I've already posted something similar in another thread but I thought I'd possibly get more people to help me if I did the same thing here. I've recently got a new PC with an ASRock P67 Pro3 motherboard. I didn't really know much about UEFI when I was about to install Windows 7 so I chose UEFI instead of SATA for the DVD with the operating system. As you can imagine, I can't activate the system now. From what I can see BIOS mods are recommended in cases like this along with reinstalling Windows not using UEFI for the DVD. A BIOS mod is risky so I wouldn't go for that right now and I'm afraid that avoiding UEFI would have some disadvantages. What would you suggest? Is there a way I can somehow reinstall the system and activate it in the process with the UEFI option on or, better, reach the hidden partition without reinstalling anything and affect the partition so that the system thinks it is genuine?
I just read some stuff about efi. It seems there is a separate efi partition (ESP) which contains all the bootloaders for the oses. So if a grub with efi support is used and all the current loader code is inserted in that new grub, isn't it possible to replace the windows efi bootloader with the new loader and redirect to the windows loader afterwards?
Can't be done. GRUB2 would need to run first, hand off to the loader and then it'd freeze. GRUB doesn't understand EFI and the loader code can't be ported over since it's entirely different. The best solution for EFI systems is to either use a BIOS mod or use the non-UEFI boot option when installing Windows 7 and then pre-format the hard drive to use MBR which will allow the loader to work. Code: diskpart list disk select disk 0 clean convert mbr create partition primary select partition 1 format fs=ntsf quick You will still have your fancy "BIOS" screen and everything. UEFI is almost pointless unless you use a hard drive larger than 2.19TB.
great workaround DAZ. My only wish is because EFI is now becoming more common, it would be great if someone could come up with some sort of new loader or whatever you want to call it, to cope with the new efi, as in the future more and more people will have the larger hard drives.
The other option is to switch to UEFI boot after installing the OS and activating via DAz. That way you get the faster boot time. Using this method on this Sandy Bridge H67, of course it has a small SSD boot drive. In this day in age in makes little sense to use a HDD greater than 2TB for a boot drive, a SB MB + SSD with UEFI boot is so fast to boot up that there is no need for hibernate or sleep, just turn the computer off when not in use, this saves a lot of hassle and buggy drivers that have trouble with sleep. I still wouldn't use a bios mod on a sandy bridge, the bios keeps getting updated and everytime you flash a modded bios there is risk of a brick. For Sandy UEFI motherboards, the Daz loader is still the best option IMHO.
Making a patched BIOS was pretty straight forward. Download PhoenixTool. (---darn cant post links yet---) Download Read Write Everything (---darn cant post links yet---) Original UEFI BIOS. First flash original BIOS and boot without loader. Extract PhoenixTool to its own folder and put the original BIOS there too. Load RW-Everything, click ACPI, click the three floppies (save all) and save it into the PhoenixTool folder. Start PhoenixTool, select original BIOS, select manufacturer (I picked ASUS because I have an ASUS board heh ), select ASUS SLIC, select ASUS SLP and select the RW report you just made. Click go and that should be it. Most new motherboards offer recovery options if flashing went wrong, so take the plunge and flash it. For windows to accept your OEM key you obviously need the certificate or simply use Daz his loader to install it. edit: you can find all the files needed on this forum with google
Click Go on SSV2 has error "unable to insert SLIC", on NVRAM "Mac Adress is not same", on Dynamic "cannot find compeate SLIC", at New Module "SP2 not found", at Module OK, but any version of afudos cannot flash this bios... PS is ASUS K56CMAS, bios version 209! asus dos utilites cannot flash modded bios too!
Strelok Good Neco. Most platinum partners are implementing signed EFI and OA3. Which appears to block OA2.1 fair use activation workarounds. See if you can find an older bios that works and mod that.