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Long story short, I went for UEFI installation using Rufus without know what UEFI was about a month ago, did some things wrong and ultimately I have EFI records of OSes that no longer exist on my SSD (they show in the BIOS/UEFI firmware screen when pressing F8 after booting the computer).
I'm going for a fresh install of Windows 10, I basically want to make it as close as a brand new PC as possible. From what I've read online, I have to delete my current OS EFI boot record, but I'm not sure if this should be done before fresh installing, or after fresh installing Windows 10.
How can I delete my current OS EFI record, and should this be done right before installing Windows 10 in the disk utility using cmd prompt, or after I have already logged into the new windows install?
Christopher Francisco
Posted 2017-12-31T17:41:20.463
Reputation: 238
Just format the HDD and delete all partitions on the drive. You can do this by booting to WinPE. – Ramhound – 2018-01-01T00:58:34.563
Accepted answer to this question: https://superuser.com/questions/460762/how-can-i-repair-the-windows-8-efi-bootloader is applicable to your question
– Ramhound – 2018-01-01T01:01:54.923You can also mount the EFI partition and delete the unused drivers. Third-part applications also exist to accomplish this task. Recommendations will not be provided – Ramhound – 2018-01-01T01:02:37.430
@Ramhound but should I do it before reformat or after? – Christopher Francisco – 2018-01-01T01:18:55.233
Do what exactly? Sounds like you are extremely confused how EFI works. If you delete all the partitions on your SSD, then your EFI partition wouldn’t exist, and will simply be recreated when tou install Windows . – Ramhound – 2018-01-01T01:35:55.540
Yes but the EFI record stays doesn't it? – Christopher Francisco – 2018-01-01T01:38:38.133
It absolutely does not – Ramhound – 2018-01-01T01:39:47.037
I don't understand, I had to manually delete 2 EFI boot records, using bcdedit, from a previous Ubuntu and corrupted W10 install, they stayed even tho I wiped the SSD. AFAIK they're saved to mobo nvram, not the SSD. – Christopher Francisco – 2018-01-01T01:42:45.177
Your boot configuration data is stored on your storage device it is not stored in nvram. If you didn’t delete all the partitions then your EFI partition wouldn’t have been touched. To verify my statement, disconnect the SSD, and you will have no EFI enteries or simply use a EFI compatible installation disk and that will be the only entry. – Ramhound – 2018-01-01T01:45:02.597
I'm saying that the record for the ubuntu and old windows appeared even after disconnecting all disks from computer. – Christopher Francisco – 2018-01-01T01:49:01.457
“I'm saying that the record for the ubuntu and old windows appeared even after disconnecting all disks from computer.” This means you have some other storage device configured as the boot device other then the SSD. No, nothing about your system so can’t say that with 100% confidence. – Ramhound – 2018-01-01T01:51:18.920
Gparted live CD can do that in some seconds. – Biswapriyo – 2018-01-01T03:52:18.623