Cannot boot from CD-DVD in LEGACY mode - NOT Secure Boot NOT UEFI

32 bit anything is not an option ever with UEFI bios whether Linux or Windows 7 or 8 it must be 64 bit.  XP and Vista are not an option. F12 Bootable DVD OR usb is Easy with the Microsoft tool and the pendrivelinux.com tool. UEFI Class 2.3.1 bios is microsoft Jail.

UEFI Class 3 bios does not have CSM legacy mode at all as it is removed.

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/

Burning a 64 bit ubuntu dvd at 1x or 2x or 4x max will boot and work just fine.  Must however be at LEAST 12.04.3 or higher.

We have never left topic.  If you are insisting on MBR 32 bit booting its not happening ever.  That also rules out syslinux fat32 mbr booting and Grub/Dos multi booting.   GPT partitions are Required secure boot or not.

CSM = Compatibility support mode aka LEGACY.

When they switch bios to UEFI class 3 the LEGACY or CSM mode is removed as an option as is F12 booting.

So I would be VERY WARY of any BIOS Updates that are essentially a one way trip FOREVER class 3 once installed.

The 64 bit WIN7 Pro DVD will boot but will be unable to remove the WIN8 partition on the original drive.

You could use dban to nuke the drive but that would destroy all data.  A brand new clean drive in F12 CSM LEAGACY mode will boot and install WIN7 64 pro Dell media just fine.

Secure boot works ONLY with 64 bit software and ONLY with Windows 8, 8.1, 10 or UBUNTU 12.04.3 or higher.  AFAIKT NO OTHER LINUX WORKS.  Although I have heard that REDHAT ENTERPRISE LINUX works but thats not free software so Its not a guarantee.

Thanks, Speed. 

My Opti 7010 is running Win 8 Pro 64-bit, but Dell also sent me a Dell Win 7 Pro 64-bit SP1 Reinstall disk (and a Driver disk).  Do you think that if I put that Win 7 reinstall disk into the CD-DVD, it will work?

Today, I bought a second hard drive.  When it arrives, I'll unplug the existing hard drive (Win 8), plug in the new hard drive (blank) and see if I can install the Win 7 on it.

Or am I still missing something?  Will UEFI block the install of Win 7 Pro 64-bit?

F12 booting while not in secure boot is possible but KNOPPIX is not supported.  They didn't pay Extortion fee to Microsoft.  You can boot 64 bit UBUNTU 12.04.3 or higher or 64 Bit WIN7 or WIN8.

Other Linux is locked out due to microsoft Jail.

Jail breaking your bios is a violation of DMCA

Speed - Understood.  But that means there's little hope of ever having a genuine dual-boot machine (both Win 8 Pro 64-bit and Win 7 Pro 64-bit).

Anyway, it would be a start to understanding this better.  If I can get this far, there is then a long thread on sevenforums about installing Win 7 as UEFI.  But first things first - just getting it to install at all on a blank HD would be helpful.  (And I would be OK leaving Secure Boot off.)

By the way, is it wrong that there's no mention of CSM or RAID in my current BIOS?  (It does mention Legacy.)

Thanks.

OK - So my Knoppix CD isn't a good one.

But what about my older Aomei Backupper CD that has Win 7 as its underlying OS on the CD?  It was made on a Win 7 Pro 64-bit machine, although I don't know for sure whether the CD uses Win 7 64-bit or 32-bit.  But anyway it doesn't boot in ANY mode.  It seems weird that it could not boot.  It's not XP.

And if that one doesn't boot, what's Legacy mode for then?

Aomei Backupper CD is based on 32 bit LINUX not windows 7. So no its not booting ever.  AOMEI Linux bootable disc
Not booting and Not being able to clone is not an accident.

Secure boot is Microsoft $ecure Boot not security for you.

AOMEI did not pay the $$$Microsoft extortion fee either.

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/coffee-lounge/195706-spanish-linux-group-sues-microsoft-over-uefi-secure-boot.html

Hispalinux’s complaint called the implementation of UEFI Secure Boot an “obstruction mechanism” and “a de facto technological jail for computer booting systems.”

Speed - Just checked.  My slightly older Aomei Backupper CD was made with Win 7, not Linux.  I just booted off it in my older XP PC and it started up in Win 7.  I was able to run a command prompt in this OS and it said at the top Windows version 6.1.7601.

Don't know whether it is 32-bit or 64-bit (or maybe both depending on where it's run?).

(This is a "Professional" version of Aomei Backupper that I got earlier this year from Giveaway of the Day, so the CD was made with Win PE.)

And this is the CD that does NOT boot in my Win 8 Opitplex 7010.

So Speed - what do you think?  Is my Win 8 machine "normal" or is something wrong?

Thanks again.

Then its 32 bit and thats why it wont EVER boot.

Speed - you really know your stuff and as ever I'm learning a lot.

So it turns out that Win 8 has a problem I didn't foresee - the UEFI constraints when I want to do things.   All the articles complaining about Win 8 left out this major issue and just yelled about the start button.

Dell's support pages for my machine indicate that - maybe - I could downgrade my BIOS to a "Pre- Win8 BIOS".  Dell doesn't say what that means or even which version is "Pre-Win8".  My guess is that "Pre- Win8 BIOS" is not UEFI but who knows?

And what's weird is that Dell also offers all the higher "Yes Win8" BIOS versions even if I say my OS is Win 7 64-bit, so what is that?

What do you think about my downgrading my BIOS to a "Pre- Win8 BIOS"?  I suppose if I did it and then tried to boot up normally into Win 8 my machine would say "No way, pal."  And then I COULD NEVER GET BACK.

IS there a BIOS version for my machine that is open to everything all at once?

Between Win 7 and 8 is like an international border where the countries ain't so friendly.  If only I'd known, I would have gone back to Win 98 SE.

 i had the same problem but i fixed it last night by installing robolinux, it found and automounted all my hardware and right after i could finally use my windows oem disk. It was amazingly easy.

ALL UEFI bios does not allow MBR partitions so WIN98SE or WINME isn't really an option EVER.  Booting GPT partitions is also not allowed in XP so going back is being prevented in hardware.  Microsoft seems to have learned this from Apple where they lock you out of older OS thru the bios and make anyone buying a new machine only able to use the latest and greatest of the OS.  This also forces you to buy newer and newer machines because the old ones become "not supported."

Speed - although you predicted it, I am amazed at what I have done today.

I bought a second (blank) hard drive and have successfully installed Win 7 Pro 64-bit SP1 on it.  (I disconnected the first hard drive that has my Win 8 Pro 64-bit.  Later for figuring out how to do dual-boot - not yet for that.)

What amazed me is that I have installed the Win 7 Pro 64-bit SP1 while my BIOS is in UEFI - it is UEFI ON and Secure Boot off.  (Enable Legacy ROM is ON.)  BIOS indicates that it is Windows Boot Manager.  The Win 7 Pro 64-bit SP1 DVD ran flawlessly on my CD-DVD unit - no problems of any kind.  The machine has rebooted many times as I have adjusted settings and added drivers from the Dell resource Media CD.

Disk Management shows only two partitions - a small one with the legend "Healthy (EFI System Partition)" and then my C:\ drive, which is indicated to be NTFS and "Healthy (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition)".  The Properties for all of Disk 0 says "Partition Style: GUID Partition Table (GPT)".

Now - is that good or bad?  If one day I try to do dual-boot, does that conflict with the four partitions on my (now disconnected) Win 8 hard drive?  Did I install this Win 7 wrong?

I am even more amazed that the Win 7 Pro 64-bit SP1 self-installed with a product key that is different from the product key for my Win 8 Pro 64-bit.  The Dell OEM Win 7 install disk did that by itself - I did not have to manually enter anything.  That's good news for a future dual-boot, yes?

I have NOT yet connected to the internet.

Now, when I disconnected my original WIn 8 hard drive, I unplugged its Sata data cable and used that for the new added Win 7 hard drive.  So the new hard drive is connected to the same motherboard SATA data socket as the original Win 8 hard drive.  Well, at some point when I use both hard drives, one of them will have to be connected to a different SATA socket on the MB - but not yet.

Well ... how did I get lucky for this step so far???