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Software - Support => Tutorials => Topic started by: m654321 on July 17, 2015, 10:35:50 AM

Title: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: m654321 on July 17, 2015, 10:35:50 AM
SUMMARY
With this tutorial, it could take you less than an hour to set up a Linux Lite (series 2) / Windows OS dual-boot,  with UEFI fully enabled (LL series 2 is based on Ubuntu 14.04). This assumes you already have a Windows OS installed on your PC, and an Ubuntu 14.04 (LTS) iso file burned to DVD or USB stick, Ubuntu being needed for installation of UEFI into Linux Lite. The UEFI dual-boot set-up described below, appears to work well with either Win8.1 or Win10, in combination with LL from LL2.0 to 2.8 (I've tested all of these). LL can be installed as either (1) root only, or (2) with separate root and home partitions.  I prefer the latter, as configuration files are preserved, when upgrading within an LL series, which means certain aspects of the build are not lost e.g. Firefox bookmarks, symlinks in LL to a separate shared data partition, etc.  Upgrading with LL's Lite Upgrade, from LL2.4 upwards, proceeds smoothly and takes less than 10 minutes, the UEFI integrity of the set-up being maintained throughout.  Earlier this year (2016), Jerry indicated to me that it's too early to expect UEFI support, as part of the package within the LL3.0 series.

UPDATES:
1st May 2020: series 5, UEFI supported, available at https://www.linuxliteos.com/download.php (https://www.linuxliteos.com/download.php)
November 2018: a LL4.2 UEFItestbuild (series 4), available at http://repo.linuxliteos.com/uefitests/4.2/ (http://repo.linuxliteos.com/uefitests/4.2/)   
November 2017: a LL3.2 UEFItestbuild (series 3), available at http://repo.linuxliteos.com/uefitests/3.2/ (http://repo.linuxliteos.com/uefitests/3.2/)
On the Asus G750JS laptop used in this tutorial, the LL3.2 testbuild failed to install the 'grub-efi-amd64-signed' package (according to the notification that popped up during installation).  As a consequence, without the grub bootloader, the installed system failed to boot for the LL3.2 test build. I have not yet tested the LL4.2 testbuild.

INTRODUCTION
This tutorial is based on the original YouTube video of Nehal J Wani, which involved a LL2.0/Win8 dual boot with UEFI enabled, and is shown here.  I used an Asus G750JS (a gaming laptop) which came pre-installed with Win8.1 Home Edition.  I tested both Win8.1 and the free Win10 upgrade in combination with LL.  I attempted a UEFI enabled setup with Win7, but this was unsuccessful as the laptop is not backwardly compatible with previous versions of Windows OS in UEFI mode (installation of Win7 on such a laptop is only possible when UEFI is turned off [i.e. Legacy/CMS mode switched on]).   However, if you have a laptop, which came preinstalled with Win7 in UEFI mode, I see no reason why a Win7/LL UEFI dual-boot shouldn't work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOmZXxXPwBU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOmZXxXPwBU),
I saw this video for the first time on the LL forum, posted by Jerry.  Initially, I was able to successfully install LL2.4 in a dual-boot set-up with win8.1, with UEFI  fully enabled.  Data files were shared successfully between the two operating systems, using the symlinking method for  LL.  Though the binding method for sharing data files works well in a dual-boot on my older PC (BIOS set-up), this did not appear to work for the LL2.4/Win8.1 UEFI enabled one.  Details on how to set up data sharing on a dual-boot system have been given in detail elsewhere, on the LL forum, by goldfinger.

In this tutorial, I refer to the following keyboard commands used for the Asus G750JS (your PC may use different ones): F2 (for entering the Setup Utility), F10 to save & exit any Setup Utility changes, and Esc (for accessing the Boot Device list).  Alternatively, I could access the Setup Utility using the Esc key, as this utility is presented as one of the choices in the Boot Device list.

The setting up of the UEFI dual-boot system, described here, is divided into 4 sections (A to D) with additional sections (E & F):
A. Shrinking Windows-OS to free up space for Linux Lite installation
B. Changing computer setup from Secure Boot (UEFI) to Legacy mode
C. Installation of Linux Lite
D. Enabling UEFI using Ubuntu live media
E. Editing the Grub Screen (optional)
F.  Problems you may encounter & how to resolve them

 
A. SHRINKING WINDOWS-OS TO FREE UP SPACE FOR LINUX LITE INSTALLATION
1. Boot into Windows: go to Disk Management and shrink drive C (Windows-OS) to free up the hard drive for the linux partition(s), i.e. for bios-grub, root, home and swap partitions.  Initially, I had some problems when I left unallocated space on the hard drive, so in subsequent installs I ensured there was no unallocated space left over.  From my own experimenting, I have found that you can, alternatively, shrink the Windows OS partition from the LL side using gparted (linux partition manager tool)

Creating 10-15GB of free space for the LL root partition is sufficient, if you are storing your personal files on a separate home partition or a separate data partition.  A fully installed LL appears to occupy less than 6GB of disk space: compare this to Win7 (~35GB) and Win8.1 or 10 (~50GB)!  If you're installing LL merely as root (i.e. no separate home or data partitions), then you will need upwards of 20GB,  the size depending obviously on the amount of  space you need for file storage.

I suspect a swap partition probably isn't necessary if you have a solid state drive - though I'm no expert on this.  On my PC, the swap file on the hard disk drive never seemed to be used, once I had changed its swappiness in the  /etc/sys ctl.conf  file  from 60 (default value) to 10.  In all subsequent dual-boot installations, where I used SSDs instead of HDDs (from 18 October 2015), I omitted the swap partition and it didn't make any difference to the smooth running of the set-up.

B. CHANGING COMPUTER SET-UP FROM SECURE BOOT TO LEGACY MODE
LL installation (section C), and subsequently the use of Ubuntu live media (section D), only appears to work in Legacy mode - therefore UEFI (Secure Boot) needs to be turned off.
2. Access Setup Utility by keeping F2 key pressed down while pressing the power-on button
3. Use arrow keys to toggle across to Security, toggle down to Secure Boot menu
4. Hit Enter, then again, and toggle to Disabled, and hit Enter again
5. Hit Esc to access Setup choices again, & toggle  to Boot where you need to enable Launch CSM (also known as Legacy mode)

C. INSTALLATION OF LINUX LITE
6. Before exiting and rebooting, put LL CD into CD/DVD tray; close tray
7. Press F10 key to save and exit Setup, choose Yes, confirm this by hitting Enter, then keep Esc button pressed while powering down & rebooting; this will bring you to a blue window listing the boot devices
8. Toggle down to the CD drive (e.g. listed on my laptop as P2: MATSHITABD-CMB UJ160), then hit Enter – this will bring you to the Welcome to Linux Lite screen
9. Choose Start Linux Lite
10. R-click on Linux Lite installer on the screen, and start LL installation in the usual way by clicking on Execute, and proceed through Language, Wireless install, etc... until you get to the Installation type window, where you need to choose Something else.
11.  In the partition table use the free space to create the following partitions:

 - Biosgrub                16MB is ample, also listed as Reserved BIOS boot area
 - swap                       around 1 to 2 x the size of RAM - doesn't seem necessary with an SSD
 - root  or  /              a minimum of 10 to 15 GB, but upwards of 20GB if not installing a separate home partition
 - home
or /home     this last partition is optional: a good idea though if you wish to conserve configuration files, & therefore preserve as much of your build as possible when using Lite Upgrade
 
D. ENABLING UEFI USING UBUNTU LIVE MEDIA
For this I prepared an Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS installation CD, from a downloaded iso file.
12.  When LL installation is completed, reboot, but first remove the LL installation CD from CD-tray and replace with the Ubuntu installation CD.
13. On rebooting, keep Esc-key depressed until the  boot device  list appears – choose Ubuntu UEFI mode (e.g. listed under boot devices  on my computer as UEFI: MATSHITABD_CMB UJ160), hit Enter
14. A message will then appear on the screen confirming that you are Booting in insecure mode. Alternatively, instead of this message, the following may appear briefly (but just ignore it and continue): could not open \EFI\BOOT\fallback.efi: 14
15. At the grub-screen choose the option *Try Ubuntu without installing
16. When the Ubuntu screen appears, click search icon (top left icon) and type X into the search box – the Xterm icon (Ubuntu's terminal) will then appear – click on it to open the terminal.

In the terminal you need to be in super-user mode so type the following:
Code: [Select]
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo su
You now need to find out the partition in which LL is installed, before mounting it
Code: [Select]
root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# gdisk -l /dev/sda    (NB: -l is minus letter, not minus one)

A partition table will then appear showing the partitions on the disk.
Let's suppose sda7 contains LL and sda2 contains the EFI files (as on my laptop), so these are mounted as follows:
Code: [Select]
root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# mount /dev/sda7 /mnt/
root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# mkdir -p /mnt/boot/efi
root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/boot/efi 

Some more useful directories are also then mounted:
Code: [Select]
root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# for i in /dev/ /dev/pts /proc/ /sys/ ; do mount -B $i /mnt/$i ; done   
root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# chroot /mnt/ 

You are now inside Linux Lite
Code: [Select]
root@ubuntu:/# cat /etc/issue 
The following will appear on the screen, confirming this: Linux Lite 2.4 LTS \n \l  
 
Now, make sure your internet connection (WiFi or cable) is on, as  updates are now going to be downloaded… 
Code: [Select]
root@ubuntu:/# apt-get update
root@ubuntu:/# apt-get purge -y --force-yes grub* shim-signed linux-signed* 

A window will then pop-up, entitled Configuring grub-pc, asking if you want to remove GRUB 2 from /boot/grub… click on the option <Yes>
Code: [Select]
root@ubuntu:/# apt-get install -y --force-yes grub-efi-amd64-signed shim-signed linux-signed-generic   
Then add boot menu entry for EFI firmware configuration; however this doesn't add Windows 
Code: [Select]
root@ubuntu:/# grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
Installing for x86_64-efi platform
Code: [Select]
root@ubuntu:/# grub-install /dev/sda 
Installation now finished, so rebooting
Code: [Select]
root@ubuntu:/# exit
root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# reboot 

On rebooting into LL, open the terminal and sign in as superuser (root)
Code: [Select]
mike@linuxlite:~$ sudo su 
Enter password, then add Windows to boot menu entry 
Code: [Select]
 
root@linuxlite-test:/home/mike# grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
root@linuxlite-test:/home/mike# reboot 

Just one more thing to do now on rebooting - change Legacy back to UEFI mode in the Setup Utility. In each of the following cases, hit Enter to confirm the choice made (as in Section B above).  To do this, keep F2 key pressed down as you reboot. You can reset UEFI in one of two ways:
In either case, press F10 key to save & exit settings and reboot. Disabling Launch CSM (Legacy) will automatically enable Fast Boot.  One minor problem I had initially at shutdown, was that LL appeared to hang indefinitely - disabling Fast Boot solved this issue.  You are now done! 

E. EDITING THE GRUB SCREEN (optional)
When you reboot into LL, it will be  listed alongside the Windows OS on the  grub screen, though will be named Ubuntu (appearing as *Ubuntu). According to Wani's  Youtube video  you can edit the grub.cfg  file, using vi (a file editor), to change the name from Ubuntu to Linux Lite.   I tried this but was unsuccessful: his video moves so rapidly it isn't always very clear what he's doing each time, and unfortunately there's no verbal commentary to clarify this.

However, there is a simpler way of doing this which avoids using vi  - many thanks to Wani who gave me instructions for this as follows:

Open the terminal then type...
Code: [Select]
sudo su Enter password, following password prompt - you are now logged-in as superuser - then type...
Code: [Select]
sudo sed -i 's/Ubuntu/Linux Lite 2.4/g' /boot/grub/grub.cfg

This replaces all instances of  the word Ubuntu, in the grub configuration file, with Linux Lite 2.4.  If you prefer, you can leave out the version number of 2.4, or change it to whichever version you wish as new releases of LL become available.   

F. PROBLEMS YOU MAY ENCOUNTER & HOW TO SOLVE THEM
I experienced the following four issues:
1. NVRAM & failure to boot into the grub-screen
2. Grub-screen listing of LL as 'Linux Lite' changes to 'Ubuntu'
3. Occasional hanging of LL at start-up screen
4. Failure of Lite Control Centre to open (LL2.6)

Problem 1 - NVRAM and failure to boot into the grub-screen
You may find (as I did) that if you remove the UEFI LL2.4/win8.1 dual-boot hard drive  from your computer (call it HDD1), use another hard drive and its operating system temporarily (call it HDD2), remove HDD2 and replace it with the original HDD1,  your dual-boot will not work!  On reinstating HDD1 it only boots into win8.1, the grub screen not appearing at all...

... however, don't panic - all is not lost, as I'll show below!  Wani explained, to me, that the aforementioned happens as there is something called NVRAM (non-volatile random access memory) where the boot options are stored.  It's highly likely that when replacing one HDD for another, the NVRAM got cleared and so the first boot option (which was supposed to be Linux Lite) was deleted from the NVRAM.  Wani also kindly supplied the solution to this problem below.

You can reinstate the grub screen as follows - you need to be in Legacy or CSM mode to do this (see Section B above), reinstate UEFI mode when done (see end of Section D):

1) Boot computer - when in win8.1, open CD tray and insert your original LL installation CD
2) Restart computer, keeping Esc-key depressed until Boot Device List appears
3) Select CD from the boot list to boot into LL from the live environment
4) Once live LL is booted, open the terminal and type...
Code: [Select]
sudo su
Enter password, following password prompt - you are now logged-in as superuser.
Now you need to mount the /boot/efi file, but first you need to check which partition it's on using the gdisk program...
Code: [Select]
sudo gdisk -l /dev/sda
Let's suppose it's on partition sda2, so mounting /boot/efi and then reinstating the grub screen as follows
Code: [Select]
sudo mount /dev/sda2 /boot/efi
sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
sudo grub-install /dev/sda 


Then reboot by typing...
Code: [Select]
reboot

The computer should now boot into the grub screen, showing the LL or win8.1 boot choices.

Problem 2 - grub-screen entry reverts from Linux Lite to Ubuntu, following a routine installation of  Linux Lite updates - added on 24.12.15
In Section E (above) I showed how the entry of 'Ubuntu' in the grub screen could be edited to Linux Lite. However, I have found that every-now-and-then, following installation of updates, the grub-entry name of Linux Lite, appears to revert to Ubuntu.  It's mildly irritating, but you can simply re-edit the grub-screen, going through the steps in Section E, again. Alternatively, you can just leave it as is, since the grub-entry name in itself does not change the functioning of Linux Lite at all in any way - it's just a label. 

Added on 30.09.16:  A much easier and quicker way of editing any grub-screen entry, such as the one quoted above, is to use an app called  grub-customizer.  As far as I know, the latest *.deb version is as follows: grub-customizer_5.0.6-0ubuntu1~ppa1t_amd64.deb - after downloading, simply install with gdebi package manager.
 
Problem 3 - occasional hanging of Linux Lite at start-up screen - added on 24.12.15
This problem does not show up on my older Asus X71Q (c.2008), where the dual-boot has been working very smoothly, since it was set-up in 2014.

However, there has been a bit of 'roughness' with the UEFI-enabled set-up described in this tutorial, on my newer Asus G750JS (c.2014). Though in general it works very well, booting into LL from the grub-screen does periodically get stuck at the LL start-up screen, and hangs indefinitely.  The only solution I've tried (though I'm no expert), which seems to work, is to go into the Set-up Utility and turn UEFI mode off (i.e. disable Secure Boot) and choose enable for CSM.  Once normal booting resumes, you can revert the settings to UEFI (enable Secure Boot), disable CSM, and make sure that Fast Start is disabled.

Update 17.08.16: on my set-up, this issue is related to the use of an SSD drive for the operating systems rather than a problem of UEFI. Evidence for this comes from the following observations: (1) when the SSD is replaced with an HDD, the 'hanging issue' does not seem to occur; (2) when the dual-boot is set up on an SSD disk with MBR partition table, in Legacy (CSM) mode, the problem still persists.

Problem 4 – failure for Lite Control Center to open (in LL2.6) - added on 24.12.15
This first happened when I upgraded from LL 2.4 to LL 2.6, and a further time since then.  For some reason the webkit, needed for it to function, sometimes disappears and needs reinstalling. Shaggytwodope previously helped me out on this one, showing how to reinstall the webkit at the link https://www.linuxliteos.com/forums/installing-linux-lite/upgraded-to-ll2-6-lite-control-center-won't-open/msg19708/?topicseen#msg19708 (https://www.linuxliteos.com/forums/installing-linux-lite/upgraded-to-ll2-6-lite-control-center-won't-open/msg19708/?topicseen#msg19708)

I should add, that on both occasions when the Lite Control Center refused to open, I didn't need to delete and reinstall it – merely reinstalling the webkit sufficed.

I will keep you updated with any further developments or observations with this set-up: watch this space.

Hoping this tutorial works for you...
Regards
Mike
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: shaggytwodope on July 17, 2015, 11:10:10 AM
Thank you for sharing and well done, remember you can make use of the code tags to make the commands a bit more obvious for vistors.
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: Jerry on July 17, 2015, 09:10:50 PM
A fantastic addition!!! Thank you m654321 :)
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: m654321 on July 18, 2015, 12:23:29 AM
Thanks Shaggy and Jerry - it's a pleasure to share this - it's the least I can do in return for all the invaluable  help & guidance I've received on this Forum, since leaving Windows XP...

UPDATE 1:
I forgot to add that Legacy needs to be changed back to UEFI, following installation of the Ubuntu live media - I have now added this at the end of the tutorial.

Regards
Mike
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: N4RPS on July 18, 2015, 12:46:59 AM
Hello!

Thanks for posting this. Between the video and your tutorial, pretty much anyone can install UEFI in Linux Lite...

73 DE N4RPS
Rob
 
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: m654321 on July 18, 2015, 01:33:12 AM
The tutorial might also work for any other distros, based on Ubuntu... worth a try for those interested.
(according to the Ubuntu forums, support for UEFI  Secure Boot first appeared in Ubuntu 12.10 and 12.04.2 - I have used Ubuntu 14.04.1).

Mike
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: anon222 on July 18, 2015, 02:58:45 PM
Thank you Mike. You made an outstanding tutorial.
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-3TSdGEV6jwc/VZitCCygV5I/AAAAAAAAAcE/_n7ODNbU4rk/w478-h549-no/Chef-250x287.jpg)
Folks don't forget to click thanks.
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: m654321 on July 24, 2015, 06:31:06 AM
Many thanks Misko - I liked the 'saucy cartoon' !

The Ubuntu live media I used for the tutorial was originally version 14.10.
However, support for this was only for 9 months and only just ended two days ago, on the 24th July 2015 - this means it will not install UEFI (as I've just found out!)

Instead use the long term support version, i.e. 14.04.1 LTS (a.k.a. Trusty Tahr).  Support for this expires in April 2019, which I think coincides with that for LL2.4.  I've just tried 14.04.1, for installing LL2.4 in the dual-boot, with UEFI fully-enabled, and it works fine.  The relevant updating has therefore been made to the Tutorial and one of my posts. You can download the iso file to burn to CD from...   http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/releases/14.04.0/ (http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/releases/14.04.0/)

One tip, that may  save a lot of time if you have any accidents, is to first make a master version of the dual-boot set-up that you can go back to and clone, should you have any 'accidents' with your working copy.  For example, from Amazon, I bought a new 250GB HDD (Western Digital blue) for only £25, and set up the master dual-boot on this. I then used a 250GB SDD (Samsung 850 Evo, around £75) as my working copy - you get cloning software with this SSD, so you can easily copy from your master to the working version.  Alternatively, you can use linux's dd command to make cloned copies.   

Regards
Mike

 
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: m654321 on August 02, 2015, 07:55:02 AM
UPDATE 2:
I have just edited the first paragraph of the first post in this thread, so as to include a note about what did work / didn't work re.  file-sharing between the operating systems in the dual-boot set-up I described.

Regards
Mike
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: m654321 on August 02, 2015, 09:59:19 PM
UPDATE 3:

BUG reported. Please scroll down to this paragraph in the tutorial (1st post of this thread)....

Some more useful directories are also then mounted:
root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# for i in /dev/ /dev/pts /proc/ /sys/ ; do mount -B $i /mnt/$i ; done     

See code which says 'for i in /dev/......'    (which is correct)
For some of you, when you copied and pasted, this may have erroneously come up as                    'for inin /dev.....'  which is incorrect.  This happened because an 'n' (in white font) was inserted after the first 'i' to prevent the single 'i' auto-capitalising.  I have now corrected this bug.

Apologies if this caused any headaches for some of you.

Regards
Mike
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: anon222 on August 04, 2015, 02:09:02 PM
BUG reported. Please scroll down to this paragraph in the tutorial (1st post of this thread)....

Some more useful directories are also then mounted:
root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# for i in /dev/ /dev/pts /proc/ /sys/ ; do mount -B $i /mnt/$i ; done     

See code which says 'for i in /dev/......'    (which is correct)
For some of you, when you copied and pasted, this may have erroneously come up as                    'for inin /dev.....'  which is incorrect.  This happened because an 'n' (in white font) was inserted after the first 'i' to prevent the single 'i' auto-capitalising.  I have now corrected this bug.

Apologies if this caused any headaches for some of you.

Regards
Mike
Hello Mike perhaphs if you use the code tags it would make a difference.
(http://i.imgur.com/UrGQTnT.png)
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: m654321 on August 05, 2015, 07:30:16 AM
Quote
Hello Mike perhaphs if you use the code tags it would make a difference.
(http://i.imgur.com/UrGQTnT.png)

Thanks misko, that's really helpful - hopefully my posts will be a bit clearer in future.
I'm slowly getting there...

Regards
Mike


Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: m654321 on August 08, 2015, 04:57:51 AM
Thanks Misko - I've now added the code tags - makes a big difference to overall presentation.
They look really cool  8)

Cheers
Mike
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: anon222 on August 11, 2015, 08:52:13 AM
Cheers Mike  :)
BBcode reference:
http://www.bbcode.org/reference.php (http://www.bbcode.org/reference.php)
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: m654321 on August 17, 2015, 12:44:38 AM
UPDATE 4:
I have edited instruction 14 (Section D) of the Tutorial re. the message 'could not open \EFI\BOOT\fallback.efi: 14' that may appear on your screen while installing UEFI with Ubuntu live media. As mentioned in the edit, just ignore the message and continue with the live media - it doesn't appear to affect the successfull setting up of the UEFI dual-boot.

At present, I'm working on one or two other updates to the tutorial, i.e:
 
1. How to edit the grub screen to change the listed OS name from *Ubuntu to Linux Lite
2. What to do if your grub screen disappears at startup and boots straight into win8.1. - this happened to me following temporary removal of the UEFI dual-boot HDD from the laptop, working with another HDD for a short time, and then subsequently putting back the original UEFI dual-boot HDD into the laptop. Perplexing to say the least...

Regards
Mike

Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: m654321 on August 19, 2015, 03:03:05 AM
UPDATE 5:
Quote
At present, I'm working on one or two other updates to the tutorial, i.e:
 
1. How to edit the grub screen to change the listed OS name from *Ubuntu to Linux Lite
2. What to do if your grub screen disappears at startup and boots straight into win8.1. - this happened to me following temporary removal of the UEFI dual-boot HDD from the laptop, working with another HDD for a short time, and then subsequently putting back the original UEFI dual-boot HDD into the laptop. Perplexing to say the least...

The above two points are now covered in the tutorial, in additional sections E & F.

Cheers
Mike
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: m654321 on October 18, 2015, 08:21:24 AM
UPDATE 6:
Just to say I've edited Section A of the tutorial (18.10.15) to include the following two points...

1. The tutorial worked very well for a LL2.6/Win10 UEFI dual-boot set-up

2. With LL2.6/Win10, I appeared to have no problem setting up a separate /home partition for LL.  I quite like to have a separate home partition so that configuration files are preserved during upgrading - that way I don't lose my Firefox bookmarks and other settings.  If you install LL as root only, then you will lose these and other settings.

3. I haven't found a /swap partition necessary in my previous set-ups, when swappiness has been reduced from the default of 60 to a value of 10, as it never seems to get used.  So now that the system runs very snappily anyway, with a solid-state drive, I have omitted a swap partition from the set-up. 

Cheers
Mike
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: cuscotravelservices on October 30, 2015, 09:39:19 PM
Hi Mike,

Does this topic of yours infer that LL2.6 64-bit is not UEFI enabled for either Live or Installed use and that another UEFI enabled distribution needs to be used to enable LL2.6 64-bit to be used in UEFI mode?

I have my Laptop configured for Dual Booting with Windows 8.1 Pro and I've tested several different Linux distributions on it with a Live USB with the following configuration.

In the Startup section for UEFI I have Secure Boot disabled along with the following.

Code: [Select]
UEFI/Legacy Boot       [UEFI Only]
   - CSM Support       [No]

The other options for UEFI/Legacy Boot are Both and Legacy Only.

Installed distributions I have used include Linux Mint 16, Manjaro Xfce 0.8.10, Manjaro Xfce+Ob 0.9.0 OpenRC and Calculate Linux 15 for which the respective Live USBs worked with the above UEFI configuration.

Here's the output for fdisk -l.
Code: [Select]
Disk /dev/sda: 465.8 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 5FEEA573-43E2-4CD6-A7F4-AC5E2FFD7A30

Device         Start       End   Sectors  Size Type
/dev/sda1       2048    616447    614400  300M Windows recovery environment
/dev/sda2     616448    819199    202752   99M EFI System
/dev/sda3     819200   1081343    262144  128M Microsoft reserved
/dev/sda4    1081344 210796543 209715200  100G Microsoft basic data
/dev/sda5  210796544 252739583  41943040   20G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda6  252739584 273711103  20971520   10G Linux swap
/dev/sda7  273711104 315654143  41943040   20G Microsoft basic data
/dev/sda8  315654144 766541823 450887680  215G Microsoft basic data
/dev/sda9  766541824 850427903  83886080   40G Microsoft basic data
/dev/sda10 850427904 976766975 126339072 60.2G Microsoft basic data

/dev/sda7 is actually the Manjaro Xfce 0.8.10 install that is borked somewhat.

/dev/sda4 is the Windows 8.1 installation.

Thanks, MTB.
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: m654321 on November 01, 2015, 06:43:56 AM
Quote
Does this topic of yours infer that LL2.6 64-bit is not UEFI enabled for either Live or Installed use and that another UEFI enabled distribution needs to be used to enable LL2.6 64-bit to be used in UEFI mode?

Hi Cusco,

The tutorial works very well for  UEFI enabled dual-boot set-ups for any LL version (i.e. from 2.0 onwards) combined with Windows (either versions 8.1 or 10).  It may well work with Win7 or Win8 too, and also for  LL versions earlier than 2.0, but have not needed to try these so don't really know. Yes,  Ubuntu (which has an official UEFI license from Microsoft, Linux Lite doesn't) is used in the live environment to install UEFI in Linux Lite.  If you print out the tutorial and follow it word-for-word, installation should be straightforward. Without Ubuntu, you won't be able to install LL in UEFI mode - see step D of the tutorial.

I'm a bit confused by the rest of your post as it's a bit off topic.  The aim of the present tutorial was to provide more detailed instructions, to accompany  Nehal J Wani's original YouTube video, which showed how to set-up a LL 2.0 / Windows 8.1 UEFI enabled dual-boot.  If you want to discuss setting up other distros, using either UEFI or Legacy, may I suggest you begin a new discussion thread on this.  It would probably be more productive for you discussing this elsewhere on the LL forum...

Nehal J Wani has also posted several YouTube videos showing how to set up several different kinds of Linux distro in dual boot with Windows OS, with UEFI enabled.  Might be worth having a look at these if you are interested further...

Many thanks for your interest in this tutorial
Cheers
Mike
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: cuscotravelservices on November 01, 2015, 09:24:01 AM
I'm a bit confused by the rest of your post as it's a bit off topic.  The aim of the present tutorial was to provide more detailed instructions, to accompany  Nehal J Wani's original YouTube video, which showed how to set-up a LL 2.0 / Windows 8.1 UEFI enabled dual-boot.  If you want to discuss setting up other distros, using either UEFI or Legacy, may I suggest you begin a new discussion thread on this.  It would probably be more productive for you discussing this elewhere on the LL forum...

Hi Mike,

For the other distributions, I have used, including Linux Mint which is also based on Ubuntu, I have never needed to follow a procedure such as detailed in your tutorial.

My Laptop (Lenovo B590) was bought with only FreeDOS installed. As per instructions on the Internet, I installed Windows 8.1 Pro with the UEFI configured as I noted in my previous post. Hence, when installing Linux Mint 16 64-bit, GRUB was installed in UEFI mode. Linux Mint 16 64-bit was the first Linux OS I installed on this Laptop. I used Rufus in Windows 8.1 to make a UEFI bootable Live USB for Linux Mint 16 64-bit. I followed the Tutorial created by gold_finger at the following page.

[TUTORIAL] Installing Mint on a Windows 8/8.1 Computer (http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=163126)

Therefore, I was wondering if it was necessary to be following your procedure for the 64-bit edition of Linux Lite 2.6?

Maybe, I would only need to use sudo update-grub from Calculate Linux or a Linux Live USB that boots in UEFI mode?

Thanks, MTB.
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: m654321 on November 03, 2015, 02:19:07 AM
I have understood that Linux Mint, like Ubuntu and some other distros (you can Google this to find which ones), have actually obtained a License from Microsoft to permit UEFI support for their installations.  As far as I know Linux Lite do not have such a license, which is why Ubuntu is needed in the live environment to enable UEFI within the installed LL.  I do not know if Jerry plans to get a UEFI support licence from Microsoft for  LL at sometime in the future, but I get the firm impression that it is not a priority.

Regards
Mike
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: N4RPS on December 15, 2015, 12:48:43 AM
Hello!

Does this topic of yours infer that LL2.6 64-bit is not UEFI enabled for either Live or Installed use and that another UEFI enabled distribution needs to be used to enable LL2.6 64-bit to be used in UEFI mode?

In a nutshell, that about sums it up. You're 'slipstreaming' GRUB-EFI into LL.

I ran this on the new lappy, and when I tried to install GRUB, I guess it couldn't find my EFI partition, and proceeded to puke. I ran the UEFI version of Boot Repair, and it finished the process.

There's nothing wrong with anything presented here. For some strange, unknown reason, it just happened to puke on me. It makes me think if we could, pending a UEFI GRUB loader for LL, add a script to a Boot Repair CD, and automate the whole process...

73 DE N4RPS
Rob
 

Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: m654321 on December 15, 2015, 12:38:30 PM
Hi Rob,

Yes, I guess 'slipstreaming' is a good very visual way of describing the installation of  Grub-EFI. I'll leave it up to the experts here to come up with the code for automating the whole process - that area is a bit beyond me.

I'm trying to imagine though what a puking laptop looks like... sounds pretty messy  :-[

Cheers,
Mike
 
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: m654321 on December 24, 2015, 06:13:02 AM
UPDATE 7:
I have just made an amendment to Section F of the tutorial, that is...

Problem 2 - reversion of the grub-entry name to Ubuntu
As stated in the amendment, you can either leave it as it is (doesn't affect functioning of Linux Lite), or
just go through Section E again for re-editing the grub-screen entry from Ubuntu back to whatever you want to call it (e.g. Linux Lite)

I'd just like to wish a Happy Christmas and a Very Peaceful New Year to EVERYONE here on the Linux Lite forum! THanks for all your help and support - you're a great bunch - truly!

I would also like to wish Linux Lite a very successful 2016!
Let's raise our glasses to that...
Cheers!
Mike
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: m654321 on December 24, 2015, 11:47:49 AM
UPDATE 8:
I have further updated the tutorial with two more issues that I experienced with the win/LL UEFI-enabled dual boot set up.
See Problems 3 & 4 appended to Section F.

All the best
Mike
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: m654321 on February 15, 2016, 02:04:55 AM
UPDATE 9:
Just to say the  upgrading from LL2.6 to 2.8 within the LL/Win8.1 UEFI dual-boot, proceeded flawlessly (12 February 2016) and took less than 10 minutes to complete. 

UEFI continues to work very well. The only glitch that pops up now-and-then is 'problem 3' in 'section F' of the tutorial (hanging on start-up or shutdown), though this continues to be easily rectified by the procedure I outlined.
 
 
Many thanks Jerry, and the rest of the team for all your hard work.


Cheers
Mike
 
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: kiko on February 25, 2016, 11:17:42 AM
Congratulations Mike the excellent tutorial of an installation with UEFI system, simple and easy to understand.

Regarding the LinuxMint, this has support UEFI.

And I also agree that in the next versions of Linux Lite should have support for both Secury Boot and UEFI.
Hugs.
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: m654321 on February 27, 2016, 11:33:00 AM
Quote
Congratulations Mike the excellent tutorial of an installation with UEFI system, simple and easy to understand

Many thanks for your encouraging words Kiko...
I'll keep updating the tutorial as I acquire new information or make new observations on the set-up. 

You mention Secure Boot/UEFI support: Jerry has already indicated that support for this is not likely to appear in the LL 3.0 series.  A bit too early. 

Yes I'm aware that Linux Mint now has UEFI support - apparently since October 2012 a number of others have also been supported in addition to Ubuntu i.e. Rhel, Fedora, OpenSUSE, Debian, Bridge Linux, Arch Linux, Aptosid, Siduction, see http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-hardware-18/which-linux-distros-have-uefi-aware-installation-media-4175429194/ (http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-hardware-18/which-linux-distros-have-uefi-aware-installation-media-4175429194/)

Mike
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: m654321 on April 05, 2016, 01:57:18 AM
UPDATE 10:
A summary added,  introduction indicated, and extraneous waffle removed!
Have a good day  ;)
Mike
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: Jerry on April 05, 2016, 02:01:38 AM
A fantastic contribution, really appreciated Mike! :)
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: m654321 on April 16, 2016, 01:17:00 AM
<edit> 16 April 2016

This reply deleted per poster's request.

Scott
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: m654321 on June 17, 2016, 06:01:05 AM
UPDATE 11
UEFI installation for LL3.0 in a Win8.1/LL3.0 dual boot

With the release of LL3.0, I thought I might replace my Win8.1/LL2.8 UEFI dual boot with a Win8.1/LL3.0 one. So, Win8.1 was cloned from the HDD master copy onto a fresh SSD, and LL3.0 installed in a dual boot fashion, as described in Section C of the tutorial - all proceeded as normal.
However problems were experienced subsequently in Section D (Installation of UEFI using Ubuntu Live Media).

As LL3.0 is based on Ubuntu 16.04, an iso file of the latter was burned to DVD and used for installing UEFI to LL3.0.
In Section D, I was unable to install UEFI to LL3.0 as it appears that the use of the  ' --force ' command is deprecated in Ubuntu 16.04, though according to the advice output from the terminal, the '--allow' command could be used in its place. However, when I substituted --force for --allow it didn't resolve matters, though that's probably due to my command-line inexperience. 

Finally, I repeated Section D, but this time used Ubuntu 14.04 for installing UEFI to LL3.0.  Though the --force issue didn't come up, it didn't fully work, probably because Ubuntu 14.04 would be 'out of sync' with LL3.0 (based on 16.04).

Following the above failed attempt, I've now returned to using the LL2.8/UEFI dual-boot set-up. This means that Windows/LL series2  UEFI dual boot set-ups will be good till April 2019, at which time support for the LL2 series will end. 

The above glitch is not too disappointing for me personally, as I think I prefer either LL2.8 or LL2.6 over LL3.0, though I'm not sure why.   If you're reading this and have discovered a way round the --force issue for installing UEFI to LL3.0, then please do share the solution on this popular thread.

Cheers
Mike
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: tomt on June 22, 2016, 09:21:21 AM
Thought this link might be of interest to be able to boot into any UEFI secure boot without a lot of trouble. Thought maybe someone might want to look into getting this free code from Linux Foundation.

http://www.linuxfoundation.org/news-media/blogs/browse/2012/10/linux-foundation-uefi-secure-boot-system-open-source

Granted it has been out for a while but might by now contain a simple solution making it easy to boot into any UEFI.
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: m654321 on June 24, 2016, 10:19:33 AM
Quote
Thought this link might be of interest to be able to boot into any UEFI secure boot without a lot of trouble. Thought maybe someone might want to look into getting this free code from Linux Foundation. http://www.linuxfoundation.org/news-media/blogs/browse/2012/10/linux-foundation-uefi-secure-boot-system-open-source (http://www.linuxfoundation.org/news-media/blogs/browse/2012/10/linux-foundation-uefi-secure-boot-system-open-source)  Granted it has been out for a while but might by now contain a simple solution making it easy to boot into any UEFI.

Thanks tomt for your interest. The Win8.1/LL2.8 UEFI dual-boot that I have, and which I described in post #1 of this tutorial, is in general continuing to work very well (for me personally).
The problem I had recently, in attempting to set up a Win8.1/LL3.0 UEFI dual-boot, was with the command --force (see #1, section D), which now appears to be deprecated in Ubuntu 16.04, so as a result I'm unable to install the UEFI to LL3.0 (which is based on Ubuntu 16.04). Because of this, I am therefore staying with what I know works, that is my Win8.1/LL2.8 UEFI dual-boot on an Asus G750 laptop.

Has anyone succeeded in installing UEFI to LL3.0 using the tutorial in #1 of this thread?  If anyone has, please leave the solution here - I'm keen for a posted solution to share with everyone  (based on experience) rather than speculation.

Many thanks
Regards
Mike
 
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: tomt on June 24, 2016, 01:49:46 PM
To keep things easy and simple, from my understanding and studies all Jerry or one of his contributors had to do was obtain a free code for EFI/ Secure boot systems from the Linux Foundation and insert it as part of the booting process and anyone with a new UEFI/Secure boot computer could easily boot or dual boot LL in their computers as they would with Debian, Ubuntu, Mint , Suse or any of the other O/S systems available. From what I have read the free code has been available since 2011.
I could be wrong maybe that`s to simple an answer, just a thought.
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: m654321 on August 17, 2016, 12:08:13 PM
UPDATE 12
Refer to post #1 (tutorial) in this thread (tutorial); Section F, Problem 3: occasional hanging of Linux Lite at start-up screen
Observation: LL hanging at boot-up appears to be an SSD issue - not a UEFI one.

I can now report that the above issue appears to be linked to the use of a solid-state drive rather than being a problem of UEFI. Evidence for this is given in the paragraph below. The Win8.1/LL2.8 UEFI set-up,  experiencing the above problem, has two SSDs (both Samsung Evo 850). One is 250 GB used for the UEFI dual-boot, with LL installed as root. The other is 1TB and is used solely for shared data storage.

Evidence for the problem being due to SSD rather than related to UEFI:
(1) when the Win8.1/LL2.8 dual-boot is set up on an HDD, instead of a SSD, the hanging issue at boot-up does not occur.
(2) when this dual-boot is set up on an SSD (MBR partition table) in Legacy (CSM) mode, I've found the hanging problem to still persist. 

In light of these observations, I have edited Section F (problem 3) accordingly.
Hope this is helpful

Regards
Mike





 rather than one related to UEFI mode, for the Win/LL set-up described in post #1
Through experimentation I have found this issue occurs 
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: m654321 on September 30, 2016, 05:21:16 AM
UPDATE 13
Editing the grubscreen
Quoting from post #1 (tutorial)...
SUMMARY
Problem 2 - grub-screen entry reverts from Linux Lite to Ubuntu, following a routine installation of  Linux Lite updates - added on 24.12.15
In Section E (above) I showed how the entry of 'Ubuntu' in the grub screen could be edited to Linux Lite. However, I have found that every-now-and-then, following installation of updates, the grub-entry name of Linux Lite, appears to revert to Ubuntu.  It's mildly irritating, but you can simply re-edit the grub-screen, going through the steps in Section E, again. Alternatively, you can just leave it as is, since the grub-entry name in itself does not change the functioning of Linux Lite at all in any way - it's just a label. 

A much easier and quicker way of editing any grub-screen entry, such as the one quoted above, is to use an app called grub-customizer.  As far as I know, the latest *.deb version is as follows: grub-customizer_5.0.6-0ubuntu1~ppa1t_amd64.deb

After downloading, simply install with gdebi package manager.
Regards
Mike
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: m654321 on February 09, 2017, 09:49:51 AM
UPDATE 14
UEFI test build for LL3.2

The tutorial described in post #1 was for setting up a LL series 2 / Windows OS dual boot, with UEFI/Secure boot enabled.

I should add that since November 2016, Jerry has made available an LL 3.2 UEFItestbuild at
http://repo.linuxliteos.com/uefitests/3.2/ (http://repo.linuxliteos.com/uefitests/3.2/)

I have therefore updated post #1 of this thread, where I've indicated the availability of the testbuild in the tutorial's summary.
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: SleepyD on April 04, 2018, 12:17:20 AM
Hi Mike.  Are you going to keep this going for the 4.0 series since Linux Lite will still not support UEFI PCs?
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: m654321 on April 04, 2018, 07:57:01 AM
Hi Mike.  Are you going to keep this going for the 4.0 series since Linux Lite will still not support UEFI PCs?
No, I'm not going to look into UEFI for LL4.0 - in a nutshell, there's no point.  While one still has the choice of booting in BIOS (CMS) mode, on UEFI laptops, there is no advantage to be gained in using UEFI.  In fact, as I said to you elsewhere, on the Sneek Peeks forum thread, there are compatibility issues between at least some Linux firmware and UEFI, so why use UEFI?  It's a no-brainer. Also, many see the installation of UEFI in motherboards as a ploy by Microsoft/Intel to limit the end-users' choice of operating system, the market being unfairly biased at the outset towards the Windows OS - so there's unfair market competition / freedom-of-use issue at stake here too.

On the Sneek Peeks thread you also said a couple of things:
Quote
 
(1) I don't want to have take the time to reformat the drive and then reload Windows before loading Linux. 
Well, if you don't want to do this, then of course that's entirely your choice, but you're not going to resolve your problem ...

Quote
(2) Most Linux distros support UEFI now. 
That's true, but it doesn't mean UEFI is good or beneficial just because many distros adopt it ... I should add that all distros also support BIOS/CMS installations (AFAIK). I remember when I first started out with LL, I thought a bit like you (which prompted me to do this UEFI dual-boot tutorial) but, as time has gone on, I see UEFI more and more as a retrograde step ...

Hope this clarifies things a bit for you. I agree, it would be good if Jerry had a post, accessible at the start of the forum, summarising his valid reasons for not going down the UEFI route. It would be useful for new LL migrants from Windows OS, who maybe don't have the insight or experience.
Title: Re: Tutorial: How to set up a Windows/Linux Lite dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled.
Post by: m654321 on November 03, 2018, 12:41:23 AM
UPDATE 15 - a UEFI testbuild for LL4.2 has now been released (update added to post #1 of this thread)

Available for download at  http://repo.linuxliteos.com/uefitests/4.2/ (http://repo.linuxliteos.com/uefitests/4.2/) 
See announcement by Jerry (2 November 2018) on reply #128 at https://www.linuxliteos.com/forums/linux-lite-software-development/uefi-build-test/msg44267/?topicseen#msg44267 (https://www.linuxliteos.com/forums/linux-lite-software-development/uefi-build-test/msg44267/?topicseen#msg44267)  with accompanying checksums, notes, disclaimer and some other details.