Configure Z820 BIOs (J63 / v03.96) to recognise Windows 10 Pro GPT boot hard

[ianmansfield]

Ok bios is at factory defaults,

the boot drive is grey sata 0  port and DVD is grey sata 1, no other drives are connected remove all add in pci-e  cards except for the video card (again, removal of all add in cards is important)

start the win 7 using a generic install disk (the z420 disk is ok to use)

when shown, select the drive to install win 7 to (should only be one drive showing)

from the win 7 setup manually remove all existing partitions,

(this step is very important existing partitions MUST BE REMOVED, if not problems will happen)

then press NEXT, win 7 will auto create necessary partitions

after win 7 install, confirm win 7 is activated if so proceed (if not stop and post that activation is not active)

do not install any programs/drivers,...........leave win 7 as is and confirm the system has working internet

install all win 7 MS updates/drivers (win 10 update cannot proceed until several MS updates have been installed

once all win 7 updates have been installed, download the  MS win 10 Pro 64bit image from microsoft and select the create a USB key installer,  (a 16GB key or larger will be required) do not use a existing image or a internet upgrade, create a new key

once the win 10 usb key is created remove it and reboot to the win 7 desktop, then reinsert the usb key, and from win 7 go to the usb key and run the win 10 setup/install file (DO NOT BOOT FROM THE USB KEY), and again only the win 7 drive and dvd should be attached, no other drives internal or external can be attached

the update should proceed without any errors, if not note EXACTLY WHEN and the EXACT ERROR MSG

once in win 10, confirm activation, if successful your current motherboard is now tied to a MS digital license and any further win 10 installs can be done directly without reinstalling win 7

now proceed to do all win 10 updates, and when finished create a restore image if you wish (do not install any apps yet)

Got as far as here - all good so far. Going to bed now. Waiting for the the Windows image backup to finish. Saved it in my WDCloud. Created a shutdown timer on the desktop.

Will do these when I wake up

reboot after last ms update, power down and connect a second drive (if you have it) power on and remove any existing partitions  (if a new drive initialize it first) and recreate new NTFS partition(s) again this is important as the win 10 ntfs file system is slightly different than earlier OS NTFS partition structure

if a 3rd drive is to be connected, repeat steps above on initialize/format

once all data drives are attached, reinstall  one pci-e card in the mfgr recommended slot and install any card drivers, then the application that uses the card, reboot and confirm card/app is working

repeat for any other pci-e cards

note: some cards have a specific mfgr install order, so check the card or app docs on proper install order

follow the above directions EXACTLY, do not change order or ship or add steps and you should have a easy win 7 to 10 install

[ianmansfield]

Could you clarify this for me DGroves, in order to do this:

reboot after last ms update, power down and connect a second drive (if you have it) power on and remove any existing partitions  (if a new drive initialize it first) and recreate new NTFS partition(s) again this is important as the win 10 ntfs file system is slightly different than earlier OS NTFS partition structure

I have to plug HDDBAY1 cable into SATA01 to format 3 other drives (individually) I have to put in slots 1-3. Format each drive NTFS while the cable is plugged in SATA01. Then plug HDDBAY1 back into SCU1. Thereafter the boot drive still plugged into SATA0 will recognise drives 1-3 in ports SCU1-3 and leave SCU0 socket empty, while the optical drive plugs into in SATA01. 

[DGroves]

why do you make things hard for yourself and us?

leave the boot drive and DVD on SATA ports 0/1

connect a new data drive to the first "SCU" port 0 (white port closest to grey sata 6 ports)

this drive can be either in one of the 5.25 front bays or the next drive bay number of the 4 internal hotswap bays

once formatted, leave connected, and connect the next data drive to the second "SCU" port repeat till all bays or 5.25 slots are filled

[ianmansfield]

Not trying to make hard for myself or for you.  Thank you for the clarification.

I will follow your instructions on how to add additional hard drives to the SCU ports. See how I get on. 

[ianmansfield]

Hi DGroves,

Sorry for the delay in replying to you but I have been busy with other matters. 

I have now reconnected all the drives and everything in those sockets is in place. 

However one minor problem has come up under the 'Network' connectivity, I cannot see a WDCLoud server or a Synology server in the 'Network' section' ; I can see both my laptops and I can access certain drives with their operating systems. Oddly I can enter the IP address numbers for the WDCLoud and the Synology server by entering that IP in the file path and that will generate a pop-up asking for user and password. They then appear under the 'Network' icon but only as IP addresses not by name. When I reboot back to the desktop they both disappear, but I can connect to them if I type in a specific folder path within the server, that will appear under the 'Quick access' section with a drive letter. Which makes my wonder why the servers themselves don't automatically appear by name under 'Network' when I first see the Desktop. I'm assuming there is a driver conflict?    

[DGroves]

what you are describing is normal because you do not have a "static" ip address on the internet

as such your forward (internet) facing ip address given to you by your ISP will change from time to time but devices connected to your local network via your home  router (192.168.x.x ) will be able to be seen/accessed

this forum is not really the place to try to teach a internet course on networking as such i will not pursue this further

if you want to read/learn this subject you will need to get some books on this and do a bit of reading

[ianmansfield]

Hi DGroves,

OK now I've got to Windows 10 Pro and got the other drives from 1-3 recognized. How do you go about converting the boot drive to GPT partition for EFI BIOS purposes? 

[SDH]

The google knows.....

[DGroves · Accepted solution]

not to mention that there is absolutely no real benefit to him converting to GPT since his boot partition is under 2TB

and if he does enable GPT AND secure boot, and then tries to change a video card he'll find out what a pain that can be

bottom line, GPT is of no real  benefit to this poster and in my opinion should be left as a MBR setup