Multi-boot with Windows 8.1 and OpenSuSE 13.1

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

Hi,

I installed Windows 8.1 Pro on my PC first, it works fine, and I am able to use a recovery usb drive to restore the system (partition C:) with saved system image.
Later I installed OpenSuSE 13.1 on another disk drive and using the default grub2 bootloader. It works normally too, I can boot both Windows 8.1 and OpenSuSE 13.1.
But the Windows 8.1 recovery procedure is no longer working. I can still using the recovery usb drive to boot the system into a recovery mode and select the system
image, but the procedure failed to continue with the message:

The system image was built on the system in BIOS mode, but the system to be recovered is in EFI mode.

The system image of Windows 8.1 was re-built after I installed OpenSuSE 13.1. It seems that Windows 8.1 under a multi-boot environment is treated
as in BIOS mode when the system image was built.

Any idea how to solve this problem? It is desirable to be able to use the system image doe Windows 8.1 system recovery under Multi-boot environment.

Thanks for helps and suggestions.

Regards

Jyh-Shyong Ho

#2

This is not particularly clear.

This is what I am getting from your post, but I am not sure that it is correct.

  1. Windows 8.1 was installed in EFI mode;
  2. opensuse was installed in legacy MBR (or BIOS) mode
  3. the above mix makes Windows unbootable, and you are unable to recover.

Please correct what I have wrong.

If my summary is correct, then step 2 was a mistake. You should have installed opensuse in EFI mode for consistency.

If you made BIOS changes to switch to legacy mode, then see if you can switch it back, and see if Windows then boots. If that works, then we can try to help you switch opensuse to EFI mode.

It might be useful to us if you provide the output from:


# fdisk -l
# efibootmgr -v

The second of those commands will possibly give an error.

#3

Thank you for your reply, yes, you are right, my OpenSuSE 13.1 was installed in MBR mode.

I re-installed OpenSuSE and try to use Grub2-efi type of bootloader, but the installer shows a warning message (unsupported …) and failed to write the configuration to bootloader, without the bootloader, I am not able to boot the system after the installation is completed. The only available bootloader type I can choose is MBR.

I wonder if this is something related to my hardware? My Windows 8.1 is installed in the raid of the first two hard drives (/dev/md126), OpenSuSE 13.1 is installed in the
third hard drive (/dev/sdd), the grub bootloader is written to the MBR of the first device (/dev/md126p1), this is the default selection by OpenSuSE installer and is the only successful configuration.

Now how do I go back to the pure Windows 8.1 environment?

Jyh-Shyong Ho

#4

You need to boot the install media in EFI mode.

Set your BIOS to only do UEFI boots, and try to boot the DVD (or whatever media you are using).

If that fails, then try disabling secure-boot in your BIOS, and try again.

If it still fails – then there is some limitation in your UEFI firmware.

On the RAID question – I do not have any experience with RAID. I’ve seen threads here with people having RAID problems, but I have not read through them with enough care to know what the solutions are.

#5

Thanks for your reply.

I just realized that I need to set BIOS to UEFI only before I install OpenSuSE, so I did just that, this time the boot loader type was set to Grub2-efi automatically during the installation process. However, after the installation was complete and the computer rebooted, only OpenSusE entry is listed in the Grub table, no entry for Windows 8.1, is this normal?

Here is the output of command fdisk -l:

Disk /dev/sda: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 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
Disk label type: dos
Disk identifier: 0xdce83071

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2048 718847 358400 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2 718848 1023999999 511640576 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3 1024000000 3711741951 1343870976 f W95 Ext’d (LBA)
/dev/sda5 ? 1211962634 1854450312 321243839+ 7d Unknown
Partition 5 does not start on physical sector boundary.

Disk /dev/sdb: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 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

Disk /dev/sdc: 1500.3 GB, 1500301910016 bytes, 2930277168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk label type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 1 4294967295 2147483647+ ee GPT

Disk /dev/sdd: 3000.6 GB, 3000592982016 bytes, 5860533168 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
Disk label type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdd1 1 4294967295 2147483647+ ee GPT
Partition 1 does not start on physical sector boundary.

Disk /dev/md126: 1900.4 GB, 1900411879424 bytes, 3711741952 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 131072 bytes / 262144 bytes
Disk label type: dos
Disk identifier: 0xdce83071

  Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/md126p1 * 2048 718847 358400 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/md126p2 718848 1023999999 511640576 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/md126p3 1024000000 3711741951 1343870976 f W95 Ext’d (LBA)
/dev/md126p5 1024002048 3711741951 1343869952 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

and here is the output of command efibootmgr -v:

BootCurrent: 0000
Timeout: 1 seconds
BootOrder: 0000,0001
Boot0000* opensuse HD(1,40800,50800,8823c4c0-fd2d-4c4d-8caf-5a5657d887ae)File(\EFI\opensuse\grubx64.efi)
Boot0001* UEFI: ATAPI CD/DVD E�h ACPI(a0341d0,0)PCI(1c,7)PCI(0,0)ATAPI(0,1,0)CD-ROM(1,3af,220983)AMBO

Windows 8.1 is installed on /dev/md126 which is a raid of /dev/sda and /dev/sdb, OpenSuSE is installed in /dev/sdd:

linux-443s:/home/jyhshyong # df
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/sdd3 206291640 3955984 201270708 2% /
devtmpfs 33011660 32 33011628 1% /dev
tmpfs 33024588 92 33024496 1% /dev/shm
tmpfs 33024588 7968 33016620 1% /run
tmpfs 33024588 0 33024588 0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs 33024588 7968 33016620 1% /var/lock
tmpfs 33024588 7968 33016620 1% /var/run
/dev/sdd1 164676 128 164548 1% /boot/efi
/dev/sdd4 2673809480 433997480 2103967240 18% /home
/dev/sr0 4461318 4461318 0 100% /run/media/jyhshyong/openSUSE-13.1-DVD-x86_640084

The next problem is how to include the Windows 8.1 entry in the Grub menu so it can be boot?

Jyh-Shyong Ho

#6

No, that’s not normal. But perhaps “os-prober” is confused by RAID.

Check your EFI partition, which will be mounted as “/boot/efi” now that you have opensuse booting UEFI.

There should be a directory “/boot/efi/EFI/Boot”, and it should contain a file “bootx64.efi”. And that file should be identical to the file “bootmgfw.efi” in the “EFI/Microsoft/Boot” partition.

If that is all in place, then see if your BIOS has a UEFI boot option to boot the device (the disk containing the EFI partition). Hopefully, that would boot you into Windows. Maybe also try with secure-boot disabled. If you can get into Windows, then you can fix booting from within.

#7

Under directory /boot/efy/EFI, there is only one sub-directory opensuse, no BOOT, and there is a file grubx64.efi in directory /boot/efi/EFI/opensuse
There is no Microsoft/BOOT directory.

OpeuSuSE installation process does not pick up the installed WIndows 8.1 information when it chose Grub-efi as the bootlocader type.

I need to go back to the BIOS settings and try a different parameters and re-install OpenSuSE and see what happens.

Jyh-Shyong Ho

#8

Please jsho,

Welcome here, but can you pleass copy/paste your computer text between CODE tags when you post it? It is the # button in the tool bar of the post editor. Not easy to find, but now you know :wink:

#9

Your partitioning is really confusing sdd seems only to contain the GPT partition/ Where did you put the rest of Linux?? LOL

Also sda seems to be a MBR formatted drive since it has an extended partition and then it has an unknown partition??? Maybe a broken partition of the RAID array??

It looks like Windows was installed as a MBR system. And no sign of a GPT partition for Windows.

sdb seems to be unpartitioned.

#10

Thanks for your reply, that is the problem. The raid md126 is a hardware raid 0 of /def/sda an /dev/sdb, I’lll try to figure out how to fix it.

Jyh-Shyong Ho

#11

Is it true hardware RAID or FAKE (BIOS assisted on the mother board )RAID I suspect FAKE because real hardware RAID is transparent to the OS ie the array shows up as a single device.

Still don’t see where Linux actually got installed unless you put it in the GPT partition which should not work since it is supposed to be FAT formatted. :\

#12

I’m quoting the above, but with code tags, in an attempt to improve the readability.

#13

You are too fast to jump to conclusions without having any factual data to base these conclusions upon. According to disk layout, Windows in installed in BIOS mode and original post also was more or less clear about it. What was not clear, what the actual problem was. It was something with Windows recovery but this cannot usually be fixed by reinstalling openSUSE … :slight_smile:

Right now situation is clear - openSUSE is installed in EFI mode and will not offer booting Windows in legacy mode. That’s correct.

@jsho - could you describe your original problem in more details? From your description it sounds more like you need to adjust boot order in your BIOS - it sounds like your “USB stick” (whatever it is) can be booted in both BIOS and EFI mode and for whatever reasons EFI mode now comes first.

Hmm … I have another idea … you have 3TB drive which is partitioned as GPT. It may confuse Windows tools. I’d try to boot with large disk unplugged first.

In any case your original question probably has better chances on dedicated Windows forum, as it is about Windows tools.

#14

On Fri, 11 Apr 2014 22:46:01 GMT, gogalthorp
<gogalthorp@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:

>
>Your partitioning is really confusing sdd seems only to contain the GPT
>partition/ Where did you put the rest of Linux?? LOL
>
>Also sda seems to be a MBR formatted drive since it has an extended
>partition and then it has an unknown partition??? Maybe a broken
>partition of the RAID array??
>
>It looks like Windows was installed as a MBR system. And no sign of a
>GPT partition for Windows.
>
>sdb seems to be unpartitioned.

MS win8 cannot be installed other than GPT/UEFI. Moreover i do not
understand how the RAID is being implemented and it is important to know
in order to boot to it. Nor do i know how to set a EFI boot partition to
point to one on another volume for booting.

?-)

#15

On Sat, 12 Apr 2014 05:26:01 GMT, arvidjaar
<arvidjaar@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:

>
>nrickert;2636349 Wrote:
>> You need to boot the install media in EFI mode.
>
>You are too fast to jump to conclusions without having any factual data
>to base these conclusions upon. According to disk layout, Windows in
>installed in BIOS mode and original post also was more or less clear
>about it. What was not clear, what the actual problem was. It was
>something with Windows recovery but this cannot usually be fixed by
>reinstalling openSUSE … :slight_smile:
>
>Right now situation is clear - openSUSE is installed in EFI mode and
>will not offer booting Windows in legacy mode. That’s correct.
>
>@jsho - could you describe your original problem in more details? From
>your description it sounds more like you need to adjust boot order in
>your BIOS - it sounds like your “USB stick” (whatever it is) can be
>booted in both BIOS and EFI mode and for whatever reasons EFI mode now
>comes first.
>
>Hmm … I have another idea … you have 3TB drive which is partitioned
>as GPT. It -may- confuse Windows tools. I’d try to boot with large disk
>unplugged first.
>
>In any case your original question probably has better chances on
>dedicated Windows forum, as it is about Windows tools.

Excellent point. I was having trouble installing Win7 in GPT/EFI mode to
a 256 GB SSD while i had any other disk drives plugged in. Disconnecting
all other drives made the install work.

OP may want to try disconnecting all drives but the MSWin bootable raid
and seeing how that works out.

?-)

#16

On Sun 13 Apr 2014 10:49:31 PM CDT, josephkk wrote:

On Fri, 11 Apr 2014 22:46:01 GMT, gogalthorp
<gogalthorp@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:

>
>Your partitioning is really confusing sdd seems only to contain the GPT
>partition/ Where did you put the rest of Linux?? LOL
>
>Also sda seems to be a MBR formatted drive since it has an extended
>partition and then it has an unknown partition??? Maybe a broken
>partition of the RAID array??
>
>It looks like Windows was installed as a MBR system. And no sign of a
>GPT partition for Windows.
>
>sdb seems to be unpartitioned.

MS win8 cannot be installed other than GPT/UEFI. Moreover i do not
understand how the RAID is being implemented and it is important to know
in order to boot to it. Nor do i know how to set a EFI boot partition
to point to one on another volume for booting.

?-)

Hi
Via the efibootmgr application (You can boot/run it from the rescue
dvd/usb) if the ESP exists on a different drive with the -d option.

Windows 8 needs to be booted from an efi type partition formatted to
vfat, for example it could exist on an SD Card, I don’t see any reason
it can’t be installed on a partition (whether gpt or not) as long as
it’s type 0700 for gpt or 7 for non-gpt. Now this sort of install could
be done from a windows 8 retail dvd, not an OEM recovery type.

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° SUSE Knowledge Partner (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 13.1 (Bottle) (x86_64) GNOME 3.10.1 Kernel 3.11.10-7-desktop
If you find this post helpful and are logged into the web interface,
please show your appreciation and click on the star below… Thanks!

#17

Of course it can.

#18

On Mon, 14 Apr 2014 03:06:04 GMT, arvidjaar
<arvidjaar@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:

>
>josephkk;2636821 Wrote:
>>
>> MS win8 cannot be installed other than GPT/UEFI.
>
>Of course it can.

Well swat me silly and color me cross eyed, but that is what the microsoft
literature says. If you have done otherwise it would be of interest to
others.

?-)

#19

Win8 can be installed on non EFI BIOS machines.

DO you really believe anything that MS says? rotfl!

#20

I’m not sure what you are reading.

I’m not much of a Microsoft user, but it was clear all along that win8 did not require UEFI. People upgrading a Windows 7 system are very likely not using UEFI for Win8.

What does seem to be true, is that Win8 requires UEFI if the disk is GPT partitioned, and will not allow UEFI if the disk is not GPT partitioned. Or, at least, that’s what I seem to have been reading. And it might possibly be true that OEM releases of Win8 require UEFI. Microsoft has been pushing vendors toward UEFI (and secure-boot).

Some folk have recommended disabling UEFI in the firmware, repartitioning the disk for MBR partitioning, and reinstalling Win8 – all as a way of avoiding the supposed problems of UEFI. Personally, I think they are better off finding ways to live with UEFI, but that’s just my opinion.