Please confirm... Win10 will NOT require UEFI/GPT (I can still use my Dell with MBR)

[FancyFreddy]

I was having a discussion with the IT manager and he was telling me that they have been told that my Dell T7500 will not be supported by Win 10.

I did download the latest preview and I was able to install it without any issues or lack of device drivers (although I had to re-install my NVidia drivers in Win8 comparability mode to get the 3D/OpenGL/Multi-monitor stuff working).

He was adamant that no non-UEFI or MBR installation will be supported by MICROSOFT. After I showed him my setup running the preview, he was left scratching his head.

Thoughts? Was this a quirk or will those of us with MBR and BIOS get to run with 10?

 

[sleeve22]

Curious myself. I just reinstalled Windows on an older machine UEFI just to be safe.

 

[anon(7937399)]

I've installed W10 on a Dell Latitude E4200 (late 2008), definitely BIOS/MBR only. Upgraded from W7Pro. Runs fine. A little bit slower, but not excessively slower. Still quite usable.

 

[PepperdotNet]

The UEFI requirement is for OEMs making new machines preloaded with Windows 10 and does not affect upgraders in any way. This has been around since Windows 8.

To the OP, this means Dell can't sell a new machine with Windows 10 but without UEFI, but the owner of an existing machine is under no such restriction.

 

[DavidinCT]

The UEFI requirement is for OEMs making new machines preloaded with Windows 10 and does not affect upgraders in any way. This has been around since Windows 8.

To the OP, this means Dell can't sell a new machine with Windows 10 but without UEFI, but the owner of an existing machine is under no such restriction.

This is a LOL to me, If Microsoft put this requirement in there would be millions of PCs that could not handle Windows 10. As an IT Professional as well, I can tell you Microsoft will not require this off a standard install. With the push to get everyone to Windows 10, they wont even get close even with it free with this requirement.

Now some tablets and devices with it setup, it might force you to install it that way but, on standard PCs with no UEFI, it will install fine.

 

[rhapdog]

Existing machines, as already stated in this thread, have no UEFI requirement. But, as Pepperdotnet stated, OEMs will be required to make use of UEFI BIOS, but not just that, they will be required to turn on the Secure Boot feature and not allow it to be disabled.

What that means is that you will no longer be able to dual-boot Windows and Linux on a new machine... at least until Linux supports in full the secure boot features of UEFI. You will also not be able to get a new Windows 10 machine and put XP on it. Older operating systems will not run on the new requirements that Microsoft is giving the OEMs.

I'm looking forward to having Secure Boot enabled by default, personally. A lot of laptops with Windows 8/8.1 came with Secure Boot enabled, but it was "optional" according to Microsoft. Now it will be mandatory for new W10 machines.

 

[PepperdotNet]

Existing machines, as already stated in this thread, have no UEFI requirement. But, as Pepperdotnet stated, OEMs will be required to make use of UEFI BIOS, but not just that, they will be required to turn on the Secure Boot feature and not allow it to be disabled.

What that means is that you will no longer be able to dual-boot Windows and Linux on a new machine... at least until Linux supports in full the secure boot features of UEFI. You will also not be able to get a new Windows 10 machine and put XP on it. Older operating systems will not run on the new requirements that Microsoft is giving the OEMs.

I'm looking forward to having Secure Boot enabled by default, personally. A lot of laptops with Windows 8/8.1 came with Secure Boot enabled, but it was "optional" according to Microsoft. Now it will be mandatory for new W10 machines.

Are you saying that the end-user/customer/owner will no longer have the ability to turn off Secure Boot? OK, I see that as a bit of a problem. Good reason for me to continue building my own machines. Might be ok for the obsolete-in-a-year cheap tablet or home desktop, but I will not tolerate such restrictions on my custom gaming/rendering/etc machine.

 

[heickelrrx]

Are you saying that the end-user/customer/owner will no longer have the ability to turn off Secure Boot? OK, I see that as a bit of a problem. Good reason for me to continue building my own machines. Might be ok for the obsolete-in-a-year cheap tablet or home desktop, but I will not tolerate such restrictions on my custom gaming/rendering/etc machine.

If you use good board you should be fine. I'm using Asus Sabertooth z77 though

 

[rhapdog]

Are you saying that the end-user/customer/owner will no longer have the ability to turn off Secure Boot? OK, I see that as a bit of a problem. Good reason for me to continue building my own machines. Might be ok for the obsolete-in-a-year cheap tablet or home desktop, but I will not tolerate such restrictions on my custom gaming/rendering/etc machine.

If you buy a new desktop/laptop/tablet with Windows 10 preinstalled by the OEM, then yes, that's exactly what I am saying. It will be set up to be always on.

You will be able to dual boot other OSes, but those OSes MUST support UEFI and Secure Boot, or they will not work on the machine. Current version of Linux comes to mind. There will need to be a core change to Linux to allow this.

You know what that means? That means if you have the "Ultimate Boot CD" on a CD or Flash Drive, it won't work any longer. This has been a fall back for many in hardware repair shops to troubleshoot and repair issues on a system. That tool will be going away until they can make the boot strap on it be able to handle UEFI Secure Boot, which it currently does not.

For now, my laptop will work just fine for me.

 

[michail71]

I was having a discussion with the IT manager and he was telling me that they have been told that my Dell T7500 will not be supported by Win 10.

I did download the latest preview and I was able to install it without any issues or lack of device drivers (although I had to re-install my NVidia drivers in Win8 comparability mode to get the 3D/OpenGL/Multi-monitor stuff working).

He was adamant that no non-UEFI or MBR installation will be supported by MICROSOFT. After I showed him my setup running the preview, he was left scratching his head.

Thoughts? Was this a quirk or will those of us with MBR and BIOS get to run with 10?

That has been long standing FUD. And now add on to the FUD pile that Windows 10 requires a subscription and Microsoft account.

The dual booting is a minor concern but it's something I haven't even bothered with in years.

 

[michail71]

Not that I follow this much but it looks like UEFI is supported in Linux depending on the distribution. But putting Linux on modern systems designed for Win 10 just doesn't seem like a good idea.