BIOS setting(s) to Install Windows Using UEFI

"The Windows XP 32-bit version that everyone actually DID use cannot work with GPT disks at all."
That Depends on whether or not you agree that Windows Server 2003 and XP are not one and the same thing.  Since I can get GPT disks to mount and use them in 32 bit 2003 server I disagree with the above statement.

There were and are people who still use XP/2003 server

https://www.msfn.org/win2k3/index.htm

Seagate also made a Driver to allow you to see a drive larger than the 2 TB mbr limitation.

---

@speedstep wrote:

"Server 2003 can also be used for roles that aren't possible on XP, such as being an Active Directory domain controller.  Those things mean that they are by definition not the same.  "

The underlying software and Drivers for 2003 server and XP are one and the same. With a few inf files and registry hacks you can get XP to behave as though its 2003 server.

So again I completely disagree that they are not one and the same.  And 32 bit versions of 2003 server work just fine with GPT partitions for both read and write.

 

---

Show me someone who's gotten Windows XP to act as an AD domain controller by hacking a few registry keys and INF files.  But again, even if that were possible, the fact that you have to implement some hacks to get there means that they are not the same.  At best it means that they have the POTENTIAL to be the same given enough hacking.  That is not the same thing!

Yes, I know that the 32-bit versions of Server 2003 work fine with GPT disks.  The 32-bit versions of Windows XP do not.  If you can hack the 32-bit versions of XP to achieve that functionality, then that's nice.  But that's not the same thing.

Yes, I know GPT disks contain a Protective MBR.  That's designed to prevent OSes that don't understand GPT disks from destroying the layout of a GPT disk.  So what?

Ok, I'm not even sure what point you're trying to make at this point by just copy/pasting Q&As from a Microsoft page and other content here.  First, as I said earlier, only Windows XP 64-bit Edition can work with GPT disks, but that OS was rarely used.  The Windows XP 32-bit version that everyone actually DID use cannot work with GPT disks at all.

The UEFI classes refers to the motherboard firmware, not an OS version, so claiming that UEFI 2.3.1 is Windows 8 and later and UEFI 3 is Windows 10 makes no sense.  For example, Windows 10 can still be installed in Legacy BIOS mode, which means it can be used on a Class 0 system.  And since the UEFI CSM is available up through UEFI Class 2, OSes that only supported Legacy BIOS mode, such as Windows XP, could still be installed onto a UEFI Class 2 system.

GPT and MBR are Partitions.

Side by side

DISK PART Allows them to be converted one to the other or vice versa.

DISK PART CONVERT GPT TO MBR

MBR AND GPT

---

@speedstep wrote:

Under WINDOWS 7 BIOS/MBR mode: SYSTEM / WINDOWS / RECOVERY

Under WINDOWS 8 / 10 UEFI/GPT mode: SYSTEM / MSR / WINDOWS / RECOVERY

The user is complaining that there is no MSR but you DO NOT GET ONE in windows 7.

 

---

Ok first of all, there's no such thing as a "GPT partition".  GPT is a partition layout scheme, not a partition type.  And you DO get an MSR partition on Windows 7 if you install it in UEFI mode onto a GPT disk, which IS possible.  Exactly as you say, every GPT disk has to have one, and since it is possible to install Windows onto a GPT disk, Windows 7 installations that ARE installed on a GPT disk have an MSR partition.

"Windows XP and Server 2003 are not the same thing. One is a consumer OS and the other is a server OS. "

I guess we can agree that we disagree.

I've worked with windows from Version 1.0 to now.

I've worked with MSDOS from Version 1.0 thru 6.22 and 7.0 for IBM DOS.

2003 server and XP are one and the same.

Thats why you use XP drivers when you need to install drivers on your system where you are installing 2003 server instead of XP.

There were even eval copies of 2003 server handed out by microsoft at various trade organization meetings.  Thats where the

HOW to convert 2003 server into a workstation was born.

https://www.msfn.org/win2k3/index.htm

Microsoft has been very cynical about this as early as Windows NT 3.5.

There are only a few Registry hacks between NT workstation and Server.
That Carried Over with XP vs 2003 server which is why many people bought server 2003 instead of XP.  They further Nerf XP to make it so you can only peer a maximum of 10 users.

The difference between Windows NT 3.51 Workstation and Windows NT 3.51 Server is a single registry entry, located at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ProductOptions\ProductType.

The value of that key can be either Winnt (for Workstation), Servernt (for Server), or Lanmannt (for Advanced Server).

Windows NT 4 has a few more differences. If the two CDs are compared, there is a difference of/in about two hundred files. About one hundred of those files are on the Server CD but not the Workstation CD, and about ten are on the Workstation CD but not the Server CD. The files on the Server CD that aren't present on the Workstation CD deal with DHCP, DNS, JET database integration, license management, log viewing, Macintosh volume management, network client administration, NetWare migration, remote-system policy management, remote boot management, domain user management, and domain configuration management. The Workstation files not on the Server CD concern local machine user management, different Disk Manager help files, and the logon bitmaps. The other ninety files have different content for each platform mostly relating to INF files.

Windows NT 4 also uses the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ProductOptions\ProductType key to determine what version the operating system is, and another key that both stores the operating system expiration date and a value that corresponds to the ProductType value. If you change the value of ProductType, and the second key is not set correctly also, restarting the system in hopes of upgrading your copy of Workstation to Server results in a blue screen of death with the stop error of "SYSTEM_LICENSE_VIOLATION."

"Server 2003 can also be used for roles that aren't possible on XP, such as being an Active Directory domain controller.  Those things mean that they are by definition not the same.  "

The underlying software and Drivers for 2003 server and XP are one and the same. With a few inf files and registry hacks you can get XP to behave as though its 2003 server.

So again I completely disagree that they are not one and the same.  And 32 bit versions of 2003 server work just fine with GPT partitions for both read and write. Splitting hairs won't save you.

GPT and MBR are essentially the same.  You can show this with the following.

This is what it looks like side by side.  GPT contains a protective MBR inside it.

MBR or GPT both are partitions or Layouts or whatever you are trying to say.

Again, the fact that you can use the same drivers and "convert" a Server 2003 installation to a workstation does not mean that they are the same.  The FAQs that you yourself posted clearly says that Server 2003 can work with GPT disks, and XP 32-bit cannot.  Server 2003 can also be used for roles that aren't possible on XP, such as being an Active Directory domain controller.  Those things mean that they are by definition not the same.  Windows 10 Home and Pro can use the same drivers too, but Pro has features not available in Home.  "Similar" is not "the same".  It's not a question of agreeing to disagree.  No matter how much common code base those two OSes share, Microsoft has restricted some functionality in one but not the other, which again means they are different.

The fact that "P" in GPT does stands for "partition" does not mean there is such a thing as a "GPT partition".  GPT means "GUID Partition Table" in the sense that it is a partition layout scheme where the partition table is comprised of GUIDs.  It does not mean there is a type of partition called a "GPT partition", the way there is an ESP or MSR partition.

"Ok first of all, there's no such thing as a "GPT partition".

Thats wrong.  The P in GPT stands for PARTITION.

GUID Partition Table (GPT)

Diskpart will show this.

And will acknowledge The Difference between MBR and GPT partitions and allow the conversion between the 2.  LEGACY is BIOS and UEFI has CSM to allow for LEGACY MBR.  Except that newer processors/chipsets will not boot mbr legacy.

A MBR disk can be basic or dynamic, just like an GPT disk can be basic or dynamic. Compared with MBR disk, a GPT disk performs better in the followinig aspects:

• A GPT disk supports larger than 2 TB volumes while MBR cannot. 

• The GPT disk partitioning style supports volumes up to 18 exabytes in size and up to 128 partitions per disk while the MBR disk partitioning style supports volumes up to 2 terabytes in size and up to 4 primary partitions per disk (or three primary partitions, one extended partition, and unlimited logical drives).  

• GPT disk provides greater reliability due to replication and cyclical redundancy check (CRC) protection of the partition table. Unlike MBR partitioned disks, data critical to platform operation is located in partitions instead of unpartitioned or hidden sectors. 

• PT partitioned disks have redundant primary and backup partition tables for improved partition data structure integrity.

IMAGES are Written to PARTITIONS Not Layouts

GPT NOW MBR

---

@speedstep wrote:

"The Windows XP 32-bit version that everyone actually DID use cannot work with GPT disks at all."
That Depends on whether or not you agree that Windows Server 2003 and XP are not one and the same thing.  Since I can get GPT disks to mount and use them in 32 bit 2003 server I disagree with the above statement.

There were and are people who still use XP/2003 server

https://www.msfn.org/win2k3/index.htm

Seagate also made a Driver to allow you to see a drive larger than the 2 TB mbr limitation.

 

---

Windows XP and Server 2003 are not the same thing.  One is a consumer OS and the other is a server OS.  They have completely different names, purposes, and capabilities.  They share the same KERNEL, but that does not make them the same thing.  I also pointed out in my original post that Server 2003 could work with GPT disks.  But Server 2003 is not the same thing as XP.  Server 2003 can also support a lot more RAM than XP, but that doesn't mean it would be appropriate to tell someone that Winows XP supports that much RAM.  It doesn't, and the fact that another OS that uses the same kernel does is irrelevant to someone using XP.

As for seeing disks larger than 2TB in MBR, that driver and some USB enclosure firmware implementations achieved that by having the disk tell the OS that it was using 4K sectors rather than 512-byte sectors.  That did work, but the catch was that the disk would become unreadable when used without that driver or in any enclosure that did not implement that hack, so it wasn't ideal.

---

@speedstep wrote:

GPT and MBR are Partitions.

Side by side

DISK PART Allows them to be converted one to the other or vice versa.

 

---

Note that the diskpart message says that the disk was converted to MBR (or GPT).  That's my point.  GPT is a partition layout scheme that applies to the entire disk.  There's no special partition type called a "GPT partition" the way that there are special partition types for ESP and MSR partitions.

---

@speedstep wrote:

"Ok first of all, there's no such thing as a "GPT partition".

What am I doing in Diskpart?  I'm converting a PARTITION to MBR or GPT or the other way around.   I write to a PARTITION.

No, that is not correct.  That conversion applies to the entire DISK, not an individual PARTITION.  The diskpart confirmation when you run "convert gpt" even says that it converted the disk to GPT format.  If that conversion applied to an individual partition, you would be able to have MBR and GPT partitions on the same disk at the same time, and that isn't possible.  Also note that you can run "convert gpt" before you've even created any partitions, so you're not writing to an individual partition at that point.  And finally, the "GPT" indicator in Diskpart shows when you type "list disk", not "list partition".  And if you instead initialize a disk using Windows Disk Management, you have to select MBR vs. GPT once before you're allowed to create any partitions; you do not select that before you create every individual partition.  All of that is because again, MBR and GPT are partition layout schemes that apply to the entire disk.

If you don't understand what I mean when I say that MBR and GPT are partition layout schemes, then perhaps you should do some more research into these rather than just copy/pasting content from Microsoft TechNet, AOMEI, and other places without any citations and posting step-by-step Diskpart guides like you have been.  For starters, take a look at the Wikipedia article for GPT here.  The very first sentence is, "GUID Partition Table (GPT) is a standard for the layout of the partition table on a physical storage device...." and the image on the right of that page is titled "GUID Partition Table Scheme".

The Scheme is layed out on the DISK in a Partition that also has Partition Table.  Its GPT not GST GLT. GUID Partition Table.  It doesnt have a layout table or scheme table.

Windows and GPT FAQ on MSDN.

GPT is a Partition just as MBR is a partition.

Neither SCHEME or LAYOUT is to be found here.

"Ok first of all, there's no such thing as a "GPT partition".

There are ways to convert between MBR and GPT without wiping the disk–in theory.  But I do not verify the reliability of those third-party tools.
Backup of your data to an offline device is preferable.

What am I doing in Diskpart?  I'm converting a PARTITION to MBR or GPT or the other way around.   I write to a PARTITION.  I format a partition.

Not a scheme. Not a Layout.

There are no references to writing or listing or otherwise for a layout or scheme.  So I have no reference for what you are trying to impart.

Only a DISK that is partitioned either an MBR or GPT partition.

You create partitions on disks with DISKPART not schemes or layouts.

Once created you can clean the drive and then convert from MBR to GPT or the other way around.

To create a partition:

1. At a command prompt, type: Diskpart.exe
2. At the DISKPART prompt, type: LIST DISK
   
3. At the DISKPART prompt, type: Select Disk 1
   
4. At the DISKPART prompt, type: CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY SIZE=10000
   (Change the word PRIMARY to EXTENDED to create an extended partition. If you do not set a size -- in megabytes -- such as the above example for 10 GB, then all available space on the disk will be used for the partition.
   
5. At the DISKPART prompt, type: ASSIGN LETTER=D (Choose a drive letter not already being used.)
6. At the DISKPART prompt, type: Exit
7. Use the Command Prompt format command, Disk Administrator or any disk format utility to format the drive -- typically using NTFS, of course.

Conversion

May I please request solution for BT driver as requested in my last post

Thank you