X220, Windows 8 & UEFI

Hi everyone,

I've recently did a clean install and seem to be having issues with a UEFI boot only option with my X220.

When I installed Windows 8 last night I had to select 'Both' in the UEFI/Legacy Boot' option in order to boot and do a clean install from the Windows 8 installation DVD.

Now after the Windows 8 install when I select 'UEFI Only' in the UEFI/Legacy Boot option, I get the 'Boot Menu' screen with an option to boot from my SSD and the Windows Boot Manger, however neither of these options work.

The BIOS settings are set to boot to 'Both' with UEFI as the first preference and this seems to be working ok.

Is it possible to have a UEFI only boot option with Windows 8 and my X220?

Thanks

Rambler

 

I have a UEFI only boot with windows 8 on my X220, but I didn't install it from the DVD, I put it on a USB drive (didn't use the official windows 7 tool because you cannot format your drive in GPT with it). Installing from a DVD bypasses that problem though so I'm not sure what your issue is.

 

The issue is that for some reason my X220 cant boot to any type of device (SSD, DVD or USB) with the boot option set to UEFI only.

My X220 will only boot when 'Both' is selected.

The Boot Menu will display once F12 is pressed however none of the devices will boot when selected.

 

Thanks for asking the question. I am having the same issue.

 

maybe this will help: Installing Windows 8 Consumer Preview in UEFI mode in Dual boot with Windows 7 through bootable USB.

 

Download ISOtoUSB: ISO to USB

Download Windows 8 through the upgrade utility, and save the ISO somewhere.

Run ISOtoUSB, select Windows.iso, and set the format for the memory stick to FAT32 (you can't make the memory stick using the Microsoft utility because that makes an NTFS formatted stick, which UEFI cannot boot)

Set to UEFI only in UEFI/BIOS setup.

Should then boot from the memory stick. I used gparted and did an ATA secure erase to totally wipe my SSD first, then Windows set up the disk using GPT instead of MBR.

Then install. I couldn't boot from the DVD in UEFI mode, but this worked for me.

 

Thanks iphetamine and dbman190. Reps added.

Looks like a USB formatted to FAT32 will work, and explains why media with different file systems dont (DVD-UDF and SSD/USB-NTFS).

Since Im going to reinstall windows 8 over my current Windows 8 installation, does anyone know what process I should follow seeing that the Windows 8 installer will check for a Windows 7 installation prior to installing?

I like the idea of nuking my current installation with gparted and then doing a clean install with UEFI, but it doesnt look like the Windows 8 upgrade installation will allow this.

 

Use Parted magic. How to: Secure Erase your Solid State Drive (SSD) with Parted Magic

Don't do the "advanced secure erase." (a popup after choosing ata secure erase) It doesn't do anything additional and will just put more wear on your drive.

That live cd will only boot from BIOS and not UEFI.

Also you need to edit your registry so you can activate with an upgrade copy. http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1724637

 

Also, I'm not meaning to hijack the thread, but if anyone can figure out how to get the x220 SD reader working on Win 8, I'd greatly appreciate it. The Lenovo driver doesn't work.

Edit: SOLVED! used this one: http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles/win8beta_83xw01ww.zip

 

What are you using the beta drivers for? The X220 Driver Matrix has a bunch of windows 8 drivers available, including the SD card reader

Drivers and software - ThinkPad X220 & X220i

 

I know. The SD card driver didn't work for some reason, even with a manual install through the device manager. I used the beta driver for the T420 to get it to work. All the other drivers I'm using are non-beta.

Edit: The other problem I'm having is I can't find a way to get the Bluetooth LED to turn off, even when I disable Bluetooth in the wireless settings panel/charm. I'm using the Thinkpad Bluetooth 3.0 driver from Windows Update because I can't find a Lenovo driver for Windows 8 for Thinkpad Bluetooth 3.0.

 

I just did a reinstall of Windows 8 x64 using the USB key method in this thread.

I'm also able to boot with UEFI only set in the BIOS.

I've had a look under disk management and my SSD seems to be partitioned into the following:

300MB (Recovery Partition)
100MB (EFI System Partition)
118GB NTFS (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition)

Does this look correct?

Thanks again.

 

Yes that looks right. You should have 3 partitions rather than 2 for MBR.

 

thanks for that

 

Congrats on getting UEFI boot working. Was the process worth it? What advantages are you seeing compared to using the older boot method?

 

I grabbed them... but don't see the Bluetooth, Webcam, Power Manager, Rescue and Recovery, Autolock, Hotkey integration features, SimpleTap, Lenovo Solutions Center, or Access Connections with Windows 8 specific exe's yet.

Thanks!

 

I'd say yes.

Seeing that the X220 motherboard supports UEFI I thought that I might as well take advantage of it.

I have noticed quicker boot times compared to legacy BIOS, but nothing major.

 

FYI on the missing X220 drivers... I posted in the Lenovo forum:

Driver matrices for Win8 upgrade-capable systems -... - Lenovo Community

 

Does the Fingerprint reader, in particular starting and waking from standby, work with Win8 and UEFI?

 

Yes. Install the non-beta Windows 8 fingerprint software from the driver matrix.

I'm also using Bitlocker, and the fingerprint swipe at boot unlocks the key and whatnot so it is completely transparent and works the same as before it was enabled.

 

Great, I'm using Bitlocker as well. So will give UEFI a try.