Looking for guidance using BIU with mult Windows and Linux

User discussion and information resource forum for BootIt Bare Metal and BootIt UEFI
TeraByte Support
Posts: 3598
Joined: Thu May 05, 2011 10:37 pm

Re: Looking for guidance using BIU with mult Windows and Lin

Post by TeraByte Support »

Some systems will only boot a NVMe device via UEFI.


"Gary Seven" wrote in message news:16207@public.bootitbm...

Edit: Am I also mistaken in thinking that to boot off an NVMe SSD, one must
have UEFI turned on??
G7

DrTeeth
Posts: 1289
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 6:58 pm

Re: Looking for guidance using BIU with mult Windows and Lin

Post by DrTeeth »

On Sat, 5 Jan 2019 07:04:51 PST, just as I was about to take a herb,
Gary Seven disturbed my reverie and wrote:

> Correct me if I'm wrong but as I understand it, one cannot make a fresh install of Windows 10 to new hardware without doing it through UEFI.

This is not true at all. Never used UEFI here and have installed Win
10 several times.
--
Cheers,

DrT

** Amateurs built the Ark, but professionals built the Titanic.**
DrTeeth
Posts: 1289
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 6:58 pm

Re: Looking for guidance using BIU with mult Windows and Lin

Post by DrTeeth »

On Sat, 5 Jan 2019 12:25:21 PST, just as I was about to take a herb,
"TeraByte Support" disturbed my
reverie and wrote:

>Some systems will only boot a NVMe device via UEFI.

That is very bad news. I was just about to buy one. I will have to
check into this further.
--
Cheers,

DrT

** Amateurs built the Ark, but professionals built the Titanic.**
Gary Seven
Posts: 61
Joined: Mon Sep 05, 2011 2:17 pm
Location: Tarragona, Spain

Re: Looking for guidance using BIU with mult Windows and Lin

Post by Gary Seven »

CyberSimian wrote:
> Gary Seven wrote:
> > Correct me if I'm wrong but as I understand it, one cannot make a fresh
> > install of Windows 10 to new hardware without doing it through UEFI.
>
> You will be pleased(?) to learn that yes, you are wrong. Windows 10 can be installed
> in UEFI mode or MBR mode. I have two Lenovo laptops. They shipped with Windows 10
> working in UEFI mode. I imaged the disks (in case I wanted to resurrect the original
> pre-load), and then deleted all of the partitions, converted the disks from GPT to
> MBR, and re-installed Windows 10 in MBR mode.

Well ok, then. That's one box checked off.
>
> UEFI mode requires a GPT boot disk (but you can have MBR data disks).
> MBR mode requires an MBR boot disk (but you can have GPT data disks).

Interesting. I didn't know that but then again, have never used GPT.
>
> The question of whether you can install Windows 7 on modern systems is related to the
> processor generation, and not the boot mode. My two Lenovo laptops both have Intel
> Sky Lake processors (6th generation), which is the last generation that Microsoft,
> Intel, and others provide support for Windows 7. I have installed Windows 7 on both
> my Lenovos, whilst retaining Windows 10 and using BIBM as the boot manager (I don't
> use the Windows Boot Manager).
>
> If you have 7th, 8th, or 9th generation Intel processors, you will probably have
> difficulty finding Windows 7 drivers, and Microsoft, Intel, and others will refuse to
> provide any updates when you run their respective update tools.

Yeah, I getcha on that. I've discovered Win7 works just fine in VirtualBox for Linux, and a super important program I need for my business does indeed install and work ok inside this VM. So for sure I'll just Win10 on a separate volume (ssd) for esoteric programs my kids will need for school. Other issue I have to figure out is MS Office vs LibreOffice. I've already run into compatibility programs when trying to load PowerPoint projects made by the kids at school into LibreOffice. Pretty much a fail but I'll figure it out.
>
> If you use MBR mode, you don't need BIU -- you can continue to use BIBM.

Good!
>
> As regards booting in MBR mode from an NVMe SSD, I am not sure about that. Windows 7
> requires an additional driver to access an NVMe disk (Windows 10 already has this
> driver). So the question is whether BIBM includes this driver (or equivalent).
> Presumably BIU does include this driver, but I dont know about BIBM.
>
> -- from CyberSimian in the UK
Gary Seven
Posts: 61
Joined: Mon Sep 05, 2011 2:17 pm
Location: Tarragona, Spain

Re: Looking for guidance using BIU with mult Windows and Lin

Post by Gary Seven »

TeraByte Support wrote:
> Some systems will only boot a NVMe device via UEFI.

Oh Terabyte, back to your classic "as few words as possible" posts. When you say "some systems" are you referring to laptops and their proprietary hardware/BIOS arrangements? Or are you referring to some of the motherboard manufacturers out there? Could you PLEASE elaborate a bit more??


>
> "Gary Seven" wrote in message news:16207@public.bootitbm...
>
> Edit: Am I also mistaken in thinking that to boot off an NVMe SSD, one
> must have UEFI turned on??
DrTeeth
Posts: 1289
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 6:58 pm

Re: Looking for guidance using BIU with mult Windows and Lin

Post by DrTeeth »

On Mon, 7 Jan 2019 04:46:18 PST, just as I was about to take a herb,
Gary Seven disturbed my reverie and wrote:

>Oh Terabyte, back to your classic "as few words as possible" posts. When you say "some systems" are you referring to laptops and their proprietary hardware/BIOS arrangements? Or are you referring to some of the motherboard manufacturers out there? Could you PLEASE elaborate a bit more??

+1

There is nothing in my new PC's manual about making any specific
settings differently to boot from an NVMe SSD drive. I'd also be
interested to hear more on this topic
--
Cheers,

DrT

** Amateurs built the Ark, but professionals built the Titanic.**
DrTeeth
Posts: 1289
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 6:58 pm

Re: Looking for guidance using BIU with mult Windows and Lin

Post by DrTeeth »

Just had this back from Gigabyte support, "To boot from M.2 PCI-E you
need to be in UEFI mode as legacy does not support PCI-E Boot".

Does that mean that the disk has to be GPT formatted too? Being in
"UEFI mode" is not that clear. Can anybody please elaborate.
--
Cheers,

DrT

** Amateurs built the Ark, but professionals built the Titanic.**
Gary Seven
Posts: 61
Joined: Mon Sep 05, 2011 2:17 pm
Location: Tarragona, Spain

Re: Looking for guidance using BIU with mult Windows and Lin

Post by Gary Seven »

DrTeeth wrote:
> Just had this back from Gigabyte support, "To boot from M.2 PCI-E you
> need to be in UEFI mode as legacy does not support PCI-E Boot".
>
> Does that mean that the disk has to be GPT formatted too? Being in
> "UEFI mode" is not that clear. Can anybody please elaborate.
> --
I was afraid of this. AFAICT when in UEFI mode your boot partition MUST be GPT formatted. I think I'm going to mosey on over to the Gamer Nexus Discord channel and talk to some of the system builders there. When I get something concrete I'll post it here. Geez what a freakin bummer!
G7
DrTeeth
Posts: 1289
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 6:58 pm

Re: Looking for guidance using BIU with mult Windows and Lin

Post by DrTeeth »

On Mon, 7 Jan 2019 09:28:15 PST, just as I was about to take a herb,
Gary Seven disturbed my reverie and wrote:

>I was afraid of this. AFAICT when in UEFI mode your boot partition MUST be GPT formatted. I think I'm going to mosey on over to the Gamer Nexus Discord channel and talk to some of the system builders there. When I get something concrete I'll post it here. Geez what a freakin bummer!
>G7

I'm just glad I found out before buying. I really do not want nor need
GPT and would happily get a regular SATA SSD. I have seen how much of
a boost that even those babies can give.

For my personal computing needs, GPT/UEFI on a booting drive is a
totally unnecessary complication.
--
Cheers,

DrT

** Amateurs built the Ark, but professionals built the Titanic.**
Gary Seven
Posts: 61
Joined: Mon Sep 05, 2011 2:17 pm
Location: Tarragona, Spain

Re: Looking for guidance using BIU with mult Windows and Lin

Post by Gary Seven »

Ok, so after talking with some hardcore system builders it appears that you must have UEFI enabled in order to boot from an NVMe SSD. They sort of flamed me a bit because they said it's better and boots faster than legacy, and couldn't understand why I didn't want to use it. Then I asked them if I used legacy mode to boot off a normal SATA SSD, would my system even recognize an NVMe drive installed in the M.2 slot? Most of them said no but a couple others said no problem. So now I just don't know what the hell to do. :(
Post Reply