Guide: Run OpenSUSE on Surface Pro 3, dual boot with Windows!

English Open Chat
#1

**Preparation hardware

**You will need:

  1. A MicroSD card (8 GB or more)
  2. A USB keyboard
  3. Surface Pro type cover

Download OpenSUSE Tumbleweed DVD installation ISO (I choose the one from 2014-11-07) and write it into the MicroSD card (via dd or other USB imaging tool).

Put the SD card into the SD card slot, and connect the USB keyboard, and connect the type cover.

In UEFI, both Secure-Boot and Trusted-Platform-Module are turned ON by default; you do not need to turn them off as OpenSUSE works very well with those features.

**Prepare Windows
**
Shrink Windows data partition to create room for OpenSUSE. I recommend to free at least 30GB for OpenSUSE.

If you are super lucky, the dumb Windows Disk Management tool will allow you shrink C partition by 30GB without any hassle.

If Disk Management tool does not allow doing so due to “unmovable files”, you will need to reinstall Windows - and apply a special trick:

  1. Use Recovery option to Reinstall (not refresh) Windows.
  2. Do not proceed with Initial Customization after Windows boots up for the first time, instead, forcibly power it off using power button, and turn it back on.
  3. You may need to power it off and on two or three times, until Windows boots up and suggests you to use Advanced Startup to repair it.
  4. Enter Command Prompt from the Advanced Startup options.
  5. Use DISKPART to shrink C partition by your desired size.
  6. Reboot and proceed to use Windows just like usual.

If you do not forcibly reboot Surface Pro and proceed with Initial Customization, you will not be able to shrink C partition afterwards due to "unmovable file.

**Install OpenSUSE

**Make sure that USB keyboard, MicroSD card, and type cover are all in-place. Restart Surface Pro to boot from MicroSD card - you can do so via Windows Advanced Startup, or by holding VolumeDown+Power button.

You will be greeted by OpenSUSE installer, now feel free to proceed with installation just like usual.

Note that:

  • Feel free to use Btrfs, Ext, or any file system of your choice.
  • Double check that the EFI partition (200 MB) created by Windows is mounted on /boot/efi
  • If you choose to use Secure-Boot (which is ON by default), double check on Installation Summary screen that Secure-Boot support is ON.

**Congratulations

**After OpenSUSE installation is finished, Surface Pro will boot OpenSUSE by default. There are several tasks left to do:

  1. Use zypper or yast to upgrade Tumbleweed
  2. Use efibootmgr to adjust boot order, if you prefer to enter Windows by default.

What works:

  • Graphics, wifi, and bluetooth all work straight away
  • Touch screen, pen, and the touch pad on type cover
  • Secure-Boot and dual-boot

What does not work:

  • Type cover keyboard does not work, although touch pad works.
  • It cannot wake up from sleep.

**
Dual-boot tricks

**Surface Pro always boots into the default (order #1) entry without offering a choice at boot time. Your UEFI boot order (set via efibootmgr) decides which OS is booted by default.

If the #1 UEFI entry is Windows, and you wish to enter OpenSUSE, simply use Windows Advanced Startup option to choose OpenSUSE and enter.

If the #1 entry is OpenSUSE, and you wish to enter Windows, you may use the auto-detected entry in Grub2, which takes you to Windows Recovery, and then choose “Continue to Windows 8”.

A kernel upgrade in OpenSUSE may result in Windows UEFI entry being removed; do not panic when it happens, simply enter Windows Recovery (the auto-detected Grub2 entry) and choose “Continue to Windows 8”, and Windows will automatically restore its UEFI entry. Afterwards, you may again need to use efibootmgr to adjust boot entry order.

**Pictures

**http://i.imgur.com/sShR4WX.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/YfZ3q1J.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/jBIE4rv.jpg

#2

This is pretty amazing, great job and thanks for sharing!

#3

Why not just buy a copy of VMware and run openSUSE virtually? You prefer painting a wall with a brush or a roller?

#4

On Tue, 18 Nov 2014 03:26:01 +0000, BSDuser wrote:

> Why not just buy a copy of VMware and run openSUSE virtually? You
> prefer painting a wall with a brush or a roller?

This might come as a surprise, but not everyone wants to pay for
virtualization software in order to do this sort of thing, nor does
everyone want to run everything in a VM.

Instructions like these are helpful for people who want the option of
installing on bare metal.

Jim

Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C

#5

Surface 3 Pro isn’t really that different from a normal laptop - it’s an Intel CPU+Intel GPU setup with a touch panel.

In short, it’s “just a normal laptop”, albeit a very compact one.

#6

The problem with dual-boots is that one wastes the other OS’s functionality 100% of the time.

#7

On 2014-11-18, BSDuser <BSDuser@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
> The problem with dual-boots is that one wastes the other OS’s
> functionality 100% of the time.

That can be an advantage.

#8

On Tue, 18 Nov 2014 13:26:02 +0000, BSDuser wrote:

> The problem with dual-boots is that one wastes the other OS’s
> functionality 100% of the time.

Well, I dual-boot my primary desktop - Linux most of the time, Windows
for games. Virtualization isn’t suitable for the games I play on Steam
that won’t run on Linux.

I don’t boot into Windows often, but when I want to play Deus Ex: Human
Revolution, I kinda have to do that.

Which points out what I’m saying: While a virtualization solution might
work for you and what you’re doing, that’s not the solution for
everyone. Running openSUSE natively on a Surface Pro 3 may not be what
you want to do, and that’s fine. That doesn’t mean the effort isn’t
appreciated for those who do want to run it that way (or to dual boot).

Jim

–
Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C

#9

have no knowledge of video games or Steam. I barely have enough time to exercise or attempt my medicore classical guitar practicing.

#10

+1

Thanks @guohouzuo, really useful. Great guide, pictures, and recent Tumbleweed which I use. I already had Surface Pro on my research list as an alternative to getting a tablet and/or a laptop replacement. Food for thought.

#11

On Tue, 18 Nov 2014 21:06:02 +0000, BSDuser wrote:

> have no knowledge of video games or Steam. I barely have enough time to
> exercise or attempt my medicore classical guitar practicing.

Well, now you know why some people might prefer not to spend money on
VMware and instead run on bare metal.

Jim

–
Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C

#12

Wonderfull addition to the Guides!:slight_smile:

I doubt I – personally – will have any need for it, but there are almost certainly others who are going to appreciate your well-drafted Guide.

As an openSUSE forum member, I sincerely appreciate the effort that is put into producing a decent Guide, and I would like to see Guides for as many related items as we can have.

#13

Thanks very much for everyone’s attention!

After noticing that the Pen’s right-click button works straight away, I was reminded that the Pen buttons require Bluetooth to function, which left me the impression that Bluetooth driver might be working.

The weird thing is - Linux sees the bluetooth adapter, however KDE does not. Therefore very unfortunately the bluetooth is not of much use.

#14

So you are saying that some games will not run in a Windows 7 64 bit VM? I allocate 8 GB of memory to my Windows 7 VM’s.

#15

That’s part of the cost I suspect Jim was referring to when “paying for VMware”. :wink:

#16

It’s a few bucks - memory is cheap now. My Lenovo W530 can handle up to 32 GB of memory.

#17

Glad you are ok, but that’s not necessarily true elsewhere, and this is an international forum. :slight_smile:

#18

Memory is irrelevant when VMware only supports DX9c. It doesn’t matter how much memory you put into it when certain applications simply won’t run or will run at a massively degraded quality.

#19

On Thu, 20 Nov 2014 16:46:01 +0000, BSDuser wrote:

> So you are saying that some games will not run in a Windows 7 64 bit VM?

That’s exactly what I’m saying. Some software doesn’t perform well in a
VM environment, and games that require accelerated video (even though
VMware - and Virtualbox - support HW acceleration under some
circumstances) tend to just perform better when run natively rather than
in a VM.

> I allocate 8 GB of memory to my Windows 7 VM’s.

I have a system with 32 GB of RAM in it - it isn’t a question of memory,
it’s a question of hardware combinations and performance.

But in the end, for some people, it’s not about whether it’s even
necessary or not, sometimes it’s just because they like figuring things
out. Let them have their victory - doing something like this is a way to
learn stuff. :slight_smile:

Jim

Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C

#20

I get it - I have an old Sun Blade 100 which I keep alive via OpenBSD usually, although I have tried FreeBSD on it. Therre is no purpose other than the fun of doing it.