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schastny2012-12-22 12:19:51
Windows
schastny, 2012-12-22 12:19:51

Windows 7 on EFI with GPT and non-EFI (BIOS) installation?

I decided to tinker with installing the seven on different hardware in different configurations and learned a lot of new things. I want to share with the community, and of course there are a couple of questions.
It turned out something like this.
New laptop -> EFI -> GPT (HDD:500Gb) -> Win 7
Old desktop -> BIOS -> fakeRAID stripe (Volume:1.86Tb) -> MBR -> Win 7
1. In theory, Windows 7 cannot be installed on dynamic disks (read software RAID from MS). I was only interested in two types of raid, I don't know about the others: mirror and stripe. So, you can still install the seven on a mirror soft raid using the retain feature. But if you need stripe ... in general, as I understand it, there are no tricks here anymore and it's unrealistic, just use fakeRAID on the motherboard or a hardware controller. If there are any other ways, I would like to know about them.
2. In theory, Windows 7 can be installed on a hard drive with GPT(GUID), but for some reason, this requires a mother with EFI support, i.e. if you have an old computer with a regular motherboard, with a regular BIOS, then everything is a bummer. You can't even put Windows on a freshly bought 3TB hard drive. =( Then I had an interesting thought, but what if I deceive Windows with some EFI emulator, as they do in a hackintosh? But for some reason I didn’t google anything on this topic except dual block: Windows + hackintosh. Does anyone have what are your thoughts on this?
PS: And even on a laptop with EFI support, installing Windows on GPT turned out to be probably the 10th time. Collected all possible errors, which probably only exist. In general, Microsoft, to be honest, as usual. If there is no support for something, then you can get it with some kind of hack through one place, and when there is support for some functionality, then it is also implemented through one place and not completely.

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2 answer(s)
C
charon, 2012-12-25
@charon

2) not for some reason, but on purpose. The old BIOS, in principle, does not support GPT out of the box, it is beyond its strength (the BIOS standard defines 16-bit addressing, and no more). Therefore, a new kind, EFI, is required. But on the other hand, EFI has been installed for a long time, a couple more years, and computers without EFI will finally become a thing of the past. So I just don't see the point in fighting it.
But why it is so difficult to put Windu on GPT on modern computers, I myself would like to know. It's kind of a mystery.

A
Alexander Burov, 2014-03-06
@AquiHostStrider

1) I do not advise you to engage in such perversion. And if the array crumbles - what will you do? Are you planning a daily backup?
2) Who told you that? And the EFI program has been around for a long time -- google DUET\Tianocore. Here I am personally interested in the inverse problem - a BIOS interrupt simulator for running WinXP on new motherboards where CSM does not work or is not supported.
3) The so-called "EFI-enabled laptops" are BIOS laptops with very limited support for a limited set of EFI functions. Therefore, DUET\Tianocore is also recommended for such little animals.

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