How to install windows 8/8.1/10 on any UEFI & AHCI supported laptop
( E.I G751, G771, G551 GL552 etc) the PROPER way
I.E: on a GPT formatted disk, booted with UEFI
*** G752 owner ?? ***
*** Do you wish to use RAID and/or NVME ? ***
* Read also these specific installation guide Here and Here *
The "why should I bother" ?
you've got ROG Laptop, best in the market, fitted with UEFI, "the newest form of BIOS". ( READ MORE HERE )
No reason to work with OS that is installed on a MBR formatted drive that's running on a BIOS emulated machine (like some preinstalled windows), if you wish the fastest laptop, OS & applications !
OS on a GPT formatted disk, booted with UEFI, is BETTER THEN MBR & BIOS !
Why ?
- Way Faster OS boot (I.E POST), with NO blinking underscore !
- Better (auto) chances to recover info from bad/damaged sector/block !
(Partition table is redundantly stored, checked using CRC) - No 2TiB limit on HDD size
- and MORE: READ MORE HERE & HERE
In my opinion win 10 is faster in desktop/office work ( gaming: depends ) but the down side is the privacy headache.
There are multiple scripts you MUST run, if you care about your own privacy! (see few post below,WIP!)
Win8.1 is a bit slower in desktop/office use, but does NOT have such privacy "spying" as win 10.
Any way you choose, you MUST install it on a GPT formatted drive, and MUST boot the OS installation disk/usb through a "special" boot method ( I.E UEFI boot ).
HERE's A Benchmark review
There are multiple apps to format&create the required partitions, including the one during windows installation process.
The latter, creating more partitions then what most of consumers really needs !
Windows installer format a GPT based drive like that:
- "Windows" is the OS partition - a MUST HAVE partition of course
- MSR is "MS reserve partition" - a MUST HAVE partition that is there in-order to: READ HERE.
for win8.1 MSR MIN size recommended by MS to be 128MB, in win10 is recommended to be 16MB. As common users does NOT utilize any of the features that require the MSR partition, it's advisable to use the MIN recommended size by MS. - "System" partition is the where the "EFI" supported windows-boot-files sit, therefore - a MUST HAVE partition of course.
- "Windows RE tools" - is important IN MOST CASES if you use windows built-in drive encryption. READ MORE HERE.
As I KNOW by experience that win7,8.1,10 CAN WORK WITHOUT "Windows RE tools" partition -> "Windows RE tools" partition is NOT necessary !!
1st Part: How to create & boot a windows installation disk/usb,
THE RIGHT WAY?
I.E through UEFI boot !
- NOTE: IT'S IMPERATIVE that you boot the installation disk AS UEFI COMPATIBLE DEVICE !
(otherwise you cannot install windows on a GPT formatted drive )
There are MANY guides to show how to create the installation DISK/USB in the right manner:
ONE OPTION, another OPTION, another OPTION, "official way" for win10 ONLY. - It's also imperative that, although you've created the installation disk/usb in the right way, you MUST ALSO BOOT IT IN THE RIGHT WAY: (I.E UEFI boot !)
- Make sure in the BIOS that "LAUCH CSM" is DISABLED !!
- Make sure you BOOT THE INSTALLATION DISK/USB AS UEFI!
Please look at the following photo. To boot the INSTALLATION DISK as "UEFI" meaning picking the 2nd option from the top (NOT the 3rd) !! - If you didn't see & picked "uefi: xxxxxxx" (xxx = name of your disk/usb) at the boot selection screen -> read and DO "1st part" again !
- Make sure in the BIOS that "LAUCH CSM" is DISABLED !!
IT IS A PRE-REQUISITE TO INSTALL WINDOWS !
PLEASE NOTE:
- THE FOLLOWING PROCEDURE WILL ERASE EVERYTHING (ALL PARTITIONS) ON THE SPECIFIC DRIVE YOU CHOOSE !
- LESS RECOMMENDED: instead of formatting and losing data, you can CONVERT your MBR disk to be a GPT disk: Guide HERE.
* The "easy"/quick method:
- READ Part 1 above, do ONLY that -> then continue to Step B just below.
After that, you should see the "Windows setup" screen, which allows you to pick your language. - Follow this EXCELLENT guide with screenshots till STEP 10.
- Continue to read "3rd part" to install windows.
* The advanced/manual method is through set of commands of "DISKPART" utility. (SOURCE: MS official page)
The BIG ADVANTAGE with this method, that "Windows RE Tool" partition won't be created, thus you profit from the free-space ( ~300 MB ) and one less partition to be shown when you look at the partition map/list.
- 1st, boot into windows recovery environment, and open CMD -> write "diskpart" -> enter -> wait for it to load.
( "How to" guide HERE ) - VERY IMPORTANT: inside "diskpart", write: "list disk" to see all your disks.
Note the disk number of the disk you wish to format.
Write "select disk #" where # = disk number you wish to format. - ONLY THEN perform the following commands: (lines start with "rem" are notes... NOT commands!)
clean
rem == Note: ALERT AGAIN ! THIS COMMAND WILL WIPE YOUR DRIVE CLEAN !
convert gpt
rem == Note: convert your MBR based drive to GPT based drive
create partition efi size=100
rem == Note: "size=100" meaning the partition size will be 100MBytes
format quick fs=fat32 label="System"
assign letter="S"
rem == Note: replace the following "#" with a number as follows: #=128 for win8.1 | #=16 for win10
create partition msr size=#
rem == Note: For the following command(in white):
rem == Note: this way all the rest of the disk space will be "C"/windows OS partition.
rem == Note: if you wish to have another partitions ( E.I for file storage/archive) add a "size=#"
rem == Note: after the word "primary", where "#" is a number, the size in Mbytes of your
rem == Note: Windows OS partition, I.E the rest of the free space will be the other partition you
rem == Note: choose to have.
rem == Note: To be more precise, that next line of command might be:
rem == Note: create partition primary size=#
create partition primary
format quick fs=ntfs label="Windows"
assign letter="W"
exit
rem == Note: to quite diskpart utility, input another exit will close the CMD window and you'll be return to the previous screen, which you must reboot afterward in order to accomplish the next step- NOTE: if you create additional partition after the "windows" partition, you can format it now, or after the OS installation, through the "disk management" utility -> it really doesn't matter to the OS installation procedure, but it's best to leave it to later, just to prevent you from massing the disk structure, if you don't know what you're doing.
- NOTE: if you create additional partition after the "windows" partition, you can format it now, or after the OS installation, through the "disk management" utility -> it really doesn't matter to the OS installation procedure, but it's best to leave it to later, just to prevent you from massing the disk structure, if you don't know what you're doing.
- finally, continue to read "3rd part" below to install windows.
