RAMPAGE Windows 8/7 UEFI Installation Guide

[Nodens]

1. What is the UEFI Mode?
2. What is Secure boot?
3. UEFI mode requirements
4. What is CSM or how UEFI Drivers and Legacy Option ROMs interface with the UEFI.
5. Setting up RAID and preparation for installation
6. Pros and Cons
7. Installing Windows 7/8 on UEFI Mode
8. GPT Tools


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1. What is the UEFI Mode?

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Extensible_Firmware_Interface#Booting wrote:

The UEFI specification defines a "boot manager", a firmware policy engine that is in charge of loading the
OS loader and all necessary drivers. The boot configuration is controlled by a set of global NVRAM variables,
including boot variables that indicate the paths to the loaders.

OS loaders are a class of UEFI applications. As such, they are stored as files on a file system that can be
accessed by the firmware. Supported file systems include FAT32, FAT16 and FAT12. Supported partition table
schemes include MBR and GPT. UEFI does not rely on a boot sector.

Boot loaders can also be auto-detected by firmware, to enable booting on removable devices. Auto-detection
relies on a standardized file path to the OS loader, depending on the actual architecture to boot
(\EFI\BOOT\BOOT[architecture name].EFI, e.g. \EFI\BOOT\BOOTx64.EFI).

It is common for UEFI firmware to include a user interface to the boot manager, to allow the user to select
and load the operating system among the possible options.

"Windows Boot Manager" is the boot manager that comes with Windows when it is installed in UEFI mode. This Boot Manager is accessible and viewable in the UEFI menu and F8 Boot options.


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2. What is Secure boot?

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Extensible_Firmware_Interface#Secure_boot wrote:

The UEFI 2.2 specification adds a protocol known as Secure boot, which can secure the boot process by
preventing the loading of drivers or OS loaders that are not signed with an acceptable digital signature.
When secure boot is enabled, it is initially placed in "Setup" mode, which allows a public key known as
the "Platform key" (PK) to be written to the firmware. Once the key is written, secure boot enters "User"
mode, where only drivers and loaders signed with the platform key can be loaded by the firmware. Additional
"Key Exchange Keys" (KEK) can be added to a database stored in memory to allow other certificates to be
used, but they must still have a connection to the private portion of the Platform key. Secure boot can
also be placed in "Custom" mode, where additional public keys can be added to the system that do not match
the private key.

Secure boot is only supported/enforced on Windows 8. This feature can be quite problematic as it won't allow you to boot any bootloaders that are not signed. Meaning once you enable it, you can't boot anything else unless you disable it or place it in "Custom" mode and configure public keys. This is beyond the scope of this guide though and for the duration of this guide I will suggest to keep it disabled in order to avoid any issues with dual booting etc. This information is provided though for those who may choose to enable it willingly.



ASUS UEFI has 2 settings:
a)"Windows UEFI": This setting turns Secure Boot on. This opens a submenu that allows "Custom" mode as described above.
b)"Other OS": This setting turns it off and contrary to what the name suggests this is what you should set if you use or plan to use Windows in UEFI mode and don't want Secure Boot.

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3. UEFI mode requirements

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Windows installation in UEFI mode has 4 basic requirements:
a) A UEFI enabled platform (The Rampage motherboards in this case.)
b) A x64 Operating System that supports it (Windows 8 or 7 in this case.)
c) Installing to GPT partitioned disk or RAID array that includes an "EFI System Partition" or ESP for short.
d) Booting the installation media in UEFI mode:



(See the the DVD drive in the screenshot has 2 entries, one starting with "UEFI:" and one with "P3:". Both of these are the same drive. The difference is the option with the UEFI prefix "UEFI:" boots in UEFI mode. Which means that it starts a UEFI bootloader. If a UEFI Bootloader is not present on the disk/flash drive, then this option will not be available.)


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4. What is CSM or how UEFI Drivers and Legacy Option ROMs interface with the UEFI.

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http://wiki.phoenix.com/wiki/index.php/Compatibility_Support_Module wrote:

The CSM provides additional functionality to UEFI. This additional functionality permits the loading of
a traditional OS or the use of a traditional OpROM.
The CSM operates in two distinct environments:

Booting a traditional or non-EFI-aware OS.
Loading a UEFI-aware OS a device that is controlled by a traditional Option ROM.

The first operation, booting a traditional or non-EFI-aware OS, is the traditional environment.
It is expected that traditional OpROMs will be around long after traditional OSs have been replaced
by EFI-aware OSs. The code that is required to load a UEFI-aware OS is a subset of the code that is
required to boot a traditional (non-EFI-aware) OS.

To make things simple, a device ideally (eg the onboard RAID controller) has a native UEFI driver but for compatibility with an older/non-UEFI aware operating system, the CSM allows the loading of the old style PCI Option ROMs we are all familiar with. You need either one or the other. If you load a UEFI driver, the legacy PCI Option ROM is not used. The CSM also allows you to boot operating systems that have no idea what UEFI is.



The ASUS UEFI has these options for CSM:
a)"Auto" (Self Explanatory).
b)"Enabled" (This allows you to manually set priorities for different types of devices eg "UEFI first"
means that if both exist, the UEFI driver will be chosen)
c)"Disabled" This disables CSM entirely with all its functions and runs in UEFI-only mode. This option
boots a lot faster because it doesn't load or wait for any legacy components. If your video cards and
expansion cards etc fully support UEFI, you can just turn it off (this is how I set it)-not for Win7.
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5. Setting up RAID and preparation for installation

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Suggested installation UEFI options (for the reasons explained above):
Secure Boot: Other OS
CSM: As shown in the screenshot above.

RAID arrays can be set up either via the normal Matrix utility prior to switching everything to
"UEFI first" or disabling CSM, or they can be set up afterwards from inside the UEFI.



If you want to have native TRIM under RAID, that means without my patch, then all that is important is that you follow this
guide to install in UEFI mode. It doesn't matter which method you use to create the array or if you have an existing array.

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6. Pros and Cons

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As with everything, there are pros and cons to this method of installation.

Pros:
1) Native UEFI installation offers very fast boot up times and better integration with the hardware.
2) UEFI is the future. It is what will be supported in the long run. BIOS will eventually become entirely phased out.
3) GPT partitions do not have the size limitations of their MBR based counterparts.
4) GPT is also the future.

Cons:
1) Many backup and recovery utilities do not properly support GPT or do not properly support it under RAID configurations. There are working solutions though.


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7. Installing Windows 7/8 on UEFI Mode

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Let's get to the point:) I will be using screenshots from Windows 8 but the important parts shown here are the same for Windows 7 as well.

A) Boot your installation media with the "UEFI:" prefixed option of your drive as described above. The operating system will load and you'll come to this screen:



Set your locale settings and proceeed as usual until you come to the Partitioting screen:




At this point if you are using a RAID array you need to click "Load Driver" and provide the F6 Intel RAID RST driver (11.6+) in a FAT32 formatted USB flash drive or a floppy drive if you still have one of those 🙂

B) If your disk or RAID array is new and had no other operating system on it, it will show up as unallocated space, like the screenshot above. If partitions do exist, delete them all until it shows as unallocated space. Now press "New" and select the maximum space (or as much as you like) and hit apply. You will see this window:



Press Ok. If all is correct then Windows will automatically partition the drive/array to GPT and you will see this structure:



If it is not as above then something is wrong with the partition table and you should skip to step C (Recovery only on Win8). Otherwise press next and Windows will start installing:

[Nodens]

No. It boosts POST more and Windows very slightly.

[tistou77]

Arf ... I really need to find why it does not work for me, then 😄

If someone has an idea or setting

[Nodens]

We know the reason it doesn't work is the video adapter driver in OS. So it's probably not enabled for the 6xx cards or it doesn't work with their UEFI GOP. It's one or the other since we now know it does with 7xx

[tistou77]

Ok, I'll see with EVGA if it's this UEFI GAP, the problem

Thanks

[tistou77]

I tested with Windows 8.1, and it works with CSM disabled
The problem is the drivers with Windows 7 and GTX 6xx (as the PCIE 3.0)

The rapidity of ​​POST is not obvious with the CSM disabled
Power button => Desktop: 25sec (Windows 8.1)

[tistou77]

tistou77 wrote:
I tested with Windows 8.1, and it works with CSM disabled
The problem is the drivers with Windows 7 and GTX 6xx (as the PCIE 3.0)

Hello

I tested with a GTX770 and it's the same with GTX 6xx.
Nvidia drivers are OK only for the GTX780 and Titan (as the GEN3)
Besides, is that the GEN3 is related to the UEFI driver and can disable the CSM? I don't think....

[Nodens]

1) USB drive should be formatted FAT not NTFS.

2) Not all your drives must be GPT partitioned. Only the Boot/system drive. REst of the drives can be whatever. It will not affect ability to turn off CSM. The UEFI booting process does not care about your other drives only the Boot/System drive.

3) GUIDs are not visible to Windows Explorer and have nothing to do with drive letters. All your partitions will have drive letters as normal except from Recovery, ESP and MSR partitions which are hidden by default. Of those, Recovery and ESP can be assigned drive leeters as well but manually. MSR can not because it's just reserved raw space. there's no file system on it.

4) CSM can be disabled before installing or afterwards..doesn't matter.

5) You can create all partitions manually BUT the system drive needs to have a specific structure. If you create partitions manually you will still have to use diskpart prior to installation to set the proper GPT flags on each partition and MSR can not be created with any other tool than diskpart as far as I know. Which means you have to read a lot of information on GPT and particularly how Microsoft wants the system drive to be, create partitions with diskpart or create Recovery,ESP and System with whatever while leaving space for MSR between ESP and System while making sure the starting offset of System is aligned properly. Then you'd have to use diskpart to set all flags manually. All this, including the reading will take you a couple of hours. Windows does it on its own in a second. Again ONLY the system drive needs to be like this. Any other drive can be GPT or MBR and can have have whatever file system and partitioning scheme made with whatever partitioning tool.

[RickROG]

Nodens wrote:
1).....All your partitions will have drive letters as normal except from Recovery, ESP and MSR partitions which are hidden by default. Of those, Recovery and ESP can be assigned drive leeters as well but manually. MSR can not because it's just reserved raw space. there's no file system on it......

Understood, let Windows do it: there are a lot of caveats in manually assigning space for the hidden partitions according to the reading I managed so far; and if I don't manually assign the Recovery and ESP drive letters then they will be assigned none and all my current drives will maintain the same letters; ie: C, D, E so that none of my scripts require modification in this regard-correct?

Thanks Nodens, very much appreciate the time and answer. 🙂

[Nodens]

Correct. Those partitions will have no letters as they don't need to. There are very special cases where you may want to access them (eg in order to add EFI shell to the ESP partition), in which case you can use diskpart to assign them any letter you wish and remove it afterwards.

[RickROG]

Awesome, thanks very much; I am in the process of cleaning a usb drive now to reformat it in FAT32 (16G) and then will copy my DVD to it and give this efi a serious go-anything to get rid of CSM. 🙂

Update: Oh, I like...verrrry nice. Only problem is my PC boots up too fast now....LOL. Fresh install with CSM disabled from the Get-Go went perfectly. 🙂