from Microsoft. Now, of course, its popularity is falling and yet quite a large number of PCs run on this OS. Therefore, I decided to include it in this article...
WinToFlash
In my opinion, the easiest way to burn a bootable USB flash drive with Windows XP is to use the WinToFlash utility. The fact is that it has a built-in wizard that will guide you through all the thorns... (by the way, the Lite version is enough for the job).
After launching the utility, click on the green checkmark (screen below) - " Windows Setup to USB Wizard".
WintoFlash - getting started with the wizard
Next step: you need to specify the path to the image file with Windows XP and select the flash drive on which this image will be written.
Actually, in the next step the program will warn you that all information will be deleted from the disk and will offer to continue. You agree and wait until all the files are copied to the flash drive.
To help! I have more detailed instructions for working with WinSetupFromUSB -
This program is slightly different from the previous one. Firstly, there is no wizard who will guide you step by step (you need to enter all the settings yourself), secondly, there is no support for the Russian language...
First, insert the USB flash drive into the USB port and run WinSetupFromUSB and as administrator.
- select the inserted flash drive;
- Click the "Auto format it with FBinst" checkbox, file system - NTFS;
- specify the path to the folder with the Windows XP distribution (the ISO image can be unzipped using the WinRar program, or open it in Daemon Tools (links to the programs are provided above));
- The final touch is to press the “GO” button.
In the next step, the program will warn you that all data on the flash drive will be deleted during the process of writing data to it. You're just confirming it.
If the flash drive was successfully written, you will see the “Job Done” window.
Windows 7, 8, 10
In principle, you can use the same utilities to record these OSes - the whole process is identical. Using the example of several utilities, I will show the whole process step by step.
Windows 7 usb/dvd tool
Despite the fact that this utility is intended for Windows 7, you can use it to burn a USB flash drive with Windows 8/10. Because This program is the simplest (it couldn’t be simpler) of all and the entire process of recording an image in it consists of only 4 steps, I recommend it first of all.
Step 1: specify an ISO image with Windows OS ("Browse" button, when the image is specified, click "Next").
Specify ISO file
Step 2: select the device on which the recording will be made. In this case, you need to select either a USB device or DVD. Let's choose the first one.
Step 3: select the drive letter to which the recording will be made (i.e., indicate the desired flash drive, because there may be several of them connected to the PC...).
Step 4: Recording process. When a message about the successful completion of the operation (Bootable USB device created successfully) is displayed, you can restart the PC and check the flash drive...
As you can see above, the whole process is extremely simple and does not contain anything superfluous.
Ultra ISO
Rufus
Article update from 01/24/2019: added screenshots of version 3.4. I also have instructions for working with Rufus 3.4 on my blog -
UEFI flash drive
UEFI is a new standard, a new interface (so to speak). It is designed to replace the "old" BIOS. One of the main tasks of UEFI is to protect the computer from boot viruses that are loaded along with (or before) loading the Windows OS (sorry for the tautology).
Therefore, in new computers/laptops, if you connect a flash drive created in the classical way to their USB port, the PC will not see it! In order for this flash drive to become visible: you need to switch UEFI to Legacy (the spelling may differ slightly depending on the BIOS/UEFI version) and turn off Secure Boot.
In this same part of the article, I will look at a couple of ways on how you can create a bootable UEFI flash drive (so that you don’t have to disable Secure Boot protection in the BIOS). So...
Method No. 1 - using the WinSetupFromUSB utility
First, run the utility as an administrator (how to do it: right-click on the executable file, then select the desired function in the context menu).
- Select a flash drive (be careful, when writing, all data on the flash drive will be deleted!);
- Click the "Auto format it with FBinst" checkbox and select the FAT 32 file system (do not touch the other checkboxes);
- Next, select an ISO image file with Windows OS (in the example below I chose Windows 8);
- Press the GO button and wait for the process to complete.
Setting up WinSetupFromUSB for writing a UEFI flash drive.
Method number 2 - using the Rufus utility
Rufus is an excellent utility for burning different types of bootable media. All settings are made in one window, everything is simple and fast.
You also need to run the utility as an administrator (screenshot below).
Rufus 3.4 - creating a flash drive for UEFI (GPT)
Multiboot flash drive (several OS on 1 flash drive!)
You can write not only one version of Windows OS to a flash drive, but several at once! For example, imagine you have the following OS on one flash drive: Windows XP 32 bit, Windows 7 64 bit, Windows 8 64 bit and Windows 10 64 bit. If something happens, you don’t need to carry around a bunch of flash drives with different OSes - you can immediately install the one you need with just one. Below I will consider in detail how and what is done...
To create such a flash drive, you need the following:
- several ISO images with the required systems (for example, Windows XP and Windows 7). By the way, it is better to take the Windows XP image with integrated SATA drivers, otherwise you will get a “blue” screen during installation on new motherboards;
- Daemon Tools or Alcohol (if you want to add Windows 2000, XP to the flash drive): programs that can open an ISO image (i.e. you will see a virtual drive in “my computer”, since this is not an ISO image, but a regular disk inserted into a CD-Rom. Presented in the first part of the article,) ;
- 8-16 GB flash drive (the more OS you are going to write, the more capacious the flash drive should be);
- program (presented at the top of the article,).
Step-by-step instructions for creating a multiboot flash drive
- Launch the program WinSetupFromUSB as administrator. To do this, simply go to the folder with the program, select the executable file and right-click on it, then select “Run as administrator” from the context menu.
- Next, in Daemon Tools, open the image with Windows 2000/2003/XP (those who will not write these OS to a flash drive can skip this step).
Windows XP ISO image opened in Daemon Tools.
- Insert the flash drive into the USB port;
- Next you need to set the following parameters: 1)
indicate the inserted flash drive (in my case, drive “E:\”); 2)
Check the box "Auto Format it with Fbinst", select the NTFS file system (if you plan to create a flash drive for UEFI, choose FAT 32); the rest of the checkboxes are by default; 3)
indicate the virtual drive in which the ISO image with Windows XP/2000 is open; 4)
indicate the ISO image with Windows 10 (in my case, this particular OS was chosen for the multiboot flash drive); 5)
Press the "GO" button - start recording the flash drive. All numbers are illustrated in the screenshot below.
- Next, the program will ask you whether to start recording. By the way, it’s important that all data on the flash drive will be deleted!
- Then the program will ask again - the answer is affirmative.
Warning 2 - click "Yes".
- Next, if everything went well, you will see a “green bar” at the bottom of the window - the program has started working. The recording time depends on the flash drive, the selected images, the speed of your USB port, the PC load, etc. On average, 5-20 minutes. to record multiple OS. At this time, it is better not to touch the computer and not run resource-intensive tasks on it: games, video/graphics editors, etc.
- When the flash drive is written, you will see the inscription “Job Done”. In principle, the flash drive can already be used, it now has 2 Windows XP and 10 operating systems! Screenshot below.
- To add another OS, for example, Windows 7, simply insert the USB flash drive into the USB port again, run WinSetupFromUSB (as administrator). Then: 1)
select the desired flash drive (note: on which we previously recorded 2 OS)
; 2)
specify the ISO image with the Windows OS to be added; 3)
press the "GO" button. Note: Please note that you do not need to check the box next to “Auto format it with FBinst”, as we did before!
- When another OS is added, you will see the usual window - the job is done. Now there are 3 OS on the flash drive: Windows XP (32 bit), 7 and 10 (64 bit).
- If you want to add another OS, for example Windows 8, you need to do step 9 again (see above). In principle, this way you can add quite a lot of OS to your flash drive (let’s say, provide for all the options)...
Checking a multiboot flash drive
To check the created flash drive in operation, you need to do the following:
- Go to the BIOS and put a USB flash drive in the boot queue (you can use the BOOT Menu). More details about the buttons for going to Bios and calling the Boot Menu are described here:
- Insert the flash drive into the USB port and restart the computer;
- A window should appear as in the screenshot below: for example, I selected the Windows NT 6 line (this is to select the installation of Windows 7, 8, 10).
After this, if you have 2 or more "new" OSes, you will see a list with all of them. Select the desired option and continue with the installation. The screenshot is below, the flash drive works!
On this positive note I conclude the article; as always, I will be grateful for additions.
To boot from a flash drive on a PC or laptop with BIOS UEFI mode active, you need a UEFI bootable flash drive. How to create it? The installation processes of Windows 8.1, 10 and their corresponding server editions, some Live disks support loading in mode at the distribution level (an ISO file downloaded from the Internet). Such distributions initially include an “EFI” folder with program codes that adapt the bootable media to work with UEFI. In this case, it will not matter which program the ISO file is written to the flash drive. If only the flash drive itself was formatted in the FAT32 file system before recording.
What to do if the distribution is not adapted to work with BIOS UEFI? With Live disks, things are simpler: even if the rescue media is not created in the format of a bootable UEFI flash drive, in order to boot from it in emergency cases - for example, to destroy viruses or determine the cause of problems with the computer hardware, it is enough to first disable the UEFI mode in the BIOS and, accordingly, enable either Legacy mode or CSM (compatibility mode). Then, in the boot order, select to start from a regular flash drive rather than a UEFI flash drive. But with a flash drive, the Windows 7 installation process is more complicated. The distribution kit of this version of the system is not adapted for BIOS UEFI, and when starting the computer from a regular bootable flash drive in BIOS Legacy (or CSM) mode, “Seven” will refuse to install on a GPT disk, working with which is one of the key advantages of BIOS UEFI. To install Windows 7 on a GPT disk, booting from a UEFI flash drive will be of fundamental importance.
You can create a bootable UEFI flash drive with the Windows 7 installation process and Live disks, the creators of which did not bother to adapt the distribution to the new BIOS format, using the free program Rufus. Rufus is a portable utility designed to burn ISO images to bootable removable media. The program's capabilities include adapting bootable media to the BIOS UEFI format.
Having launched the program, in its first column we select the desired drive if there are several of them connected to the computer. In the second column, set the value to “GPT for computers with UEFI”. We check that the third column contains the file system value “FAT32”. We leave all other values as default and in the “ISO image” column we indicate the path to the Windows 7 distribution image or Live disk. Click the “Start” button.
We confirm the start of the process.
The progress indicator will notify you that the process of creating a bootable UEFI flash drive has been completed when it completely fills the scale in green. Below the indicator you will see the “Ready” status.
That's it - you can close the Rufus program and test the UEFI flash drive.
Let us also remind you that to boot software from a UEFI flash drive that does not have certified keys (such software is the Windows 7 distribution, some Linux distributions, many Live disks), you need UEFI in the BIOS (Secure Boot).
Have a great day!
Loading...
