Need info on UEFI

[Nobody]

With the occasion of not being able to dual boot Debian with Windows, I've learned something about UEFI and BIOS so I've succeeded.
My questions are:
Where is this interface located?
Can it be modified easily (for whatever reason)?
Do certain corporations modify them (Microsoft seems to make "recommendations" whenever I change settings in it so I guess they modified it somehow + it includes the windows 8.1 license, but not sure)?

 

[BikerEcho]

Don't know about the UEFI question.
But i can help you with your dual boot problem. It's actually rather easy.
Solution1:
Install windows, then Debian. The Debian installer will ask if you want it installed beside windows. (at least all other Linux distros i have tried have asked that.)
Solution2:
make a new partition and install the other OS on that. You can use hirens boot to do that. It has a lot of different tools including some for managing partitions.

 

[Nobody]

That's much appreciated but I've already solved the dual boot problem. The security boot didn't let me initially. Now I'm only interested in some UEFI info.

 

[pete.i]

Have a Google. Lots of information on Google about it. I came across it first when I tried to get rid the spam that Toshiba (and others) put on their new laptops. She didn't have a visible serial number so I couldn't do a reinstall of Windows from my disk. I did get the number eventually, which is stored in the bios. The way I think it works is that the only disk you can use to reinstall the OS on a computer that is using the UEFI system is to use the recovery disks that the computer asks you make on initial turn on. I do not think that UEFI is insurmountable but I haven't looked into it to that extent. I will need to before I get my next laptop because there is no way in the world will I tolerate having the junk that manufacturers of computers inflict on buyers.

 

[Nobody]

Have a Google. Lots of information on Google about it.

I did and these are the only remaining question after doing so. And yes, one reason why I want to know this is also to get rid of whatever junk Microsoft put in there.

 

[BK_123]

The other option which is a lot less hassle in to use something like VMware Player or VirtualBox and run it in a virtual machine that will not interfere with bios settings.

Virtual Machines & Multiple Operating Systems: VMware Player Pro | VMware Australia
https://www.virtualbox.org/

 

[pete.i]

The other option which is a lot less hassle in to use something like VMware Player or VirtualBox and run it in a virtual machine that will not interfere with bios settings.

Virtual Machines & Multiple Operating Systems: VMware Player Pro | VMware Australia
https://www.virtualbox.org/

Yeah but that doesn't solve the problem of getting rid of the crapware and sometimes malware (IMO) that computer manufacturers inflict on buyers. In the past when I have bought a computer I have always reinstalled it with a fresh copy of Windows using the product number that has been on the little green sticker stuck somewhere on the computer. This gets rid of the advertising and useless junk that manufacturers put on MY, because I bought it, computer. That has become much much more difficult to do now that manufacturers are using UEFI, which puts the product number in bios. They do not supply product numbers on little stickers anymore nor do they supply disks with their computers. So the only way to reinstall a computer is to use the original disk, which you don't get, or use the recovery disks that you made when Windows prompted you to do so. Doing it this way, of course, puts all the crapware back on. Also if you didn't make recovery disks, and a lot of people don't, then you are up the creek without a paddle UNLESS you know how to disable UEFI in the Bios and that will be made a lot harder by Microsoft and manufacturers to do as time goes on. You can get the product number using software like Belarc Adviser but I wouldn't mind betting that in the future that avenue will be closed off.

 

[cb600fshornet]

Try a piece of software called ProduKey here: ProduKey - Recover lost product key (CD-Key) of Windows/MS-Office/SQL Server

When you run it, it should tell you what the product key for your computer is, make sure you note it down correctly!

Apparently, if you use exactly the same version of Windows 8 the PC came with, a reinstall results in automatic activation of Windows.

 

[pete.i]

Try a piece of software called ProduKey here: ProduKey - Recover lost product key (CD-Key) of Windows/MS-Office/SQL Server

When you run it, it should tell you what the product key for your computer is, make sure you note it down correctly!

Apparently, if you use exactly the same version of Windows 8 the PC came with, a reinstall results in automatic activation of Windows.

Well I did that but I used Belarc Advisor to get the product key. You cannot use "exactly the same version of Windows 8 that the pc came with" because manufacturers no longer supply any recovery disks with their computers. You have to make your own recovery disks, which you are prompted to do but an awful lot of people do not do that. If you try to do a clean install of Windows with a basic copy of windows using the extracted product number it will not install. There are multiple settings that have to be changed in the bios to allow you to do that and unless you a) know how to get into the bios, and, b) then actually know what to change in the bios, then you will not install Windows from any different Windows disk other than the original one that was used to install that copy of Windows or from the recovery disks that you, Hopefully, made. Of course the problem with using any recovery disks that you, hopefully, remembered to make also puts puts back all the malware that the computer manufacturer put on there in the first place.

 

[cb600fshornet]

Well I did that but I used Belarc Advisor to get the product key. You cannot use "exactly the same version of Windows 8 that the pc came with" because manufacturers no longer supply any recovery disks with their computers. You have to make your own recovery disks, which you are prompted to do but an awful lot of people do not do that. If you try to do a clean install of Windows with a basic copy of windows using the extracted product number it will not install. There are multiple settings that have to be changed in the bios to allow you to do that and unless you a) know how to get into the bios, and, b) then actually know what to change in the bios, then you will not install Windows from any different Windows disk other than the original one that was used to install that copy of Windows or from the recovery disks that you, Hopefully, made. Of course the problem with using any recovery disks that you, hopefully, remembered to make also puts puts back all the malware that the computer manufacturer put on there in the first place.

By "Exactly the same version of Windows," I am referring to either OEM or Retail, whether it's Standard/Pro, and whether it was 32 or 64 bit.

The recovery discs are NOT a fresh install of Windows, they return the original bloatware and such onto the drive. What used to be on recovery disks is now on a hidden partition on the harddrive (you can usually access it via a desktop application, or by hitting F8 on startup and accessing the repair function)

Oh, and by the way, when you create recovery discs, they are generally created using the recovery partition, so if malware is on your windows installation then no, making recovery disks will not pass the malware onto them. (Excluding malware which has somehow infected the recovery partition, which would be difficult considering it's not mounted)

Windows 7 discs came with an ei.cfg file which:
A) Specified with the use of a boolean (in the form of a 1 or 0) whether the disc was "Retail or not"
B) Specified which version of Windows the disc was for.

With these you could either modify the ei.cfg, or rename it so any version of windows could be installed (with the exception of 32 and 64 bit, these were on separate discs)

My best suggestion would be to get the Windows 8 disc image (.iso), create a bootable USB drive, search it for an equivalent to the Windows 7 ei.cfg file, and see if you can mess around with it.

Hope this helps.