The main extension Apple adds is an HFS+ driver, which is not specified by the efi specs, and then the bios emulator. Macs are PC's hardware wise, with custom extensions for Apple. Windows 7 tries to use vga bios hooks to boot, which is not supported by any version of efi, though can be added by manufacturers (one of the benefits of UEFI). So, having looked more into this, I know the issue with windows 7 is Microsoft's support for uefi. If anyone has suggestions, I am all ears. It says that the recovery tools are not installed, and I must use my disk or usb stick to boot into it. I should note, after installing windows the way I described in the earlier post, then getting that error message, when I reboot, I am able to hold down option/alt and boot into the UEFI Boot option, and get a windows error.
I am wondering if i may be able to use imagex to apply the install image directly, setting up the individual partitions myself, and making it work, I just don't know what files go where in the microsoft system partition, and which files are directly needed for the EFI partition. I have worked on this for two weeks, having to wipe and restore the whole system countless times. I think if I kew a lot more than I do about the microsoft boot environment, I could probably seperate the boot settings out into a fat32 boot partition, and them install from a ntfs partition, but this is seriously becoming a headache. Bootcamp is working ok, with random system crashes. I have settled on using bootcamp for now, until I feel like working on this again.
When searching online, I found similar error,numbered 81, not the 35 that I was getting that seemed to be driver issues, so I don't know if this one is a driver issue, or what. When searching the log messages located in the $windows.~bt and $windows.~ls (I don't remember which one right this second), I see a general error code, that I forgot to save.
In all cases, windows 8 gives me the message "Windows could not update the computer's boot configuration.
I have tried with the drive clean, with the drive pre partitioned according to the Microsoft requirements for uefi, and with OSX installed. (refit does not solve all the problems, I usually get an error when using it, at least from the windows 8 boot options) I did not use rEFIt, as I have been having issues with lion. When formated as ntfs, the usb stick would not be detected by the Mac UEFI. The UEFI spec calls for fat32 partitions being readable, not ntfs.
How to Open Device Manager During Installation of Windows 8 and 8.1.How to Upgrade from Windows 8, Windows 7, Vista, or XP to Windows 8 or 8.1.How to Do a Repair Install of Windows 8 without Losing Anything.How to Boot to UEFI Firmware Settings from inside Windows 8.How to Check if Windows is Booted in UEFI or Legacy BIOS Mode.How to Check if Secure Boot is Enabled or Disabled in Windows 8 and 8.1.How to Enable or Disable Secure Boot in UEFI.How to Create or Download a Windows 8 Upgrade ISO.How to Download and Run the "Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant".Convert MBR Disk to GPT Disk - Windows 7 Forums.How to Do a Clean Install with Windows 8 Upgrade.How to Do a Clean Install of Windows 8 or Windows 8.1.Create Bootable USB or DVD with Windows 8 ISO.How to Install Windows 7 Using "Unified Extensible Firmware Interface" (UEFI).Create a Bootable UEFI USB Flash Drive for Installing Windows 7.How to Clean Install Windows on a MSATA (SSD) Drive.NOTE: You might receive a "Windows can't be installed on drive 0" warning, but as long as you can click on the Next button, you're fine. Select the "Primary" partition 4, and click/tap on Next. You will notice that the disk has now been formatted as GPT with 4 partitions.
When you are finished, click/tap on New, Apply (for full size of disk), and OK. Delete all partitions/volumes on the disk # (ex: Disk 0) that you want to install Windows 8 as UEFI on until that disk # shows as u nallocated space. Do steps 2 to 7 in the tutorial at the link below, and return.Ħ. Press whatever key (ex: F11) it shows to boot to your motherboard's boot menu, and select to boot from the listed UEFI DVD or UEFI USB. How to Boot from a USB Drive within Windows 8 and 8.1Ĥ.
Enable or Disable Always Automatically Boot PC from USB Drive in Windows To Go Startup Options