Win8 installation to a GPT partition?

[timppu]

ASUS G75 with the newest 221 BIOS. This machine came with Windows 7 preloaded (on a GPT hard drive), but I've added a second HDD and I'd like to install Win8 Pro on it, on the side.

If I boot from the Win8 CD and try to select the disk 1, it complains it can't install to it because it is GPT. Why not?

I've tried to follow these instructions:

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2328-uefi-unified-extensible-firmware-interface-install-windows...

but I have no idea how to tell the bios to boot from efi\microsoft\boot\cdboot.efi on the Win8 CD. If I select the "Launch EFI shell from filesystem device" as per the instructions, it just searches for something for awhile and says it does not find anything. It doesn't let me enter the path to the efi file or anything.

Note: I specifically want to install it to a GPT drive, not MBR. It should be possible, shouldn't it?

[Zygomorphic]

Why do you want GPT partitions? If you don't have more than 4 partitions and aren't using a 2+ TB drive, then there is no reason to do so.

[timppu]

Zygomorphic wrote:
Why do you want GPT partitions? If you don't have more than 4 partitions and aren't using a 2+ TB drive, then there is no reason to do so.

To be future proof: I want to know that if I ever install 2TB+ hard drive(s) on this PC, will I still be able to install Win8 on it (by using the full capacity with GPT)?

Also, my current Win7 installation is already on a GPT disk, so if I e.g. wanted to either replace it with Win8 Pro upgrade, or install Win8 on the side on that same disk0 (not disk1), I presume that can't be done unless I am able to install Win8 on a GPT disk. And it just sounds a bit weird that my Wn7 installation is on a new GPT disk, while Win8 would have to be installed on an old MBR disk. That sounds a bit similar as if I had to use FAT32 filesystem with Win8.

So my question simply is: can Windows 8 Pro be installed on a GPT disk on G75 (with the latest BIOS 221), or not? If not, it would be nice to also know why, just to understand why there are such impediments.

Thanks for any input.

[rewben]

to have w8 on gpt, yes. there are already g75vw with w8 in the market. to have w7 and w8 on separate gpt disks side-by-side and dual-boot, it should be able to do that, but none of us have that set up yet.

[timppu]

rewben wrote:
to have w8 on gpt, yes. there are already g75vw with w8 in the market. to have w7 and w8 on separate gpt disks side-by-side and dual-boot, it should be able to do that, but none of us have that set up yet.

I would then be the first G75 user in the world to try that, if only I knew how. 🙂 Note: If I simply launch the Win8 installation CD, it complains both about the disk0 (where preloaded Win7 is) and disk1 of being GPT disks. So it seems to be that it just doesn't like GPT disks in its current state.

[rewben]

timppu wrote:
I would then be the first G75 user in the world to try that, if only I knew how. 🙂 Note: If I simply launch the Win8 installation CD, it complains both about the disk0 (where preloaded Win7 is) and disk1 of being GPT disks. So it seems to be that it just doesn't like GPT disks in its current state.

nice haha.. one of the reasons why we do not use that kind of setups is because we can use virtualization software instead. but it really is up to you :), because imo dual boot should work fine; and there is no reason UEFI that is supposed to be better than BIOS cannot even do the most basic thing..

[timppu]

rewben wrote:
nice haha.. one of the reasons why we do not use that kind of setups is because we can use virtualization software instead. but it really is up to you 🙂

Unfortunately VMWare etc. are not an option at the moment because I intend to use both installations also for gaming, and to test compatibility and performance between Win7 and Win8 running on the same hardware.

[Zygomorphic]

THis may help??

rewben wrote:
@Mikibuza,

from the ASUS FAQ page:
How do I boot to DOS with USB Flash drive or USB CD-ROM?
1. Enter the BIOS setup menu by pressing and holding F2 key when powering on.
2. Switch to "Boot" and set “Launch CSM” to Enabled.
3. Switch to "Security" and set "Secure Boot Control" to Disabled.
4. Press F10 to save and exit.
5. Press and hold ESC key to lunch boot menu when the notebook restarts.

it's best if you have the w7 install disk with sp1 if you wanna do UEFI install. you might wanna read this as well.

edit: yes, like what Zygomorphic said, there might be issues if you installed windows 7 with UEFI style. the first thing is to make sure your ssd is converted to GPT disk first before the installation.

[timppu]

Zygomorphic wrote:
THis may help??

Unfortunately not. For some reason I don't see those options in the BIOS v221 setup. Should I?

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?25961-G75-BIOS-221-can-UEFI-secure-boot-be-disabled-enabled...