Will my computer be able to run Windows 8 without UEFI?

Will I be able to run windows 8 on my system, even though I am not using UEFI? Is there a work around if I don't want to use UEFI?

Solution 1:

Yes. Windows 8 will support BIOS without UEFI.

We will continue to support the legacy BIOS interface, but machines using the UEFI interface will have significantly richer capabilities.

The quote is from Microsoft's Building Windows 8 Developers Blog title: Reengineering the Windows boot experience. It was just posted yesterday.

Solution 2:

Actually it will support, windows 8 is being planned to work over UEFI BIOS. According to this website:

"Mike’s words have caused some confusion in Germany, where popular media outlets such as Heise reported that Windows 8 would only support UEFI, a new interface between an operating system and platform firmware, and not BIOS. This would mean that the majority of Windows customers would not be able to upgrade to Windows 8, considering that more than 99% of all users worldwide have a BIOS interface and not UEFI."

And this:

“Topics in this session include: wow a future platform would evolve with advanced features in firmware using the latest UEFI protocol and services; [and] technical details of the latest Windows* 8 platform requirements including UEFI boot and security will be discussed.”

The ‘Microsoft Windows 8 on Intel Architecture’ session “will provide a glimpse into: the upcoming release of Microsoft’s next operating system release Windows 8; [and] the work both companies are undertaking to deliver this new compute experience.”

Even AMI(American Megatrend Inc) which produces BIOS already annouced the UEFI support to Windows 8:

"American Megatrends Announces Aptio UEFI BIOS Support For Windows 8, UEFI Development PC At BUILD Conference"