The Transition to UEFI, GPT, and BOOTMGR
Three technologies have converged to provide support for installing Windows on drives bigger than 2.2 TB. First, BIOS, as we know it, is gone, replaced by the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI). Second, the old MBR and partition tables are being replaced by a far more powerful technology called GUID Partition Tables (GPT). Third, Windows Vista and Windows 7 have replaced the old NTLDR/NTDETECT/BOOT.INI with Windows Boot Manager, better known as BOOTMGR (often pronounced “boot mugger”).
Let’s take a look at all three of these changes.
EFI/UEFI
Your computer’s system BIOS is one very old piece of programming. First conceived with the 286-based IBM AT computer back in the 1980s, BIOS hasn’t changed ...
Get Mike Meyers' Guide to Supporting Windows 7 for CompTIA A+ Certification (Exams 701 & 702) now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
