I understand the differences in the bios. Am I the only one with an Asrock motherboard here? I just need to know what I'm doing wrong, if anything. Also, secureboot is disabled by default in the bios. Is there no way around the UEFI issue as far as getting windows activated?
I know, but the loader does not work with AHCI. People with SSD's only can't use a loader and are forced to use a bios mod or to buy a legit copy .
the loader doesnt work with EFI mode .. needs bios mod slic 2.1 for win7 so he then will only need certificate and key.
The loader should work with AHCI and IDE. The main thing with UEFI systems is to disable secure boot and to enable the legacy BIOS. Once you've done that it should be as simple as booting the Windows 7 DVD (without UEFI), which you may need to do via the quick boot menu and then enter the commands documented in the loaders read me file. The alternative to Windows Loader would be to try WindSLIC UEFI or use Windows 7 Pro and activated it via Cody's Microsoft Toolkit. You could also try a BIOS mod for your system, but as it's a laptop just be aware that if it doesn't work you may have a hard time recovering your hardware.
Sometimes it may not give that option, but it may give you the quick boot option to boot the DVD without UEFI. That will then allow you to format as MBR and install.
I'm using a flash drive to install. I don't have an optical drive. When using the boot menu, it only shows that drive once.
@ Droogie128 Code: The loader doesn't work when the systems using GPT. The workaround is to pre-format your hard drive so that it uses MBR instead. From your BIOS select to boot the Windows DVD without UEFI, press and hold SHIFT and then press F10 and then enter this: diskpart list disk select disk 0 clean convert mbr create partition primary select partition 1 format fs=ntfs quick Boot the Windows DVD the same way you did the first time and then continue with the installation of Windows. Once complete you can then install the loader. You could also try removing bootmgr.efi from the root of your flash drive.
I don't get any of those. I don't have a DVD drive, though. I just have a flash drive that I use to install. When I hit the boot menu, it shows my ssd, and the flash drive. Nothing else. Just 2 options. Does it matter which version of windows I'm trying to install? What I have is Ultimate. I removed bootmgr.efi. Still just got the ssd and the flash drive. Just one of each. Also, now the flash drive is telling me it is missing the cd/dvd driver and can't continue installation.
The quick boot menu you'll only see the second you power on if you press the right button. Often you need to press either ESC, F8 or F12. Also sometimes you need to have the BIOS option enabled to have it displayed. Your system will look for a .efi boot file from your USB when you boot from it. If you delete the bootmgr.efi file then it should force the system to fall back to bootmgr (legacy mode) without the need to change any BIOS settings. I can't promise that'll work though, and if it doesn't then your only option would be to use Windows 7 Pro with KMS, a BIOS mod or WindSLIC UEFI.
Sorry I'm such a newb to all of this. I know my way around computers, but software is definitely my weakness.
Would it work if I installed windows on my home theater PC, and then transferred the SSD over to this one? The HTPC is a Celeron g540 on a z68 board. I'm running a 3570k on a z77 board. I'm wondering if installing it on that system without installing the motherboard drivers, then transferring it over to mine will work. This is my first time really dealing with UEFI in this manner. My last board was an Asus z77, but I didn't reinstall windows when I got that. I kept the old installation from my old i7-930.
Wait. Suddenly it says my windows is activated. lol. Odd. Now, it still won't let me save anything to my C drive. Says I don't have required permissions. I've tried changing the security settings, but it just gives more errors.