Cannot boot Windows 7 DVD from UEFI

I am trying to install a Windows 7 x64 Home Premium in UEFI mode¹. For this purpose, I obtained a DVD from the vendor of my computer that contains all editions of Windows 7 x64. (The Microsoft Win 7 ISO download site does not work for me because it refuses to accept the (OEM) product key found on my computer's certificate of authenticity, hence I cannot download from there - Microsoft recommends to ask the PC vendor for a disk instead, which is what I did.)

According to some resources such as this article (only in German), Windows 7 x64 DVDs are already prepared for UEFI installation. Also, the article says I need to enter the UEFI boot menu upon booting while the Windows DVD is in the drive. The UEFI boot menu should then show two entries for the DVD drive, one labeled "UEFI" for the UEFI boot.

I can enter the UEFI boot menu. Unfortunately, I see only the following entries ("..." means I skipped some detail information that only consisted of letters and numbers and probably does nothing to illustrate the issue):

UEFI Default
SATA2:HL-DT-ST DVDRAM ...
SATA1:...
Generic-SD/MMC 1.00
Generic-Compact Flash 1.01
Generic-SM/XD-Picture 1.02
Generic-MS/MS-Pro 1.08
Realtek PXE B01 D00
Enter Setup

So, the DVD does not show up in UEFI mode; it just shows up once, in normal mode.

As far as I can tell, secure boot is disabled in my MSI UEFI BIOS. (It looks like this, and the entire Windows 8 feature group that contains the secure boot feature is set to disabled.)

From superficially looking at the contents of the installation DVD, it looks like it is supposed to support UEFI boot:

There is a bootmgr.efi file in the root directory.
There are some files in a /efi/microsoft/boot subdirectory (namely bcd, cdboot.efi, cdboot_noprompt.efi, efisys.bin, efisys_noprompt.bin, as well as a fonts subdirectory).

Am I doing anything wrong in the UEFI boot manager while trying to launch the setup? Or is my Windows 7 DVD not actually fit for UEFI boot - in which case my question becomes: Can I create a modified bootable Windows 7 setup medium based upon the DVD I have that actually can boot in UEFI mode?

¹: My actual objective is to make use of the full 4 TB of my system HDD, which seems to be possible only with GPT rather than MBR, which in turn seems to require installing Windows 7 in UEFI mode.

O. R. Mapper

Posted 2016-11-14T14:01:14.787

Reputation: 561

Can you post the partition information for the disk trying to boot to? "Can I create a modified bootable Windows 7 setup medium based upon the DVD I have that actually can boot in UEFI mode?" - The Windows 7 ISO your using already supports EFI. Your likely just applying that ISO to the disk incorrectly. Are you writting the ISO to an optical disk or are you writting it to a flash drive? "it just shows up once, in normal mode." - What exactly is "normal" mode? – Ramhound – 2016-11-14T18:51:39.037

@Ramhound: "partition information for the disk trying to boot to" - do you mean the HDD I'm trying to install to? It is empty, new. It has no partitions (except for those that are being created during the Windows setup process). "Your likely just applying that ISO to the disk incorrectly." - I am not applying any ISO, my computer vendor directly burned a DVD and gave that to me. I am happy to extract an ISO from that DVD and apply it differently to a new DVD, though, if there are any hints on what should be done differently. "What exactly is 'normal' mode?" - the non-UEFI mode. – O. R. Mapper – 2016-11-14T19:08:11.793

"do you mean the HDD I'm trying to install to?" - No; I do not mean the HDD, the target HDD should have no partitions, if it does you should delete them. Where can I download Windows 7 (legally from Microsoft)?. "the non-UEFI mode" - So Legacy Mode or CSM.

– Ramhound – 2016-11-14T20:01:34.577

@Ramhound: Ok, the target HDD is indeed empty (or at least, I see to it that it is upon each of these Windows reinstalls). With the instructions you linked to, I could successfully create a bootable USB key from which I can install Windows in UEFI mode, and the installer now accesses the full 4 TB of the HDD. Unfortunately, the current installation (I chose Windows 7 Home Premium N, as according to this answer the N versions are the ones distributed here in the EU) will not accept my product key, saying it does not match the current "Windows SKU"...

– O. R. Mapper – 2016-11-14T22:13:23.703

... This issue seems to be well-known, so I'm trying to find out which SKU the key on my COA belongs to. For the language, I chose German, but of course that's a mere guess based upon the fact that I'm in Germany and had successfully installed Windows in German from my vendor's DVD, which did not seem to prevent me from choosing whichever language I like. We'll see how many subsequent installations it'll take until I happen to hit the correct SKU :) Or maybe there's a way to find out which SKU my vendor's DVD installs when I choose Home Premium in the menu from that installer? – O. R. Mapper – 2016-11-14T22:22:45.217

@Ramhound: I am struggling with another problem now, as since this last, successful UEFI-based installation, the computer boots right into the installed Windows 7 and ignores any keypresses while showing the "Press del to enter setup, F11 for boot menu" message, unlike it was the case before. I will continue trying to find the right installer for installing a Windows whose SKU matches my product key once I can influence what device that computer boots from again. Thanks for your advice so far in any case!

– O. R. Mapper – 2016-11-14T23:26:41.587

If your being told the product key isn't correct then your installed the wrong version of Windows 7 – Ramhound – 2016-11-14T23:56:15.797

@Ramhound: I know, see my above comments where I describe I'm trying to find out which SKU my product key belongs to. Anyway, for as long as I don't know how to bring up the UEFI boot menu again, I cannot install another Windows version.

– O. R. Mapper – 2016-11-15T08:05:14.160

@Ramhound: The BIOS issue has been solved. Installation of Windows 7 Home Premium (without any N or K) was successful and my key is accepted. It seems like the correct answer to this question is/was "Your DVD is not truly UEFI-enabled. Use the ISO from ... instead."

– O. R. Mapper – 2016-11-15T22:23:08.283

Answers

From what I can conclude from multiple sources, installation media for Windows 7 x64 is not guaranteed to be bootable in pure UEFI for all hardware configurations (it was released at a time before UEFI systems are commonplace - mostly just BIOS or some early version of EFI). For the cases that worked, the vendors have implemented some kind of explicit support in the form of hybrid mode (UEFI+legacy) or CSM to allow the media to boot in "impure" UEFI/EFI mode.

In other cases, Windows 7 was installed during BIOS/legacy mode to MBR partitions, and the partitions are converted to GPT later using disk imaging tools (this is also known as converting a working Windows 7 BIOS installation to UEFI - this worked for me). This approach is addressed in: How to move an existing installation of Window 7 64bit to UEFI (from legacy)

There is also a third approach to bypass the UEFI boot issue, by booting into some other environment (WinPE, or even another version of Windows that is already installed and running in UEFI), where Windows 7 installation to UEFI can be initiated without having to boot the installation media itself.

You need to have Windows 7 x64 installed using UEFI, but Windows 7 can't install in a pure UEFI environment. If you can't boot into the UEFI installer with your legacy BIOS (CSM) enabled you need to use an EFI shell and start the installer from the EFI command line. It's not as difficult as it sounds. There are also guides around for converting an in place Windows 7 system from BIOS to UEFI, and while that should also fix it, none of those guides worked for me.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/3l6110/windows_7_upgrade_and_0xc000000f_device_not/

A bug report on 'UEFI Win 7 USB fails to boot'. I encountered a similar error and verified that the installation media can boot in UEFI with other hardware, just not the hardware that it cannot work with.

Source: https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/issues/254

On some Acer, Gateway, P. Bell, Windows 7 x64 will not install in UEFI mode, you need to use Legacy mode.

Source: https://www.eightforums.com/installation-setup/29993-trying-install-win7-uefi-mode.html

FAQ from a motherboard vendor that explains their UEFI support for Windows 7:

In order to install Windows 7 on 1762/16F3 with a Windows 8 BIOS, be sure to go to BIOS -> Boot -> Boot Mode, change UEFI to LEGACY. Failure to do so will cause the OS to hang at “Starting Windows” and will not proceed further. Once you switches to Legacy mode then the issue disappears.

Why I can’t use UEFI mode to load Windows 7?

It is impossible to install Win7 OS (using WinPE3.0 environment) in our Win8 NB UEFI mode (pure UEFI) setting, that’s why you need to switch to legacy mode. Win8 BIOS’ UEFI mode only supports WinPE 4.0 protocols. On desktop motherboards, Win7 OS can be installed via UEFI mode because this UEFI mode is Hybrid therefore it supports such installation. This is not a pure UEFI mode but a mixture of Legacy and UEFI environment. This pure UEFI mode in NB BIOS is same as enabling UEFI Win8 features under motherboard BIOS.

Source: https://service.msicomputer.com/msi_user/support/techfaqdetail.aspx?formid=3061

Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit cannot boot in UEFI

Can only install Windows 7 in UEFI-Legacy Mode

Installing Win 7 To GPT and Why My UEFI Mobo Won't Boot From CD Unless In Legacy Mode

prusswan

Posted 2016-11-14T14:01:14.787

Reputation: 328

"HL-DT-ST" is your DVD drive. In UEFI, it may not always show what's inside of it.

If you select that option, you should be able to continue the boot process from the DVD.

Chavez Clemons Jr.

Posted 2016-11-14T14:01:14.787

Reputation: 76

I know that's the DVD drive. It says "DVDRAM" in that line. It's the DVD drive not in UEFI mode. If I select it, the computer will boot from DVD without UEFI mode, thus bringing me to the Windows setup that does not support GPT. As the article I link to says: There should be two entries for the DVD drive, one labeled UEFI. For me, there is only one, not labeled UEFI. – O. R. Mapper – 2016-11-14T18:23:58.737

Try configuring your UEFI boot options to display the DVD drive. You have a mixed system, so it may not be configured to boot 1st by default. – Chavez Clemons Jr. – 2016-11-15T06:55:53.563

How can I configure UEFI options to "display the DVD drive"? Shouldn't it be irrelevant from which device the computer boots first by default when using the UEFI boot menu to manually select a device to boot from? When using an USB key as described by ramhound, that device does appear in the list with an entry labeled UEFI, so it seems likely the DVD I have is indeed not UEFI-bootable, rather than my PC config being wrong. In any case, I currently cannot enter UEFI settings - ...

– O. R. Mapper – 2016-11-15T07:56:18.650

... any help is gladly appreciated. – O. R. Mapper – 2016-11-15T07:56:36.473

UEFI doesn't include additional boot options by default, and also boots from the first internal HD by default.

When you enter your BIOS settings, there should be an option available to define boot options for EFI. You may have to add an additional option to your EFI menu if it isn't already present.

On the computer I used, it was the Esc key that brought up the UEFI boot manger.

Since you're using a EFI-based computer that previously had Windows 10 installed on it, why not use the Media Creation Tool provided by Microsoft to create a Windows 10 DVD or USB Key? That one works well. – Chavez Clemons Jr. – 2016-11-15T08:08:28.070

Other than that, you may be right and you may need to purchase a recent retail copy of Windows 7 x64 with the EFI bootloader information present. This is if and only if you absolutely need to use Windows 7 on the computer you're using. – Chavez Clemons Jr. – 2016-11-15T08:10:09.097

The computer shows I have to press F11 to open the UEFI boot manager, and that used to work until my latest installation of Windows yesterday. I do not want Windows 10, I want to install Windows 7. I already successfully created a Windows 7 USB key (with Rufus), as described above, which did appear in the UEFI boot manager and which I could UEFI-boot from, so I could successfully install Windows 7 from that USB key. I just cannot repeat that success now due to being unable to access the UEFI settings.

– O. R. Mapper – 2016-11-15T08:15:29.987

Try taking out the hard drive, then boot the computer with the EFI USB key plugged in. If it shows, you need to re-format that hard drive (probably using another computer or using a LiveCD booted off of the USB key with the HD in a external USB caddy) and re-install Windows 7 on it to fix the bootloader.

I recently fixed a computer with EFI and Windows 10; I can also confirm that if the boot media isn't properly formatted in the way EFI requires, EFI won't detect it and will attempt to boot off of the 1st hard drive in the system. – Chavez Clemons Jr. – 2016-11-15T08:30:27.227