I still have an old windows7-64 partition for maintainance
of some special software on some special hardware.
It is installed in legacy boot mode (i.e. not UEFI).
It does fine dual boot (same HD) with my leap 15.6.
I wanted to upgrade to 16.0 (actually a new install,
as I wanted to change the partition scheme),
but was afraid that there were too many pitholes in that
leap’s big leap for me, as a still not very experienced opensuse user;
especially in Agama with my constellation.
If Agama kills the Win7 (backup isn’t possible for this system),
I probably wouldn’t want/ be able to reinstall it - which would be a pity.
One more year… (I say that since some years… )
The upgrade tool doesn’t seem to be very polished yet either.
So my decision was to wait for shining v.16.1.
Now it came to my knowledge that there might be no enhancement
in Agama in v.16.1 due to dual boot in legacy mode; maybe even worse?
As there is literally no work anymore on it.
One way cul-de-sac?
I asked that AI-thing of course… however by experience
I don’t trust it; especially at important things.
What would be a good way?
The situation in brief:
SSD
legacy dual boot win7 and leap 15.6.
both systems reside there. leap is BTRFS.
HDD
win7: user data folders from system link here to.
leap 15.6: /home is located here as ext4
(which was an error of me; I want to have it at the same partition as / at the SSD, and link the fat folders to HDD).
That’s it.
My idea (maybe nonsense; too dangerous etc.?)
At 15.6:
“Move” /home to SSD (requires some careful steps).
Migrationtool 15.6 ==> v. 16.0
Genius or beware?
Are any of my assumptions (about Agama etc.) wrong?
Should the big leap from v.15.6 to v.16.0 not better be done by fresh install?
First make sure that your CPU supports x86_64v2 (not granted with a legacy W7 system).
That said, the Leap 16.1 beta installer uses AGAMA 22+118.d762c9b0a!, just released and a significant improvement over the original Leap 16.0 installer.
It can boot and install in legacy (bios boot) mode.
It can reuse existing partitions and / or edit complex partitions setups, so it should be possible to do a fresh install according to your needs.
Be careful, that might not be as straightforward as it was with YaST, so fully review the install config before committing the “INSTALL” button.
Better ask for specific advice if you don’t feel comfortable, this is only a general hint and no specific recommendation to go ahead.
Fresh install of Leap 16.1 would be the cleanest solution for sure…
However I recently heard that new AGAMA installer is an improvement in many ways,
but not for legacy boot. This would be just carried forward unimproved. Gossip?
Is it possible to ask in AGAMA’s dev forum (or @shundhammer ) to ask about? (Where and how?)
AFAIK Agama does support legacy (i.e. non-UEFI) boot. It is announced to be deprecated in some (not yet specified) future version, but currently you still can install it on legacy boot.
This is decided on the BIOS level; either your BIOS is set up for UEFI boot, or it’s set up for legacy boot. This is nothing that can be changed on the OS installer level.
One caveat: Some advanced features like full disk encryption are only supported in an UEFI scenario. But since you plan to keep your old Windows, this doesn’t apply in your case anyway; FDE means wiping the whole disk.
Thank you. These aspects I already knew however
I just heard about many experiences that Agama isn’t very relyable for legacy mode
(actually even worst case scenarios with partitions gone forever).
As in Agama announced legacy boot as deprecated that wouldn’t be improved.
???
@user42 Windows 7 can use UEFI for boot? I would suggest another disk, type gpt, 2GB for /boot/efi and if need the other system, just switch the BIOS?
The other option is add a separate disk controller, then use vfio-pci to isolate and connect the windows hard drive and pass it through to a virtual machine using legacy boot. Or does the requirement include some special hardware etc?
I would also suggest asking you question is a the Leap Release Engineering as to when it might go… But take the opportunity now to future proof your system…
Else just retire the machine to stay with just the Windows system and look at some newer hardware for Leap?
Well, it’s not just FUD and rumors…
I’ve watched the feedback of the experiences when installing Leap 16.0.
And you surely won’t have missed all those worse cases, esp. with Agama and edge cases. It is hard to believe all of them are so stupid.
Hey, you’re kind of funny
I never needed/ used VM (… and then there is just 8 GB).
If I did it (Create VM, install Leap 16.0, see if it’s booting recognizes Win7?)
this doesn’t mean it works on real HW. I read about that happening.
@malcolmlewis:
AFAIK you can’t “switch” boot type of an existing system.
Moreover I would not want to buy new hardware… I don’t need actually.
@user42 I did mean a second storage device for Leap, gpt disk etc. Then do a BIOS swap back to legacy boot for the Windows 7 setup.
You can do this with a gpt type disk with a 2MB PMBR partition first for the legacy boot to reside, then a separate /boot/efi You may even be able to add say a USB device with just the /boot/efi on and re-use the old Leap partiton.
In both cases it does require BIOS switching between legacy and UEFI boot.
With due respect, Malcolm, “future proofing” a legacy W7 system possibly manufactured 15 or more years ago? I would not go out of my way.
Leap 16.1 can install and boot in legacy mode, can reuse existing disks and partitions, so I would install and use keeping it simple, use as long as it works and if/when a future Leap can no more run on it it would likely be time to buy something new and keep the old one for W7 only, if it still powers up…
We are not writing about a critical multi-server corporate setup after all…
The hw isn’t so old (from abt. 2017, i7-6700); for my case it should be sufficient for the next 5 years at least, i.e. Leap 16.x.
My problem is just the Win7, setup in legacy mode.
If there haven’t been so many horrible feedbacks of total loss, I for long would have
made a fresh install of Leap 16.0 as dual-boot to Win7.
Doing that with Leap 15.6 was pretty fine.
I don’t know if I should dare… or better wait for Leap 16.1 due to this edge case
(if there will be improvement for that); after all it’s only 3 months to that…
The migration tool was always an after thought… But so much water under the bridge now as in this was all discussed implemented 2+ years ago. Leap 16.0 has been out for over a year, Leap 16.1 in beta… and so it goes on, all I can say is good luck with whatever route you take.
I would still suggest another system disk (then at least preserve the win7 setup) for a Leap install if you use gpt, setup the pmbr partition, add a 1-2GB partition after that for a future /boot/efi and then install Leap 16.1 in legacy boot, then you can just mount the old Leap 15.6 partition and transfer over data or use as required with the new setup…
Your system, your choice (as always on Linux )
Leap 16.0 had a respin recently, but the installer still uses AGAMA 17 with its “not so friendly” user interface.
It is possible to reuse, or not touch at all, or change existing partitions in several ways, but you must be careful navigating the storage menu and selecting the correct options for each partition of interest, with special interest in the W7 and possibly MS reserved partitions in your case.
Unfortunately the default is “Delete all partitions that are not reused” and that is likely the source of all the horror stories by casual users.
AGAMA 22 (and Leap 16.1) is a bit friendlier in that respect, IMO that alone doesn’t warrant waiting more months with an EOL system.
Keep in mind also that Leap 16.1 might have its own rough edges at release, while 16.0 by now is tested and solid…
I wonder if in my edge case an upgrade to 16.0 should be safer by the migration tool?
No risk about Agama, MBR and legacy mode… partitions etc. stay untouched.
Or is the leap to 16.0 too big to do it by the migration tool?
Malcolm, as I already wrote… reinstall of Windows7 and patches and all the specific software I’m maintaining is an absolut no-go. Moreover (and again) I do not want to use addition hardware. Please.
If it’s that important, then your option is to retire the system to Windows only…
Either way, get a second disk same as the current system, use dd to make a full image and see if it boots, if it boots try a migration? Fix, rinse and repeat
Unfortunately, your about two years behind the eight ball so to speak when Leap 16.0 was being worked on… Leap 16.1 will drop in 5 months or so, so even further behind…
I would like to encourage users who made any experiences
(be it positive or negative) with Leap 16.0/ Agama fresh install
into an existing partition scheme legacy dual boot:
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