openSUSE 12.2 on an UEFI Laptop after deleting Win8

English Install/Boot/Login
1

(This is an approximate translation of my initial post on the french forum. As the latter doesn’t seem to be very active, I try here)

Hello everybody,

I’m new to this forum (this is my first post) and on GNU/Linux, so I hope you’ll be forgiving…

I bought an Asus UX31A ultrabook (it’s new, but was reselled to me after less than a week of use).

My intention is to remove Windows 8 entirely and put openSUSE 12.2 in place.

My problem is that this computer has Windows 8 on it with an UEFI boot. I don’t understand nothing about UEFI, but following advice from some other websites (in french) I managed to :

  • disable Secure boot (so that I can boot/install something else than Windoze);
  • disable UEFI Boot (they said that’s to install something with BIOS/MBR instead of UEFI/GPT - I don’t know what GPT is…)
  • activate Launch CSM (to install my openSUSE in BIOS/MBR mode)
  • and disable Fast Boot.

Now, when I insert my pendrive with openSUSE live (KDE) on it, on restart with ESC key down, I can choose “SanDisk” in the boot menu and access openSUSE in live usb.

But now, before installing openSUSE, I wonder how I must partiton my disk (256GB SSD), so that I don’t end with an unusable computer : what will become of UEFI when I’ve deleted Windows 8 ? Which partitions I should keep, which I’m secure to drop ? Where should I install grub (or whatever bootloader is recommended… ?) ?

So you see, I’m lost…:?

The actual partitions on my disk are as follows (windows partitioning utility) :

  • Partition du système EFI - 300 MB - free: 300 MB
  • Partition de récupération - 600 MB - free: 600 MB
  • Partition OEM - 4.00 GB - free: 4.00 GB
  • Partition de récupération - 20.00 GB - free: 20.00 GB
  • Data (D: Partition principale - 110.93 GB - free: 110.82 GB
  • OS (C: Démarrer, Fichier d’échange, Vidage sur incident, Partition principale - 102.54 GB - free: 71.2 GB

With KDE, I obtain the following information (with one extra partition !?):
|**Device
|
**|**Size
**|**Type
**|**FS Type
**|**Label
**|**Start
**|**End
**|
|/dev/sda1|300.00 MB|EFI boot|FAT|SYSTEM|0|38|
|/dev/sda2|600.00 MB|HPFS/NTFS|NTFS|Recovery|38|114|
|*/dev/sda3
*|*128.00 MB
*|*Microsoft reserved
*|||*114
*|*131
*|
|/dev/sda4|102.54 GB|HPFS/NTFS|NTFS|OS|131|13517|
|/dev/sda5|110.93 GB|HPFS/NTFS|NTFS|Data|13517|27997|
|/dev/sda6|4.00 GB|HPFS/NTFS|NTFS|IntelRST|27997|28520|
|/dev/sda7|20.00 GB|HPFS/NTFS|NTFS|Restore|28520|31129|

So, can I delete ALL the partitions (including the UEFI one, as GRUB or something else will boot openSUSE instead), or should I keep some of them ? What partitions do I have to create in this particular situation to have a fully fonctionning GNU/Linux openSUSE distribution on this UEFI machine ?

I know I ask many questions, but UEFI seems fairly new and there’s not so much solid information about installing Linux on an UEFI machine.

I hope someone could help me ? Thanks in advance. And as we still are in January, I can wish you all a happy New Year !

Bug.

2

Salut

In my opinion but I am not an expert you can delete all those Windaube partitions, if you succeed in booting from install DVD just accept default values until you are asked about the partition conf , then choose use whole HDisk and you should end with the nesseray linux 3 partitions.

Other method: you may try to delete first the Windaube partitions , then reboot from Opensuse install DVD and again choose whole HD for your partitiion.

that’s all

3

Hello !

Thanks answering my posts in french and english ! It’s finally a good solution. I just answered your post on the french forum and now find the complement I asked for in french…

So, a good evening/night to you.

Bug.

4

Sounds good. And usually it’s much more simple to only have a Linux like openSUSE on one PC.
But on the other hand you will waste up to 100 USD like that,
because you already payed for windows.
Couldn’t you buy a machine without windows pre-installed ?
It’s your decision in the end.

windows 8 requires UEFI secure boot, or let’s say MS at least requires that the PC is delivered in a state in which it boots in secure UEFI mode.

Fine.

… wonder how you did that …

good idea again !

you did mean to disable fast boot in windows8, didn’t you?
That is necessary, if you want to have access to windows8 pratitions from a Linux (like openSUSE 12.2)
on a dual booting system (i.e. having both, Linux and windows).

If you really want to delete windows, which you already payed for, then you could just delete all these partitions and install openSUSE on a fresh hard disk.
For sure it will run.
Dual booting with windows is less easy.
But otherwise you would have both worlds.

I don’t like windows.
But still it is sometimes required to use certain hardware.

Good luck
Mike

5

Just a P.S.:

Don’t know why you created that much partitions already.

Before you may delete them, make 2 backups of the data in these.

6

When changing from UEFI/GPT to BIOS/MBR Your partition table type also needs to be changed from GPT to MBR (msdos).
This may be automatically done by the openSUSE partitioner, or you may be able to do it with the expert partitioner options, I’m not sure in either case.
If not, to find the HDD that you want to change run

parted -l

the output on the disk you want to change will show this line “Partition Table: GPT” . If the HDD you want to work on is /dev/sda you would use

su -
parted /dev/sda mklabel msdos
7

Sounds good. And usually it’s much more simple to only have a Linux like openSUSE on one PC.
But on the other hand you will waste up to 100 USD like that,
because you already payed for windows.
Couldn’t you buy a machine without windows pre-installed ?

Not sure the situation where you are, but where I am it’s not easy to buy any machine, let alone one with the hardware you want, that does not come with rubbish preinstalled!

8

“Windaube” doesn’t make any sense in english. You could write “Windoze” to achieve a similar negative connotation.
But the most reasonable is probably to not write it and not use it. :wink:

9

I thought that too, but look here: No GUI in opensuse 12.2

10

The fact is, one year and a half ago, I tried to buy a pc without Windows on it, or at least having it paied back as I was not going to use it. The manufacturer (Dell) did not accept it… I even sent an E-mail to the Comco (the swiss federal competition commission) that is in charge of checking anti-competitive conduct. Simply said : they absolutely don’t care…

But this time, as I said in my post, it’s a “second hand” laptop, even if it’s new. So I purchased it under the officiel price of ca. 1500CHF (1200).

11

Exactly ! And as I said in my answer to ratzi, I even sent an E-mail to the swiss federal competition commission, and they don’t care. For them, that’s not a problem.

G’day in Australia (hey, my brother live there !!!)

Bug.

12

Thanks, but as I can keep UEFI, it’s not anymore necessary to change for BIOS/MBR. I didn’t know that at the beginning of my “researches”. And I’m sure HDD is sda.

G’day to you,

Bug.

13

I didn’t ! The PC is like that out of the box…

Thanks for all of your support. I will now try to install, and if everything goes wrong, I’ll come back.

Best regards,

Bug.

14

I will not write it and I will never use it as I am a Happy Pinguin rotfl!

Thanks

15

Thanks, but as I can keep UEFI, it’s not anymore necessary to change for BIOS/MBR. I didn’t know that at the beginning of my “researches”. And I’m sure HDD is sda.

G’day to you,

Bug.

Yes, using UEFI and GPT is also a good option.

You may already be aware, but you will need the DVD image on USB, not the liveCD one to install on UEFI.

Some extra reading, you may also have found this https://forums.opensuse.org/content/102-booting-opensuse-uefi-bios-elilo-grub2-linux-only-multi-booting.html and the links in that article.

16

And I’m sure HDD is sda.

That however may change when booting from USB, to check is simple.

17

install opensuse 12.2 from DVD i used external dvd drive with actual dvd disk boot in uefi mode and let do auto partitioning. installs without problems windows free :slight_smile: mine ux31a was win7 no secure boot but uefi.

18

Hello henrisk,

Cool ! Did you keep Win7 on your machine ?

Best regards,

Bug.

19

i removed win7 i’m win free opensuse only.

20

Hello,

Ok… :good:So, can you tell me more about battery life (autonomy ?). I had the impression that openSUSE, as-is, is more energy consuming then Win8. But perhaps I don’t have found the appropriate fine-tuning yet, as I’m new to GNU/Linux/openSUSE as a user.

Bug.