What Is UEFI, and How Is It Different from BIOS?

By Chris Hoffman on May 16th, 2017

New computers use UEFI firmware instead of the traditional BIOS. Both are low-level software that
starts when you boot your PC before booting your operating system, but UEFI is a more modern
solution, supporting larger hard drives, faster boot times, more security features, and—conveniently—
graphics and mouse cursors.

We’ve seen newer PCs that ship with UEFI still refer to it as the “BIOS” to avoid confusing people who
are used to a traditional PC BIOS. Even if your PC uses the term “BIOS”, modern PCs you buy today
almost certainly ship with UEFI firmware instead of a BIOS.

What Is a BIOS?
What Does a PC’s BIOS Do, and When Should I Use It?
BIOS is short for Basic Input-Output system. It’s low-level software that resides in a chip on your
computer’s motherboard. The BIOS loads when your computer starts up, and the BIOS is responsible
for waking up your computer’s hardware components, ensures they’re functioning properly, and then
runs the bootloader that boots Windows or whatever other operating system you have installed.

You can configure various settings in the BIOS setup screen. Settings like your computer’s hardware
configuration, system time, and boot order are located here. You can access this screen by pressing a
specific key—different on different computers, but often Esc, F2, F10, or Delete—while the computer
boots. When you save a setting, it’s saved to the memory on your motherboard itself. When you boot
your computer, the BIOS will configure your PC with the saved settings.

The BIOS goes through a POST, or Power-On Self-Test, before booting your operating system. It
checks to ensure your hardware configuration is valid and working properly. If something is wrong,
you’ll see an error message or hear a cryptic series of beep codes. You’ll have to look up what different
sequences of beeps mean in the computer’s manual.

When your computer boots—and after the POST finishes—the BIOS looks for a Master Boot Record,
or MBR, stored on the boot device and uses it to launch the bootloader.

You may also see the acronym CMOS, which stands for Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor.
This refers to the battery-backed memory where the BIOS stores various settings on the motherboard.
It’s actually not accurate anymore, since this method has been replaced with flash memory (also
referred to as EEPROM) in contemporary systems.

Why the BIOS Is Outdated

The BIOS has been around for a long time, and hasn’t evolved much. Even MS-DOS PCs released in
the 1980s had a BIOS!

Of course, the BIOS has evolved and improved over time. Some extensions were developed, including
ACPI, the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface. This allows the BIOS to more easily configure
devices and perform advanced power management functions, like sleep. But the BIOS hasn’t advanced
and improved nearly as much as other PC technology has since the days of MS-DOS.

The traditional BIOS still has serious limitations. It can only boot from drives of 2.1 TB or less. 3 TB
drives are now common, and a computer with a BIOS can’t boot from them. That limitation is due to the
way the BIOS’s Master Boot Record system works.

The BIOS must run in 16-bit processor mode, and only has 1 MB of space to execute in. It has trouble
initializing multiple hardware devices at once, which leads to a slower boot process when initializing all
the hardware interfaces and devices on a modern PC.

The BIOS has needed replacement for a long time. Intel started work on the Extensible Firmware
Interface (EFI) specification back in 1998. Apple chose EFI when it switched to the Intel architecture on
its Macs in 2006, but other PC manufacturers didn’t follow.

In 2007, Intel, AMD, Microsoft, and PC manufacturers agreed on a new Unified Extensible Firmware
Interface (UEFI) specification. This is an industry-wide standard managed by the Unified Extended
Firmware Interface Forum, and isn’t solely driven by Intel. UEFI support was introduced to Windows
with Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows 7. The vast majority of computers you can buy today
now use UEFI rather than a traditional BIOS.
How UEFI Replaces and Improves on the BIOS

UEFI replaces the traditional BIOS on PCs. There’s no way to switch from BIOS to UEFI on an existing
PC. You need to buy new hardware that supports and includes UEFI, as most new computers do. Most
UEFI implementations provide BIOS emulation so you can choose to install and boot old operating
systems that expect a BIOS instead of UEFI, so they’re backwards compatible.

What’s the Difference Between GPT and MBR When Partitioning a Drive?
This new standard avoids the limitations of the BIOS. The UEFI firmware can boot from drives of 2.2
TB or larger—in fact, the theoretical limit is 9.4 zettabytes. That’s roughly three times the estimated
size of all the data on the Internet. That’s because UEFI uses the GPT partitioning scheme instead of
MBR. It also boots in a more standardized way, launching EFI executables rather than running code
from a drive’s master boot record.

UEFI can run in 32-bit or 64-bit mode and has more addressable address space than BIOS, which
means your boot process is faster. It also means that UEFI setup screens can be slicker than BIOS
settings screens, including graphics and mouse cursor support. However, this isn’t mandatory. Many
PCs still ship with text-mode UEFI settings interfaces that look and work like an old BIOS setup screen.
UEFI is packed with other features. It supports Secure Boot, which means the operating system can
be checked for validity to ensure no malware has tampered with the boot process. It can support
networking features right in the UEFI firmware itself, which can aid in remote troubleshooting and
configuration. With a traditional BIOS, you have to be sitting in front of a physical computer to configure
it.

It’s not just a BIOS replacement, either. UEFI is essentially a tiny operating system that runs on top of
the PC’s firmware, and it can do a lot more than a BIOS. It may be stored in flash memory on the
motherboard, or it may be loaded from a hard drive or network share at boot.

Different PCs with UEFI will have different interfaces and features. It’s all up to your PC manufacturer,
but the basics will be the same on each PC.

How to Access UEFI Settings on Modern PCs

If you’re a normal PC user, switching to a computer with UEFI won’t be a noticeable change. Your new
computer will boot up and shut down faster than it would have with a BIOS, and you can use drives of
2.2 TB or more in size.

If you need to access low-level settings, there may be a slight difference. You may need to access the
UEFI settings screen through the Windows boot options menu rather than pressing a key while your
computer starts. With PCs now booting so quickly, PC manufacturers don’t want to slow down the boot
process by waiting to see if you press a key. However, we’ve also seen PCs with UEFI that allow you
to access the BIOS in the same way, by pressing a key during the boot-up process.

While UEFI is a big upgrade, it’s largely in the background. Most PC users will never notice—or need
to care—that their new PCs use UEFI instead of a traditional BIOS. They’ll just work better and
support more modern hardware and features.
Three Ways to Access the Windows 8 or 10 Boot Options Menu
By Lori Kaufman on January 8th, 2015

The boot options have been consolidated in Windows 8 and 10 into a single menu, called the “boot
options menu,” providing access to repair tools and options for changing Windows startup behavior,
such as enabling debugging, booting into safe mode, and launching into a recovery environment.

The days of pressing a function key or Esc to interrupt the boot process and get into the BIOS
configuration (in UEFI enabled systems) are gone. There are three ways of accessing the new boot
options menu in Windows 8 or 10 and we’ll show you how.

Hold Down Shift While Choosing Restart

Instead of going all the way into the Settings screens, there is a faster way to access the boot options
menu. Simply find the Shut down / Restart menu and hold down the SHIFT key while clicking on Restart.
It’s as simple as that.
This even works if you haven’t logged into Windows at all, as long as you’re on the login screen and
can access the restart menu.

Once you’ve done this, instead of fully rebooting, the blue boot options menu displays. To access the
options for refreshing or resetting your PC or to use the advanced tools, click Troubleshoot.

You can choose to Refresh your PC, Reset your PC, or access Advanced options.
The options pictured below are available on the Advanced options menu. To change how Windows
starts up, such as booting into safe mode, click Startup Settings.
A list displays, showing you the options available when Windows restarts next time. Click Restart to
restart Windows and gain access to these options.

When your PC restarts, the Startup Settings menu displays. Select an option using the number keys
or the function keys F1-F9. There is one additional option accessible by pressing F10.

If you decided you don’t want to use any of these options, you can boot normally by pressing Enter.
Launch recovery environment is the extra option accessed by pressing F10. To return to the other
options, press F10 again.
Through PC Settings in Windows 8 or 10

The first and primary method is through the PC Settings. Press the Windows key + I (capital “i”) and
click Change PC Settings. For Windows 10, this would be the Start Menu -> Settings button instead.
For Windows 8:

Click the General option on the left and then click Restart now under Advanced Setup. This starts the
normal restart process, which gets automatically interrupted as Windows is about to shut down.
For Windows 10:

Open up Settings and go to Update and Security, and then choose Recovery on the left menu. From
here you can choose the Advanced Startup option.
Obviously holding down Shift and pressing Restart is a lot simpler.

Through the Command Prompt (in 8 or 10)

The final method involves entering a command using the Command Prompt. To open the Command
Prompt window, press Windows key + D to access the Desktop, if you are not already there. Move
your mouse to the extreme, lower left corner of the Desktop until you see the Start screen button.
Right-click to access the Win+X menu and select Command Prompt from the menu.

NOTE: You can also press Win + X to access this menu.

Type the following command at the prompt and press Enter.

shutdown.exe /r /o

NOTE: The /o switch will only work if used with the /r switch.
A message displays in the middle of the screen warning you that you are about to be signed off.
Windows will reboot automatically.

Windows 8 now includes the “automatic restart after failure” feature, which detects whether the OS
loaded successfully, If not, the system automatically reboots into the boot options menu, allowing you
to access the troubleshooting options.