McAfee Drive Encryption for new machine with UEFI and GPT disks

[Jmec]

Hi all,

I would like to clarify something , new systems nowadays have UEFI has the boot system instead of BIOS and so windows has GPT partition and not MBR. Now McAfee documentation says that McAfee DE does not support UEFI based GPT bootable disks.

The windows is installed in C drive, with the disk being basic but in GPT format. Now will enforcing encryption on these disks cause any issues or is there a workaround for this.

[epomd]

Hello,

         If you plan to install DE 7.x on a system using native UEFI, Technical Support recommends that you use only native UEFI mode if the system is explicitly Windows 8, 8.1, or Windows 10 certified. If the system is not certified for Windows 8, 8.1, or Windows 10, Technical Support recommends that you change the BIOS settings to put the system into legacy BIOS boot mode. DE 7.x fully supports Windows 8, 8.1 and Windows 10 in BIOS mode.

Technical Support also recommends upgrading your UEFI systems to the latest UEFI firmware level, and testing on a specific native UEFI-capable system before wide-scale deployment.

Note: The BIOS is a critical piece of the equation so do NOT assume your BIOS is up to date. Check for the latest version as I have seen PBA issues, loss of keyboard and real odd issues that will make your experience less than pleasing.

Here are some key points about UEFI:

• The original EFI developed by Intel has been replaced in favor of UEFI.
• UEFI introduces a new boot process. UEFI is a more complex operating system style of BIOS, which includes applications and device drivers. End users do not notice any differences.
• Only Windows 7 (64-bit), Windows 8, 8.1, and Windows 10 currently support the UEFI native boot process.
• Macs have had a UEFI boot process for quite a bit longer.
• Many modern laptops have UEFI, but operate in a backward compatible mode to emulate a legacy BIOS.
• Windows 8, 8.1, and Windows 10 can be installed on UEFI systems operating in legacy BIOS compatibility mode or native UEFI mode.
• UEFI implementations differ by hardware vendors. Depending on the UEFI implementation, we have seen issues ranging from missing protocols to support for Opal drives. We have also seen issues in USB support provided in the preboot environment used by EEPC when operating in native UEFI mode.

Hope that helps,

Jay

[Jmec]

Thanks Jay for the information.

I agree on the points however there is another article (https://kb.mcafee.com/corporate/index?page=content&id=KB75750&pmv=print) that states GPT bootable disks are not supported. Now a days, all new systems come with UEFI pre-configured and admins just use any image deployment tool or manually and install Windows 10. Windows 10 formats the disk as GPT because of UEFI.

the article mentions that only disks larger than 2.2TB will face an issue but also says 'DE releases currently do not support bootable disks that are GPT-formatted' hence the confusion.

I would just like to confirm if DE will work on UEFI systems with bootable disk(OS installed) as GPT and not cause any issues.

thanks!

[Jmec]

McAfee Support has confirmed that GPT bootable disks are compatible.