How to Make USB Drives UEFI-Capable

When you try to install Windows from a USB stick on a system with UEFI-BIOS, you will see that the UEFI mode is not available for selection. That is because the UEFI Bootloader is not to be found on the stick. The setup program needs this bootloader to start the installation in UEFI mode. If you face this problem, you can make your stick UEFI-capable with some clicks.

First of all, prepare the USB stick for copying the setup files and make it bootable. For this, connect the USB stick to the PC and invoke the command prompt by pressing [Windows]+[R] and entering ‘cmd’. Now start the Windows hard drive partitioning tool with the command ‘diskpart’. Enter ‘list disks’ to get a list of all the storage media installed on the system. Memories the number of your USB stick and then select it with the command ‘select disk X’. In place of ‘X’ enter the data storage number of your USB stick. The easiest way for you to recognize the USB stick would be by its size. Now enter ‘clean’ to remove all the existing data and then create a new partition with the command ‘create partition primary’. Select the new partition by typing ‘select partition 1’. Make the partition bootable with the command ‘active’. Now quick format the disk into the FAT32 file system with the command ‘format fs=fat32 quick’. Assign a disk letter to the stick with ‘assign’ and close the command prompt with the command ‘exit’. Now copy the contents of your Windows setup disc onto the USB drive and install the UEFI Bootloader on the USB drive. To do this, browse to ‘\efi \ microsoft\’ on the USB stick and copy the folder ‘boot’ to ‘\efi ’. Now, browse to the 'sources' folder on the setup DVD and open the file ‘install.wim’ with an archive program like 7-ZIP or WinRAR. Now head to the folder ‘\1\Windows\Boot\EFI’. Copy the file ‘bootmgfw.ef’ from the 'install. wim' fi le to the folder ‘\efi \boot’ on the USB drive. Rename the file to ‘bootx64.ef’, so that it is recognized by the UEFIBIOS. That’s it. You can now boot from the USB stick and install Windows with UEFI mode enabled.