I am an old Linux user who has not tried to install Linux with Windows 8 at all. I’m hearing that the UEFI secure boot options can present issues, as well as GPT partitioning schemes but most of what I’ve read is not very informative insofar as accomplishing the installation. I was wondering if someone could point me to a guide?
My computer is:
Dell Inspiron 15R
Windows 8.1 default install
6 partitions:
EFI system partition
OEM system partition
3 recovery partitions
main windows C:\ partition
as an aside, should I be installing Linux first and Windows second?
I would always recommend installing windows first as GRUB will easily set up the dual boot option at the end of the install. Before committing to any partitioning etc, make sure that windows has been detected by the installer (nothing will have been written to disk until after the warning of are you sure you want to commit). I do not have personal info on UEFI installation. You will need to look at repartitioning your harddrive as well.
On Mon 25 Nov 2013 11:16:01 PM CST, Penguinclaw wrote:
I would always recommend installing windows first as GRUB will easily
set up the dual boot option at the end of the install. Before committing
to any partitioning etc, make sure that windows has been detected by the
installer (nothing will have been written to disk until after the
warning of are you sure you want to commit). I do not have personal info
on UEFI installation. You will need to look at repartitioning your
harddrive as well.
Hi
Also make sure you update to Windows 8.1 as well as this creates an
additional partition… then install openSUSE. No issues here
installing openSUSE, uefi and in secure boot mode. I installed the
openSUSE efi in the existing /boot/efi, but I also made it bigger on
first windows install to allow for the openSUSE multiversioning.
–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° SUSE Knowledge Partner (Linux Counter #276890)
SLED 11 SP3 (x86_64) GNOME 2.28.0 Kernel 3.0.101-0.8-default
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I currently have opensuse and Win 8.1 dual booting on a Dell Inspiron 660 desktop, and that is working out pretty well. The Dell UEFI has its own oddities, but they have been easily manageable once I got the hang of it. Your’s is a different Dell model, so it might have different UEFI behavior, but probably not very different.
If you run into problems, start a thread and we will try to assist.
I agree with other commenters - install Win 8.1 first, and opensuse later for minimal headaches.
While that how-to is a little old now (it is about Windows 8.0 and opsenSUSE 12.3), it is still relevant:
UEFI, disk partitions and space are the same.
The adjustments for Windows are the same as far as I can see - I am rewriting/updating the how-to now, but I am not yet completely finished detailing Windows 8.1 yet. However, the power adjustments are the same, so are the closing disk-management adjustments. Those are the most important. But you also need the backups, and those I haven’t looked at yet.
The installation of openSUSE is the same too, actually - as it still is: Follow the manual. However, the tiny details are a little different, and that part of the how-to needs adjusting. E.g. 13.1 is able to detect SecureBoot by itself, and need no manual checkbox for that.
I recommend installing openSUSE 13.1 with SecureBoot enabled. If you don’t want it later, you can disable it. The opposite isn’t possible AFAIK (it was impossible with 12.3, and I still think that is correct - but those little things are what I need to verify before releasing the next edition of the how-to).
Apart from what is above, you should be fine if you read the how-to by thinking W8 = W8.1 and oS12.3 = oS13.1 as installation goes.
As the other respondents have pointed out already, the UEFI implementation may differ between makes and models of computers. In the how-to I am quite optimistic on the UEFI part, as I didn’t encounter any problems with the PC the how-to is based upon. However, as nrickert says: If you run into problems, start a thread, and we will try to help.
One last thing: If you get sceptical due to these warnings, try “openSUSE 13.1 Live DVD” first. Then you will see how things fit together HW-wise. Transferring the iso to a USB-stick gives you more speed and a little more flexibility than from the DVD. What isn’t tested using the live-image is partitioning the harddisk and installing/merging openSUSE (Grub2, to be accurate) into the ESP partition. That seems to be where things normally slip a little IF that happens, and the live-image test is OK.
Just a minor point. You can go into the Yast bootloader section and reinstall the bootloader. And you can turn on secure-boot support in opensuse when doing that. It works in 12.3 and 13.1.
However, I agree with your advice - it is simpler to start with secure-boot support.
Remember to mount the EFI partition at /boot/efi without formatting it!
A very good guide with a lot of related stuff and links: Linux on UEFI: A Quick Installation Guide
However, the tiny details are a little different, and that part of the how-to needs adjusting. E.g. 13.1 is able to detect SecureBoot by itself, and need no manual checkbox for that.