Convert Windows 7/8/10 Installation from Legacy to UEFI Without Data Loss (Simpler Method)


Author: Nehal J Wani
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14m 26s Lenght
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How to convert Legacy to UEFI Without Data Loss (Simpler Method) I previously had a tutorial for this at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qk6_K9hVu_k but is was fairly complicated. This is a simplified process. Please note that this method has been tested only for 64bit installations. 1. Download gpt-fdisk (gdisk) for Windows. 2. Copy the binary to a known location. 3. Boot into Windows Recovery Environment. - If you don't have one, download Windows10ISO from: https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/software-download/windows10ISO - Create a bootable USB by following https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8gQuYekACU or by burning the ISO to a DVD. 4. Shutdown Windows and boot using this media (Legacy or UEFI Mode). 5. Get to the command prompt. Either by pressing Shift+F10 or by navigating to it. 6. Go to diskpart and find out the disk identifier for your Windows installation. diskpart list disk sel disk X list par 7. Navigate to the location where gdisk binary is kept and type: gdisk -l X: (Replace X with the disk number) This will list out the partitions available in the disk. Make sure this is the one your want to convert. 8. Now, convert the partition table from MBR to GPT. gdisk X: Type w to write changes. Press Y whenever prompted. 9. Type the following commands: diskpart sel disk X (Replace X with the disk number) list par # Now we make some space for our EFI partition # Note the partition number of the partition which you want to shrink sel par X (Replace X with the partition number) # You may delete the System Reserved partition and replace it with the EFI partition. To do that, type: # sel par X (Replace X with the System Reserved Partition) # del par override # The shrink command is not required if you do the above two commands. # I'll just go ahead and shrink. 500MB extra doesn't matter to me :D shrink desired = 200 minimum = 200 # The following commands are common: create par efi size = 200 format fs = fat32 quick # Format this with fat32 file system assign letter = Z: exit 9. Copying boot files. Find out the partition in which Windows is installed. Note, the partition letter here might be different than the partition letter you see in Windows. Perform dir X: on each partition letter you think can have the Windows installation and confirm X. Then type: bcdboot X:\Windows /l en-us /s Z: /f ALL 10. Done. Now reboot in UEFI mode. Let's check if we have indeed booted in UEFI or not!! Type msinfo32 in run and hit enter. Yay!! Done! Windows 7 Users Please Note: For Win7 users, one can either use a Win8 or Win10 USB/DVD, or use the newer version of bcdboot.exe from https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8d4Lb_KJbfdNHdtUWE4eUhZOG8/view?usp=sharing Music: 00:00 - 05:16 Daily Beetle by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1500025 Artist: http://incompetech.com/ Music: 05:17 - 11:53 Cryin In My Beer by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Artist: http://audionautix.com/ Music: 11:54 - 14.25 'Calypso Beach Walk' By 'Doug Maxwell/Media Right Production' Wanna support me? Visit: https://www.patreon.com/nehaljwani


Comments

  1. how long does it take to finish everything?
  2. Excellent! I was thinking of purchasing EaseUS Partition Pro just to convert to GPT. Thank you for saving some moola! :)
  3. Don do this tha s how the rats get it to you pc some how is easy to infect the boot and is pain in Thea's to fix it
  4. Woah man this is freakin awesome! It worked perfectly fine on 64bit machine, thanks a lot you saved my ass lol :p
  5. Can't believe this worked like a charm! Tried it on 32-bit installation :D and it worked well.
  6. Hi Nehal,

    Will this work with windows 7 too?
  7. Oh man, you're awesome! Saved my life!!! Thank you for your tutorial!
  8. Thanks, I watched it all the way through before attempting it, then watched it again pausing at several points while I was typing, but this worked perfectly for me. Now I just need to figure out how to enable secure boot.
    The only thing I would suggest is to specify a size in the command that creates the efi partition because (in my case) I had a lot of free space on the drive and it would have taken it all if I had not been specific about the size.
  9. Thank you very much Nehal J wani, this video solved my problem. Everything was so easy to follow and I raised BRAVO Nehal slogans when I see my windows is converted from Legacy to UEFI mode without any new installation. I have one problem now, when I try to make a "system repair disc" it says the files to create a repair disc are not present. Could you please help what should I do to create a repair disc so that when in the future I have some problem I have the repair disc for a rescue (I don't have the windows installation CD). Secondly in "This PC" the 500Mb partition is automatically shown as "System Reserved (D:) (465 MB free of 499 MB)" drive separately, can I delete this manually will it cause any problem? Many thanks once again.
  10. great tutorial, but cant you just do all this in aomei partition assistant?
  11. I have 500 gb drive with 4 partition, n i want to install 10 on g drive which is completely blank and bootable, and i have 7 on C drive partition also, i dn't want to loss any data, if i perform this steps, is there any chance to keep both OS,?
    Cuz i'v heard somewhere that one disk either can be MBR or GPT, only one partition can not be change to GTP, but what you made i just can't understand...!☹️
    Can you plz explain me brother, i'm really stuck wid this problem
    Thakkarsmit17@gmail.com
  12. I did exactly like the video and my PC got formated. don't do it
  13. thank you my dear frind...its very good..
    you are great person
  14. You the bomb!  If I had a million dollars I would send it to you!
  15. Thanks a lot!
    It works great!It was not just useful, but also fun to go through the steps. ;) I had to modify some of the commands (for example to limit the size of the UEFI partition, because I had 40 GB unallocated space in my HDD), but still you helped me a lot!
  16. Does it work with 32 bit?
  17. how do you do uefi to legacy?
  18. wow! u did a great job. excellent. keep up the good work. it worked perfectly.thanks a bunch.cheers!!
  19. DAMN this is surely awesome thx m8 :D