- Windows 10 installation on UEFI with USB on Legacy

Hello

How to install Windows 10 on a hard disk to boot via UEFI, but to install from a USB 3.0 memory stick (there are no other ports on the hardware) and ready to boot in Legacy mode?

An attempt to install from a flash drive in UEFI mode ends on the third screen with the message "No media driver required by the computer.".

In many places (forums, guide, etc.) it is written that in order to install the system on the hard disk, which is to boot in UEFI mode, the installation media must also be prepared to boot in this mode.

Why can't I prepare bootable media in Legacy mode and install the system to boot in UEFI mode?
For example, under Windows, which starts in Legacy mode, you can prepare a USB flash drive both one that will boot in UEFI mode and Legacy mode.
What prevents you from installing the operating system on the hard disk in the same way?

greetings
Janek

Partition service is an obstacle. For UEFI mode, the system creates GPT, in Legacy MBR mode. I would try to add the driver to the installation or try to load it during installation. Maybe he is missing the USB 3.0 driver.

Well, but for example under Windows XP, 7, 8, which start in Legacy mode, you can create a pendrive with both GPT and MBR systems.
Then from such a USB stick you can start the installation and it either starts via UEFI or through Legacy.
Why can't I install the system on a hard disk in the same way?
Both the installation run in UEFI and Legacy mode, during installation, allows you to open a command window and run diskpart, in which you can create both GPT and MBR on the hard disk.
Unfortunately, there are no USB 3.0 drivers that the installer would accept. I tried drivers from both the hardware manufacturer and Intel, who produced the chipset.

Have you tried nLite to download USB drivers to the disc image? Search for drivers from the motherboard manufacturer (e.g. ASROCK has a USB patch on its website)

I haven't tried nLite because I don't have a driver that would work.
As I wrote, neither the driver from the hardware manufacturer (motherboard) hence nor the driver from the chipset manufacturer hence they do not work after providing them during installation at the request of the installation program.
Which ASROCK driver should I take to make it work?

I gave ASROCK as an example. Drivers do not work when given during installation, but you do not know if they will behave after integration with the disc image. In addition, USB 3.0 is downward compatible, so a 2.0 driver should be enough to get it moving. Next - MBR is created for "legacy" and GPF for UEFI. You can upload and boot the system to MBR and then convert to GPT. I didn't do it but on many forums they write that it can be done without losing data.

Thank you very much.
I will try to integrate these drivers with the Windows 10 installation version,
I just need to find instructions on how to do this in nLite.

Maybe USB 3.0 is compatible with 2.0, but Windows 10 wants some drivers and doesn't take those that it has in the installation.

After running the installation from a flash drive made of GPT and FAT32, I can do both MBR and GPT on the hard disk.
So I still don't understand why you can't install Windows 10 to boot from UEFI, since the GPT partition can be done.

Added after 14 [hours] 29 [minutes]:

Unfortunately, probably nLite does not work with Windows 10, and NTLite is paid and probably does not allow adding drivers.

If for UEFI you can create GPT on a pendrive with an installation version from the level of Windows run by MBR, why can't you create a hard disk with Windows 10 installed in the same way?
Especially that when you run the installation from a pen drive in MBR mode you can create both MBR and GPT on the disk.

Also, this may not be a USB driver issue if the installation version running in MBR mode allows you to install Windows 10, and the same installation version running in UEFI mode stops on the third screen.

Janek-Kam wrote:

So I still don't understand why you can't install Windows 10 to boot from UEFI, since the GPT partition can be done.

Preparing the media and starting the system from it are two different things. Preparation is a matter of copying the right files to the right place and the fact that Windows does not want to install in EFI mode on MBR is a simple limitation - certainly Setup but I'm not sure if the system itself. An installer running in EFI mode will not let you install the system on an MBR disk - that's Microsoft's invention. I have not tested with Win7 and newer systems but such old WinXP x86 or x64 can be run in EFI mode from the MBR partition (in VMware without a problem, on real hardware with graphics problems). You need to install the system in BIOS mode and then manually copy several EFI files to the right place, switch the firmware to EFI and the system starts up . The fact that EFI files - in this case are from the test version of Vista, when EFI was in development, but since these files can be run WinXP on hardware with the EFI / BIOS firmware from June this year (June 21, 2018) this only indicates that the new Windows have specially imposed restrictions on EFI that it must be on GPT. If someone is interested in the matter, I invite you to the topic: Windows XP 64-bit or 32-bit - can I run with EFI?

Thank you very much.
Does this mean that Microsoft's invention is also that the installer running from a pen drive with MBR in Legacy mode will not allow the system to be installed on the hard disk with GPT and booting in UEFI mode?
So we have such situations:

Hello colleagues

I will give a simple solution for installing efi (it took me to find a solution from 8h of work, but you only have a few minutes)

1) we boot the computer in legacy mode (at least to run the windows installation)

2) install the operating system - after restart we have "zonk" because windows do not start

3) Run the Windows installation again with a USB Flash Drive

4) after choosing the installation where the system tells us to choose the disk on which to install the system press Shift + f10 a command line pops up (cmd)


!!!!! VERY IMPORTANT TO HAVE A MEDIA WITH THE LATEST WINDOWS VERSION BECAUSE OLD MAY HAVE NO CONVERSION TOOLS !!!!!



(note in advance in diskpart what number our disk has
diskpart
list disk
select disk
exit
)

write:
mbr2gpt / convert / disk: 0 (disk: 0 or other disk to be efi)

This converts the partition to GPT and adds the EFI partition

after successfully completing the process, we restart the computer by entering the bios

we turn off legacy mode and turn on UEFi

After this operation, Windows completes its installation and is now properly running

greetings

zawartek

Added after 2 [hours] 1 [minutes]:

Checked out a moment ago

1) Run windows installation in usb legacy mode
2) install windows
3) restart run the installation again
4) sift + f10
5) mbr2gpt / convert / disk: 0
6) restart
7) change in bios on UEFI boot
8) complete the windows installation

EFI firmware does not support NTFS by default. However, it supports FAT32 but the medium does not have to be GPT.

For EFI (64-bit), only the appropriate location and startup file name on the FAT32 partition are valid:

Pendrive can be universal - from which the computer will boot in both BIOS and EFI.

Windows 7 installer and newer will start in both BIOS and EFI but will not allow you to install the system in EFI mode on the MBR partition. I don't know the opposite, whether it will allow you to install the system in BIOS mode on a GPT partition.

Try the program WinUSB .
https://www.elektroda.pl/rtvforum/topic3504788-30.html#17472904WinUSB

Thank you very much for all your help.
I left the system in Legacy mode because I have to work on it.
In the future I will use mbr2gpt, because it seems that this may actually be a good solution.

greetings