M6600 Owners Thread

Aaron,

What do you think of this: How to: Make a Windows 7 USB Installler bootable for UEFI boot - YouTube

Doesn't tell me I need to reformat anything?

Hmm.

--------------------------------------

EDIT:

Then there's this, totally different: http://blogs.technet.com/b/home_is_...stall-windows-7-or-8-from-usb-using-uefi.aspx

 

DVDs usually use UDF for the file system (a file system used specifically for optical discs).

UDF and FAT32 are open enough that anyone can write software to read them. NTFS is proprietary, although it is now possible to read it using third-party software, it's not documented and I'm not sure if there are any legal/patent issues that come along with it.

Anyway, your UEFI firmware has to be able to read the boot file from your media in order to get the boot process rolling. UEFI can read UDF and FAT/FAT32, but it cannot read NTFS. For your regular Windows install, the boot file is stored in the EFI system partition (which is a FAT or FAT32 partition with a special flag), and this is part of the reason why.

Legacy boot (non-UEFI) can work with NTFS and other odd file systems because some of the boot code is actually stored in the MBR, a separate and predictable spot on the disk. There's no equivalent with UEFI/GPT, the boot loader is actually a file on the disk read by the firmware.

[Edit]
I think in that YouTube video they are assuming your USB drive is already formatted FAT32.

 

Understood, I think. I'm going to prepare a FAT32 USB and make Active then copy the Windows files from the other NTFS USB. I'll go from there about any further steps.

 

Hey Aaron,

Think I found the easy way out. Haven't actually installed it on my computer yet, but I've tested it on the other as far as booting UEFI; now because hers isn't GPT I'm getting can't install because it's still MBR scheme. Rufus actually did all the steps that were needed. This is working out. I'll update later.

Here's the links:

Rufus - Create bootable USB drives the easy way

UEFI Bootable USB Flash Drive - Create in Windows

Technical Note: UEFI BIOS vs. Legacy BIOS, Advantech(EN) - YouTube

-----------------------------------------------------------
BTW, The last link is a video talking about UEFI and the benefits. Nothing to do with getting it up and running - use the two links above it for guidance.

 

YIPEE! HOORAY! HOORAW!

IT WORKED! Booting UEFI, It took to the drive configuration mentioned earlier.

Now I'm trying to see this new interface or is there not one?


Also need to ask Tijo if just extracting the IRST (Pre-OS is what I think ours are called) then loading the .inf drivers through device manager is the way to go about not installing the application?

 

Pardon my ignorance but may I ask what's great about booting UEFI style?

 

Not sure what interface you're talking about? (Didn't check all the links, sorry. )

For Windows 7, you probably won't see any difference visually in the boot process. Windows 8 will take advantage of UEFI for pre-boot menus (high resolution) and seamless boot (Dell logo shows instead of Windows logo during boot)... if the firmware supports it. M6700 didn't support the extra UEFI features of Windows 8 until BIOS A06, don't think the M6600 ever got an update.

Once the machine is booted up, there's nothing else new to look at really, other than that you are now using GPT instead of MBR for the system disk.

 

I'm ignorant too! You're in good company. Supposedly it is better (I'll let you know after I use for awhile).
There's a video (bottom of links I posted) that he goes into some good detail about it.

I'd been wanting to try it but was chicken. But, since I trashed my registry I thought now would be a good time to try.

 

Ok, wasn't sure what to expect in that area. Just one of those things where hearing but not knowing what is to be expected.
Looks and acts perfectly normal although windows logo a bit choppier on startup.

I think we have the older UEFI, so yeah, and no BIOS update for that. I'd seen your posts for the 6700's so I'm aware of what you're saying.

Thanks for the help btw, kind of nice knowing you were right there with some support.


-----------------------------------

EDIT:

BTW, Rufus will also create a bootable FreeDos (Peter Chen (cwz0522) might be interested in that as an alternative to UNetBootin)

 

At the moment, it doesn't really make much difference which you use. I figure it's worth getting used to if you are setting up a new install, though no need to go out of your way to switch over to it if you're running fine on your current install (unless you're like me and just want to try it).

If you ever want to boot a drive larger than 2 TB, it will have to be partitioned using GPT so you'll have to use UEFI.
Windows 8 takes advantage of newer features in UEFI (like secure boot, some more info here). New Windows 8 machines ship with UEFI enabled by default. Windows 7 pretty much just supports booting via UEFI, without the new features.