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monicajae
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 09, 2013 6:07 pm    Post subject: dual boot windows 8 pro/grub2 Reply with quote

Hi all,

First, can I dual boot with win 8 on master harddrive boot record?

Second, I would like to use grub, however i always used lilo, and after emerging it i had no /boot/grub directory. Yes, boot is mounted and it is rw.

So, I'm actually thinking of just leaving the MBR alone and whenever I want to enter Gentoo environment, just use systemrescuecd on usb stick and choose to boot exsisting Linux OS? I say this rather anxiously only because when I had Gentoo on an external hd, I could only boot that way. Somehow I couldn't quite get the whole dual booting to external hd and whenever I tried without the rescue usb I would receive a "kernel too large...layered (?) stack" msg...and ruined windows because i added lilo to the Winows(then 7 pro) MBR. Anyhoo, I could never get the rescue usb to boot the kernel on the "exsisting Linux OS". It would default to the rescue kernel. I'm guessing i bonked the kernel? but then the kernel would compile.

I only had Windows 8 Pro rescue cd's, so I was commited.

Furthermore, I am using the git-sources kernel: 3.11 so I could get better wacom touchscreen support.

thanks in advance :)
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eccerr0r
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 09, 2013 9:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This may or may not be helpful but I was forced to use the windows 7 bootloader to boot Linux due to windows issues. I don't know if win8 has the same features or possibilities. There is this bcdedit utility in win7 (is it still there in win8) or http://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/ to edit it...

I ended up installing grub on the Linux partition and made a boot entry for win7 to boot that linux partition. It would bring up grub, which I could subsequently also select windows again... it could be an endless loop if I set it as such...

Again I had to go the windows bootloader route because windows would not suspend to disk properly if it wasn't boot with its own loader...
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DONAHUE
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 09, 2013 9:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

http://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/ in windows
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monicajae
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 09, 2013 10:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks guys. I'm gonna try that.
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srs5694
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 09, 2013 11:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Before proceeding any further, figure out whether Windows is booting in EFI mode or in BIOS mode. If the computer shipped with Windows 8 pre-installed, it's almost certainly the former, and that changes all the rules -- you shouldn't be attempting to use LILO or BIOS-mode GRUB on such a computer. See this Web page of mine for details on EFI-mode boot loaders for Linux, and see this page for information on how to determine your current boot mode.
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monicajae
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 09, 2013 11:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm booting from bios. I know this because I haven't chosen that option yet since I"ve purchased this laptiop. However I have seen it.
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monicajae
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 10, 2013 5:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

srs5694 wrote:
Before proceeding any further, figure out whether Windows is booting in EFI mode or in BIOS mode. If the computer shipped with Windows 8 pre-installed, it's almost certainly the former, and that changes all the rules -- you shouldn't be attempting to use LILO or BIOS-mode GRUB on such a computer. See this Web page of mine for details on EFI-mode boot loaders for Linux, and see this page for information on how to determine your current boot mode.


I guess I should've mentioned that it did NOT come pre-installed with Windows 8. Because I borked the mbr on the disk windows 7 resided on, I had no choice but to upgrade it to Win8 because the laptop came with those cd's lol

But, I have seen the options for choosing "UEFI" mode in my bios. According to your website, and reading the volumes of the disk, it is GPT.
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DONAHUE
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 10, 2013 6:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

boot systemrescuecd on usb stick and run
Code:
parted -l
,if you see an efi partition listed it is very probable that windows is installed in uefi mode. example:
Quote:
parted -l
Model: ATA OCZ-VERTEX4 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 256GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags:

Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 1049kB 316MB 315MB ntfs Basic data partition hidden, diag
2 316MB 420MB 105MB fat32 EFI system partition boot
3 420MB 555MB 134MB Microsoft reserved partition msftres
4 555MB 256GB 256GB ntfs Basic data partition

if efi partition is not present windows is definitely installed in BIOS compatibility mode.
if in bios compatibility mode recommend http://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/ run from windows
if in uefi mode may I recommend https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/UEFI_Dual_boot_with_Windows_7/8
further recommend avoiding grub2 if at all possible, if you need grub use grub legacy which works well with gpt disks for the last year
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srs5694
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 11, 2013 4:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

monicajae wrote:
But, I have seen the options for choosing "UEFI" mode in my bios. According to your website, and reading the volumes of the disk, it is GPT.


If Windows is booting from that disk, then Windows is booting in EFI mode, which means you should be looking at EFI boot loaders for Linux, not BIOS boot loaders for Linux.
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monicajae
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 11, 2013 4:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

srs5694 wrote:
monicajae wrote:
But, I have seen the options for choosing "UEFI" mode in my bios. According to your website, and reading the volumes of the disk, it is GPT.


If Windows is booting from that disk, then Windows is booting in EFI mode, which means you should be looking at EFI boot loaders for Linux, not BIOS boot loaders for Linux.




Yes I do see that now. it is GPT.
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monicajae
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 5:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

So what do you think about ELILO?
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srs5694
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 13, 2013 1:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

monicajae wrote:
So what do you think about ELILO?


http://www.rodsbooks.com/efi-bootloaders/elilo.html
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