Bios to Uefi on Non-uefi Pc

7/25/2019 Bios to Uefi on Non-uefi Pc

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http://www.rodsbooks.com/bios2uef/

A BIOS to UEFI Transformation

by Rod Smith, [email protected]

Originally written: 6/24/2011; last update: 5/1/2012

I'm a technical writer and consultant specialiing in !inu" technologies# $his %e& page isproided (ree o( charge and with no annoying outside ads; howeer) I did ta*e time to prepare it)and %e& hosting does cost money# I( you (ind this %e& page use(ul) please consider ma*ing asmall donation to help *eep this site up and running# $han*s+

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.ou'e heard o( the "tensi&le irmware Inter(ace I and the 3ni(ied I 3I) and you'recurious# erhaps you're een desperate: .ou *now that 3I is the *ey to &ooting %indows on adis* larger than 2 $i) &ut your computer uses the oldstyle asic Input/Output 7ystem IO7#erhaps you're in&etween: .ou're (ed up with the 8aster oot 9ecord 89 partitioningsystem) &ut you can't get %indows to &oot (rom a new 3I, artition $a&le $ dis* on yourIO7&ased computer# In any o( these cases) you may &e interested in e"ploring a way to turn aIO7&ased computer into one that at least seems li*e it's &uilt atop 3I# $his article outlineshow to do this) &eginning with some &ac*ground in(ormation) steps needed to set up theso(tware) using the so(tware) and some (inal words a&out pro&lems and possi&le wor*arounds tothem#

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http://www.rodsbooks.com/bios2uefi/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.rodsbooks.com/bios2uefi/


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e aware that the tools and techniues I descri&e on this %e& page are highlye"perimental# $heso(tware might not wor* at all; in (act) it could endanger your data+ $he so(tware wor*s morerelia&ly on Intel


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,3$ reuires a series o( &oot loaders to &oot# $he so(tware has traditionally &een

&ooted (rom (loppy dis*s or 37 (lash dries) &ut it's now possi&le to install it to &oot(rom a hard dis*#

"isting O7 installations may not wor* i( you try to &oot them using ,3$ or i( you

switch &oot modes on a 3I mother&oard) (or that matter# 7ome) such as !inu") can &e(airly easily set up to &oot either way# Others) such as %indows) hae aw*wardconersion procedures#

7ome computers don't wor* with ,3$# 8ost importantly) it's really only use(ul on 64

&itxC664 computers) especially in &inary (orm# In (act) it doesn't start up properly eenon somexC664 computers# In tests on (iexC664 systems) I managed to get one or &othersions wor*ing on Dust three computers>a pretty dismal success rate) really# It may Dust&e coincidence) &ut the two computers that wor*ed &est (or me used Intel


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pac*age includes &oth source code and &inaries# 7.7!IG3H resides in the 89)meaning that it's the (irst &oot loader to &e called# In (act) seeral other &oot loaders can&e su&stituted (or 7.7!IG3H) and i( you want ,3$ to &e Dust one method you use (or&ooting (rom a hard dis*) you might want to use another one) such as93#$he@8anaging the oot rocess@section &rie(ly descri&es some possi&ilities#

BootDuet>$his is the second o( two &oot loaders you'll need to &oot ,3$# oot,uet

installs in a partition &oot record 9>that is) at the start o( a dis* partition# $his lin*is a source code pac*age# $he ,3$ pac*age descri&ed ne"t includes compiledoot,uet &inaries in its oot7ector su&directory) so you don't really need to downloadoot,uet separately#

Note:I *now o( three independent &inary &uilds o( ,3$# $he one descri&ed herestic*s (airly close to the original source code# $he other two) H


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In addition to the so(tware) you'll need some hardware items:

A $%-"it o&!uter>7peci(ically) something that uses anxC664 a*a =8,64 or

864$ =lthough you can sometimes get &y without using one) 37 (lash

dries are ery handy (or holding your initial test ,3$ installations and perhaps (orholding copies o( your O7 installers# $his is especially true i( ,3$ (ails to detect discsin your optical drie or i( your O7 (ails to &oot (rom it# 7ome O7 installers will (it on a 4 or een a 1 drie) &ut others may reuire as much as C o( space#

$he ideal situation is to hae two computers and one or two 37 (lash dries# .ou leae onecomputer untouched and use another one) with no alua&le data on its hard dis*) (ore"perimentation# .ou can use the main computer to create di((erent ,3$ con(igurations as O7installers on the 37 (lash dries) which you then use on the test computer# %hen you (indsomething that wor*s) you can install ,3$ on the test computer) remoing the 37 (lashdries (rom the euation# I( you'e got Dust one computer) &ut hae a spare hard dis*) you canunplug your regular dis* (or sa(ety and use a arted 8agic disc to set up the spare hard dis*directly and test its a&ility to &oot#

I( you li*e irtual machines) you might &e tempted to use one (or testing# $his may wor* with

some) &ut I'e had no luc* with ,3$ and irtualo"# $his isn't so &ad) really) since irtualo"has its own 3I implementation# It can't &oot %indows) though# I don't *now how ,3$ (areswith 8%are) K83) or other irtual enironments#

Insta$$ing #UET

$he (ollowing instructions assume that you'e got a computer with a completely &lan* hard dis*meaning one with no data you care a&out# I( this is your regular computer and you're using aspare dis* (or testing) you should prepare a (ew things &e(ore you &egin:

urn arted 8agic to a &lan*


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3npac* the ,3$ tar&all you downloaded# It should e"tract into its own directory

tianocore_uefi_duet_builds-tianocore_uefi_duet_installer as I type; &ut its

maintainer has changed the name in the past) so it may &e something else (or you#


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Figure +, .arte' is a flexi"le Linux !artitioning tool

4# I( your computer has more than one hard dis* or i( you hae any remoa&le dis*splugged in) select the one you want to use (or testing (rom the &utton near the toprightcorner o( the screen# It reads /de/sda 55#CA i in igure 1# Gote the name /de/sda)/de/sd&) etc# o( the deice; you'll need it later#

5# 7elect ,eice L


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Figure /, To !re!are a 'isk for UEFI use0 it1s "est if it1s !artitione' as a .T 'isk,

B#


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10# 7et ile 7ystem to =$E2# Gote that %indows B reuires =$E2) not =$16) in its 7)so &e sure to get the =$ type right+ On the other hand) 3&untu creates a =$16 7>&ut that's a serious (law that argues strongly (or installing 3&untu in IO7 mode ratherthan in 3I mode#

11# I( desired) type a name into the !a&el (ield# $his will show up in some tools and can helpyou identi(y your partition#

12#


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1C# .ou can optionally create partitions (or your O7 installation in a similar manner;howeer) you must &e care(ul) since some O7es hae speci(ic reuirements# =s a generalrule) it's &est to let the O7 installer create its own partitions#

1A# 7elect arted L Kuit to e"it (rom the program#

20#


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no partition entry) it pro&a&ly means that the dis* is a @super(loppy@>that is) that it's&eing used unpartitioned#

24# $ypemount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/usb) changing /dev/sdb1to your 37 (ilesystem>

change the deice letter as appropriate and change the partition num&er as necessary or

omit it entirely i( the dis* is used as a super(loppy# I( you get an error message) you mayneed to e"periment or get help# I( you're using a dis* other than arted 8agic) you mayneed to select a di((erent mount point /mnt/usbin this procedure or create /mnt/usb

&y typingmkdir /mnt/usb#

25# $ype ls /mnt/usbto eri(y that the (iles you placed on the 37 (lash drie are now

accessi&le#

26# $ype cd /mnt/usb/tianocore_uefi_duet_builds-

tianocore_uefi_duet_installer) changing the pathname i( the ,3$ pac*age you

downloaded uses a di((erent one# $ip: !inu" shells support command completion,so youcan type a (ew characters and then press the $a& *ey to hae the shell complete a longcommand or (ilename#

=dditional options to duet-installare aaila&le# $ype sh ./duet-installwith no

options to see descriptions o( all o( them# $he most nota&le options are -edkwhich

installs a 3I ersion 2#1 rather than the de(ault o( 2#E) -Fwhich creates a =$

(ilesystem on the target partition) and -n namewhich assigns a name to the =$

(ilesystem created &y -F#

2B# $ype sh ./duet-install -m -s /mnt/usb/syslinux-405/mbr /dev/sda1) changing

the path to the 7.7!IG3H &inaries (rom /mnt/usb/syslinux-!" and to your I

7ystem artition (rom /dev/sda1 as necessary# $he -moption tells the script to install

7.7!IG3H) and -stells it where the 7.7!IG3H &inaries e"ist#

2C# $he installation script displays some in(ormation a&out what it's installing and where it's(ound things such as the target dis*# 9eiew this in(ormation and) i( it seems OM) type Y

at the #o you $ant to continue %&/'()prompt#

I( the duet-installscript completes without complaint) chances are it's installed ,3$ on

your hard dis*# .ou can now remoe the optical disc (rom the drie and either type rebootor

select !ogout (rom the menu that pops up (rom the lowerle(t corner o( the screen to re&oot thecomputer#

Using #UET

%hen you re&oot) the computer should go through it's usual IO7 startup displays# I( youinstalled to a 37 (lash drie) you may hae to press 10) 12) or some other (unction *ey to getto the &oot deice selection screen to &oot (rom that drie rather than (rom your hard dis*# %henthis is done) you should see a display that reads *+,+ 0 +F *,#and/or a $ianocore


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logo# .ou're li*ely to then see a 3I menu) similar to the one shown in igure 6# I'm cheatinghere a &it) since this screen shot shows a irtualo" 3I menu) &ut the ,3$ menu is erysimilar#

Figure $, T(e &ain DUET sreen s(ows a nu&"er of "oot an' 'e)ie &anage&ent &enus,

$his menu is con(using to the uninitiated) &ut the most important item (or the moment is the oot8aintenance 8anager# 7elect this item) (ollowed &y oot rom ile on the ne"t screen) andyou'll see a list o( dis* deices) as shown in igure B# 7elect one o( these and you'll &e a&le to&rowse through your dis* (ilesystems to locate and run I programs and &oot loaders) whichhae .efi(ilename e"tensions#


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Figure 7, UEFI i'entifies 'isks using long o'es,

I( all you'e got is a ,3$ installation) you won't &e a&le to do much) since all it comes with is ashell command line program and a small num&er o( utilities# In practice) you'll want to installan O7) and (or that you'll need an O7 installer# I( you're luc*y) ,3$ will &oot your O7 installerwhen you insert its installation


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legal proided you'e got a alid %indows license *ey>&ut you must download the sameersion you own (or instance) %indows B Fome remium 64&it# I( your computer came with%indows B preinstalled) the *ey should &e on a stic*er on the case or in a manual# It's on the&ottom o( my laptop) (or instance#

One important preinstallation note: %indows is (ussy a&out the I 7ystem artition# 8ostimportantly) %indows reuires that this partition use a =$E2 (ilesystem# $he proceduredescri&ed earlier) in@Installing ,3$)@creates a suita&le partition# I( %indows complains thatpartitions are not in the correct order) or that it can't (ind the I 7ystem artition when one isclearly present) these are symptoms that you'e got a =$16 7# I( this happens) you may needto recreate the 7 and ensure that it's =$E2# =lternatiely) you could (orego creating the 7yoursel() use ,3$ on a &oota&le 37 (lash drie) let %indows create the 7) and then install,3$ to the hard dis* a(ter %indows is done installing#

%ith the necessary tools in hand) you should (ollow these steps s*ipping to step 4 i( you wantto try &ooting the %indows installation disc directly:

1# 3sing any aaila&le computer) copy all the (iles (rom the 3, side o( your %indowsinstallation disc to a 37 (lash drie# $he %indows B installation disc has &oth I7OA660 and 3, (ilesystems on it# $hus) you may need to adDust mount options to accessthe 3, side# $he I7OA660 side holds only a te"t (ile stating that you need to hae 3,support to access the disc#

2# "tract the 1/*indo$s/3oot/+F/bootmgf$.efi(ile (rom the 45+4/install.$im

(ile on the %indows installation disc# $his (ile is in %indows Imaging ormat)which youcan e"tract with Bip#I used 6zunder !inu"#

E# lace the bootmgf$.efi(ile on the 37 (lash drie with your %indows installation (iles#

4# oot the target computer into ,3$#

5# 3sing the oot 8aintenance 8anager) launch the bootmgf$.efi(ile# $he %indows

installer should start up# .ou can proceed with installation in the normal (ashion;eerything will &e installed (rom the 37 (lash drie# I don't descri&e %indowsinstallation in detail on this page# 8icroso(t has a %e& page on the su&Dect#= (ew uir*sremain) though####

6# artway through the installation) the computer will re&oot# I( %indows doesn't startautomatically) you must use the 3I oot 8aintenance 8anager to select the

+F/icrosoft/3oot/bootmgf$.efi(ile (rom your 7# $his will launch the nearlycomplete ondis* %indows system to complete the installation#

B# On su&seuent &oots) you may need to select the same+F/icrosoft/3oot/bootmgf$.efi(ile when you want to &oot %indows# 7ee the

@8anaging the oot rocess@section (or in(ormation on how to select a de(ault &ootloader# I( you're luc*y) though) %indows might &oot automatically#
http://www.rodsbooks.com/bios2uefi/#installing_duethttp://www.rodsbooks.com/bios2uefi/#installing_duethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Imaging_Formathttp://www.7-zip.org/http://www.7-zip.org/http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Installing-and-reinstalling-Windows-7http://www.rodsbooks.com/bios2uefi/#bootloadershttp://www.rodsbooks.com/bios2uefi/#installing_duethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Imaging_Formathttp://www.7-zip.org/http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Installing-and-reinstalling-Windows-7http://www.rodsbooks.com/bios2uefi/#bootloaders


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I( you'e got a wor*ing %indows installation on an 89 dis* and you want to conert to $and 3I &ooting) you can do so) &ut the process is a &it aw*ward# 7ee this wi*i entryorthisthreadon the Insanely8ac (orum (or details#

Insta$$ing 'in() Under #UET

In principle) !inu" installation under ,3$ wor*s li*e %indows installation# I'e had some luc*&ooting some !inu" distri&utions directly (rom optical discs) &ut only on certain computers>asnoted earlier) my main ,3$ test system has an optical drie that ,3$ can't detect# $here(ore)the (ollowing instructions emphasie installation (rom 37 (lash dries# .ou can try using anoptical disc) though# I &egin with some comments common to all distri&utions# Gotes on edora)Open737) and 3&untu(ollow####

*ommon 'in() Insta$$ation +otes

$he li&parted li&rary) which is used &y most !inu" distri&utions as part o( their partitioningprocedure) has a &ug that causes it to clear $ attri&ute data wheneer a partition ta&le ismodi(ied# $he 7.7!IG3H &oot loader relies on the !egacy IO7 oota&le attri&ute to &e set) sowhen the installer re&oots) the computer will &ecome un&oota&le) at least in ,3$ mode# $hesolution is (airly simple) &ut tedious &ecause it reuires &ooting arted 8agic to ma*e a erysimple change:

1# oot the computer using arted 8agic or to another !inu" distri&ution in IO7 mode#

2# Open an !H$erminal window#

E# $ype sdisk -! 1"set"# /dev/sda) changing 1to the partition num&er o( your 7

and /dev/sdato the dis* deice# Meep 2as a constant; that's the position o( the !egacyIO7 oota&le &it in the attri&utes (ield# e sure to pass an uppercase-7option; a

lowercase -awon't hae the desired e((ect#

4# 9e&oot#

=lternatiely) you could install another 89resident &oot loader) such as 93 or !I!O#$hese &oot loaders don't rely on the !egacy IO7 oota&le (lag) which ma*es them lesssuscepti&le to li&parted's damage#

!inu" switches easily &etween IO7 and 3I &oot modes# $here(ore) it may &e easier to install

the O7 in IO7 mode and then recon(igure it to &oot in 3I mode) i( desired) rather than toinstall directly in 3I mode# or some distri&utions) this may &e your only practical choice#$he last I chec*ed) (or instance) ,e&ian didn't support direct installation in 3I mode onxC664 computers#

Insta$$ing Fedora - (nder #UET

$he procedure I used (or installing edora 16 was as (ollows:
https://gitorious.org/tianocore_uefi_duet_builds/pages/Windows_x64_BIOS_to_UEFIhttp://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=186440http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=186440http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=186440http://www.rodsbooks.com/bios2uefi/#fedorahttp://www.rodsbooks.com/bios2uefi/#susehttp://www.rodsbooks.com/bios2uefi/#ubuntuhttps://gitorious.org/tianocore_uefi_duet_builds/pages/Windows_x64_BIOS_to_UEFIhttp://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=186440http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=186440http://www.rodsbooks.com/bios2uefi/#fedorahttp://www.rodsbooks.com/bios2uefi/#susehttp://www.rodsbooks.com/bios2uefi/#ubuntu


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1# ,ownload a edora 16 64&it ,, image and &urn a ,, (rom it# $he smaller &ut this didn't wor* as well as I'dhoped) as noted later) in @8anaging the oot rocess#@

Insta$$ing O!enSUSE . (nder #UET

I'e done one test installation o( Open737 12#1 under ,3$# $he procedure is a &it moretedious than is the edora 16 installation procedure) &ut it's much &etter than was the procedure(or Open737 11#4) which was downright pain(ul# Gonetheless) you might consider installing inIO7 mode and then conerting to a 3I &oot# I( you care to try installing directly in 3Imode) here's how:
http://www.rodsbooks.com/bios2uefi/#linux_commonhttp://www.rodsbooks.com/bios2uefi/#linux_commonhttp://www.rodsbooks.com/bios2uefi/#bootloadershttp://www.rodsbooks.com/bios2uefi/#linux_commonhttp://www.rodsbooks.com/bios2uefi/#linux_commonhttp://www.rodsbooks.com/bios2uefi/#bootloaders


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1# ,ownload and &urn an Open737 12#1 ,,# I( ,3$ detects and &oots your opticaldisc) you can &oot it and s*ip ahead to step B#

2# $he boot/x;9_9/efi(ile on the installation disc is actually a dis* image containing

I &oot (iles that you must e"tract i( your system can't &oot (rom the optical disc# 3nder

!inu")mount -o loo$ /mnt/cdrom/boot/x%&_&4/efi /mnt/flo$$ywill do the tric*)proided the disc is mounted at /mnt/cdromand you hae an empty /mnt/floppymount

point#

E# 8ount a =$ 37 (lash drie and copy the contents o( /mnt/floppyto it# $he 37

(lash drie should now hae an efi/bootdirectory with (our (iles#

4# oot your target computer into ,3$'s menus#

5# Insert the 37 (lash drie and the Open737 11#4 ,, into the target computer#

6# 3sing the 3I &oot manager) &oot the efi/boot/bootx9.efi(ile on the 37 (lash

drie# $he Open737 installer should start up# I won't descri&e eery detail o( theinstallation procedure) &ut there are a (ew wrin*les that reuire e"planation####

B# $he 7uggested artitioning screen recommends creating a new @&oot olume@ a*a an7) which is unnecessary i( you'e already created one as descri&ed earlier# $here(ore)you should select the dit artition 7etup option) delete the duplicate 7) andrecon(igure the installer to mount the e"isting one at /boot/efi# %hen you continue) this

should result in a warning to the e((ect that you're installing to a partition that's not &eing(ormatted# $ell it to proceed#

C# 3n(ortunately) Open737) li*e edora) clears the !egacy IO7 oota&le (lag (rom the

7) so you must reinstate it) as descri&ed in the@


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I eentually wor*ed around it &y adding !I!O to my installation (lash drie) &ut thene"t pro&lem is worse####

3n&idden) 3&untu 11#04 and 11#10 replaced my alid =$E2 7 with a =$16 7#

$his erased ,3$ and my a&ility to &oot %indows and edora# I hadn't yet installed

Open737# 7ince %indows insists on haing a =$E2 7) installing 3&untu (irst may&e a &it sa(er) &ut not all that much &etter>any way you slice it) you'll hae to undodamage done &y 3&untu's installer# $his &ug is documented here)i( you care to (ollow it#

$he second o( these &ugs is reportedly (i"ed in 3&untu 12#04) which is due out any day now) as Iwrite) &ut I haen't attempted to install its &etas on a ,3$ system# $he 93 issue might wellalso &e (i"ed# I( so) 3&untu should install (airly cleanly i( ,3$ can read your optical disc or i(you use a 3I&oota&le 37 (lash drie as an installation medium# I( you download a discimage and it doesn't &oot directly) you may need to create a mi"ed ,,/37 (lash driesolution similar to the ones descri&ed (or edora and Open737#

3ntil then) or i( you hae pro&lems installing 3&untu in 3I mode) you may want to install it inIO7 mode and then conert it to use ,3$# %hen you install in IO7 mode) &e sure to create aIO7 oot artitionor 93 might not install# 93 will also oerwrite 7.7!IG3H in the89) so you'll need to create a 93 entry (or your 7) as descri&ed in the @8anaging theoot rocess@section# I( you want to presere 7.7!IG3H in the 89) you can try installing93 to the 3&untu root / partition or to a non&oot dis* say) another o( those 37 (lash

dries I assume you hae lying around) &ut I ma*e no promises that this will wor*#

=(ter installing in IO7 mode) you can install a 3I &oot loader) as descri&ed in the @8anagingthe oot rocess@section# 3&untu has pac*ages (or 93 2 in I mode grub-efi) !I!O

elilo) and rIt refit# O( course) you can also install any o( these (rom non3&untu

sources# Gote that i( you install the grub-efipac*age) it will uninstall grub-pc) which isreuired (or IO7style &ooting) so i( 93 2 is now in charge o( your 89 and you want touse 93 2 (or 3Istyle &ooting) too) you should install 93 2 in some other way#

/anaging the Boot "rocess

3nder 3I) the distinction &etween two types o( &oot programs is important:

Boot &anagers>$hese programs present a menu o( options or ena&le users to type

commands to &oot a particular O7# $hey don't actually load an O7 *ernel) though; theyDust interact with the user and *ic* the process down the path a &it#

Boot loa'ers>$hese programs load an O7 *ernel and hand o(( control o( the computer

to that *ernel#

opular &oot programs in !inu" !I!O) 93 !egacy) and 93 2 per(orm &oth o( thesetas*s) so many !inu" users mysel( included haen't always clearly distinguished &etween thesetwo (unctions# 3nder 3I) though) the (irmware itsel( includes>or caninclude>a &oot
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/partman-efi/+bug/769669http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BIOS_Boot_partitionhttp://www.rodsbooks.com/bios2uefi/#bootloadershttp://www.rodsbooks.com/bios2uefi/#bootloadershttp://www.rodsbooks.com/bios2uefi/#bootloadershttp://www.rodsbooks.com/bios2uefi/#bootloadershttps://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/partman-efi/+bug/769669http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BIOS_Boot_partitionhttp://www.rodsbooks.com/bios2uefi/#bootloadershttp://www.rodsbooks.com/bios2uefi/#bootloadershttp://www.rodsbooks.com/bios2uefi/#bootloadershttp://www.rodsbooks.com/bios2uefi/#bootloaders


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manager# oot loaders can there(ore &e much simpler) and some o( them are# Others particularly3I ariants o( IO7 &oot loaders incorporate &oth types o( (unction#

= (urther twist on all this is that) although I implementations caninclude good &oot managers)many o( them don't# ,3$'s oot 8aintenance 8anager is an e"ample o( a relatiely crude

3I &oot manager>&ut een it is really uite capa&le compared to some (irmwareimplementations' &oot managers# iga&yte's Fy&rid I)(or instance) proides no options&eyond selecting a physical &oot deice) li*e a regular IO7 does#

O7speci(ic &oot loaders and independent &oot managers typically appear in directories called+F/vendorname) where vendornameis the O7 deeloper's name) such as icrosoft(or

8icroso(t or red:at(or edora# ecause the line &etween &oot managers and &oot loaders can

&e a &lurry one) I summarie them all in one list:

8y 8anaging I oot !oaders (or !inu"%e& page coers most o( these &oot programs inmore detail#

5irosoft1s "oot loa'er>$his &oot loader seems to &e uite simple) &ut there may &e

hidden power I don't *now a&out# =s (ar as I *now) it simply &oots %indows# $his is (inei( %indows is your only O7) &ut i( you multi&oot) you'll want to use a separate &ootmanager to select your O7) and hae that &oot manager chainload to this one# $heasy$his is the oldest o( the !inu" I &oot loaders# In

my opinion it second only to the *ernel's I stu& support in relia&ility and ease o(con(iguration# !I!O can't chainload to another I &oot loader>that is) it's only a &ootmanager among !inu" *ernels# $hus) i( you use it and want to dual&oot with a non

!inu" O7 you'll need to use another &oot manager to select your O7# =lso) !I!Oreuires that your *ernel &e on the 7 or another partition that the (irmware can read#$his can reuire a larger 7 than you might li*e) particularly i( you install seeral !inu"distri&utions or li*e to *eep seeral *ernels on hand#

;UB Lega3>$his older ersion o( 93 doesn't normally support 3I) &ut

edora ships with a heaily modi(ied ersion that does# It supports chainloading to other.efi(iles) ma*ing this program &oth a &oot manager and a !inu" &oot loader# I'e had
http://www.rodsbooks.com/gb-hybrid-efi/http://www.rodsbooks.com/gb-hybrid-efi/http://www.rodsbooks.com/efi-bootloaders/http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1http://www.rodsbooks.com/efi-bootloaders/efistub.htmlhttp://sourceforge.net/projects/elilo/http://git.kernel.org/?p=boot/grub-fedora/grub-fedora.githttp://www.rodsbooks.com/gb-hybrid-efi/http://www.rodsbooks.com/efi-bootloaders/http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1http://www.rodsbooks.com/efi-bootloaders/efistub.htmlhttp://sourceforge.net/projects/elilo/http://git.kernel.org/?p=boot/grub-fedora/grub-fedora.git


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pro&lems getting it to relia&ly chainload) though) so its utility as a &oot manager isuestiona&le# It can &oot a !inu" *ernel (rom most !inu" (ilesystems &ut not (romwithin an !8 or !inu" 9=I, setup) so it can &e used een with a small 7#

T(e ran' Unifie' Bootloa'er 9;UB />$his &oot loader is (le"i&le and power(ul)

&ut its con(iguration (ile is comple" and trou&leprone on 3I systems) in mye"perience# I'e had the &est luc* with it under irtualo"'s 3I implementation; on&oth a real Intel 3I system and ,3$) it's (la*y and unrelia&le# It tends to &e morerelia&le when &uilt (rom source and installed entirely on the 7 than when installed(rom the &inary pac*ages that 3&untu proides# 93 2 can &oot a *ernel (rom a !inu"partition) so its use doesn't add much to the space reuirements o( the 7# It can alsoredirect the &oot process to another .efi(ile#

rEFIt>$his &oot manager originated in the 8ac world) and it's got a (ew &ugs on 3I

systems# Intel&ased 8acs use the older I 1#x) whereas non8ac 3I&ased


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22/24

B

Gote that it's possi&le to create multiple ,3$ installations and &oot them independently# $hismight &e handy i( you need to use ersion 2#1 (or some purposes and 2#E (or others# .ou mightalso &e a&le to install related utilities) such as ,3$&ased Fac*intosh &oot loaders) to coe"istwith the ersion descri&ed here; howeer) I'e neer attempted such a con(iguration#

Tro(b$eshooting "rob$ems

,3$ is still ery much an e"perimental/ho&&yist tool# I don't recommend using this solution ina production enironment) particularly not i( you lac* the technical *nowledge reuired to *eepit wor*ing# $he so(tware might not install and wor* correctly) and i( it does) ,3$ installationscan &e delicate) so you must &e cautious a&out using and recon(iguring them# 7ome things thatcan go wrong) and possi&le solutions) include:

=s noted earlier) ,3$ wor*s &est on computers with Intel


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loader that doesn't rely on partition attri&ute (lags# .ou can also aoid the pro&lem &yusing $ (dis* gdisk) cgdisk) and sgdisk(or partitioning and te"tmode tools such

as mkfs(or (ilesystem maintenance rather than rely on li&parted&ased tools such as

arted#

I( you use arted or some other utility to moe the partition to which oot,uet isinstalled) it may stop wor*ing# $his is &ecause the program relies on a hardcoded alueo( the partition's location on the dis* in the =$ (ilesystem data# I( the partitioning tooldoesn't update this (ield) oot,uet will (ail# .ou can either run duet-installto re

install eerything which is easy &ut oer*ill or adDust the settings) as descri&ed inoot,uet's own documentation#

I haen't yet trac*ed down the precise cause) &ut I'e seen ,3$ (ail to &oot when a $

dis*'s protectie 89 isn't to its li*ing# 9eplacing the protectie 89 (i"es thispro&lem# $he gdiskprogram can do this; use the noption on the e"perts' menu#

$his isn't a ,3$ issue speci(ically) &ut &ecause !inu" and %indows use the samepartition type 3I, to identi(y their (ilesystem partitions) %indows will see !inu"(ilesystem partitions as un(ormatted %indows partitions; they'll show up in the


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7eeral additional 3I lin*s appear here#

Intel has a %e& page that summaries 3I shell script commands#

$he %i*ipedia article on 3Iproides a good introduction to what 3I is and how it

interacts with other so(tware and hardware on the computer#

8icroso(t's %indows and $ =Kis (ocused on $) &ut o(ten touches on 3I's

interactions with $# Gote that it's oerly pessimistic a&out some topics) such as thepossi&ility o( doing 89to$ conersions without losing data) since they don'tproide tools with the (unctionality o( $ (dis*#

8icroso(t's 3I and %indowspage proides a lin* to a .docx(ile with &asic

in(ormation on 3I and how %indows interacts with it#

iootis another deriatie o( ,3$; it's intended as a Fac*intosh &oot loader#

$his pagedescri&es the I &oot process#

$his pagedescri&es the &oot process used &y %indows ista and %indows B) with an

emphasis on the post(irmware part o( the process#

Documents

Bios to Uefi on Non-uefi Pc