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As the title says, I want to know if I have BIOS or UEFI. I want to know if I have to use MBR or GPT partitioning schemes for a bootable USB. I have Windows 10 on my PC.

According to Windows's System Information I have UEFI. However, if I press Shift + Restart, Troobleshoot, Advanced Options, UEFI Configuration, restart, I enter the Start Up Menu which seems to be like a BIOS thing. The options I have in that menu are:

  1. System Information
  2. System Diagnosis
  3. Boot Menu
    • OS boot administrator (UEFI) - Windows Boot Manager
    • EFI boot

So far, I would be pretty centain I have UEFI, but then option 4 (and option 5) reads as

  1. BIOS Configuration
  2. System Recovery

So, I conclude that the UEFI configuration is the same as BIOS configuration and I start doubting of what is happening.

I also read that the UEFI has a nicer interface (graphically) than BIOS, which is not my case if option 4. is UEFI configuration (looks like a normal BIOS).

I would appreciate any clarification about this. Also I read that the MBR partitioning scheme could work for both BIOS and UEFI, contrary to GPT which only works with UEFI. Is this correct? Thanks in advance.

Gilgamesh
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  • 4

3 Answers3

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Your system is using UEFI. It may be capable of a "legacy" boot, but then you would find that in the "bios" settings.

Gerard H. Pille
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You have UEFI.

The term "BIOS" is often used as a misnomer for the firmware setup utility, ie. BIOS setup on older computers and UEFI setup on newer ones. Non-technical users have learned over the years that it's just called "BIOS" and it stuck.

Basically all PC systems released in the last 10 years have UEFI (with the notable exception of Chromebooks). Most UEFIs have a Compatibility Support Module which lets them in BIOS-compatible mode, but it's recommended to use the newer UEFI mode for various reasons.

Both BIOS and UEFI can boot both MBR and GPT drives. Details are in my lengthy answer here. Windows, however, doesn't support mixing BIOS+GPT and UEFI+MBR. When booted in UEFI mode it requires GPT partitioning and in legacy mode MBR is required.

gronostaj
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If you use Linux, you can ask your system about useing classical BIOS + CMOS or a UEFI BIOS by follow in your terminal:

[ -d /sys/firmware/efi ] && echo UEFI || echo BIOS

This will output you one of the follow one, depend on your system:

BIOS
UEFI
Alfred.37
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