In this post, you’ll learn the reason why you can’t install Windows 10 on UEFI and MBR with Rufus and meanwhile, you’ll learn the best method to convert between MBR and GPT for the OS to work normally.
“I want to upgrade my personal computer from Windows 7 to Windows 10 for better performance. I downloaded the system software Rufus in the hope that it can make everything easier. I chose UEFI as boot mode since it’s the latest and then, plan to choose MBR as the partition table. However, the partition scheme doesn’t contain MBR but only GPT. Why does this happen? Can I install Windows 10 on UEFI and MBR?”
UEFI, the abbreviation for Unified Extensible Firmware Interface, is a publicly available specification that helps define a software interface between an OS and platform firmware. UEFI is also the successor to its counterpart Legacy and is the mainstream boot mode. Compared with Legacy, UEFI has better programmability, greater scalability, better performance, and higher security. Meanwhile, to upgrade Windows 10 to Windows 11, UEFI boot mode is required. Finally, remember that UEFI only supports GPT boot disks while Legacy only supports MBR boot disks.
MBR, short for Master Boot Record, is a kind of partition table and according to Wikipedia, it works as a special type of boot sector at the very beginning of partition PC mass storage devices like fixed disks or removable drives intended for use with IMB PC-compatible systems and beyond. An MBR disk supports at most 4 primary partitions or 3 primary partitions plus 1 extended partition. Also, the size of a hard disk in MBR can not go beyond 2TB. By comparison, its counterpart GPT supports at most 128 primary partitions and the maximum size of a GPT disk can be as large as 9.4ZB
When installing Windows 10, many people choose to use the system software – Rufus - for it’s much easier compared with traditional ways. In the course of the OS installation, users need to preset a partition scheme (MBR or GPT) and target system (UEFI and Legacy BIOS). Then, here comes the problem. If you select UEFI as the target system, then, the partition scheme doesn’t offer the option of MBR. This is upset for those who want to make full use of both UEFI’s good programmability and MBR’s good compatibility. So, can I let MBR work with UEFI when using Rufu to install Windows 10?
The answer is negative. You cannot. As you can see from the beginning of the post, UEFI only supports boot disks in GPT while Legacy BIOS supports boot disks in MBR. If you install an OS on a UEFI boot mode while the partition style of the system disk is MBR, your computer will never boot into Windows.
As we’ve already discussed above, MBR cannot work with UEFI and neither can GPT work with Legacy. When the partition table and the boot mode don’t match each other, there should be something wrong occurring to your PC. For example, when installing Windows 10 in the traditional way, you could be prompted with the warning “Windows cannot be installed to this disk, the selected disk is of the GPT partition style”. This is because the boot disk is in GPT while the boot mode is still Legacy. To fix the issue, the most common way is to convert between MBR and GPT.
DiskPart, is a Windows built-in command-line-based program utility for disk management. With it, you can convert GPT to MBR or MBR to GPT after deleting all existing partitions on the target disk. So, to ensure data security, remember to back up important files first.
2. In the Command Prompt window, type “diskpart” and hit “ENTER” to launch DiskPart
3. Type “list disk” and hit “ENTER” to let all hard disks on the computer displayed”.
4. Type “select disk n” and hit “ENETER” to select the specific disk you hope to convert.
5. Type “clean” and hit “ENTER” to remove all partitions from the target disk.
6. Type “convert mbr” and hit “ENTER” to execute the conversion order.
7. When done, type “exit” and hit “ENTER” to quit DiskPart.
It’s wise to use DiskPart when it comes to GPT-MBR conversion. However, as you can see, only by deleting all existing partitions on the target disk, can you proceed with DiskPart. Due to the partition deletion, users will suffer from severe data loss. Thus, it’s imperative to find a more secure alternative.
In this way, I recommend AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional, a powerful third-party software utility that’s able to carry out GPT-MBR conversion without the need to delete any data. Moreover, other features including SSD secure erase, SSD 4K alignment and primary to logical disk conversion are also available.
Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. Right-click on the disk you want to convert and select the option “Convert to MBR”.
Step 2. Confirm the operation by clicking on “OK”.
Step 3. Click on “Apply” after returning to the home interface to start the conversion.
Be patient since it’ll take several seconds.
Can I use Rufus to install Windows 10 on UEFI and MBR? The answer is no. In one word, UEFI only works with GPT boot disks while it’s Legacy that works with MBR. So, what to do when the boot mode and partition style don’t match each other? Don’t worry. This time, a powerful disk management software utility AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional is introduced with which you can easily convert between MBR and GPT. To use the AOMEI product on Servers, please try the Server edition.