Tutorial for Folks Moving to Windows 8/8.1 with UEFI...

[wileyCoyote]

...i'm currently going through this and thought i'd share a great resource that explains this well...

UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 8 with

basically i wasn't aware that win 8/8.1 installs under one of two "modes", either a "legacy" or "UEFI" mode. The "mode" is determined by the steps you take when doing a clean install (see link above)... after you install under one or the other, you can't go back and switch later on by just changing a BIOS setting, you'd have to start anew by re-installing win 8/8.1 under the desired "mode". at least this is my understanding... Basically, when you install under "UEFI mode", the drive the OS gets installed on is partioned and formatted in "GPT" format, which is a newer format that supports the UEFI functionality. It it's installed in "legacy mode" then it's formatted the older way, and doesn't support UEFI functionality. The thing is, ...when you boot from your win 8/8.1 installation media you don't get a simple "prompt" enabling you to choose which "mode" (that would be too easy )... rather, there's a few steps you need to take yourself to prepare the appropriate "mode" for installation (see the above link)...

...so, point is..., make sure you install win 8/8.1 the way you want in the beginning, and avoid regret later!

[KahanaReef]

Good to know for future reference. I think I'll just stick with Win7 Ulltimate for a while on my computers. I can't think of any reason to "upgrade" them to Win8 that would benefit me at this time.

[GaryJenkins]

Well, Windows 10 is a lot better than Windows 7, so better upgrade if you must.