New Windows 10 setup, BIOS and UEFI issues, a lot of mixed signals
New Windows 10 setup, BIOS and UEFI issues, a lot of mixed signals
Hello everyone. I’m about to upgrade my desktop to a brand new Windows 10 version and see it as the perfect chance to switch to UEFI. Although UEFI isn’t entirely new, I’ve been avoiding it for years, sticking with legacy mode and skipping secure boot. My machine is an Asus Maximus IV Gene-z Gen 3 (Z68), which should work with UEFI, but I’m unsure how to set it up properly. I need guidance on creating a bootable USB and adjusting the BIOS settings on my motherboard. I attempted using Rufus with the GPT partition for UEFI, but the PC still won’t boot. Should I try a different partition type instead? Thanks for your help—I’m a bit confused about all this.
Some older boards (X58, Z68) support both BIOS and UEFI, but they weren't set up together from the start. Your board runs BIOS, but you can switch it to UEFI later by flashing the firmware. This change isn’t undone, so if you’re still using BIOS, you probably won’t benefit much from switching to UEFI on the same hardware. Currently it seems your system is stuck in classic BIOS mode, which prevents native booting from a GPT disk or EFI startup without updating the firmware. If possible, take a screenshot of your BIOS menu and we can verify it. Keep in mind, the “legacy mode” was made for running Windows XP on these boards and isn’t related to UEFI.
Thank you for your message. Your bios details should be updated on the Asus website. Regarding the boot settings you mentioned, when trying to boot from Kingston drives, it returns to the BIOS setup even though you selected Kingston as the boot device. If you attempt to boot from the SSD, Windows loads directly. In the USB configuration, disabling Legacy support causes the USB stick to disappear from the Boot list. You referenced "Legacy" because your laptop requires it for booting older drives, but the exact reason isn unclear.