In Forum: Microsoft Operating Systems
By User: WinPC
I was thinking about how UEFI systems (such as Macs, many more advanced Windows 8 systems including probably also tablets, probably ARM tablets with Windows RT, etc...) allow the operating system to play the same role as the BIOS in other systems, basically a BIOS that is employed as a driver for all intents and purposes.
As some of you probably already know, Microsoft is encouraging manufacturers of systems running Windows 8 to switch from the old traditional BIOS to UEFI firmware, meaning that soon, there will be many PC systems on the market with UEFI firmware instead of the old BIOS firmware. With that, I was wondering something...
...what would happen if you tried to boot to an earlier version of Windows (such as Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, the original release of Windows XP, or even earlier versions of Windows, such as Windows NT 3.x or even Windows 95/98/98 Second Edition/Me - Millennium Edition) on a UEFI system? Would it even boot up at all, or would it just simply fail? And if it did boot up, would it be stable enough for it to be at all usable?
By User: WinPC
I was thinking about how UEFI systems (such as Macs, many more advanced Windows 8 systems including probably also tablets, probably ARM tablets with Windows RT, etc...) allow the operating system to play the same role as the BIOS in other systems, basically a BIOS that is employed as a driver for all intents and purposes.
As some of you probably already know, Microsoft is encouraging manufacturers of systems running Windows 8 to switch from the old traditional BIOS to UEFI firmware, meaning that soon, there will be many PC systems on the market with UEFI firmware instead of the old BIOS firmware. With that, I was wondering something...
...what would happen if you tried to boot to an earlier version of Windows (such as Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, the original release of Windows XP, or even earlier versions of Windows, such as Windows NT 3.x or even Windows 95/98/98 Second Edition/Me - Millennium Edition) on a UEFI system? Would it even boot up at all, or would it just simply fail? And if it did boot up, would it be stable enough for it to be at all usable?