Looking for advice - dualbooting ;)

[SwoRNLeaDejZ]

So, I was gifted a brand new shiny Gateway computer, with Windows 8 (blech!). I am attempting a nice Ubuntu dual boot tonight, but all of the reading I'm doing is telling me that the UEFI Firmware setup and Windows Safe Boot are going to cause me headaches when it comes to being successful.

Anyone have any advice? Maybe someone else already has this setup and knows some tricks to get it working correctly?

Any help is appreciated

I've been hearing that Windows 8 and Ubuntu don't play nice together

 

[palmtree5]

Disable Secure Boot and you should hopefully not have major issues

 

[MoodyBlues]

So, I was gifted a brand new shiny Gateway computer, with Windows 8 (blech!). I am attempting a nice Ubuntu dual boot tonight

Are you really set on keeping window$? If not, wipe the whole drive--like I always do!--and install Kubuntu. Oops, you said Ubuntu. Well...Kubuntu is nicer.

Anyway...

but all of the reading I'm doing is telling me that the UEFI Firmware setup and Windows Safe Boot are going to cause me headaches when it comes to being successful.

Anyone have any advice? Maybe someone else already has this setup and knows some tricks to get it working correctly?

Any help is appreciated

I've been hearing that Windows 8 and Ubuntu don't play nice together

It's just micro$oft's most recent attempt at putting up obstacles to stem the tide of people dumping window$ for Linux. I have yet to deal with a UEFI setup myself, so I can't really help you, but I know other members here have taken the plunge, so hold on...someone will chime in!

 

[SwoRNLeaDejZ]

Well, I'm using the computer for work, so sadly it'll have to have windows on it for the time being, because the proprietary software we use is reliant on it (albeit, I'll only be using maybe 30gb of the 1tb hard drive for Windows.. F u Microsoft ).

All the stuff I'm reading is saying that the installation will finish without error, and may even boot into Ubuntu once, but once you boot into windows, safe Boot will do it's thing and booting into Ubuntu won't even be an option.

Just want to do it right the first time instead of facing obstacles tomorrow and in the future.

Thanks for the reply

 

[sfbloodbrother]

If you really do not like Windows 8, then why dual boot? Why not just delete the OS completely and install Linux?
If there is something you need on Windows, then why not just use it?
I also have a Gateway computer (Not Windows 8 though) and there was a time where I was Anti Microsoft. So, what I did was install Linux on this computer, and dual boot. For the time being, I liked it, but sometimes I had to get into Windows. So I would need to shut down, and start it up, do what I needed to do, and go back to my preferred OS, Ubuntu.
After a while, it got annoying, so I just stopped, and I just use Windows.
Do you really want to do that?

If you do, then go for it.

 

[saptech]

Why not start off running Ubuntu in a virtual box inside W8 and see how that works until you decide how to dual boot? I haven't dealt with UEFI Firmware at all.

https://www.virtualbox.org/

 

[SwoRNLeaDejZ]

If you really do not like Windows 8, then why dual boot? Why not just delete the OS completely and install Linux?
If there is something you need on Windows, then why not just use it?
I also have a Gateway computer (Not Windows 8 though) and there was a time where I was Anti Microsoft. So, what I did was install Linux on this computer, and dual boot. For the time being, I liked it, but sometimes I had to get into Windows. So I would need to shut down, and start it up, do what I needed to do, and go back to my preferred OS, Ubuntu.
After a while, it got annoying, so I just stopped, and I just use Windows.
Do you really want to do that?

If you do, then go for it.

I'm a enthusiast. I want the option. I prefer Ubuntu, but I NEED windows to run work related software (which I'm not able to run through a virtual box inside of Ubuntu, unfortunately). I will likely ONLY use windows for work. I'm not really looking for advice on whether or not to do it (I'm doing it, I can't even fathom using Windows 8 all the time) I just need some input from some people that dual boot the two already, because windows 8 doesn't play nice with Ubuntu (Safe Boot and the UEFI bios setup cause all kinds of problems).

 

[Joelgp83]

Alright, time to pass out directions.

I've been running a UEFI Win8/Ubuntu dual-boot for about 6 months now. It's not a problem to do as long as you understand UEFI's quirks.

To start with, you'll need to partition your hard drive. This can be done through Disk Management in Windows8. You'll need to SHRINK your C: drive by the approximate amount of space you wish to let Ubuntu have, and you'll need to let it stay as "unallocated space". Do not format the space after shrinking it! If you need help to do this right, let us know. Do not try to do it with out having us walk you through it if you aren't already familiar with drive partitioning. You could lose your data if something goes wrong.

Now, head into the BIOS. Somewhere (probably under boot devices or boot options) they'll be a setting for Secure Boot and possibly Legacy Mode or Compatibility Mode. You want to DISABLE BOTH. This will both turn off Secure Boot AND filter out any non-UEFI boot devices available.

Next, head to Ubuntu.com and download the 64-bit, UEFI-aware version of Ubuntu 13.04, burn it to CD (or use LiLi USB Creator to put it on a USB device), and reboot your machine.

Hit F9 (or whatever Key Gateway Machine's use to select boot device, on HPs it's been F9), and select your boot device you're gonna install from. It must say UEFI somewhere in the device entry. There's a big difference in launching from "Internal CD/DVD ROM Drive" and "Internal CD/DVD ROM Drive (UEFI)!

Once you've launched the Installer in UEFI mode, follow the directions and select "Install Ubuntu alongside Windows 8". Let the installer do its thing.

Now, here's where everyone's problems with Win8 and UEFI and alternate installs come from. It'll ask you to reboot. Do so. If you don't hit any keys as the system starts up, it'll go directly into Win8, with no sign of GRUB anywhere. This is because the UEFI system is set to OS Boot Manager as its default boot device, and THAT has tunnel vision only for Windows installs.

How to we stop this? Simple, really. In the current setup, every time you want to go into Ubuntu, hit the F9 key (or whatever you used to get that menu where you selected to boot off the install disc) during bootup, and the list of boot devices shows up. In this list is now an entry to Ubuntu. Select it, and you'll be sent off to grub and so forth.

A little annoying, yes, but stable, and works as advertised.

 

[MoodyBlues]

Thank you for that very informative post, Joelgp83.

Even though I'll never dual-boot, this will be a handy resource to direct others to. Maybe we'll copy it to the Linux thread so it won't get lost as this thread ages.

 

[Joelgp83]

Feel free, Moody. :thumbup:

Though maybe making it itself a sticky would be more appropriate? :vroam:

 

[MoodyBlues]

Feel free, Moody. :thumbup:

Done!

Though maybe making it itself a sticky would be more appropriate? :vroam:

For now, let's leave it in the Linux thread. I don't know how much demand there will be for dual-booting win8/Linux with the UEFI issue, so I'm not sure it justifies a sticky. But we'll see!

I know one thing for sure--I'm going to bookmark its permalink so I can easily refer people to it when they ask for help.

 

[SwoRNLeaDejZ]

Using his method now to get it going

First attempt, Ubuntu didn't recognize Windows as being installed. Tweaking some things and trying again

 

[SwoRNLeaDejZ]

So after trying everything I could think and still not being able to get Ubuntu to recognize the already installed Windows 8, I made a new 250gb partition on my hard drive and started the install again, this time choosing Something Else from the menu.

I chose the free space from the list of partitions for the Ubuntu installation minus 3 gb I designated as a swap partition.. It's about 80% done installing now, so we'll see how it goes.. I'm sure once it is done it will boot directly into windows with no sign of Ubuntu and I'll have to use something like EasyBCD to get into Ubuntu... We'll see..

 

[SwoRNLeaDejZ]

Everything installed prefectly, booted straight to Windows with no option for ubuntu. Added a boot entry with EasyBCD and it gave me a Windows failed to load error when I tried to boot... About to pull my hair out.. Things should be easy..

 

[Joelgp83]

Ok, calm down. EasyBCD, while a pretty cool program, won't work. Win8's UEFI bootloader code resides on an EFI partition (/dev/sda2 on most new laptops from HP, sometimes sda1 on others that don't have goofy recovery partitions as the first and last partition), as does the EFI stub that boots GRUB. You may have confused or corrupted your current startup files since EasyBCD may not know how to handle that.

This is why you MUST hit whatever key you use to go to "Select Boot Device", and boot select the Ubuntu entry there. If its not there, the installer failed to run in UEFI mode. This would make sense, as the installer failed to detect win8 the first time around (it did not find the standard bios "Bootmgr" bootloader that old-school systems use).

Alternately, secure boot may have been switched back on, or failed to turn off. How comfortable are you with changing BIOS settings?

 

[SwoRNLeaDejZ]

Ok, calm down. EasyBCD, while a pretty cool program, won't work. Win8's UEFI bootloader code resides on an EFI partition (/dev/sda2 on most new laptops from HP, sometimes sda1 on others that don't have goofy recovery partitions as the first and last partition), as does the EFI stub that boots GRUB. You may have confused or corrupted your current startup files since EasyBCD may not know how to handle that.

This is why you MUST hit whatever key you use to go to "Select Boot Device", and boot select the Ubuntu entry there. If its not there, the installer failed to run in UEFI mode. This would make sense, as the installer failed to detect win8 the first time around (it did not find the standard bios "Bootmgr" bootloader that old-school systems use).

Alternately, secure boot may have been switched back on, or failed to turn off. How comfortable are you with changing BIOS settings?

Very comfortable. I just went into windows power shell and checked if secure Boot was enabled, and it returned a False.

I tried to use boot repair through the LiveCD and it returned an error that there was a buggy kernel and that I should backup the Windows EFI files and delete them, but I read that it would make Windows incapable of booting so i chose no.

I made a backup of my boot settings before I changed anything with EasyBCD, so I can restore the Defaults and even format the partition that I put ubuntu on and try to reinstall but every time I booted into the LiveCD it failed to detect windows at all.

 

[palmtree5]

Very comfortable. I just went into windows power shell and checked if secure Boot was enabled, and it returned a False.

I tried to use boot repair through the LiveCD and it returned an error that there was a buggy kernel and that I should backup the Windows EFI files and delete them, but I read that it would make Windows incapable of booting so i chose no.

I made a backup of my boot settings before I changed anything with EasyBCD, so I can restore the Defaults and even format the partition that I put ubuntu on and try to reinstall but every time I booted into the LiveCD it failed to detect windows at all.

Is there an option called fast boot (or something like that)? If so, have you tried disabling it?

 

[SwoRNLeaDejZ]

Is there an option called fast boot (or something like that)? If so, have you tried disabling it?

No option in bios for fast boot. Disabled fast boot through the windows power menu in control panel by removing the options for hibernation.. I saw something about LiveUSB working better than LiveCD, not sure if that is horse crap or not, but I have a thumb drive I can use to try and reinstall.

 

[Joelgp83]

Very comfortable. I just went into windows power shell and checked if secure Boot was enabled, and it returned a False.

I tried to use boot repair through the LiveCD and it returned an error that there was a buggy kernel and that I should backup the Windows EFI files and delete them, but I read that it would make Windows incapable of booting so i chose no.

I made a backup of my boot settings before I changed anything with EasyBCD, so I can restore the Defaults and even format the partition that I put ubuntu on and try to reinstall but every time I booted into the LiveCD it failed to detect windows at all.

Sounds like you're experienced enough to know to look before leaping. Good, it saved your butt in this case. :thumbup:

Go ahead and restore defaults in EasyBCD, for the time being you should not try to add ubuntu using it, as grub does NOT inhabit the first few sectors of the Ubuntu partition (EasyBCD expects to find each OS's bootloader code in the first few sectors of each OS system partition, this is why it is ill-equipped to handle UEFI-mode setups). I also recommend killing the ubuntu partitions (through disk management if possible) and starting over.

Double check to ensure you've got a 64-bit ubuntu 13.04 install ISO. The official one is named "ubuntu-13.04-desktop-amd64.iso".

Finally, I should have mentioned that I usually do this process with a usb installer. Works for me every time.

 

[SwoRNLeaDejZ]

Sounds like you're experienced enough to know to look before leaping. Good, it saved your butt in this case. :thumbup:

Go ahead and restore defaults in EasyBCD, for the time being you should not try to add ubuntu using it, as grub does NOT inhabit the first few sectors of the Ubuntu partition (EasyBCD expects to find each OS's bootloader code in the first few sectors of each OS system partition, this is why it is ill-equipped to handle UEFI-mode setups). I also recommend killing the ubuntu partitions (through disk management if possible) and starting over.

Double check to ensure you've got a 64-bit ubuntu 13.04 install ISO. The official one is named "ubuntu-13.04-desktop-amd64.iso".

Finally, I should have mentioned that I usually do this process with a usb installer. Works for me every time.

Thanks for all the help dude, much appreciated. I have verified that I am definitely using the correct ISO. I tried to search for reasons why Ubuntu may not detect my Windows 8 install, and while tons of people are experiencing this problem, no one seems to know what causes it, or how to fix it. I would imagine if I saw the "Install Ubuntu alongside Windows" option, it would install and boot without issue.

I am going to format the Ubuntu partitions, make a LiveUSB, and give it a shot that way. I thought maybe I had too many primary partitions on my HDD (because I have 5, [recovery, C:/, recovery, Ubuntu, swap]) and that is why it wouldn't boot, but then I found out that my HDD is GPT Partitioned disc, and that I can have up to 128 primary partitions, without issue, so that definitely isn't the problem.

I also read that Ubuntu 13.04 can handle and manage Secure Boot, so if I try to re-enable Secure Boot, and start over on fresh Partitions, it may detect Windows, and work without issue.

Not sure if I will have time tonight, but I am going to give it a shot as soon as I have time.

 

[MoodyBlues]

Thanks for the update, SwoRNLeaDejZ. Please keep us posted on how it goes.

 

[MoodyBlues]

Joelgp83, after SwoRNLeaDejZ gets his situation resolved, if there are any other changes you want to make to your instruction post, please do--and then I'll replace the copy in the Linux thread with the updated version. If there won't be any additional changes, then I'll replace it with the version in this thread as it stands now.

 

[Joelgp83]

Thanks for all the help dude, much appreciated. I have verified that I am definitely using the correct ISO. I tried to search for reasons why Ubuntu may not detect my Windows 8 install, and while tons of people are experiencing this problem, no one seems to know what causes it, or how to fix it. I would imagine if I saw the "Install Ubuntu alongside Windows" option, it would install and boot without issue.

I am going to format the Ubuntu partitions, make a LiveUSB, and give it a shot that way. I thought maybe I had too many primary partitions on my HDD (because I have 5, [recovery, C:/, recovery, Ubuntu, swap]) and that is why it wouldn't boot, but then I found out that my HDD is GPT Partitioned disc, and that I can have up to 128 primary partitions, without issue, so that definitely isn't the problem.

Could be the placement of the partitions. My setup is recovery, EFI, C:\ (Win8 partition), Ubuntu partition, Ubuntu swap, recovery. Try it that way.

If you still can't get the "install alongside" option, try going back one screen, press Ctrl+Alt+T to open a terminal window, and then go

sudo modprobe efivars

then exit the terminal window, and continue on. If it still doesn't work, then you may not truely be running in UEFI mode. The lack of an EFI partition on your layout is concerning. Can we get a pic of Disk Management's output?

I also read that Ubuntu 13.04 can handle and manage Secure Boot, so if I try to re-enable Secure Boot, and start over on fresh Partitions, it may detect Windows, and work without issue.

Not sure if I will have time tonight, but I am going to give it a shot as soon as I have time.

I've never got Secure Boot support working on 13.04, but I've got someone's else's system to actually do it. Not sure why it worked on hers but not mine.....

 

[Joelgp83]

Joelgp83, after SwoRNLeaDejZ gets his situation resolved, if there are any other changes you want to make to your instruction post, please do--and then I'll replace the copy in the Linux thread with the updated version. If there won't be any additional changes, then I'll replace it with the version in this thread as it stands now.

There probably will be. I don't know if you've noticed, but I tend to make lots of edits to my posts because I tend to catch my typos and bad grammar after the fact. Most of my edits will be of that type to the instructions.

 

[MoodyBlues]

There probably will be. I don't know if you've noticed, but I tend to make lots of edits to my posts because I tend to catch my typos and bad grammar after the fact. Most of my edits will be of that type to the instructions.

No problem, just let me know when you're satisfied. Or, better yet, make the edits in the Linux thread. This thread will [likely] eventually age and get lost, so making the changes in the 'real' post would be good.