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Is there something like a BIOS in Windows 8? How can I set up the boot device priority? My problem occurs when switching on my computer. It immediately goes to Windows 8 loading screen without showing any BIOS messages; what's happening there?

Tamara Wijsman
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Piotr Krysiak
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    A bios is in hardware, and is unrelated to the operating system the bios is the thing that loads the OS bootloader, which in turns loads the OS. The only requirement is the bios and OS must be compatible. – Paul Sep 12 '12 at 12:26
  • If you [edit] your question with more information about your computer, someone may be able to give you a detailed answer. – CharlieRB Sep 12 '12 at 12:26
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    What's the make/model of the system? – LawrenceC Sep 12 '12 at 13:07

2 Answers2

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The BIOS is independent from your OS. You have a BIOS on your computer, whatever Operating System(s) you install on it.

To answer your question more precisely, yes you have a BIOS. To set the boot device priority, you first have to access it, which is generally done by pressing a key just after powering up your computer (or rebooting). The key depends on your BIOS manufacturer, it could be any of your Fx keys (usually F5, F10, F11 or F12), or the Del key... You should look in the doc of your computer to find which bios it uses, and look on the manufacturer's website how to access it.

Edit: I can see two reasons for the fact that you don't see any BIOS messages:

  • Your computer is never really shut down, and just hibernating/suspended, in which case it's also not fully booting up when you switch it on, but merely resuming it's previous state. In this case you should really either shut it down or reboot it using the Windows start menu (or start screen), and press the relevant key during the boot,
  • Your BIOS displays a fancy "bootup screen" which hides its normal display. In this case, you can still access it by pressing the relevant key during boot-up (but you still have to find out which one it is).
ctrl-alt-delor
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m4573r
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    Win8 has an option to hibernate the kernel only as a fast restart option. http://www.windowsfordevices.com/c/a/News/Windows-8-hibernates-kernel-can-coldboot-in-eight-seconds/ I think they intended to make this the default 'shutdown' option but don't have a citation for it. – Dan Is Fiddling By Firelight Sep 12 '12 at 15:43
  • You forgot HP bios its F10 – Moab Sep 12 '12 at 21:06
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Machines that have the Windows 8 compatibility logo come with Secure Boot: with restrictions that by default stop the user deciding how they want to boot their computer, however on a PC (x86) you have the ability to use Custom Mode which allows you to boot into other OSes, if you are physically present and know the procedure for your particular hardware; Any answer to the question “how do I disable secure boot?” will depend on the hardware you have, because the standard does not document how this is done.

If you are unlucky, I suggest to take it back to the shop and demand an equivalent machine that does not have this restriction.

See Will your computer's "Secure Boot" turn out to be "Restricted Boot"? by Josh Gay for more.

Notes:

I don't think they make it compulsory that a user can not disable Secure Boot, but I think some manufacturers won't bother, or won't notice that they are allowed to add a disable option.

This is not the place to go to far in to how UEFI is replacing the BIOS. But, it is good to note that what has been said here is about the first stage boot loader. A first stage boot loader, BIOS and its UEFI replacement are part of the computers firmware. They are built-in and not part of the operating system; so, they do not depend on the operating system. However, with Secure Boot the hardware vendor is having an undue influence on the BIOS.

It has been suspected that this is not the answer to the questioners problem, as windows 8 is not shipping pre-installed yet. So we don't think there are any machines with secure boot yet either.

ctrl-alt-delor
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  • Wow, that's... draconian. I wouldn't have expected that from Microsoft. – SaintWacko Sep 12 '12 at 13:08
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    Its only required if the manufactor wants the `Windows 8 compatibility logo` and can be disabled. Why was this incorrect answer even accepted? `Secure Boot` is a feature of the UEFI Bios. Microsoft requirement to recieve the logo is to enable it by default. I would like to point out `Restricted Boot` is a made up term. Furthermore this article is over a year old, many of its complaints have been proven to be 100% false, it will be possible to use `Secure Boot` and Linux together on a Windows 8 machine. – Ramhound Sep 12 '12 at 13:45
  • The ability to disable is not compulsory. If the points in the article are false, then it is because it made a difference. As for “made up term”, so is every term, made up. That is how languages work, we make up words and phrases e.g. “Windows 8”, “UEFI”, “Bios”, “Boot” is one of my favourites, starting a computer from scratch is like pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, as you will know if you have tried to write the code to do so. – ctrl-alt-delor Sep 12 '12 at 15:38
  • Thanks, I have made some changes to say it is just about the logo. You are correct that Microsoft is not trying to stop people installing Windows 8 on the wrong hardware. – ctrl-alt-delor Sep 12 '12 at 17:07
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    I'm not sure why this answer has been accepted over the other response , as this does not answer `is there something like BIOS in Windows 8?` – SpellingD Sep 24 '12 at 20:05
  • for @SpellingD The answer is NO, but this is not because it is windows8. There is no bios IN any operating system. But a machine shipped with windows8 may have a different bios, because of windows8. – ctrl-alt-delor Sep 27 '12 at 12:42
  • Yes, your answer doesn't reflect this information, however, and I think that it should clearly state that BIOS is separate from Win8 in order to accurately respond to the question. – SpellingD Sep 27 '12 at 15:39
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    This answer has a lot of snark. Sure, it is restrictive, but it's not "Restrictive Boot". It's "Secure Boot". Also, there's reasons why they chose it, and they do make exceptions. Like @Ramhound stated, it's only necessary for getting a sticker on the box. It's good to note that mainboard manufacturers also sometimes have a setting that lets you protect your BIOS settings, essentially making them read-only, until you turn it back off. For instance, MSI. Microsoft is only encouraging use of this feature, which for most users, doesn't impact them at all. – Ben Richards Sep 27 '12 at 21:02
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    Also, Secure Boot is a feature of UEFI, not BIOS (though UEFI is BIOS-compatible). This answer may be misleading. – Ben Richards Sep 27 '12 at 21:13
  • @sidran32 you are correct: Microsoft do call it "Secure Boot" (as noted it answer), and yes there are reasons that they did it, and yes they make exceptions (they where forced to), and yes no one wants to add it but they have to, to get the sticker on the box, and yes board manufacturers sometimes do other things, and yes most users are not affected (but this is no defence, in fact Microsoft recently used the opposite defence when being accused of being a Monopoly). – ctrl-alt-delor Sep 27 '12 at 21:16
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    Please base your post on actual facts and use references to them, otherwise this may risk deletion. – Tamara Wijsman Sep 27 '12 at 21:16
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    @richard Was it monopolistic behavior? They didn't draft UEFI. Do you have internal memos as evidence? You're making wild speculations without basis. Sure, they were charged with anti-trust violations in the past, but it doesn't mean that anything they do today is with the same attitude. – Ben Richards Sep 27 '12 at 21:21
  • I am not accusing them of any behaviour or bad intentions, I only state that the reason that “MOST users are not affected” is because they are MOSTLY a monopoly. It is not a crime to be a monopoly. I am sorry if my comment was confusing. – ctrl-alt-delor Sep 27 '12 at 21:35
  • @Tom Wijsman, Then please post an answer for this poor person telling them how to do it. – ctrl-alt-delor Sep 27 '12 at 21:39
  • @richard: That's an entirely different question. – Tamara Wijsman Sep 27 '12 at 21:41
  • The question is “How can I set boot device priority?” or how can I boot what I want to boot. There are two answers: “No because you have secure boot and it wont let you” and “Yes you have to disable secure boot by…” So @Tom Wijsman can you finish this answer? – ctrl-alt-delor Sep 27 '12 at 21:53
  • @richard: This question is awaiting more information from the OP. – Tamara Wijsman Sep 27 '12 at 21:54
  • @Tom Wijsman this question is answered ✓ – ctrl-alt-delor Sep 27 '12 at 21:56
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    @richard We suspect that he chose the wrong answer because the answer was probably wrong and not the real reason he can't boot. *I suspect since you can't buy a Windows 8 logo'd box yet, he's not even running into the Secure Boot situation you described.* – Ben Richards Sep 27 '12 at 21:58
  • good point @sidran32 (+1) – ctrl-alt-delor Sep 27 '12 at 22:01