Windows OS Hub
  • Windows Server
    • Windows Server 2022
    • Windows Server 2019
    • Windows Server 2016
    • Windows Server 2012 R2
    • Windows Server 2012
    • Windows Server 2008 R2
    • SCCM
  • Active Directory
    • Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS)
    • Group Policies
  • Windows Clients
    • Windows 11
    • Windows 10
    • Windows 8
    • Windows 7
    • Windows XP
    • MS Office
    • Outlook
  • Virtualization
    • VMWare
    • Hyper-V
    • KVM
  • PowerShell
  • Exchange
  • Cloud
    • Azure
    • Microsoft 365
    • Office 365
  • Linux
    • CentOS
    • RHEL
    • Ubuntu
  • Home
  • About

Windows OS Hub

  • Windows Server
    • Windows Server 2022
    • Windows Server 2019
    • Windows Server 2016
    • Windows Server 2012 R2
    • Windows Server 2012
    • Windows Server 2008 R2
    • SCCM
  • Active Directory
    • Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS)
    • Group Policies
  • Windows Clients
    • Windows 11
    • Windows 10
    • Windows 8
    • Windows 7
    • Windows XP
    • MS Office
    • Outlook
  • Virtualization
    • VMWare
    • Hyper-V
    • KVM
  • PowerShell
  • Exchange
  • Cloud
    • Azure
    • Microsoft 365
    • Office 365
  • Linux
    • CentOS
    • RHEL
    • Ubuntu

 Windows OS Hub / Windows 8 / How to create a UEFI bootable USB flash drive for install Windows 8 / Server 2012

February 14, 2014 Windows 8

How to create a UEFI bootable USB flash drive for install Windows 8 / Server 2012

In this article we will discuss how to create special UEFI USB flash boot drive (disk for the further Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012 installation on equipment in native UEFI mode).

Boot flash drive with Windows 8 which was created in a standard way can’t be used for install the OS on a computer with UEFI. This flash drive is defined by OS however the boot from it will be impossible. The problem is that most utilities which create boot flash drives (including those created with a help of Windows 7 USB\DVD Download tool) format device in NTFS file system. UEFI systems do not support booting from the media with NTFS or exFat file system, such systems are loaded only from the media, formatted in FAT32.

create UEFI bootable USB flash for windows 8

That`s why we need to create boot disk with FAT32 and copy Windows installation package on it.

What will we need for UEFI boot flash drive creation?

  • USB flash drive or disk which is no less than 4 Gb.
  • Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012 package on DVD or in ISO image.
  • The procedure is made with a help of diskpart utility on a computer with Windows 7/8/2008/2012

Insert flash drive in a free USB port (it`s better to disable all other USB storage devices to avoid confusion). Open command prompt with administrative privilege and perform the following commands:

  1. Run partition management utility – Diskpart
    diskpart
  2. List the disks in system using command.
    list disk
  3. Select disk which corresponds to your flash drive (you can define it by disk size)
    select disk 3
  4. Check if you selected the right flash drive in the previous stage, because now we will delete all data from it.
    clean
  5. Create a primary partition
    create partition primary
  6. Select it
    select partition 1
  7. Make it active
    active
  8. Format flash drive in FAT32 file system (remember that in UEFI system boot is possible only from FAT32 not from NTFS)
    format fs fat32 quick
  9. Assign a  letter to the created disk
    assign
  10. Quite from DiskPart
    exit

use diskpart to create uefi boot drive

Then we need to copy Windows 8 x64 installation package files on a boot flash drive which we created. To do so we should mount disk with Windows 8 image (lets assumed that it is J: drive and letter signed for flash it is H:) lets copy its content to a flash drive with a help of xcopy command.

xcopy J:\* H:\ /s /e
Tip. If you create a bootable USB flash drive UEFI for 64-bit Windows Vista SP1, Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 flash drive you should create EFI directory on a flash drive and copy boot folder in it.

Now, using this media, you can install Windows 8 in UEFI mode. Don’t forget to disable Secure Boot in system boot parameters (in UEFI – ex BIOS) before installation start. After completion of installation Windows Security boot can be enabled.

3 comments
0
Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
previous post
Safe cleaning up WinSXS folder in Windows Server 2012
next post
Installation of Windows 7 or Windows 8 on a Virtual Hard Disk

Related Reading

PowerShell Install-Module Error: Unable to Download from URI

April 21, 2022

How to Disable “Open File – Security Warnings”...

June 15, 2021

Using Malicious Software Removal Tool (MRT.exe) on Windows

April 15, 2021

How to Restore Deleted EFI System Partition in...

July 29, 2020

Internal SSD/SATA Drive Shows as a Removable in...

December 16, 2019

3 comments

Nigel February 15, 2016 - 3:06 am

I followed these steps without any issue while trying to fix a broken/missing winload.efi issue, but when I try to boot from the USB, I just get “The selected boot device failed. Press <Enter> to continue”. Windows 8.1 Pro 64 bit on an HP Envy dv6.

Reply
Tony Villasenor July 22, 2018 - 11:52 pm

This worked GREAT for me! I had 4 new Dell Optiplex 5060 computers to set up, and we wanted to use our own Windows 10 software (without the forced Office 365), and this worked perfectly! I did have to rest SATA to ACHI instead of RAID, but that’s minor. Thanks for a great tutorial.

Reply
Bobby Zopfan August 30, 2019 - 8:33 am

Great article.
Is there an article to tell how to create a Uefi bootable usb flash drive for installing Win10 by booting from bios?

Reply

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Categories

  • Active Directory
  • Group Policies
  • Exchange Server
  • Microsoft 365
  • Azure
  • Windows 11
  • Windows 10
  • Windows 7
  • Windows Server 2019
  • Windows Server 2016
  • Windows Server 2012 R2
  • PowerShell
  • VMWare
  • Hyper-V
  • MS Office

Recent Posts

  • Create Organizational Units (OU) Structure in Active Directory with PowerShell

    May 17, 2022
  • Windows Security Won’t Open or Shows a Blank Screen on Windows 10/ 11

    May 17, 2022
  • How to Manually Install Windows Updates from CAB and MSU Files?

    May 16, 2022
  • RDS and RemoteApp Performance Issues on Windows Server 2019/2016

    May 16, 2022
  • Deploying Software (MSI Packages) Using Group Policy

    May 12, 2022
  • Updating VMware ESXi Host from the Command Line

    May 11, 2022
  • Enable or Disable MFA for Users in Azure/Microsoft 365

    April 27, 2022
  • Fix: You’ll Need a New App to Open This Windows Defender Link

    April 27, 2022
  • How to Reset an Active Directory User Password with PowerShell and ADUC?

    April 27, 2022
  • How to Completely Uninstall Previous Versions of Office with Removal Scripts?

    April 26, 2022

Follow us

woshub.com

ad

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • RSS
Popular Posts
  • How to Create a 4GB Windows 8.1 x64 Bootable USB Flash Drive
  • Access to more than 4GB of RAM on 32bit Windows 8 (x86)
  • Fix: Windows Modern Apps Don’t Work Over VPN Connection
  • Activation of Data Deduplication in Windows 8.1
  • How to Hide a Windows Service from Users
  • Windows 8 / 2012 Fix: “Failure configuring Windows updates. Reverting changes”
  • Driver Verifier: How to Troubleshoot & Identify Windows Driver Issues
Footer Logo

@2014 - 2018 - Windows OS Hub. All about operating systems for sysadmins


Back To Top