Dell A03 Using the System Setup Program and Uefi Boot Manager, Choosing the System Boot Mode

Using the System Setup Program and UEFI Boot Manager

The System Setup program is the BIOS program that enables you to manage your system hardware and specify BIOS-level options. From the System Setup program, you can:

•Change the NVRAM settings after you add or remove hardware

•View the system hardware configuration

•Enable or disable integrated devices

•Set performance and power management thresholds

•Manage system security

Choosing the System Boot Mode

The System Setup program also enables you to specify the boot mode for installing your operating system:

•BIOS boot mode (the default) is the standard BIOS-level boot interface.

•UEFI boot mode is an enhanced 64-bit boot interface based on Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) specifications that overlays the system BIOS. See "Entering the UEFI Boot Manager" for more information on this interface.

You select the boot mode in the Boot Mode field of the Boot Settings screen of the System Setup program. See "Boot Settings Screen." Once you specify the boot mode, the system boots in that mode and you proceed then to install your operating system from that mode. Thereafter, you must boot the system to the same boot mode (BIOS or UEFI) to access the installed operating system. Trying to boot the operating system from the other boot mode will cause the system to halt immediately at startup.

NOTE: Operating systems must be UEFI-compatible (for example, Microsoft® Windows Server® 2008 x64 version) to be installed from the UEFI boot mode. DOS and 32-bit operating systems do not support UEFI and can only be installed from the BIOS boot mode.

Using the System Setup Program and UEFI Boot Manager

57