Thanks man, last night I figured it out on my own but was exhausted and couldn't make myself to post here.
Anyhow, here are some answers:
1. I couldn't find SAFE BOOT in Z97 Classified's 1.0.8 BIOS
(It looks like this is only relevant to OEM PCs that come with Windows8 as primary OS)
2. Windows 7 x64 Pro
UEFI could
NOT be done by only using "Windows USB/DVD Download Tool".
Corrections need to be done to file structure, so
UEFI would work.
(step
11. If Using 64-bit Windows 7 at
www.eightforums.com/tutorials/15458-uefi-bootable-usb-flash-drive-create-windows.html A) On the
USB flash drive, "copy" the
efi\microsoft\boot folder up one level into the
efi folder as
efi\boot. (see screenshot below)
B) If you have not already, download and install the latest
alpha version of the free program
, then run 7-Zip.
C) In 7-Zip, navigate to the
sources\install.wim\1\Windows\Boot\EFI\bootmgfw.efi on the
USB flash drive, select the
bootmgfw.efi file,
copy it to your
desktop, click/tap on
OK, and close 7-Zip. (see screenshot below)
D) Rename the
bootmgfw.efi file on your desktop to
bootx64.efi.
E) Copy/Move the renamed
bootx64.efi file into the
efi/boot folder (step 11A) on the
USB flash drive.
3. And at last that is very EVGA peculiar - in BIOS you can
NOT have CSM fully disabled.
(or at least the Win7 x64 UEFI USB install won't start - it would come with "error when attempting to load /efi/boot/BCD" or something. Win8 works just fine with CSM disabled)
I enabled CSM, but made
boot filter options set to
UEFI only and
Launch storage and
Launch Video in
Legacy only.
Now I've done it - the Win7 Pro x64 UEFI works on EVGA Z97 Classified! Even though my 4TB drive was a GPT one it still would only show as 1.63TB. I installed the Intel RST and it works now.
I am done! After two days of endless (more than 20) attempts to "burn" a working Win7 x64 UEFI install USB stick... (for this mainboard I mean)
post edited by jjjordan - 2015/07/28 06:28:56