I’m trying to install Opensuse as a dual boot with Win 7 64bit. The Windows install is on sda, a Samsung 500GB SSD, and I am wanting to install Opensuse on sdb, an unpartitioned HDD. My motherboard, ASUS P9X79 DeLuxe, uses UEFI with secure boot disabled.
I’m using the Opensuse 13.1 net install option. Everything goes OK, the correct HDD is automatically selected by the installer and I accept the default partition layout. The installer said there was approx 16 minutes left so I switched off my monitor and went and did something else for 20 minutes or so. On returning I found an error message saying grub2-efi could not be installed and it was “cowardly” not going to do so! There was an option to Try Again which I did which resulted in the same error.
I know this is a UEFI/EFI issue, but the information and “solutions” I’ve seen are confusing to say the least.
If anyone can help I’d appreciate it. I used Linux a fair bit a few years ago and dual booting was a breeze then.
You should be installing in efi mode with efi enabled. Presumably windows was installed that way?
But your partition table must be GPT in every respect.
Do you have sda1 at 260MB type ef00
And sda2 128MB type 0c01
sda1 is set to not format and /boot/efi
Well, mentioning the keywords UEFI/EFI in the title might have helped in getting the experts reading this.
UEFI can be a challenge with some firmware.
Can you provide the output from:
# gdisk -l /dev/sda
# gdisk -l /dev/sdb
If you installed using the DVD image, then “gdisk” is probably not available when booting that installer. In that case, “parted -l” will probably give about the same information.
What was mounted as “/boot/efi” in your install. You can mount the root file system and look in “/etc/fstab” to find out. Maybe providing the content of that “/etc/fstab” (use code tags to post) will be useful.
At present, we are short on information. So I can’t immediately suggest what to do.
Despite my failure to title my question in the approved manner :O, thanks to everybody who replied. I’ve wasted a whole day trying this, trying that, swearing and thinking, “why is this so complicated?”. Looking at solutions, that all seem to say something different, and complex how-to’s. My head is now spinning and I have to say I’ve thrown in the towel. Taking out time to configure after installation I can handle and expect. But this messing around trying different possibilities just to get the OS to boot is absurd.
I really wanted to get back to using Linux again as I was hoping to ditch Windows after a relearning period. After today, building a new PC just for Linux seems more attractive and much, much less hassle than trying to get to to work what used to be so simple.
Thanks again.
On 2014-04-16 19:06, rdeebee wrote:
> I really wanted to get back to using Linux again as I was hoping to
> ditch Windows after a relearning period. After today, building a new PC
> just for Linux seems more attractive and much, much less hassle than
> trying to get to to work what used to be so simple.
Well, UEFI is relatively new. Not many people are familiar with it;
procedures are different, and often computer manufacturers implement it
badly.
So yes, things can get complex.
Just try to answer the questions people have asked of you, so that they
can try to help you out 
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” at Telcontar)