How to identify if a computer is using UEFI or legacy BIOS

Technical Articles ID: KB83363
Last Modified: 2024-01-06 10:02:33 Etc/GMT

Environment

Drive Encryption (DE) 7.2.x, 7.1.x

For details of DE 7.x supported environments, see KB79422 - Supported platforms for Drive Encryption 7.x.

Summary

This article helps you identify if a system is in Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) or legacy Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) mode.

Some systems can present issues where the BIOS or UEFI used to start the system doesn't match the Windows environment.

NOTE: This is one of several articles to help you test and prepare the system for deployment and activation of DE or EEPC.
Additional articles or tools that cover how to identify if your system is UEFI ready:

Solution 1

To identify if a computer is using UEFI or BIOS using bcdedit:

Click Start, Run, type CMD, and click OK.
In the command window, type the following command and press Enter:

bcdedit /enum

NOTE: You must have administrative permissions to use BCDEdit.

Analyze the displayed output. Locate the path entry found under the section "Windows Boot Loader."

UEFI or BIOS	Path
Master Boot Record (MBR) system	\Windows\system32\winload.exe
Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) system	\Windows\system32\winload.efi

NOTE: This only shows if a system is UEFI or BIOS. It doesn't show if it's 64-bit or 32-bit UEFI. But, you can't install Windows 7 64-bit UEFI on a 32-bit UEFI system, so you can assume that all UEFI Windows 7 64-bit systems have a 64-bit UEFI.

Close the command window.

Solution 2

To identify if a computer is using UEFI or BIOS via the ePolicy Orchestrator (ePO) console:

Log on to ePO console.
Click Menu, System Tree.
Select the required computer.
On the System Details page, select the Drive Encryption tab.
Click More to see the firmware type.

The firmware type will be either in BIOS or EFI (UEFI).

Solution 3

To identify if a computer is using UEFI or BIOS from within the BIOS:

Shut down the computer.
During the system startup sequence, access the BIOS settings page. (For details, see the computer's documentation as one of several function keys is required to gain access to the BIOS - for example F2, F10.)
Check the firmware type.
Create the correct DETech required recovery media.

Affected Products

Drive Encryption 7.2 (EOL)

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How to identify if a computer is using UEFI or legacy BIOS

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How to identify if a computer is using UEFI or legacy BIOS

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