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Clean Windows 8 install on GPT SSD drive (G75VX)

gokica
Level 10
My VX came with Windows 8 OEM (not Pro) installed on 750GB HDD which was formatted as GPT drive (work with UEFI and the legacy BIOS).

I bought a SSD drive and wanted to install fresh Windows 8 on it. I was hesitant about migrating the current OS installation from the HDD to the newly added SSD because of the following reasons:
1. There is a chance that TRIM support by the OS may not activate
2. The partitions alignment may not be proper which can bring poor SSD results
3. I wanted to leave the ASUS install and recovery partitions intact in case I need them in the future (having a spare OS may come handy especially if one is traveling and does not have live CD).
4. There are occasions when the migration comes with problems for starting certain applications that were installed previously.

Very important: the install process is lot less complicated if one would like to install fresh Windows 8 on MBR drive. The challenge for me was to install the OS on GPT formatted drive.

Here is how I did it:

I checked which version of Windows 8 came pre-installed with the laptop by running “winver” application. The winver can be accessed by activating “search” and typing “winver”.

Here is how it can be done:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/which-operating-system



I made note of the version and mine was Windows 8. Not pro. This meant that it is Core OEM version. This step is important because I must fresh install the same version of Windows if I want it to activate automatically with the license purchased with the laptop.

If I install different version the installation will not activate.

After many tries and fails I managed to find the proper version:

Windows 8 (x64) English
3416 MB
File Name: en_windows_8_x64_dvd_915440.iso
SHA1: 1CE53AD5F60419CF04A715CF3233F247E48BEEC4

I had to download this specific ISO from the net. I than verified the hash (SHA1). There are many free utilities on the net that can do this easily. It is important to verify the hash after downloading the ISO to make sure that it has not been modified by someone i.e. it is the original Microsoft ISO.

Please note that users with Windows 8 Pro preinstalled will have to find the appropriate OEM ISO.

After downloading I made sure that the ISO is UEFI bootable. Some ISO are not tailored for booting under UEFI. Opened the ISO with Daemon Tools Lite and noticed that in EFI\BOOT\ there was a file bootx64.efi which is exactly the file required for booting from USB drive.

This is important because I wanted to install Win8 on GPT partitioned drive.

I turned off the computer and installed the SSD drive in the second bay. Once I fired up Windows again it immediately recognized the newly added SSD and prompted me whether I would like the drive to become GPT or MBR drive. I selected GPT.

Got a brand new SanDisk Extreme USB drive (USB 3.0 and ultrafast) but you can use any other USB drive with at least 4GB of available space. Make sure to make backup because once it is made UEFI bootable the USB drive contents most probably will be wiped out.

UEFI can read only FAT32 formatted USB flash sticks (memory). In order to boot from USB under UEFI it is also important that the drive is partitioned as Active Primary FAT 32 partition.

To do this open CMD (type CMD in “search”, right click and run as administrator). In CMD type “diskpart” (without the quotes).

Than type “list disk” followed by:
• select disk #
• clean
• create partition primary
• format fs=fat32 quick
• active
• assign
• list volume
• exit

For more information here is a link:

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/15458-uefi-bootable-usb-flash-drive-create-windows.html

After USB is partitioned open the ISO with Daemon Tools Lite (once loaded it will become a separate drive letter in your computer). Copy all of the files from that drive (virtual drive) to the formatted USB.

I plugged the USB and rebooted. I went into BIOS (by pressing F2 immediately after restart) and made sure that “Launch CSM” is set to Disabled. Switched to "Security" and set "Secure Boot Control" to Disabled. I will re-enable the Secure Boot once the installation is finished.

Than went into the boot options and made the UEFI USB drive as first boot option.

Restarted and the Windows installation started. It immediately recognized the HDD partitions and the newly added SSD. I selected the SSD unformatted drive and pressed install. With the SanDisk extreme USB drive the installation lasted 3-4 minutes.

After the installation was done and after the restart I was prompted with the boot options (windows boot loader):
A) Windows 8 on Volume 8 and
B) Windows 8 on Volume 4.

The first is the SSD OS which is now made default and the second option is the old Windows 8 installation that came with the laptop. So I can choose which OS I would like to boot into. Two Windows 8 installations can coexist.

I can later use BCD edit if I want to change the boot options screen.

Connected to Internet and Windows activated just fine.

Use ASUS DVD that came with the laptop or the drivers from the official site to do the drivers install.

After this procedure you can delete the old installation in case you do not need it.
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10 REPLIES 10

Clintlgm
Level 14
Real good guide thanks for posting this.
G752VY-DH72 Win 10 Pro
512 GB M.2 Samsung 960 Pro
1 TB Samsung 850 pro 2.5 format
980m GTX 4 GB
32GB DDR 4 Standard RAM

Z97 PRO WiFi I7 4790K
Windows 10 Pro
Z97 -A
Windows 10 Pro

Nodens
Level 16
Repartitioning the usb flash drive was not needed. All you need for Win8 bootable USB in UEFI mode is to copy the entire contents of the DVD to a FAT32 formatted drive. Active primary partition is not needed at all as UEFI booting does not rely on a bootsector.

Also you could just move the installation to the SSD drive, you should have no issue at all. When it comes to aligning, any drive that is formatted in Win7 or 8 is properly aligned. If your SSD drive needs a 4096 alignment for it's optimal performance, you did not align to that as well on your new installation (it would need you to manually create partitions with diskpart and align=4096 flag).

Anyhow there's a full guide thread for this in my sig and troubleshooting is done on the thread:)
RAMPAGE Windows 8/7 UEFI Installation Guide - Patched OROM for TRIM in RAID - Patched UEFI GOP Updater Tool - ASUS OEM License Restorer
There are 10 types of people in the world. Those who understand binary and those who don't!

RealBench Developer.

gokica
Level 10
Thank you for the tips. I will try to incorporate them in the guide once I get the chance.

rewben
Level 13
@gokica, thank you very much for the nice guide 🙂 i have added a link to this thread here.

I'm very late to this, but I followed the instructions contained herein and upon removing the original, mechanical, drive, and leaving in the newly set-up Win8 installation on SSD, the computer cannot see the SSD at all, even though, with the mechanical drive in, I was presented with the Window Boot Manager screen upon each boot, could see the SSD and had no problem booting into and installing all drivers, etc., on the SSD.

Any ideas what I've missed?

Ergo wrote:
I'm very late to this, but I followed the instructions contained herein and upon removing the original, mechanical, drive, and leaving in the newly set-up Win8 installation on SSD, the computer cannot see the SSD at all, even though, with the mechanical drive in, I was presented with the Window Boot Manager screen upon each boot, could see the SSD and had no problem booting into and installing all drivers, etc., on the SSD.

Any ideas what I've missed?


My Guess would be that you installed BIOS MBR and your computer system is UEFI GPT
See this thread for correctly installing window UEFI

Its best to remove the old drive and only have your SSD in when you Clean Install, this is why you can't see your SSD because the 2nd drive still has the boot sector on it Rather than your SSD, this can easily happen that's why we always recommend removing all drive except the one you are installing window on.
G752VY-DH72 Win 10 Pro
512 GB M.2 Samsung 960 Pro
1 TB Samsung 850 pro 2.5 format
980m GTX 4 GB
32GB DDR 4 Standard RAM

Z97 PRO WiFi I7 4790K
Windows 10 Pro
Z97 -A
Windows 10 Pro

Ergo
Level 7
Thanks for the reply--I'll give this a shot.

Ergo
Level 7
OK, that seems to have fixed that issue, now the only headache is that, when attempting to install various ASUS drivers, the computer doesn't think it's an ASUS computer(telling me it can't install particular apps because it isn't). I'm sure I've overlooked something trivial, but if you could, perhaps, point me in the correct direction I would very much appreciate it.

Hi! I am using ASUS ROG G75vx, I am planning to change my two hard disk to a new ssd, 1tb ssd and other is 2tb ssd, how can I fresh install the OS to the 2 new hard disk?

Thank you.