Windows 10: 'Unsupported Disk Layout for UEFI Firmware' yet BIOS Mode set to UEFI

Sometime in the fall I started getting Windows 10 update errors trying to install 1607 (the anniversary update I believe). After trying different fixes I just ignored it for a while hoping windows would come up with a fix. 6 months later and I'd like to finally resolved this issue once and for all.



Windows Update Failure

I found I can use msinfo32 from the cmd shell to see my BIOS Mode which indicates I'm in UEFI




So I'm not entirely sure what the problem is. I did some funky things when I first built and installed Windows on this computer about a year ago. I have a 3TB Hard Drive and a 500GB SSD. And I found out I wasn't able to use all 3TB without using a GPT. Found some guide online followed the steps and fixed that issue.

I think there was an issue after that where the 3TB hard drive had the Boot part on it, and I followed some other guide to get my SSD to be the boot drive. But I think what I did then has put something in a weird state thats causing the update issue above.

Heres the Partitions




And heres using diskpart




Looking at other peoples partitions when using UEFI and GPT they have some partitions I don't have. Like MSR, System, Recovery etc... but mine just has the one single Primary partition. Recommended UEFI-Based Disk-Partition Configurations What I also find weird is that my boot partition is Disk 1 instead of Disk 0. If I unplug the HDD and boot the computer, then the SSD becomes Drive 0 but the update still fails.

Unfortunately I'm in that place where I'm competent enough to get myself in trouble fiddling with things but not always knowledgeable enough to get myself out of it. So any help would be appreciated.

I would like to be able to get windows updates working again and preferably without reinstalling everything. Is that possible and if so how can I go about doing that?

If there is any other information I can provide that would help in resolving this issue let me know.

Thank you very much!

:)

 

Windows 10

I get the message-- Windows can't be installed because this PC has an unsupported disk layout for UEFI firmware. How do I fix this?

 

Unsupported disk layout for UEFI firmware

I also tried upgrading from 10240 via Windows Update, to see which version it would try to install. It went right from 10240 to 16299.15 (from version 1507 to version 1709) so there is no intermediate version required, even via Windows Update.

Using the ISO was a much smoother path though, as 10240 first struggled through installing several Cumulative Updates and it also took two attempts to finally succeed in the upgrade to version 1709. Below is the list of updates that build 10240 went for.
You can see that it immediately began downloading Windows 10 version 1709. Because build 10240 does not use UUP, it was the original Windows 10 upgrade style, where it downloaded a single full ESD file for version 1709.

 

It looks to me that you don't have a UEFI install you have an MBR (legacy) install. In your BIOS what is listed as your primary boot device

 

I took two pictures from my BIOS
First from the main default mode



Second, Going to 'Advanced Mode' and the Boot Tab




So you can have a UEFI BIOS Mode without having a UEFI install?

Thanks for the quick reply!

 

It seems you have a UEFI install. The system is set to boot from Windows Boot manager which is a UEFI install. Yet, your C drive is an active partition, which is not typical of a UEFI install. Perhaps your Partition structure is the reason you are having issues. This is my partition structure for a typical UEFI Install.









In the command prompt, partition 5 is not part of the OS install.

 

Is the C drive not supposed to be the 'Active' partition? I don't see an 'Active' status in your disk management.

Is it possible to fix the partition structure or am I going to have to do a clean install to fix it? It looks like I should be able to shrink my SSD so I should be able to create some new partitions from it. Can I set those for the Recovery, EFI System Partition, etc...?

 

I'm going to have to let someone else help with that. My advice would be to clean install.

 

locational

That is most definitely NOT a UEFI installation - it is a legacy bios installation.

OP - follow tutorial to convert current ssd from a legacy bios installation to a UEFI installation, and then you will be able to boot from it in UEFI mode and upgrade accordingly.

Convert Windows 10 from Legacy BIOS to UEFI without Data Loss - Windows 10 Installation Upgrade Tutorials

 

@cereberus, My first reply was that it was not a UEFI install. I realize the partition structure is very wrong and a UEFI has no active partition. But, looking at his boot options, he has Windows Boot Manager selected as an option. I have never seen a Legacy install with Windows Boot Manager as an option. Just wondering how it got that way. I'm not disagreeing with you at all, in fact I agree. The Windows Boot Manager threw me and I was wondering how it got that way.

 

I'm about to go to bed so one last response till tomorrow.
@Cerberus that link looks promising. I only glanced through it but the first thing that jumped out to me though is the warning that says

I'm currently on 1511. Like I said I haven't dug through that link thoroughly yet but is there instructions on how to do the 'offline conversion' to run that tool since I'm unable to upgrade from version 1511 at the moment. Thanks!
@essenbe thanks for the help so far!

 

You create a 1607 installation drive on another pc and boot from that.

 

I expect it tries to use windows boot manager and fails and then tries a legacy bios start - that is what my PC does. i expect OP had a uefi install on hdd originally but erroneously installed legacy bios on ssd.

 

1607 works? or just 1703

Also sorry if this sounds really dumb but how do you boot from a drive on another pc? I have a laptop thats on 1607 or 1703 (haven't checked yet) which I could use, just not sure how I'd use it to boot my pc with.

 

I would install Macrium Reflect Free. Make a backup image of your C: drive to your D: drive. Boot the computer in UEFI mode from a Windows 10 installation USB flash drive. Select the custom install option, delete every partition on the SSD and install Windows 10 to the resulting unallocated space.

That should set you up with a GPT partitioned SSD and the proper partitions to boot in UEFI. Then re-install Macrium Reflect Free. Use the option to create a Macrium Reflect Boot Menu entry. Boot into the Macrium Reflect rescue environment. Restore the C: drive image you previously created back to the SSD, replacing ONLY the C: drive partition. Run the Fix Windows boot problems utility in Macrium Reflect.

Reboot - you should then be able to update.