# I accidentally installed Windows 8 with "Legacy BIOS" activated. Am I Okay?



## Sukishane (Apr 29, 2005)

*I accidentally installed Windows 8 with "Legacy BIOS" activated. Am I Okay?*

*Long story short:*
I finished using DBAN to wipe my hard drive clean in preparation for my Windows 8 installation, and I forgot to switch back to UEFI Boot Mode. (DBAN will *not* start unless legacy BIOS is activated.)

Have I reduced the performance of my computer in any way by doing this? Will I need to reinstall the OS in order to gain maximum performance? :facepalm:

System Specs
Dell Inspiron 660
Intel B75 Express Chipset
Windows 8 64-bit Home Edition


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## OldGrayGary (Jun 29, 2006)

*Re: I accidentally installed Windows 8 with "Legacy BIOS" activated. Am I Okay?*

Since it sounds like you've just installed Windows 8, it might be easiest and faster to just start over & reinstall with UEFI enabled.

While there's no guarantee that your hardware will boot more quickly with Windows 8 installed with UEFI enabled, it is highly likely that you will see some performance improvement. You will also be able to enjoy the added security of the Safe Boot features of UEFI.

For more info on UEFI, you can visit their main website --- UEFI - About UEFI

_______________

If you are feeling adventurous, however, I'll paste in a link here that has a somewhat complicated procedure to switch Windows 8 to UEFI without reinstalling Windows. 
https://gitorious.org/tianocore_uefi_duet_builds/pages/Windows_x64_BIOS_to_UEFI


Best of luck,
. . . Gary


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## Sukishane (Apr 29, 2005)

*Re: I accidentally installed Windows 8 with "Legacy BIOS" activated. Am I Okay?*



OldGrayGary said:


> Since it sounds like you've just installed Windows 8, it might be easiest and faster to just start over & reinstall with UEFI enabled.
> 
> While there's no guarantee that your hardware will boot more quickly with Windows 8 installed with UEFI enabled, it is highly likely that you will see some performance improvement. You will also be able to enjoy the added security of the Safe Boot features of UEFI.
> 
> ...



Thanks for the response.


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