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Reinstall Win10 Pro UEFI or Legacy BIOS

Anonymous
2020-10-01T15:00:35+00:00

I am preparing to reinstall Windows 10 Pro.  I am going to do a complete delete-everything reinstall.  I am going by the article posted in this community by Greg Carmack - Windows MVP “Clean Install Windows 10”

I am going to use the basic Media Creation Tool referenced in the article to do the reinstall.  I will put it on a 8 gb USB flash drive I have.  That seems like the simplest method to reinstall Win10.  I quoted from this article below.  In the article the paragraph above the quote references a very complete article about the many options for the Win install media creation.  From that article “Option One: Use Media Creation Tool to create Bootable Windows 10 USB for Legacy BIOS and UEFI”.  This implies I need to know if I have UEFI or Legacy BIOS. 

Under “Backup and Prepare” section it says “The new modern UEFI BIOS replacement requires 64 bit media - you can check BIOS mode in System Information or by presence of EFI System partition in Disk Management.”

I restart computer and  > Press F2 to get into BIOS utility.

The BIOS settings page at top says “ASUS UEFI BIOS Utility EZ Mode” and “Z87-A  BIOS  Version 2103”.  Then, according to the above quote, I go into “System Information”.  That says I have “Legacy” BIOS.   I go into Windows Disk Management.  (I do not know why there are so many partitions.  I did not knowingly create these.)  I do not see anything that references UEFI.  “ASUS UEFI BIOS Utility EZ Mode” implies the installed BIOS on my computer is UEFI.  Windows System Information and Windows Disk Management says my BIOS is Legacy. 

Do I have UEFI or Legacy BIOS?  Using the basic Media Creation Tool to reinstall Win10 will I need to know if I have UEFI or Legacy BIOS.   Thank you for your help.  Bob.

I run i7-4770 Haswell midtower, 15GB memory, 500GB SSD, 2GB video card & Windows 10 Pro (x64) Version 1909, Build 18363.1083  Windows firewall.  I use my computer in a normal user account not an administrator account.  I vigilantly keep everything updated.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Install and upgrade

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-10-01T16:25:57+00:00

    Thank you for telling me that my motherboard supports both UEFI and Legacy BIOS.  I do not know where to find that information.  Also thank you for telling me to accept default using Media Creation Tool.  I was hoping I could just use default since I have never done this before.  Default settings are always easier. 

    Disk Management > Disk Number Panel > Properties > Volumes Tab >

    “Master boot record (MBR)”.  So it is MBR.

    From a previous question I posted  Pauli O (down third reply) said:

    “Download Media Creation Tool and let it create bootable USB installer, boot from USB, delete all partitions, installer create required partitions.”

    That sounds easy which is what I want.  Default and easy.  When I use the bootable USB installer I create using the Media Creation Tool, I assume the partitions will be obvious and easy.  I assume it will be easy to delete all my partitions, according to Pauli O instructions I quoted” and the USB installer will create the needed partitions automatically since I will choose default whenever I can.  Tell me more if I need more instructions on the deleting and creation of partitions.

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  2. DaveM121 884.3K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2020-10-01T15:13:32+00:00

    Hi expertbigwheelpilot2

    I am Dave, an Independent Advisor, I will help you with this . . .

    The Z87-A motherboard supports UEFI and Legacy BIOS, if you download and create the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool and accept the defaults to create a 64bit Installation USB, that will work fine on your Motherboard and will default to UEFI

    After you delete the partitions on your drive, the Windows 10 installation process will by default create 3 partitions on your drive, the EFI boot partition, the C Drive and a Recovery Partition

    Open Disk Management, in the bottom pane, on the left of your drive is a square panel, with the Disk number on it, right click that panel and choose Properties, then on the resulting dialog, choose the Volumes Tab, is the partition style MBR or GPT?

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-10-07T12:34:29+00:00

    It worked!!  Reinstall went as planned.  BIOS Mode is now UEFI.  I could not have done it without you.    Thank you so much!  Bob

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-10-01T18:54:32+00:00

    I think I have what I need.  I will compile everything you said in in a file and print it out to reference while I am going through thee steps..  I will take it from there.  Thank you so much!  Could not have done this correctly without you.  Bob.

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  5. DaveM121 884.3K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2020-10-01T16:52:11+00:00

    Hi expertbigwheelpilot2

    No, those steps will not cause your system to be in UEFI mode, a few more steps are required, do you want to boot in UEFI Mode?

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