Last Updated on December 24, 2022 by Mathew Diekhake

Microsoft offers a version of the Windows 7 operating system that comes with the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface. There are several advantages to using the UEFI such as better interoperability, better compatibility with operating systems that support only BIOS, gives you the chance to boot from large disks, has CPU-independent architecture, has CPU-independent drivers, a flexible environment before the Windows 7 operating system loads, plus a modular design.

When people choose to run Windows 7 with the UEFI firmware, they could also choose to do it because of the multicast deployment opportunities and the Fast boot option. The multicast deployment is often used in companies for its large-scale network-based image deployment in manufacturing and enterprise settings.The Fast boot has been renamed to “Fast startup” in Windows 10, but still offers a similar version of what Windows 7 users got: Hibernate mode becomes redundant because this new mode starts up computers just as quick.

How to Install Windows 7 Using Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)

1 Start by inserting the retail 64-bit Windows 7 Installation DVD into the DVD drive if you have one of those.

Anyone who is planning on using the flash storage USB stick instead will need to find out how to Windows 7 installation bootable USB flash drive for UEFI and then come back and continue with the next step after doing that.

2. Now everyone—whether you have the USB stick connected or the DVD in the DVD drive—needs to boot to the boot menu by pressing the appropriate F key. Different manufacturers have different F keys that will do this so you’ll need to read your manual and find out yours. If you don’t have a manual, then you’ll need to get in contact with your manufacturer via their website. As a last resort, you could always try pressing all of them (1 through to 12 at the top of your keyboard) and see which one works. Note that the F keys we are talking about are the ones that literally say “F1, F2, F3,” etc. on them; it isn’t referring to pressing the singular F key and then a number from the center of your keyboard.

3. You’ll then get the chance to setup your language preferences. Choose your mother tongue of choice and then click on the “Next” button in the bottom right-hand corner of the window.

4. Click on the big “Install” now button featured just below the Windows 7 logo.

5. It then shows you the terms and conditions screen with a little checkbox on the bottom left-hand side of the message. Click on that box, so there is a checkmark in it and then click on the “Next” button located in the bottom right-hand corner of the window.

6. It then asks you which type of installing you want and gives two different boxes as options: one of them is the “Upgrade” and the other the “Custom (advanced).” Click on the “Custom (advanced)” option with the mouse pointer.

7. It then asks you where you would like to install the Windows operating system and will list all the available drives. Highlight the hard drive you have by clicking on it once and then click on the little “Drive options (advanced)” link that is available just beneath where the hard drives are listed but considerably above that of the bottom of the window if you have more than one partition and want to choose the partition. You can skip it and just click on the “Next” button if you have only the one partition and it is unallocated at the moment.

8. Delete the partitions and volumes, if you had any, until it all shows as unallocated.

9. Once you have the drive prepared, click on the “New” and “Apply” and “Next” buttons as they appear.

10. Windows then automatically begins to split up your drive into three partitions: System, MSR, and Primary. Select the “Primary” partition and then click on the “Next” button.

Don’t be alarmed if you get a message from the Windows operating system letting you know that “Windows can’t be installed on the drive” because it’s going to work anyway. Just click on the “Next” button to continue with the installation—it’s just one of those imperfections that can pop up along the way when dealing with older versions of Windows and there isn’t anything you can do about it, even if you prefer doing things by the book; you just have it deal with it and continue.

As mentioned a bit before, you now have three new partitions. Here is some extra information about each of them:

  • Primary Partition: The Primary partition is the one that gets everything else to do with the Windows operating system installation—which is a lot of stuff and pretty much all of Windows, hence the word “Primary” being involved.
  • System Partition: The System partition is the also called the EFI System partition and has all the important files that are required to boot the system up, including the NTLDR, HAL, Boot.txt, etc. It also contains all the drivers that are necessary before Windows operating systems can operate. These drivers will run as your operating system begins booting up, and you wouldn’t get the chance to log in without them because your screen would go all funny and not show the login screen. (It’s sometimes possible to have someone remote connect and log in when you can’t see anything, but those occasions are typically more to do with your monitor’s drivers, and thus even that would not be an option here if you were to try.)
  • MSR Partition: The MSR partition, short for Microsoft Reserved partition, is going to automatically keep some spare space on each drive for any time the operating system software might need to use it. It’s the only purpose is to be there so that it can, essentially, cover its own keister!

11. The installation of the Windows 7 operating system is now beginning, and you’ll see a message on the computer’s display letting you know that it is “installing Windows…” until it is complete. Instead of a progress bar, it says in writing what is happening and puts a green tick next to something when it’s completed. Just wait for it to finish. It can reboot several times.

12. When it does its final restart, it gives you a blank black screen and lets you know that “Setup is preparing your computer for first use.” Keep waiting a bit longer and eventually the screen changes to show you the login screen.

13. It’ll then give you the “Setup Windows” screen where you’ll need to do things like come up with a username and password. Once you’ve done all that stuff, you are ready to start using the operating system.

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