Converting my system to uefi/gpt boot running arch and win7

Hello. I've recently purchased a new hard drive, and now I need to reorganize my partition scheme. I have a UEFI motherboard, so I'm going to go full uefi/gpt for booting and partitioning. I've done my research this morning, and I believe I know what I need to do. I just want to run it by the forum to see if there's something I am overlooking.
I have one 250gb sata hdd and one 3TB sata hdd. The 250 hdd with have one fat32 UEFI partition for booting and the rest will be an ext4 partition for Arch. The 3TB hdd will have a 250gb NTFS partition for Win7, 250gb free space for experimentation, and the rest will be a large NTFS data partition.
The 250gb hdd currently has an arch and a windows install on MBR partitions and is booting legacy style. I intend to use dd to overwrite the first sector, so that no bootcode remains in the ProtectiveMBR that may confuse my firmware into trying to load. I'll then partition/format the UEFI Fat32 partition and the Arch ext4 partition.
The 3tb hdd is already GPT and has never had an MBR written on it, so I'll simply need to re partition and format it. 250gb NTFS partition for Windows, 250gb free, 2.5tb NTFS data. I'll install Windows first so that I don't have to setup GRUB twice. And this is what concerns me. When I install Windows, it's not going to have a UEFI partition available to it on the drive it's being installed to. I'm concerned it might 'go rogue' and write bootcode to the ProtectiveMBR for one of those hybird BIOS-GPT boots. Or will it see the UEFI partition on the other disc and write its thing there? That would be fine, since I'll overwrite that when I install arch.
Naturally after that I'll install Arch , setup grub on the uefi partition, and hopefully all is well. Again my only concern is what if the windows install writes bootcode to the protectivembr and then I still end up booting strait to windows. I suppose in that case I could just overwrite the first sector with 0's again.
Anyway, I just wanted to see if I'm overlooking anything or if I'm just being paranoid. I only just learned about UEFI, so my understanding of it is still a bit fuzzy.

Which windows do you have?
If windows installation starts first, you'll be able to correct its doing, to suite Arch booting mode. However in the ESP you may have any kind of boot loader / manager you'll like.
Later Grub will guide to the windows boot loader and then your done.
The only problem for certain version of windows is the kind of the partition. E.g. Vista doesn't accept logical partition. AFAIK.
I have MBR and UEFI on my USB HD. I presume they can coexist, it's just a matter of bus, USB or SATA, internal or external doesn't matter.

Similar Messages

Convert PXIe-8135 controller to dual-boot Windows 7 and LabVIEW RT

Hello. I have a PXIe-8135 controller that originally was just running Windows 7. We are trying to convert it to a dual boot system to also run LabView Real Time. (There is host computer that will run LabVIEW 2014 with the RT module, and the controller will become a target).
I have created a FAT32 partition on the hard drive of the controller. Now, I’m trying to install the real-time OS with a USB flash drive made using the MAX utility, but I cannot boot using the USB drive for some reason. I keep getting the message “waiting for USB device to initialize”.
In BIOS, legacy USB support is [ENABLED] and boot configuration is set to [Windows/other OS]. I’ve tried removing the drive, waiting, and reinserting. I’ve tried two different USB drives (both 8 GB, different brands).
I’m not sure what to do next. Apart from the USB boot issue, is converting the PXIe-8135 even possible? I read about SATA/PATA hard drive issues with older controllers, but I don't know about this one.
Thanks, in advance, for your help!
-Jeff
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Per Siana's licensing comment, more information on purchasing a deployment license if you do not have one for this target can be found here.
The RT Utility USB key is used to set up non-NI hardware with LabVIEW Real-Time, but you should not need it in this situation to convert to dual-boot (*). Try this:
1. Since you already have a FAT32 partion created, go into BIOS setup and change to booting 'LabVIEW RT'.
2. The system will attempt to boot LabVIEW RT, see that the partition is empty, and switch over into LabVIEW RT Safe Mode. (this safemode is built into the firmware, which is why you don't really need the USB key).
3. The system should come up correctly and be detectable from MAX, and you can proceed with installing software.
4. To switch back to Windows, go back to BIOS setup and choose 'Windows/Other OS'
(*) One area where the USB key is helpful on a dual boot system is with formatting the disk. If you want to convert from FAT32 to Reliance on the partition designated for LabVIEW RT, the USB key lets you attempt to format a single parition and leave the rest of the disk untouched. If you format from MAX, the standard behavior is to format only one RT partition if found, but if not found, it will format the entire disk. Formatting from MAX on a dual boot system is consequently riskier and you could lose your Windows partition.

Dual boot between arch and win8 breaks my headphone jack

This is a weird bug and while I'm not sure if it totally belongs on the arch forum I think they'res more helpful people here then on a windows forum.
As far as I can tell it only happens when I restart from arch to windows 8.1 (idk if the version .1 makes a difference but it didn't fix the issue it was there in plain 8). When using the headphone jack to headphones or external speakers it works fine on arch but then windows fails to acknowledge the headphone jack upon restarting into windows. The Realtek software on windows tells me I've plugged in a device to the jack and tells me when I unplug it but the audio never goes through. It either plays through my laptop speakers if I unplug from the jack or not at all if I plug something in.
I'm thinking its a service in windows that's not working properly but restarting the audio services doesn't fix/change anything. The only fix atm is to shutdown windows and turn it back on. The restart function windows doesn't fix it it persists unless I use the shutdown option.
My laptop is an Asus K53SD, dual booted with grub & arch.
I'm sure I need more info but I feel like it's needed from the windows side, and I don't know how to get boot up info on windows.

It's a Windows problem-my guess. Plus, you can set your default audio device in Control Panel->Sound. Although Windows should automatically redirect sound output to connected audio output devices, I once had this problem where I had to manually change the default device to headphones. Give this a try(if you haven't already). Also, if you've explicitly installed the realtek sound driver, try uninstalling it and let Windows configure drivers for your sound devices automatically. Probably will fix it.
Last edited by nskool (2014-10-12 20:11:52)

Dual boot Windows 7 and Arch from 2 seperate drives (UEFI)

Hello everyone, I've been working on installing Arch to a secondary hard drive for the past few hours, but I am trying to make sure I won't mess up my Windows 7 install. I have found several topics talking about dual booting Windows 7 and Arch, but not a whole lot on booting them from separate drives. My drives are currently setup as follows.
sda (120GB SSD for Windows 7)
sda1 (100MB System Reserved NTFS partition)
sda2 (Windows 7 install)
sdb (1TB HDD for Windows programs, files, etc)
sdb1 (1TB NTFS partition)
sdc (1TB HDD)
sdc1 (boot 512MB FAT32)
sdc2 (root 500MB ext4)
sdc3 (home 300GB ext4)
sdc4 (swap 10GB)
rest unallocated "free space"
I used Gparted to create the partitions. I ended up getting hung up on the "Create Filesystems" sections, specifically this line"
# mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sdXY
Now that I am looking at it, I'm thinking the "Create Filesystems" section maybe isn't necessary because I've used Gparted?
If it isn't necessary, when I get to the "mount the EFI System Partition to /boot" section, would I simply use
# mount /dev/sdc1 /mnt/boot
instead of
# mount /dev/sdXY /mnt/boot ?
The way I had this setup with Ubuntu was 3 partitions on sdc (/, home, swap) and I set my PC to boot to the sdc drive on startup. The boot loader would then give me the option to boot into Ubuntu or Windows 7, and I never had to alter the sda or sdb drives at all. Is this possible through Arch? My thinking is that even if it isn't, I should still be able to enter the BIOS boot menu and select which drive to boot manually correct? That wouldn't be too big of a deal for me because I spend 90% of my time in Linux, and only use Windows for Photoshop and gaming occasionally.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. I would have just tested this out, but I am afraid of messing up my Windows install.

After several sleepless hours I had to give up and go to bed about 5 hours ago. The installation process went smoothly (or so I thought). I followed the tutorial closely and upon rebooting I was met with a blinking cursor. After some googling I found others who said I should press TAB, but nothing seemed to work.
I rebooted to the iso disk and found the "boot installed OS" option and noticed it said "Press TAB to edit". I then found the boot parameters and tried everything from hd0 0 to hd4 4. I believe I have Grub setup correctly because every option besides hd0 0 either says "Booting..." and then gets stuck, or says "That disk and partition combination does not exist". So yea, I think hd0 0 is the correct boot path, it just gets stuck with the blinking cursor.
silverhammermba wrote:
You have the right idea. You want to install a bootloader on sdc1 which will be able to boot both Arch and Windows.
Your best bet would be to use something like rEFInd. It has a "scanfor" option that should automatically detect your BIOS-configured Windows installation and add a boot option for it. Note that depending on your motherboard, you may have to switch to UEFI-only mode and Windows will be unbootable without the assistance of a UEFI program which is backwards compatible with BIOS (like rEFInd).
Thank you for the link. Considering I can't get into my install and the actual install only took about 30 minutes, I think I am going to just start from the beginning again with REFIndr. It seems much simpler. I only used Grub because I've used it before with Ubuntu, but my very limited knowledge is telling me Grub is probably the problem.
MoonSwan wrote:Just an idea: My bios has a "Boot-up Prompt" which I can invoke when it's POSTing by hitting F11. This brings me to a menu that allows me to choose which drive I want to boot up that day. I use it when Syslinux isn't working properly (Which is right now as a matter of fact ...) in order to boot Windows so I can do some SCII, for example. I, too, dual-boot but I have both OSes on different SSDs. So my 120GB Crucial SSD has Arch on it and the 240GB Kingston has Windows, SCII, Portable Apps, etc and nary the two shall meet. It makes dual-booting easier in the case of a corrupt OS or MBR or what-have-you. You may want to give your Bios a better look to see if you can do the F11 trick. It probably can and will usually tell you so at POST by printing that information on-screen along with your drives-detected and other messages (I hit Pause sometimes to read all the POST messages).
This is exactly what I was talking about doing when I mentioned:
My thinking is that even if it isn't, I should still be able to enter the BIOS boot menu and select which drive to boot manually correct?
That's good to know, because even if this next install doesn't work I think if I pull the other drives I should be able to get it working fairly easily.
Thanks again everyone.

Dual Boot Windows 7 with preinstalled Windows 8 on GPT-formatted hard disk and UEFI BIOS.

Question for Jordon Wees,
Hi,
You wrote: I can successfully install both operating
systems in UEFI mode, with Windows 7 on the first partition and Windows 8 on
the second partition. <o:p></o:p>
But I couldn´t!<o:p></o:p>
Could you please provide me how to install Windows 7
64 bit on a PC that already has Windows 8 64 bit preinstalled?<o:p></o:p>
I have also a GPT-formatted hard disk with UEFI BIOS
but I get the error message that windows can´t install Windows 7 on the disk
because it is a GPT-formatted hard disk.<o:p></o:p>
I don´t understand this because it is a GPT-formatted
hard disk with Windows 8 on it!<o:p></o:p>
I can´t change the hard disk to MBR format because I
will lose Widows 8 and all other partitions.<o:p></o:p>
In the BIOS for the storage dives Boot´ option I
selected the: only UEFI, I could also select the option ´first UEFI´ but it doesn´t
change the failure of installing Windows 7.<o:p></o:p>
Thanks, Sia

If I am reading your issue correctly. Windows 8 came pre-installed on a computer with a hard disk setup as a GPT with UEFI configured.
If this is the case then the outcome you are experiencing is correct.
Windows 7 does not inherently have the ability to install into a GPT disk from the base installation.
The Windows 7 DVD is designed to install using BIOS mode.
Also note that Windows 7 x86 does not support UEFI mode.
These two articles below may help you.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd744321(WS.10).aspx
http://blogs.technet.com/b/askcore/archive/2011/05/31/installing-windows-7-on-uefi-based-computer.aspx
Thanks
Sean
MCTS: Windows 7
MCITP: Windows 7 Enterprise Administration
MCSA: Windows 7

Upgrading Windows 7 (Legacy BIOS/MBR Disk) to Windows 8 (UEFI/GPT/Secure Boot)

Hi there,
I've recently purchased a W530 with Windows 7 pre-installed. Ultimately, I'd like to replace this with Window 8 + Secure Boot. I believe I can get Windows 8 via the Microsoft Upgrade offer for a reasonable price, since this was a recent purchase.
What's the best way to reach my goal?
The Windows 7 install uses Legacy BIOS to boot with an MBR disk.
I had a quick look at Acronis, and I can see that it's possible that the "OS will be automatically converted to support UEFI booting" (http://www.acronis.com/support/documentation/ABR11/index.html#14021.html) when using it's tool.
If I don't use this approach, what can I do? Can I:
1. Use Rescue and Recovery in Windows 7 (Legacy BIOS/MBR disk)
2. Wipe the drive and reformat it with GPT?
3. Install Windows 7 with UEFI enabled using the Rescue and Recovery made in step 1?
4. At this point, I would now have UEFI and GPT.
5. Perform an Upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8 and enable Secure Boot?
Any thoughts as to whether this would work?
Richard.

Hi richii,
The Acronis approach ends up in failure. Didn't give it a second look at the reason, since the tool it's not necessary. I also tried several other "automatic" tools without success.
The recovery approach will fail because it's tied up to BIOS boot.
But I've performed the conversion from BIOS to UEFI two times successfully. After some digging, is not SO hard. It's just... "undocumented". Very, very undocumented, hehe. I made a step-by-step guide: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/14286.converting-windows-bios-installatio...
Let me know if it helps you...
Anyway, if you don't have data/software, I would go for the clean install approach.
Cheers.
If I helped you, please give me some kudos! ^^

Windows 7 Deployment via PXE to an UEFI + secure boot enabled Lenovo system.

Hi Everyone,
I was wondering if above was possible?. I have not yet put much energy this uefi and secure boot thingy - so just told our supporters to change bios settings back to Legacy with secure boot disabled on the pre Windows 8 delivered Lenovo systems.
Deployment system :
SCCM 2012 SP1 is running on a Windows Server 2008R2
Regards
Anders Jensen
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Thx

I have an iMac running Lion and W7 with boot camp . It has been operating flawlessly until I went to reboot into Mac tonight. Screen went black, and system is unresponsive. I've tried force quitting and turning power off. Hard drive starts but that's it..

I have a 5 month old iMac running Lion and W7 with the latest version of boot camp . It has been operating flawlessly until I went to reboot into Mac tonight. Screen went black, and system is unresponsive. I've tried force quitting and turning power off. Hard drive starts, there's a small amount of drive activity and that's it.

Hi Jane, your info may still be there, look in the Users folder at root of the drive, how many users are there there?
It sounds like this may have happened...
Return to default desktop, apparent "loss" of home directory, (it can happen spontaneously too)...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107854

Is it possible to bitlocker-encypt a UEFI/GPT drive from which I boot with Windows 7 64-bit ultimate (TPM-motherboard)?

Is it possible to bitlocker-encypt a UEFI/GPT drive from which I boot with Windows 7 64-bit ultimate (TPM-motherboard)?

Sure. BL does support GPT.

Can't get windows 8.1 with dual boot for fedora (linux) . system is UEFI .

Can't get windows 8.1 with dual boot for fedora (linux) . system is UEFI .

Hi,
Any update here?
We may seek help at Fedora forum as Milos suggested, if convenient we could share the related thread link here for reference.
In addition, please also check the information in the similar thread:
Dual Boot Windows 8 and Linux?
Best regards
Michael Shao
TechNet Community Support

Simple UEFI GPT Dual boot with windows 8 boot partition question.

Hi everyone,
I think it's obvious from the quuestion that I'm a newbie here (and from the location of the post) but I have read (several times):
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/UEFI
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/UEFI_Bootloaders
and the incredibly helpful:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginner%27s_Guide
along with many forum posts. unfortunately this:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Wi … _Dual_Boot
appears out of date and so I need to ask you fine people my question.
If I want to dual boot Arch with my Windows 8 my question is on the boot partition. I have an existing windows EFI boot partition. should I mount this partition to my "/mnt/boot/efi" folder and then copy the files to this partition when I am setting up rEFInd (my chosen bootloader from wiki page, comments/suggestions are welcome) or should I setup a separate boot partition for my arch installation. I assume from reading about rEFInd that the former is how I should do it as this seems to be how refind would be able to "see" my windows bootloader.
The reason I am double checking and asking here is I know that windows can be a temperamental beast and is very prone to not booting so I don't want to mess with the windows boot partition unduly.
Thanks in advance guys, looking forward to getting my arch working!
Last edited by crashandburn4 (2013-03-03 13:42:43)

$esp = EFI System Partition?
also, ok, gummiboot, I'm glad I can mount the esp as /boot (that was my original thought but reread the tutorial and wasn't sure) just double checking, it is the esp created by windows 8 that I mount?
in addition, as I am slightly new to this is there any tutorial that can tell me how to set up gummiboot? I've looked here:
http://freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/gummiboot
but don't see anything in the way of detailed instructions.
from your post: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=159061
I'm gonna guess it's something like this (please let me know if this is right)
/mount $ESP /mnt/boot
pacman -S gummiboot
(after chrooting)
//exit chroot
gummiboot
*stuff saying gummiboot is not configured*
gummiboot install
is it something like that? can anyone point me towards a manual
Last edited by crashandburn4 (2013-03-03 14:58:53)

UEFI - Secure Boot & System partition

What is role of System partition in Windows 8.1 & 7 for configuring UEFI & secure boot. Is it possible to deploy OS using SCCM - OSD configured without System partition and configure UEFI & secure boot.
Thanks in advance.

Any Ideal if UEFI is compatible with sata or scsi drives ?. is it compatible with SSD ?..
Thanks,
Jijukar
my box has UEFI and it support secure boot, and it only has SATA
so in short, yes it will work fine
SSD and hard disks are both fine
secure boot works best with a trusted platform module if available
Place your rig specifics into your signature like I have, makes it 100x easier!
Hardcore Games Legendary is the Only Way to Play!
Vegan Advocate How can you be an environmentalist and still eat meat?

"Arch By Hand" UEFI GPT SSD LUKS Install Script

Arch UEFI GPT LUKS (and non LUKS version) Automated Install Example Script, SSD friendly
Please note that if you're going to use this you're going to have to a) customize it to fit your needs and b) know what system config you need to do post install (rc.* etc). It's a jumping off point.
Want to put in a lot of effort just to get Arch Linux listed in your "bios" startup options? You're in the right post! Well, it's more than just that, of course. If you have an EFI machine, increasingly common, this might be of interest.
I got this working on my x220 tablet and thought I'd post it here. I imagine that as Archboot and the official installer rev we'll see them support this kind of thing as well, so BBS seemed like a good place to post it, but if there is an appropriate wiki location I could add it there as well.
This is pretty bare bones (otherwise you'd be using AIF or Archboot, natch) and should be customized for your own install purposes. Nonetheless, I suspect others may have been banging their heads on the low overhang of UEFI/GPT install and hope this helps them get up and running.
This is pretty much all in the wiki and BBS in various places, particularly the GRUB2 wiki entry. However the GPT partitioning (and learning more of sgdisk) were challenging enough that I felt it would be useful for others to see a working script.
I used the current-as-of-this-post Archboot iso (archlinux-2011.10-1-archboot.iso).
Don't just dd the archlinux iso to a usb. Format the USB stick as an MBR FAT drive and dump the entire Archboot ISO contents to it. To be honest, I did this in an Ubuntu vmware image I had on my mac, though I'd like to include command line options for doing this. TODO!
I also stuck the script (included herein) on the drive, but you could get it on the installation image at install time as well via scp or whatever you prefer.
On my x220 I then set the UEFI "BIOS" (the UEFI setup) to boot *ONLY* from UEFI. Pretty important. You should probably also stack your USB drive to top of your startup list or manually select it at boot time.
Boot from the USB stick. For my x220 I selected the second of the four efi grub options, x86_64.
Once Archboot is up, immediately leave the installer (option 8)
You may want to mount the usb drive to /src if you stuck this script on it. Archboot in UEFI mode doesn't seem to mount the usb drive properly (and the normal Archboot efi install will fail as well due to this). I think this is getting fixed in the next Archboot release, from what I've read on BBS.
# mount /dev/sdb1 /src
Run the script. For me this is
# /src/myarch.sh
(WARNING: will nuke everything on /dev/sda unless you've changed it).
There are probably things that could be done better/cleaner, feel free to point those out. This is really just a jumping off point.
UPDATE 15 NOV 2011: This now sources most packages locally to avoid kernel mismatch between install medium and install target.
UPDATE 16 NOV 2011: Script now unified the boot and efi partitions.
UPDATE 17 NOV 2011: Migrated code to github, including two versions (non-encrypted and LUKS-encrypted)
UPDATE 18 NOV 2011: Added encrypted swap
UPDATE 18 NOV 2011: Changed /boot/efi/grub to /boot/grub; removed extraneous /boot/efi directory entirely.
UPDATE 19 NOV 2011: Added a post-install script to handle user setup, etc. No reboot required.
UPDATE 20 NOV 2011: Post install section more complete, visudo automation added.
See code at: https://github.com/altercation/arch-by-hand
Last edited by altercation (2011-11-20 21:09:33)

I've come up with this script (although it's not quite right either):
#!/bin/bash
# prereqs:
# mount /dev/sdb1 /src
set -o nounset
#set -o errexit
INSTALL_TARGET="/mnt"
HR="--------------------------------------------------------------------------------"
# Initialize
# Warn
timer=9
echo -n "This procedure will completely format /dev/sda. Please cancel with ctrl-c to cancel within $timer seconds..."
while [[ $timer -gt 0 ]]
do
sleep 1
let timer-=1
echo -en "$timer seconds..."
done
echo "Starting"
# Configure_Host
echo -e "\nFormatting disk...\n$HR"
# disk prep
sgdisk -Z /dev/sda # zap all on disk
sgdisk -a 2048 -o /dev/sda # new gpt disk 2048 alignment
# create partitions
sgdisk -n 1:0:+250M /dev/sda # partition 1 (UEFI BOOT), default start block, 250MB
sgdisk -n 2:0:+2G /dev/sda # partition 2 (SWAP), default start block, 2G
sgdisk -n 3:0:+100M /dev/sda # partition3, (BOOT), boot partition
sgdisk -n 4:0:+10G /dev/sda # partition 4, (ARCH), default start, remaining space
sgdisk -n 5:0:0 /dev/sda # partition 5, (HOME)
# set partition types
sgdisk -t 1:ef00 /dev/sda
sgdisk -t 2:8200 /dev/sda
sgdisk -t 3:8300 /dev/sda
sgdisk -t 4:8300 /dev/sda
sgdisk -t 5:8300 /dev/sda
# label partitions
sgdisk -c 1:"UEFI BOOT" /dev/sda
sgdisk -c 2:"SWAP" /dev/sda
sgdisk -c 3:"BOOT" /dev/sda
sgdisk -c 4:"ARCH" /dev/sda
sgdisk -c 5:"HOME" /dev/sda
# make filesystems
echo -e "\nCreating Filesystems...\n$HR"
mkfs.vfat /dev/sda1
mkswap /dev/sda2
mkfs.ext2 /dev/sda3
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda4
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda5
# Run /arch/setup
echo -n "Don't select Grub as your bootloader and exit setup before the Install Bootloader step"
/arch/setup
# unmount filesytems
umount /dev/sda1
swapoff /dev/sda2
umount /dev/sda3
umount /dev/sda5
# Get Network
echo -n "Waiting for network address.."
#dhclient eth0
dhcpcd -p eth0
echo -n "Network address acquired."
# Update Pacman
echo -e "\nUpdating pacman...\n$HR"
sed -i "s/^#S/S/" /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
pacman --noconfirm -Sy
pacman --noconfirm --needed -S pacman
pacman --noconfirm -S gptfdisk btrfs-progs-unstable
# Prepare to chroot to target
mv ${INSTALL_TARGET}/etc/resolv.conf ${INSTALL_TARGET}/etc/resolv.conf.orig
cp /etc/resolv.conf ${INSTALL_TARGET}/etc/resolv.conf
sed -i "s/^#S/S/" ${INSTALL_TARGET}/etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
mount -t proc proc ${INSTALL_TARGET}/proc
mount -t sysfs sys ${INSTALL_TARGET}/sys
mount -o bind /dev ${INSTALL_TARGET}/dev
echo -e "${HR}\nINSTALL BASE COMPLETE\n${HR}"
# Write Files
# install_efi (to be run *after* chroot /install)
touch ${INSTALL_TARGET}/install_efi
chmod a+x ${INSTALL_TARGET}/install_efi
cat > ${INSTALL_TARGET}/install_efi <<EFIEOF
mount /boot
mount /boot/efi
modprobe efivars
modprobe dm-mod
pacman --noconfirm -Sy
pacman --noconfirm --needed -S pacman
pacman --noconfirm -R grub
pacman --noconfirm -S grub2-efi-i386
grub_efi_i386-install --root-directory=/boot/efi --boot-directory=/boot/efi/efi --bootloader-id=grub --no-floppy --recheck
efibootmgr --create --gpt --disk /dev/sda --part 1 --write-signature --label "ARCH LINUX" --loader "\\EFI\\grub\\grub.efi"
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/efi/efi/grub/grub.cfg
exit
EFIEOF
# Install EFI
chroot /install /install_efi
rm /install/install_efi

From BIOS + MBR to UEFI + GPT

Hello,
I am trying to convert my classic installation from MBR to GPT and at the same time switch from BIOS to UEFI.
If you must know, I am doing this to be able to try several OS without the 4 primary partitions limitations
So I did some reading on the wiki (always full of many advices and useful information) and this seems possible but there are some steps I can't figure out.
Here is my current MBR layout:
$ LANG=C sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda
Disk /dev/sda: 59.6 GiB, 64023257088 bytes, 125045424 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
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x74d7d416
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 63 1992059 995998+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 1992060 5992244 2000092+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda3 5992245 125040639 59524197+ 83 Linux
sda1 is the /boot partition with grub2, sda2 swap and sda3 is /.
This would be done on a Dell Latitude E6410.
I freed some space (around 3 MB) at the end of the disk as gdisk gave me a warning when I ran it. There is no warning anymore.
I guess I will have to convert the disk from MBR to GPT using gdisk and "just" writing the new GPT layout (from gparted live CD)
But then, what's next?
Do I need a BIOS Boot Partition?
(I'd say no as I plan to use UEFI + GPT but I'm not sure)
Should I make some more room to fit a 512MB EFI System Partition somewhere? (if needed, I'm probably going to take the 512MB from the swap)
(I'd say yes )
Can I put this partition anywhere on the disk? (as long as I flag it as boot?)
Thanks in advance!
lilorox
Last edited by lilorox (2014-06-10 21:50:58)

lilorox wrote:
OK, so basically, I just need to reformat my /boot in vfat and UEFI will be able to see the .efi inside that partition and will propose it as a mean to boot, right?
But, I can't find any .efi files inside my current /boot partition.
Your BIOS can only read FAT-formatted drives. Create the EFI System Partition in the live environment, mount it to /mnt/something, mount your / directory to /mnt/something_else, copy (-r) /mnt/something_else/boot to /mnt/something then change /etc/fstab as I have demonstrated
You will need to boot in EFI-mode using the Arch live disk, then arch-chroot into your installation to put the bootloader in place; gummiboot or pure EFISTUB is the simplest & easiest to set up IMO. You need to be booted up in EFI-mode to successfully install the EFI bootloader --- check by using:
efivar -l
It will return a long list of variables if the system is booted in EFI-mode...

New to UEFI: Dual Boot Arch & Windows 8.1 on Separate Drives [SOLVED]

So I've been using Arch for years and have installed dozens of times on BIOS/MBR systems.
I just built a new desktop and I am completely lost on how to deal with the UEFI... everything is so different.
I have 3 drives. In order:
1. sda: SSD for Arch root.
2. sdb: SSD for Windows.
3. sdc: HDD for Arch home.
I primarily use Arch, and I envision the Arch SSD being first in the boot order, with the bootloader chain-loading Windows when I wish to boot it.
I made a 512MiB FAT32 partition on sda1 using GParted, setting the "boot" flag on it. I would have done it from within the installer but I am unfamiliar with GPT-compatible disk utilities and the wiki doesn't have too much of an explanation.
I then proceeded to install Arch, mounting the ESP at /boot as suggested in the guide.
Autocreated grub config at /boot/grub/grub.cfg, which only detected Arch.
I tried to set up a chain load to Windows by editing /etc/grub.d/40_custom as described here:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GR … menu_entry
The result is that Arch does not boot at all. Windows still boots fine, as expected since nothing changed.
So how exactly does one go about setting up Arch to boot from its own GPT drive?
It seems weird to me that the linux kernel images would be stored on the tiny ESP.
And how would I modify the bootloader to chainload Windows on its own GPT drive, with its own ESP?
I'm used to GRUB so that's what I've tried, but if there is a much easier option I'm open to it.
I'd really appreciate any help, it's been quite frustrating.
Last edited by egan (2014-12-09 03:38:24)

Okay, well as usually happens, when I resort to help I end up solving my own problem.
In this case however, I still don't have a good grasp of what is going on.
I deleted the partition table with sgdisk --zap-all /dev/sda and then used gdisk to recreate it, specifically setting the code for /dev/sda1 to ef00.
I then reformatted the FAT partition, leaving the other one alone. After mounting /dev/sda1 to /boot and reinstalling linux and grub, I ran:
grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=$esp --bootloader-id=arch_grub --recheck
as described in the wiki, and
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
And it worked, including automatically detecting Windows on the other drive. Not sure what went wrong the first time but I'm glad to get it working.
Last edited by egan (2014-12-09 19:46:58)

Converting my system to uefi/gpt boot running arch and win7

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