What is an EFI system or UEFI partition? Computer help from Serty. System partition (EFI or ESP system partition) Create efi partition
When we install Windows to empty (unlabeled)
HDD or a formatted partition in the usual way - using installation media, we do not need to bother about creating an EFI partition for the operating system. All necessary partitions, in particular the boot EFI, are created automatically if the computer is running in BIOS UEFI mode. But if you need to install Windows in a different way.
And to another hard drive with its own independent bootloader, if there is a question about restoring the system after deletion hard drive with a boot partition, in such non-standard situations manual work will be required.
Windows does not install on a second GPT disk connected to the computer with its own EFI-structure. During a normal installation from installation media, the bootloader of the second system is registered on the existing one. EFI-partition – the one located on the first disk.
What makes the second Windows vulnerable is that it will not be able to exist independently if the boot loader of the first system is damaged. Or if the first hard drive fails or is simply disconnected. So that the second Windows has its own independent EFI- markup, during its installation you need to make the first system invisible - disable its media in BIOS settings, if possible, or in hardware. This is not always convenient, and sometimes even impossible in the case of laptops.
The second Windows with its own independent bootloader can be installed by programs like WinToHDD or WinToHDD that run in the environment of the current system. But they will require you to specify the bootloader EFI-chapter.
It's very easy to create one on an empty hard drive.
1. Create an EFI partition on an empty hard drive in the command lineSo, we have a medium initialized as GPT without markup and data.
Launch the command line.
Be sure to do this on behalf of the administrator.
We enter one by one:
diskpart lis disk sel disk 1 (instead of 1, indicate the number under which the hard drive you need is listed above) creat par efi size=100 format fs=FAT32
lis disk sel disk 1 (instead of 1 indicates the number under which the hard drive you need is listed above) creat par efi size = 100 format fs = FAT32 |
In the disk management utility we see that on the second hard drive appeared EFI-section on 100 MB. Now we can create a regular partition to indicate it to programs like or WinToHDD as a system partition WITH.
Who doesn't like the command line to create EFI-to mark up empty media, you can use the utility with graphical interface. It is free and can be downloaded from any software portal on the Internet. In the main window, select the second hard one. Click.
Then - “Re-Partitioning”.
First of all, check the GPT box in the “Partition table type” column. Then check the box “Create ESP partition”. And at the top in the “Settings” column we remove all “Size” values except the last one. Click "Ok".
As a result, we get a disk layout with EFI-section on 128 MB and a partition that contains the rest of the disk space.
But what if the hard drive is not empty? If it has a structure and stored user data. Or we want to restore Windows that has lost its boot boot EFI-partition after failure or disconnection of the hard drive on which its bootloader previously existed. And there are solutions for this case. To restore a system without a bootloader, we naturally need an environment to perform certain operations. In one case, regular Windows installation media will do. In another case, we will work with a disk space manager, so we will need a functional and reliable LiveDisk WinPE. One of these is Sagittarius LiveDisk. Image download site - Sergeistrelec.Ru.
Note: The following operations cannot be performed on disks dynamic type. The disk of a Windows mirror that is left without a bootloader must first be converted to a basic type. This can only be done by third-party means.
3. Creating an EFI partition at the end of WindowsSo, we have, for example, a second Windows that has lost EFI-bootloader after the failure of the disk with the first system.
How to launch it? The easiest and fastest way is to create EFI-partition at the end of the system partition and recreate the bootloader. You don't need anything more for this command line. Boot from the Windows installation media, immediately press Shift + F10. This combination will launch the command prompt. If we use LiveDisk Sagittarius, we start, accordingly, from it.
And already on board we use the command line.
In it we enter:
diskpart lis vol sel vol 1 (instead of 1, indicate the number under which your partition with the system is listed above) shrink desired=100 creat par efi format fs=FAT32
Here is the specified section compressed to 100 MB and in the vacant place was created EFI-chapter.
Now we can recreate the bootloader.
On the command line, exit :
That's it - Windows functionality has been restored.
4. Creating an EFI partition before WindowsThe boot partition usually exists at the beginning of the disk, before the system partition. It doesn't have to be this way, but it's done to speed things up. Windows startup. To make UEFI find the bootloader faster. On an SSD, such optimization is unlikely to be noticeable, but in the case of an HDD, you can compete even for a fraction of performance.
On board LiveDisk Sagittarius let's launch. Click on the system partition, and on the side operations panel click “Resize”.
Pull the slider on the map a little to the right so that in the column below “Unallocated space in front” several MB. Next, instead of the drawn number, we enter 105 . To make it work 105 MB. Click "Ok".
As a result, the program will release the correct amount of disk space, in our case 102.01 MB. And it will leave a small tail at the back of the section. Click.
We confirm.
Now let's launch the command line. And we create EFI-section exactly the same as described in paragraph 1 of the article.
Here EFI-the section has been created.
All that remains is to recreate the bootloader, as described at the end of paragraph 3 of the article.
Hello! Windows 8.1 won’t boot on a laptop with a UEFI BIOS and I can’t do anything. When loading, an error appears on the screen File:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD... I studied all the Internet articles on this topic, but in my case nothing helps.
What have I done?
I entered commands that were successful, but Windows did not load.
bootrec /FixMbr
bootrec /FixBoot
I don’t know what else to do or how to restore the Windows 8.1 bootloader. Maybe you can give me some advice?
Hello friends! My name is Vladimir and I will answer this question.
If your Windows 8.1 does not boot and you have used all available tools to restore the bootloader, then you can delete the 300 MB encrypted (EFI) system partition, as well as the 128 MB MSR partition, that is responsible for booting the system and create them again.
In Disk Management you can only see the 300 MB encrypted (EFI) system partition, the 128 MB MSR partition is visible only in the command line when you enter the “lis par” command.
Note: If you do not have experience, do not perform this operation unless necessary, use other methods from the about section first. If you want to experiment on a working laptop, then do not start working without first creating backup copy of these sections, or better yet, create a .
We will delete and recreate partitions:
1. Partition (400 MB) containing the environment Windows recovery 8.1 (you can get rid of this section altogether and, if necessary, use the recovery environment located on the bootable media with Win 8.1).
2. Partition (300 MB), encrypted (EFI) system partition containing all Windows 8.1 boot loader files.
3. Service partition MSR (Microsoft System Reserved) 128 MB, required for GPT disk partitioning.
We boot the laptop from and in the initial system installation window click keyboard shortcut Shift + F10
A command line window opens, enter the commands:
diskpart
lis dis (lists physical disks).
sel dis 0 (select a 931 GB laptop hard drive, and a second 14 GB drive - a bootable USB flash drive for Windows 8.1).
lis par (shows all partitions of the selected disk, we will delete the first three partitions).
sel par 1 (select the first section
del par override (delete the partition, to delete the ESP and MSR partition or the laptop OEM partition, you must specify the override parameter)
sel par 2
del par override
sel par 3
del par override
That's it, we deleted all three hidden sections.
Now, if we select a disk and enter the lis par command, we will see only two partitions on the laptop’s hard drive:
Section 4 - installed Windows 8.1
Partition 5 is a hidden recovery partition with factory settings.
We create a new encrypted (EFI) system partition of 300 MB, as well as a 128 MB MSR partition
Enter the commands:
diskpart
lis dis (display a list of disks).
sel dis 0 (select the laptop hard drive).
create par efi size=300 (create an encrypted (EFI) system partition of 300 MB).
format fs=fat32 (format it in file system FAT32).
creat par msr size=128 (create a 128 MB MSR partition)
Most Windows 7 installations include tiny 100MB partitions called `system Reserved', also known as MSR or 'Microsoft System Reserved' partition. For the rest of this article, for brevity I will refer to this section as MSR.
One of the most basic parameters of each air conditioner is its power. The power of the air conditioner is calculated depending on where you intend to install the equipment or depending on the area of the living space. If you install household air conditioners, which in terms of power are not designed to operate in a large room, then in this situation you simply will not be able to obtain proper cooling. Since the system will work to the maximum.
Note: Some OEM installations may have this section named `system` or even `recovery`. In any case, this will be the `Active` partition on the same drive as the `C` drive.
Some OEM Windows 7 installations do not include an MSR partition. To check if you have this partition, run Macrium Reflect and find the partition on the system drive called `System Reserved'.
Note: If drive `C` is your `Active` partition, you just need to do backup and repairing the `C` drive for full recovery systems.
What does the MSR partition do?The MSR partition handles the second stage of the boot process after the Master Boot Record (MBR). The MBR is located on the first sector of the disk and is loaded at system startup, after booting control is transferred to the code section of the boot sector of the active partition, this is the MSR partition if it exists on your `C` drive. The MSR contains an `oot` directory containing Boot Configuration Data (BCD). The BCD controls the next step in the boot process and loads the operating system from the C: drive. The MSR partition is always the `Active` partition on the system drive, and must be mounted to the `Active` partition. The contents of this partition will not change, and by default, there is no drive letter assigned in Windows, so you will not be able to change it.
Do I need his image?The image on the MSR partition is necessary to restore your system in order to move the system to new disk. However, if you only need to update the system to an earlier date, the MSR recovery partition is not needed, you just need to restore the C drive. This is necessary to restore the Windows 7 partitions to the same location for the BCD to still be able to reference them while loading. If you restore to a new or unformatted drive, and then go to the primary C drive as “primary”. The simplest solution is to use DiskRestore to restore both partitions at the same time. DiskRestore is available in the Windows PE CD rescuer and can be launched from BartPE if you are running the free edition of Macrium Reflect.
Summary- You must create at least one image in the MSR partition if one exists on your system. However, the partition will only occupy 100 MB and this is only a small amount to have an image of the entire image of your `C` drive.
- If you want to restore your system to an earlier point, then you just need to restore the `C` drive (as "primary" is not active), then there is no need to restore the MSR partition.
- If you are restoring your system to install it on an empty or unformatted drive, you should first restore the MSR partition as the "active" partition, then restore the `C' drive as primary.
As soon as we turn on the computer, it immediately starts running a miniature operating system, which we know as BIOS. She is involved in testing devices, memory, loading operating systems, distribution of equipment resources. Many of the features of this set of programs (usually about 256-512 KB in size) allow you to support older operating systems like MS-DOS, giving them many features. Since the days of the PC/AT-8086, the BIOS has changed very little, and by the time the first Pentiums were launched, its development had almost stopped. Actually, there was nothing to change in it except dual BIOS, support for network tools and the ability to flash the firmware. But there were a lot of disadvantages: initial entry into the real processor mode, 16-bit addressing and 1 MB of available memory, the inability to have a “repair” console. And, of course, the eternal problem of hard drive support. Even now, drives up to 2.2 TB are guaranteed to be supported, no more.
Back in 2005, Intel decided to change the BIOS to EFI/UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface). The EFI system is a more advanced base operating system. UEFI has been working on some Unix and Windows platforms for a long time, but a mass transition has not yet occurred, despite good intentions. And they are like this:
- Availability of the notorious console for repairing system parameters and installing the OS;
- The EFI partition makes it possible to perform some actions without loading the OS (watching movies, playing music);
- Internet access and therefore availability installed drivers network, TCP/IP stack, etc.);
- Presence of graphic mode and user scripts;
- Support for gigantic disks;
- UEFI storage on new format partitions (GPT);
- Full support for all equipment from the moment of launch.
UEFI can use a general-purpose execution engine like the JVM to run hardware-independent code, which opens up enormous possibilities for creating bootable software.
There is also criticism of this technology. In particular, its implementation may lead to cutting off new players from the operating system market: for this purpose there will always be some technological loophole in the code. Like, for example, the inability to boot Windows 98 from modern BIOSes. But what’s worse is that you’ll have to forget about the millions of MS-DOS programs and other systems that relied on BIOS functions to operate. Perhaps they will still be emulated, but there are doubts about this. And among them there are probably important programs that there will be no one to rewrite. However, all these issues can be resolved – at least through virtual operating systems. But what is certain is that new types of viruses will appear, and we will be able to see this quite soon.
Updated: October 2013
Purpose: Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2
This section describes how to set up disk partitions, including hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), and other drives for BIOS-based Unified EFI Interface (UEFI) computers.
In this section
Partition configurations
This section describes the default partition configuration and the recommended partition configuration.
Default configuration: Windows Recovery Environment partition, System partition, MSR partition, and Windows partition
The default Windows installation configuration includes the Windows Recovery Environment Tools partition, the System partition, the MSR partition, and the Windows partition. This configuration is shown in the following diagram. This configuration allows you to enable BitLocker drive encryption and store the Windows Recovery Environment on a hidden system partition.
Using this configuration in a custom Windows installation You can add utilities such as Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption and Windows Recovery Environment.
Recommended configuration: Windows Recovery Environment partition, system partition, MSR partition, Windows partition, and recovery image partition
The recommended configuration includes: Windows Recovery Environment partition, system partition, MSR partition, Windows partition, and recovery image partition. This configuration is shown in the following figure.
The Windows Recovery Environment Tools partition and the System partition are added before the Windows partition is added. The last partition to be added is the recovery image. This partition order will help keep the system partition and the Windows Recovery Environment partition safe during actions such as deleting the recovery image partition or resizing the Windows partition.
