Windows 8/SuSE 12.3 Dual Boot for Dummies??

English Install/Boot/Login
1

Greetings, everyone.

My wife has just gotten a Lenovo G500 laptop that came with Windows 8 pre-installed. Neither of us has ever seen – let alone worked with – Windows 8, so we’re really in deep water up to our necks trying to figure out either: (1) how to do a dual boot with SuSE 12.3 or, (2) wipe off Windows 8 and just do an install of SuSE 12.3.

I have read many posts in these forums and come across terms such as “Secure Boot” and “UEFI.” This is all so far over my head that I cannot make heads or tails of it. As the title says: “Dual Boot for Dummies.”

Questions:

  1. Is there anywhere in these discussions a simply worded walk-through (tutorial) for doing a dual boot – something like the wonderful “Multimedia In One Click” tutorial (https://forums.opensuse.org/english/get-technical-help-here/multimedia/452884-multimedia-one-click.html)?

  2. If not, is there something about this "Secure Boot’ and “UEFI” that makes the dual-boot process (or even removal of Windows 8) significantly more complex than it used to be?

  3. If yes, and this dual-boot with “Secure Boot” and “UEFI” is something that should not be attempted by the faint-hearted, can I still just stick the SuSE 12.3 disk in the drive and install SuSE? Or is there something in Windows 8 that makes even that a complex exercise?

Remember: “Dual Boot for Dummies.” Neither my wife nor I are techies. We really need something simple, and if installing SuSE 12.3 on a Windows 8 laptop is not going to be simple then we’ll have to return the laptop and find her something else onto which we can install SuSE.

Your guidance and understanding of our lack of technical ability is greatly appreciated. :?

bosdad

2

bosdad wrote:

>
> Greetings, everyone.
>
> My wife has just gotten a Lenovo G500 laptop that came with Windows 8
> pre-installed. Neither of us has ever seen – let alone worked with –
> Windows 8, so we’re really in deep water up to our necks trying to
> figure out either: (1) how to do a dual boot with SuSE 12.3 or, (2) wipe
> off Windows 8 and just do an install of SuSE 12.3.
>
> I have read many posts in these forums and come across terms such as
> “Secure Boot” and “UEFI.” This is all so far over my head that I cannot
> make heads or tails of it. As the title says: “Dual Boot for Dummies.”
>
> Questions:
>
> 1) Is there anywhere in these discussions a simply worded
> walk-through (tutorial) for doing a dual boot – something like the
> wonderful “Multimedia In One Click” tutorial (http://tinyurl.com/k97rp2e
>
> 2) If not, is there something about this "Secure Boot’ and “UEFI” that
> makes the dual-boot process (or even removal of Windows 8) significantly
> more complex than it used to be?
>
> 3) If yes, and this dual-boot with “Secure Boot” and “UEFI” is
> something that should not be attempted by the faint-hearted, can I still
> just stick the SuSE 12.3 disk in the drive and install SuSE? Or is there
> something in Windows 8 that makes even that a complex exercise?
>
> Remember: “Dual Boot for Dummies.” Neither my wife nor I are techies.
> We really need something simple, and if installing SuSE 12.3 on a
> Windows 8 laptop is not going to be simple then we’ll have to return the
> laptop and find her something else onto which we can install SuSE.
>
> Your guidance and understanding of our lack of technical ability is
> greatly appreciated. :?
>
> bosdad

As with most situations: it depends. I have a dual boot on an HP box
because I have to have a current Win version to help out with folks who
pester me :wink:

The secure boot has given me very little problem - once I bothered to read
info posted on several threads here (including some really good links
referenced in the messages) - but do your homework first. Make a checklist
as you read or you miss the references to such things as checking the
“secure boot” box as you install or the how-to to shrink the Win 8 partition
to free up space (if you decide on dual boot).

AIR, you also have the option of disabling secure boot if you decide to wipe
W8 and devote the machine entirely to openSUSE. Check your BIOS setup
first, but I’m pretty sure Lenovo has the option. If you decide to go that
way, look up the procedure to wipe the drive then it becomes just like
previous installations with an MBR boot.

–
Will Honea
whonea@yahoo.com

3

Start here:

and then post further questions back to this thread.

4

On 2013-08-17 01:16, bosdad wrote:
> Greetings, everyone.
>
> My wife has just gotten a Lenovo G500 laptop that came with Windows 8
> pre-installed. Neither of us has ever seen – let alone worked with –
> Windows 8, so we’re really in deep water up to our necks trying to
> figure out either:

If you want to keep that W8, I have seen posts and news about making W8
more “familiar” or “traditional”. But as I have not personally handled
one, I can’t really advice about your questions.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 12.3 x86_64 “Dartmouth” at Telcontar)

5

I’ve tried to write such a tutorial. You can find it here: https://forums.opensuse.org/english/get-technical-help-here/how-faq-forums/unreviewed-how-faq/487837-how-dual-boot-preinstalled-windows-8-linux-uefi-etc.html

The promised improvement has been delayed, but is on its way. The vast number of readers had me look into the stuff again, so the next edition will be a little more extensive, yet easier to read (I hope), while I am also looking into expanding it for Windows 8.1.

Take a look at it, and ask here if you find anything missing or unclear. Anything you point out will also help improve the next edition.

Good luck!

dayfinger

6

Greetings, everyone. Thanks for the suggestions for dual-booting.

After struggling to try to achieve a dual boot my wife decided that she really did not want Windoze 8 on her Lenovo G500 laptop, so we decided to try to do a clean install of SuSE 12.3 instead. But that was an adventure in and of itself.

First we tried to disable the “Secure Boot” feature and anything else associated with it. So we went into the BIOS and disabled that and UEFI. Or at least we thought we had disabled everything that needed to be disabled.

We then tried installing from a SuSE 12.3 disk that came with Linux magazine. The install process would start up, a few screens of text would fly by, and then the laptop would shut off – sort of. The screen was dark but pressing the power switch did nothing. After many presses the pooter finally came back to life. It was as if it had been in a very deep slumber (suspend). Upon restart Windoze booted.

We thought that perhaps we had missed something in the BIOS? So went in and reconfirmed that Secure Boot etc. was disabled and tried again. Same results.

So then we tried again with a different SuSE 12.3 disk that my wife had downloaded from the net. Same thing – laptop shut off and went into apparent suspension.

So then we followed a set of instructions for disabling Secure Boot that I found with a Google search. These were posted by Miguel Leiva-Gomez, and this seemed to do the trick – sort of…

  1. Win + C to access the Windoze 8 Charms bar, then click “Settings” charm.
  2. Within Settings click “Change PC Settings.”
  3. Select “General” and then click “Restart Now” under “Advanced Settings.”
  4. Then click “Troubleshoot” and then “Advanced Options.”
  5. Click “UEFI Firmware Settings.”
  6. Click “Restart,”
  7. After pooter restarts access BIOS.
  8. Look for “Security” or “Security Settings” tab. Then to “Secure Boot Configuration.” Disable it and “Secure Boot” option if you have it. Then F10 to exit and save.

Then we tried to install 12.3 again, but same results. Screen goes black, SuSE doesn’t install, and pooter seems to be sleeping.

So then we tried a Knoppix 6.7 disk (also from Linux Magazine) and it came up just fine. Worked perfectly.

Then we tried installing Kubuntu 12.04 (also from Linux Magazine) and it installed without a problem. Windoze was gone. rotfl!

We thought that with Windoze finally gone maybe now SuSE 12.3 would install, but it did not. :frowning:

Same thing. Pooter went to sleep.

So then we installed Mint 13 (also from Linux Magazine) and it installed without a problem. At this point we were confused. Why would Knoppix and Kubuntu and Mint all install but not SuSE 12.3 (neither the Linux Magazine copy nor the one downloaded from the net)?

So then we tried installing SuSE 12.2 (yes, 12.2) from an internet download and it installed without any problems. Now we were REALLY confused. Why would 12.2 install but not 12.3?

At this point my wife is thinking she’ll just work with 12.2. The laptop seems happy with that and it’s not so different from 12.3 that it will make any real difference to her.

But still, is there something in 12.3 for a laptop install that is so radically different from 12.2 and from Mint and from Kubuntu and from Knoppix?

Thanks.

bosdad

7

Forgot to mention in previous post that we also changed the boot from UEFI to Legacy.

Thx
bosdad

8

On Mon 19 Aug 2013 01:46:01 PM CDT, bosdad wrote:

Greetings, everyone. Thanks for the suggestions for dual-booting.

After struggling to try to achieve a dual boot my wife decided that she
really did not want Windoze 8 on her Lenovo G500 laptop, so we decided
to try to do a clean install of SuSE 12.3 instead. But that was an
adventure in and of itself.

First we tried to disable the “Secure Boot” feature and anything else
associated with it. So we went into the BIOS and disabled that and UEFI.
Or at least we thought we had disabled everything that needed to be
disabled.

We then tried installing from a SuSE 12.3 disk that came with Linux
magazine. The install process would start up, a few screens of text
would fly by, and then the laptop would shut off – sort of. The screen
was dark but pressing the power switch did nothing. After many presses
the pooter finally came back to life. It was as if it had been in a very
deep slumber (suspend). Upon restart Windoze booted.

We thought that perhaps we had missed something in the BIOS? So went in
and reconfirmed that Secure Boot etc. was disabled and tried again. Same
results.

So then we tried again with a different SuSE 12.3 disk that my wife had
downloaded from the net. Same thing – laptop shut off and went into
apparent suspension.

So then we followed a set of instructions for disabling Secure Boot
that I found with a Google search. These were posted by Miguel
Leiva-Gomez, and this seemed to do the trick – sort of…

  1. Win + C to access the Windoze 8 Charms bar, then click “Settings”
    charm.
  2. Within Settings click “Change PC Settings.”
  3. Select “General” and then click “Restart Now” under “Advanced
    Settings.”
  4. Then click “Troubleshoot” and then “Advanced Options.”
  5. Click “UEFI Firmware Settings.”
  6. Click “Restart,”
  7. After pooter restarts access BIOS.
  8. Look for “Security” or “Security Settings” tab. Then to “Secure Boot
    Configuration.” Disable it and “Secure Boot” option if you have it. Then
    F10 to exit and save.

Then we tried to install 12.3 again, but same results. Screen goes
black, SuSE doesn’t install, and pooter seems to be sleeping.

So then we tried a Knoppix 6.7 disk (also from Linux Magazine) and it
came up just fine. Worked perfectly.

Then we tried installing Kubuntu 12.04 (also from Linux Magazine) and
it installed without a problem. Windoze was gone. rotfl!

We thought that with Windoze finally gone maybe now SuSE 12.3 would
install, but it did not. :frowning:

Same thing. Pooter went to sleep.

So then we installed Mint 13 (also from Linux Magazine) and it
installed without a problem. At this point we were confused. Why would
Knoppix and Kubuntu and Mint all install but not SuSE 12.3 (neither the
Linux Magazine copy nor the one downloaded from the net)?

So then we tried installing SuSE 12.2 (yes, 12.2) from an internet
download and it installed without any problems. Now we were REALLY
confused. Why would 12.2 install but not 12.3?

At this point my wife is thinking she’ll just work with 12.2. The
laptop seems happy with that and it’s not so different from 12.3 that it
will make any real difference to her.

But still, is there something in 12.3 for a laptop install that is so
radically different from 12.2 and from Mint and from Kubuntu and from
Knoppix?

Thanks.

bosdad

Hi
I would guess that since it’s a windows 8 machine it’s pure UEFI, so
you need to use the openSUSE 12.3 DVD for the install any others don’t
have the efi files necessary for UEFI booting.

What graphics card is in the laptop?

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 12.3 (x86_64) Kernel 3.7.10-1.16-desktop
up 8:46, 3 users, load average: 0.26, 0.16, 0.19
CPU AMD E2-1800@1.70GHz | GPU Radeon HD 7340

9

Hi
But it will still be UEFI booting, just not secure boot.

10

A disk that comes with a magazine is probably for a 32-bit version. You will need the 64-bit version for a machine with UEFI firmware.

11

On 2013-08-19 15:56, bosdad wrote:
>
> Forgot to mention in previous post that we also changed the boot from
> UEFI to Legacy.

The hard disk probably has GPT and the EFI partition.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 12.3 x86_64 “Dartmouth” at Telcontar)

12

If I open “Hardware Information” in YaST what do I look for? What info do you need?
Thx
bosdad

13

The disk that came with Linux Magazine is definitely 64 bit.

The disk that my wife downloaded from the net is definitely 64 bit.

bosdad

14

If that’s the case is this a problem?

How do I tell? Remember: Windows8 for Dummies. GPT and EFI is over my head.

Can I change GPT or EFI, or does it matter?

Thx
bosdad

15

GPT is the new way to do disk partitions the old way is MBR UEFI is the new way to do what the old BIOS did. UEFI and GPT sort of go hand in hand.

To make thing more complicated it seems that some computer makers don’t follow the UEFI guidelines exactly.

I’m guessing that even with legacy the UEFI sees the disk as GPT or you are booting the install disk in EFI mode. A complete disk wipe may correct that but I’m guessing about that. With UEFI you usually have to press a key (F12 maybe) to get to a boot selections screen and it may show you options on how to boot the DVD ie as MBR or EFI. How you boot the installer is going to effect how the installer will install ie default MBR or EFI. Note that you can override any of this stuff in the installer but that assumes you have the knowledge to make intelligent choices.

If you are installing from the full DVD (not one of the live ones) then you should be able to install with little problem even with secure boot on. You do have to tick the uses secure boot box since the installer can’t see that it is on or not.

16

On Mon 19 Aug 2013 08:26:02 PM CDT, bosdad wrote:

malcolmlewis;2580195 Wrote:
> Hi
> I would guess that since it’s a windows 8 machine it’s pure UEFI, so
> you need to use the openSUSE 12.3 DVD for the install any others don’t
> have the efi files necessary for UEFI booting.
>
> What graphics card is in the laptop?
>
> –
> Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
> openSUSE 12.3 (x86_64) Kernel 3.7.10-1.16-desktop
> up 8:46, 3 users, load average: 0.26, 0.16, 0.19
> CPU AMD E2-1800@1.70GHz | GPU Radeon HD 7340

If I open “Hardware Information” in YaST what do I look for? What info
do you need?
Thx
bosdad

Hi
Use the command line :wink: So open a terminal and run;


/sbin/lspci -nnk |grep VGA

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 12.3 (x86_64) Kernel 3.7.10-1.16-desktop
up 15:51, 3 users, load average: 0.14, 0.16, 0.15
CPU AMD E2-1800@1.70GHz | GPU Radeon HD 7340

17

On 2013-08-19 23:06, gogalthorp wrote:

> If you are installing from the full DVD (not one of the live ones) then
> you should be able to install with little problem even with secure boot
> on. You do have to tick the uses secure boot box since the installer
> can’t see that it is on or not.

My guess is that secure boot is better disabled (one hassle less), but
uefi should be left on.

A GPT partition table is not that easy to erase, IIRC it stores
something at the disk end. Or I’m confused with something else.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 12.3 x86_64 “Dartmouth” at Telcontar)

18

On Mon 19 Aug 2013 09:28:05 PM CDT, Carlos E. R. wrote:

On 2013-08-19 23:06, gogalthorp wrote:

> If you are installing from the full DVD (not one of the live ones)
> then you should be able to install with little problem even with
> secure boot on. You do have to tick the uses secure boot box since
> the installer can’t see that it is on or not.

My guess is that secure boot is better disabled (one hassle less), but
uefi should be left on.

A GPT partition table is not that easy to erase, IIRC it stores
something at the disk end. Or I’m confused with something else.

Hi
On newer systems Legacy = UEFI and no secure boot. No more mbr, gpt
disks all the way…

Sure it is, just like fdisk delete partitions, then press x then z (to
zap) it will wipe out the gpt and zero the mbr for you.

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 12.3 (x86_64) Kernel 3.7.10-1.16-desktop
up 16:45, 3 users, load average: 0.41, 0.26, 0.19
CPU AMD E2-1800@1.70GHz | GPU Radeon HD 7340

19

On 2013-08-19 23:51, malcolmlewis wrote:

> Sure it is, just like fdisk delete partitions, then press x then z (to
> zap) it will wipe out the gpt and zero the mbr for you.

I have the vague recollection of people having problems because it was
not completely erased and some tools (fdisk) had problems because of
that. Some thought the disk was traditional, some hybrid…

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 12.3 x86_64 “Dartmouth” at Telcontar)

20

On Mon 19 Aug 2013 10:08:06 PM CDT, Carlos E. R. wrote:

On 2013-08-19 23:51, malcolmlewis wrote:

> Sure it is, just like fdisk delete partitions, then press x then z (to
> zap) it will wipe out the gpt and zero the mbr for you.

I have the vague recollection of people having problems because it was
not completely erased and some tools (fdisk) had problems because of
that. Some thought the disk was traditional, some hybrid…

Hi
Possibly, but the x z command certainly works these days in gdisk.

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 12.3 (x86_64) Kernel 3.7.10-1.16-desktop
up 17:48, 3 users, load average: 0.08, 0.08, 0.09
CPU AMD E2-1800@1.70GHz | GPU Radeon HD 7340