Steve Smith explains why installing you Windows operating system might not work a second time on a UEFI mainboard, and what to do about it.
Episode #6-23 released on February 22, 2016
You buy a computer, have the latest gear, brand new UEFI mainboard, and you get a virus, what do you do? Format, and reinstall, right? Wrong. It is a little more complicated, just a little, because of the new UEFI boards, and what they bring to the table.
I've previously talked about the reason Windows 8.1 required UEFI, and the most important feature is Secure Boot. Windows 10 can work on older hardware, but installing it on a UEFI enabled system is the only way to unlock all of its security settings.
So, what does Secure Boot have that makes a simple install complicated? Platform Keys. How does one guarantee that an operating system is not compromised? Platform Keys. What keeps you from installing a new instance of any operating system? Again, platform keys. I hope you understand where I am going with this.
Secure boot uses platform keys to protect you from viruses and malware that could attempt to load before the operating system, which is why even formatting, repartitioning, etc. a hard drive is pointless when trying to reinstall, unless you know how to enable reinstallation of an operating system in that particular hard drive.
Now, you are probably freaking out right now, and probably didn't know this otherwise, why else would you be here, but the process of allowing your Windows Installation to install is actually easy. Head over to your UEFI Bios setup, look up secure boot, navigate to key management, and simply clear Secure Boot keys.
Now, for those wondering how Windows' knows that it can't be installed, that is, also, easy to explain away. Windows executes a secure boot check when trying to install the operating system, and when it sees platform keys are already present, it won't allow for another copy of Windows to be installed in the same position, as a current one should be.
Host : Steve Smith | Music : Jonny Lee Hart | Editor : Steve Smith | Producer : Zed Axis Productions