I have a Windows 10 guest that uses legacy boot. I would like to convert it to uefi boot. How?
The goal is better compatibility with upcoming Windows 11. At this point, an Insider dev version of Win11 will still run in a VM with legacy boot, but it shows an ominous warning sign.
[Solved] Convert guest from legacy boot to uefi boot
-
- Site Moderator
- Posts: 39134
- Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
- Primary OS: MS Windows 10
- VBox Version: PUEL
- Guest OSses: Mostly XP
Re: Convert guest from legacy boot to uefi boot
Try Google. The procedure for a VM will be no different to any other PC.Shmu26 wrote:I have a Windows 10 guest that uses legacy boot. I would like to convert it to uefi boot. How?
Personally I'd try making a Macrium backup and then restore it into an EFI-enabled VM.
And bear in mind that if Microsoft restrict themselves to UEFI machines then they'd be limiting their own market, at least to some extent. I frankly don't know if legacy BIOS numbers are still significant.
Re: Convert guest from legacy boot to uefi boot
Thanks. The Macrium Reflect way sounds good.
-
- Site Moderator
- Posts: 39134
- Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
- Primary OS: MS Windows 10
- VBox Version: PUEL
- Guest OSses: Mostly XP
Re: Convert guest from legacy boot to uefi boot
Bear in mind that I've only said that this is what I'd try. I'm not guaranteeing that it will work. Macrium has the ability to make many corrections to the backup when restoring it into slightly incompatible systems. ISTR that included in this is conversion between MBR and UEFI boots, but I could be wrong.
Also, you may find that a UEFI BIOS is quite capable of booting a disk which uses MBR partitions. Only the reverse is not possible (MBR definitely does not support GPT).
Also, you may find that a UEFI BIOS is quite capable of booting a disk which uses MBR partitions. Only the reverse is not possible (MBR definitely does not support GPT).
Re: Convert guest from legacy boot to uefi boot
If you don't hear from me again, it worked. I am in the middle of the job. I saved the Macrium backup onto a GPT disk, and I am restoring it onto a GPT disk. It should work because I did something similar once with a physical system.
Re: Convert guest from legacy boot to uefi boot
After restoring the image I just needed to run Macrium Reflect boot repair, and then everything worked.
-
- Site Moderator
- Posts: 39134
- Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
- Primary OS: MS Windows 10
- VBox Version: PUEL
- Guest OSses: Mostly XP
Re: Convert guest from legacy boot to uefi boot
Great - I'm glad to hear that the suggestion worked.
Re: [Solved] Convert guest from legacy boot to uefi boot
Although the current hardware security requirements for Windows 11 are rather high:Shmu26 wrote:At this point, an Insider dev version of Win11 will still run in a VM with legacy boot, but it shows an ominous warning sign.
1 UEFI
2 Secure boot
3 TPM 2.0
this was not the cause of the warning sign I saw in Windows security center on Win11. It was rather caused by a known bug in the current Insider dev versions: after every reboot, "Automatic sample submission" turns itself off. It needs to be enabled manually, or alternatively, to use a registry hack. Then the warning sign goes away.
The upshot is that the above hardware requirements apparently are not being enforced in VMs, which makes sense.