Hello, I have a Laptop with Windows 8 OEM and I want to perform a clean install of Windows 8.1. I pretty much know how to do it, but I have a question regarding the OEM and recovery partitions. If I fully format my HDD (including the OEM and recovery partitions), will I be able to access my UEFI BIOS settings? I currently access them through windows (Shift+Restart , Advanced mode -> UEFI Settings) OR by clicking a special button an my computer (while the computer is off). I ask this because I'm uncertain of the way the manufacturers put their custom BIOS into laptops. So If anyone has some experience with this, I would be grateful if You could share it with me (and others).
Yes, exactly. But You still didn't tell me if the OEMs keep their custom BIOS in my disk. Will fully formatting my disk destroy it?
The BIOS is stored in a separate EEPROM; no connection with HDD. I assure you (I have done it myself), full format will not touch it. But you can't do factory restore from the menu if you delete the OEM recovery partition (which is useless anyway).