OK, just trying to “think” through a relatively easy way to install Suse or any main distro on a new desktop, laptop, with UEFI/Secure Boot instead of Legacy BIOS, MBR partitioning. Will these steps work to install Linux? , , ,
Note: I have no need or intention of keeping Windows on the machine.
a] open the PC setup, and disable secure boot, then enable “legacy bios mbr mode”
b] boot up the install DVD or USB Flash-Stick (64bit version)
c] initiate the standard install sequence, selecting EFI or UEFI install.
d] select to install Suse using the entire drive
e] run the partitioning actions (settting up 1 large ext4, and 1 swap of about 5 or 6 gb)
f] completing the install screens, adding all required data, user ID, passwords, etc.
g] restarting the machine to boot into Suse KDE login.
Will the new grub2-efi and single linux partition result in a stable workable system - - is there some shadow UEFI in the setup that will give errors if Windows 8 not present on system?
Please let me know if I’m over-simplifiying or missing key points (or if my assumptions above are not correct) . . .
Yes, they should work. Actually, they should work without step (a), with one exception. You would have to go into the boot section of install, and configure it to setup secure boot. If you omit that step, then you do have to disable secure-boot to later boot into your system. You should not need to enable legacy mode, though that does not hurt if your box supports both UEFI and legacy mode at the same time (as mine does).
Will the new grub2-efi and single linux partition result in a stable workable system - - is there some shadow UEFI in the setup that will give errors if Windows 8 not present on system?
Yes, it should be fine. As far as I can tell, there is nothing that depends on Windows being there. However, it’s possible that depends on your BIOS.
For my box (a Dell Inspiron 660), Windows only causes problems.
If you delete Windows, then you should probably also delete the Windows files in “/boot/efi/EFI/Boot”, and copy the files from “/boot/efi/EFI/opensuse” to there. It is not urgent to do that. It can wait until you have the system working well.
From this point on you are not performing UEFI installation but legacy BIOS installation.
c] initiate the standard install sequence, selecting EFI or UEFI install.
There is no way to select it. If you boot in legacy BIOS mode you will be performing legacy BIOS installation. If you boot in UEFI mode you will be performing UEFI installation.
Thanks to all who replied so quickly, this will help as I try to understand the new procedures to install Linux on UEFI hardware (that friends have purchased in good faith, only to be stuck with **** OS).
I’ve generally decided my next machine will be one from ZaReason with linux pre-installed. I like the idea of supporting companies that provide that service.