I need an application running on WinXP x86 and/or x64, which will detect if the system started in EFI mode. I tested AIDA64 but this reports that UEFI Boot - No:


msinfo32.exe from WinVista, 7, 8 or 10 not work in XP

I think only the Intel Itanium version of Windows XP supported EFI out of the box, because EFI wasn't really a thing back in the early 2000s.

EFI wasn't really a thing used in booting Windows until Windows Vista x64 SP1.

They got XP working on UEFI somehow, check out the glorious megathread:https://www.betaarchive.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=61&t=20327&p=435277#p435277
But yeah, because it wasn't supported I don't think any tools would display properly.
HWINFO also shows boot type, you could always give that a try.

MrBurgerKing - "They got" - It's me got


No, Vista or Server Longhorn 2008 support EFI boot and AIDA64 displays correctly UEFI Boot - Yes regardless of whether the partition is GPT or MBR. I did an EFI test in VMware - I installed Win2008 Longhorn in EFI mode on GPT:


In the second virtual machine I installed WinVista Longhorn in BIOS on MBR, copied EFI files to the appropriate locations, switched the machine to EFI. Now Vista boot and AIDA64 correctly displays the information:


I do not know how AIDA64 detects UEFI but certainly not by checking if the partition is GPT

I know that booting off EFI on a GPT partition on 64 bit Windows Vista was actually meant for the original release. (before SP1), but it was apparently delayed because of a lack of supported hardware during Vista's beta phase. So actual support was introduced in SP1.

Beta12, I wonder if you can test this EFI and GPT thing on a later build, (eg 5472, 5600, 5744 or 5840?).

Yet Longhorn Server2008 6001.16497 is later build (this is SP1)


AIDA64 displays ok UEFI Boot - Yes on GPT - look on my screenshot in previous (edited) post.

I am asking if it is possible with EFI and GPT from the start, as you did on Longhorn Server 6001.16497.

Is this EFI and GPT configuration possible on later client builds, like 5472, 5600, 5744 and 5840 from the start instead of starting with BIOS and MBR?

Vista 5384.4 have EFI files but does not start with a DVD in EFI mode.

But it does not matter. The topic is how to detect if the system is running in EFI mode. WinXP x64 system can not be installed in EFI mode (at least for now I do not know how). You must install it in Legacy mode, copy EFI files and switch firmware to EFI.

Hmm, by copying EFI files from a Vista or Server 2008 pre-release to boot up XP x64 on EFI?

Probably not without some heavy modification, as shown on that megathread: viewtopic.php?f=61&t=20327&p=435277#p435277

Oh my God - the next one that refers to my post - more than half of the posts in this megathread is mine

Yes, just copy a few files and create the appropriate BCD file - this is not "heavy tweaking"

Please read the whole "megathread" carefully.

A particuliar point of interest:

One of the posts in the megathread mentions 5219 32-bit having a winload.efi and it used boot.ini in bootmgr instead of BCD.

And that it worked to actually boot up XP, even with SP3.

but there is no Windows XP with UEFI boot
the video posted shows absolutely nothing !!!
they are forced mod with Windows Vista files
Windows support in UEFI mode starts with Windows Vista (Server 2008)
Before UEFI existed only for macOS

No problem - check PM


Which video?

And who even claims that Windows XP supported UEFI? As far as I know, some members of this forum have successfully transplanted the Windows Vista boot manager to XP and used it to boot XP in UEFI mode. There even is a link to that thread in previous posts; you would have seen it if you had read them before posting.

You can try this console-based app that I made: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/ ... isefi2.exe

Will it work?

EDIT: Someone removed the file I uploaded to the BetaArchive Discord. So I reuploaded it to anonfiles instead:
https://anonfiles.com/T3G392kdb6/isefi2_exe

Unfortunately, it detects as a BIOS

I threw file in the hex editor and it looks like it uses windows files: kernel32.dll, msvcrt.dll and function: GetFirmwareEnvironmentVariableW but WinXP x64 does not support EFI.

The application would have to be able to use EFI Runtime Services directly without using Windows files. I found something like that: Runtime Services function call wrappers:

I'm not sure if it's possible to do that without using kernel-mode privileges (.sys), but maybe it's possible. I'll try it sometime soon.

It shouldn't be possible at all because you're missing the pointers to the runtime services. On Macs booting in CSM based BootCamp, Apple introduced an SMBIOS table with pointers to the RunTime Services table (struct). But that is Mac specific. The only way to do it otherwise is to look for the signature (0x56524553544e5552) in all the memory until you find it, but that is very complicated if you don't have access to the memory maps.

If you have the pointer and are in ring0 (kernel-land), you should be able to run them, otherwise there's no chance. Generally, after you call ExitBootServices and SetVirtualAddressMap you should save a copy of those pointers (converted with ConvertPointer() ) somewhere. In the Windows design it's the HAL that should do that because the HAL is the one that implements HalQueryEnvironmentVariableInfoEx, HalSetEnvironmentVariableEx. In older Windows NT releases that emulated the ARC BIOS you had HalGetEnvironmentVariable and HalSetEnvironmentVariable for the same purpose. The variables used by osloader.exe were created at runtime by the ARC emulator (NTLDR) from boot.ini.

Maybe you're right, but I'm interested in one thing - why does not the graphics driver work if we run WinXP in EFI mode?

All other drivers work - Ethernet, Wifi, Sound, USB etc.