Dual Boot Mageia 5b3 and Windows 8.1 UEFI on Acer Aspire

[yullaw]

I would like to join the UEFI test as posted here: https://blog.mageia.org/en/2015/02/13/b ... -3-is-out/

I write here the points How to install Mageia 5b3 in dualboot with Windows 8.1. I will add an existed bugs (if available) to all points, which are faulty on my notebook and for some is workaround. Please, be so kind and comment the bugs (etc.) here.

My machine is ready for all real tests. You can tell me what I can do (install a new OS, delete, format HDD, TeamViewer possible as well!)

Hope, it will help to improve an upcoming Mageia 5 final release.

FYI: the pics below and procedure you can use to your wiki pages if needed.

Hardware:
Notebook: Acer Aspire E1-571G, CPU: Intel Core i5-3230M 2.6GHz, RAM: 4GB, HDD: 750GB, GPU: Hybrid – Intel & nVidia GeForce 710M (2GB VRAM)

Software:
Windows 8.1 (64bit), Mageia 5b3 DVD (64bit)

BIOS:

• switch on the notebook and by key <F2> go to BIOS setting
• Supervisor Password needs to be set first in Security tab
• go to Boot → Boot mode → UEFI
  Boot → Boot mode→ Secure Boot → Disabled
  https://www.dropbox.com/s/lliddjhec46a0 ... 4.jpg?dl=0

Windows 8.1:

• put DVD into CD-ROM and follow an installation instructions
• EFI partition is created automatically during installation on the erased HDD
• after installation you will need to shrink partition (use Windows tool or EasyUS Partition Manager software). GParted damage the Windows files (needs to be validated)
• Windows needs to be restarted or turned off properly (do not use hardware power switch!). It may happen, that MGA5b3 will fail to boot (see below)

Mageia 5b3:

• put DVD into CD-ROM and do restart
• to choose DVD installation, press <F12> to choose a source (CD-ROM) during BIOS booting
• BUG: sometime Welcome page with „Start Mageia 5 Install“ and „Start Mageia 5 Rescue“ fails in UEFI – the screen is broken and after choosing the screen and graphic is broken totally. Workaround (not sure) is to switch off the machine and start again.
  https://www.dropbox.com/s/f631p6sq9u9hz ... 6.jpg?dl=0
• Bug?: during booting from DVD, Mageia wants to locate, where is .iso source! This I do not understand why, because the user doesn't need to do that in previous Mageia releases. So <Tab> → Cancel → CD-ROM → then the booting from DVD continues
  https://www.dropbox.com/s/lh3zqk1tjwk5j ... 8.jpg?dl=0
  https://www.dropbox.com/s/j24mwrx8chw30 ... 6.jpg?dl=0
• Bug: Background isn't extended (see the blue mark):
  https://www.dropbox.com/s/51kzgtjkbents ... 9.jpg?dl=0
• Bug#13894: just installed packages aren't auto rolled in the Details
  https://www.dropbox.com/s/d330xpqzypxj4 ... 5.jpg?dl=0
• Bug#15264: some icons are missing in the installer
• Bug: info-box is appeared in left-top corner only (see the red mark):
  https://www.dropbox.com/s/6kz2ta6rx90b6 ... 4.jpg?dl=0
  https://www.dropbox.com/s/51kzgtjkbents ... 9.jpg?dl=0
• Bug?: if HDD has not been prepared with /boot/EFI partition and I select „Update Mageia“ on the start up, then I get a warning:“You must have a ESP FAT32 partition mounted in /boot/EFI“ and then I cannot go back! To click on „Ok“ will go to the same window. I have to start the installation again. I have to create a new partitions and /boot/EFI must be the first! Otherwise after installation of MGA5b3 and reboot is fault:“No Bootable Device, Hit any key“. Question is what we have to do, if we have MGA4 already installed with BIOS-Legacy. To format all partitions ?
  https://www.dropbox.com/s/rtnefouxphp96 ... 9.jpg?dl=0
  https://www.dropbox.com/s/ofdi26vn7neds ... 3.jpg?dl=0
• Only copy of the files to HDD took 38mins, under BIOS-Legacy with MGA4 is much faster – approx. 20-25min complete installation
• Windows 8.1 fails to boot from GRUB2 after MGA5b3 installation:
  

  Code: Select all

  error: file /efi/microsoft/boot/bootmgfw.efi not found
error: you need to load the Kernel first

  
  so, go to MGA5b3 → edit /boot/grub2/custom.cfg (source: https://wiki.mageia.org/en/UEFI_how-to# ... stallation) and add:
  
  

  Code: Select all

  menuentry 'Windows 8.1' {
     insmod part_gpt
     insmod fat
     insmod chain
     set root='hd0,gpt2 '
     chainloader ($root)/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
 }

  
  OR in GRUB2 press <e> to edit the line „Windows Boot Manager“ and will be there:
  

  Code: Select all

  setparms 'Windows Boot Manager'
               set root='hd0,gpt2 '
               chainloader  ($root)/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
      boot

  
  then press <F10> to boot
  
• GRUB2 → Mageia 5 → black screen – terminal with warning:“Welcome in emergency mode!“ during the boot. Workaround: press <CTRL>+<D> → write the password for root →journalctl -xb → and check the faults (press space for next page), if there is something to:
  

  Code: Select all

  „Failed to mount /media/win_c“, „Failed to mount /media/win_d“

  
  then press <CTRL>+<C> and do reboot. Go to Windows OS and restart it properly! Then Mageia will boot again.
  https://www.dropbox.com/s/4trx5jzplomzn ... 3.jpg?dl=0
• Bug: MCC → Boot → Boot setting → Fault similar to:“GRUB not found. A new setting will be created“ → Ok → GRUB2 is damaged again! Then I have to use MGA5b3 again and do „Update Mageia“ (not installation, it is faster) and repair GRUB2 automatically. This issue is in the installer as well. In GRUB setting in the installer is shown linux and failsafe options and Windows is missing.
• Mageia 5b3 fails to boot from GRUB2. Workaround: check the BIOS setting → Boot → „mageia“ must be in higher level (example: the second). Then Mageia is bootable from GRUB2.
  https://www.dropbox.com/s/0h8cd4hjmyv4k ... 0.jpg?dl=0
• On updated MGA5b3 → MCC → Hardware (translated as:“Technické vybavení počítače“– the text is partly hidden. This I see first time, before we had „Hardware“ as well.
  https://www.dropbox.com/s/bq617gf0460o7 ... e.png?dl=0

• Finally the dualboot Mageia 5b3 with Windows 8.1:
  https://www.dropbox.com/s/z57vfjxyt6aql ... 0.jpg?dl=0

EDIT: Bug#15264 - linked

[doktor5000]

Mageia 5b3:
[list]
[*]put DVD into CD-ROM and do restart
[*]to choose DVD installation, press <F12> to choose a source (CD-ROM) during BIOS booting

This one is actually the most important, as you would need to select the UEFI boot entry for the boot media,
otherwise it will boot in legacy mode.

Will comment on the other Bug? topics later as I'm currently not under Mageia and don't have the links at hand, but most are already known and being worked on.

[yullaw]

Mageia 5b3:
[list]
[*]put DVD into CD-ROM and do restart
[*]to choose DVD installation, press <F12> to choose a source (CD-ROM) during BIOS booting

This one is actually the most important, as you would need to select the UEFI boot entry for the boot media,
otherwise it will boot in legacy mode.

Yes, that's a true. This is already done, see section BIOS in my post.

Will comment on the other Bug? topics later as I'm currently not under Mageia and don't have the links at hand, but most are already known and being worked on.

Please edit my post if you have known bugs. Just only add a link into "Bug#12345: .....". Then we can see, what bug is remaining. Of course I'll do the same if I find some. Thanks!

EDIT: reply to the first comment

[doktor5000]

Mageia 5b3:
[list]
[*]put DVD into CD-ROM and do restart
[*]to choose DVD installation, press <F12> to choose a source (CD-ROM) during BIOS booting

This one is actually the most important, as you would need to select the UEFI boot entry for the boot media,
otherwise it will boot in legacy mode.

Yes, that's a true. This is already done, see section BIOS in my post.

No, not really. For most mainboards you can either run pure UEFI, UEFI+legacy or only legacy.
Yours looks like it does UEFI+legacy with that settings. So it depends what you select in boot device selection screen (F12).
You should usually see two entries for one UEFI-enabled media. One for the legacy boot, one for UEFI.
If you select the legacy entry, the machine will boot in legacy mode and you cannot do an UEFI installation.

You may want to read on https://www.happyassassin.net/2014/01/2 ... work-then/

[doktor5000]

[*]BUG: sometime Welcome page with „Start Mageia 5 Install“ and „Start Mageia 5 Rescue“ fails in UEFI – the screen is broken and after choosing the screen and graphic is broken totally. Workaround (not sure) is to switch off the machine and start again.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/f631p6sq9u9hz ... 6.jpg?dl=0

Was already noticed, probably due to the intel graphics chip, or because the wrong framebuffer driver is being used.
https://ml.mageia.org/wwsympa-wrapper.f ... 00770.html
https://ml.mageia.org/wwsympa-wrapper.f ... 00771.html

[*]Bug?: during booting from DVD, Mageia wants to locate, where is .iso source! This I do not understand why, because the user doesn't need to do that in previous Mageia releases. So <Tab> → Cancel → CD-ROM → then the booting from DVD continues

Was also already noticed, for several people. Partly depends on how you create the usb media.
https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=14438 or maybe https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=15302 or maybe https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=15235

[*]Bug: Background isn't extended (see the blue mark):

Probably a GTK issue: https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=12422

[*]GRUB2 → Mageia 5 → black screen – terminal with warning:“Welcome in emergency mode!“ during the boot. Workaround: press <CTRL>+<D> → write the password for root →journalctl -xb → and check the faults (press space for next page), if there is something to:

Code: Select all

„Failed to mount /media/win_c“, „Failed to mount /media/win_d“

then press <CTRL>+<C> and do reboot. Go to Windows OS and restart it properly! Then Mageia will boot again.

That's a well-known and longstanding one (or actually several of them)
https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=10179 and https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=4042


Apart from that, it's pretty useless to list all the bugs you encountered here in the forums, as no developer reads here (besides me).
If you are affected by those bugs, comment on them if you can reproduce and test for fixes/workarounds if some are offered in the bugs.

Best participate in QA team for the testing and easier discussion:

https://wiki.mageia.org/en/QA_ISO_testers
https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Your_first_s ... he_QA_team
https://wiki.mageia.org/en/QA_Team

[doktor5000]

FWIW, there's a new release of isodumper, a tool that should be used to create UEFI-bootable media:
https://ml.mageia.org/wwsympa-wrapper.f ... 00827.html

[martinw]

[*]Bug: Background isn't extended (see the blue mark):

Probably a GTK issue: https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=12422

Or maybe https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=15344 (which I've just filed).

I'm glad I use rEFInd - Grub2 seems to require a lot of extra work!

[claire]

We're about to begin testing for the RC release.

If you'd like to help with pre-release ISO testing as part of the QA team please read/follow/add your details here.
https://wiki.mageia.org/en/QA_ISO_testers

[doktor5000]

I'm glad I use rEFInd - Grub2 seems to require a lot of extra work!

No, not really - I got it automatically when choosing btrfs during installation, and what shall I say: It just works so far.
It found the other operating systems via os-prober, and I can easily adjust grub configuration via /etc/default/grub.

[gohlip]

yullaw wrote

:[*]GRUB2 → Mageia 5 → black screen – terminal with warning:“Welcome in emergency mode!“ during the boot. Workaround: press <CTRL>+<D> → write the password for root →journalctl -xb → and check the faults (press space for next page), if there is something to:

Code: Select all
„Failed to mount /media/win_c“, „Failed to mount /media/win_d“


then press <CTRL>+<C> and do reboot. Go to Windows OS and restart it properly! Then Mageia will boot again.

Isn't this an issue caused by Windows 8 and not a bug in Linux?
Wouldn't disabling 'fastboot' (in Windows) solve this?
Another workaround is to shutdown Windows using (windows) command "shutdown -s"
Windows think it is the only OS and so created a shutdown so that when rebooted, it can use the 'retained memory' to boot faster. Disabling that should do the trick.

Another command while in Linux is to issue

Code: Select all

sudo mount -t ntfs-3g -o remove_hiberfile /dev/sda1 /isodevice

(use right sdax)

[yullaw]

Hi all,

thanks to all for the comments! I'll check https://wiki.mageia.org/en/QA_ISO_testers first and then I write to QA team about results of Mageia 5RC.

yullaw wrote

:[*]GRUB2 → Mageia 5 → black screen – terminal with warning:“Welcome in emergency mode!“ during the boot. Workaround: press <CTRL>+<D> → write the password for root →journalctl -xb → and check the faults (press space for next page), if there is something to:

Code: Select all
„Failed to mount /media/win_c“, „Failed to mount /media/win_d“


then press <CTRL>+<C> and do reboot. Go to Windows OS and restart it properly! Then Mageia will boot again.

Isn't this an issue caused by Windows 8 and not a bug in Linux?
Wouldn't disabling 'fastboot' (in Windows) solve this?
Another workaround is to shutdown Windows using (windows) command "shutdown -s"
Windows think it is the only OS and so created a shutdown so that when rebooted, it can use the 'retained memory' to boot faster. Disabling that should do the trick.

Yes, the issue is caused by Windows, that's why this point is not marked as a bug in Mageia (it's for other users, who will look for the solution for that).
Windows OS I don't use since 2007 and that time I began with Mandriva Linux. So about Win7 and Win8 I don't have so high knowledge. Should be nice to add a procedure how to prepare Win8.1 for Linux OS on the wiki page as well.

When Mageia 5RC will be available for testing, then hope I help you on the qa-discuss mailing list or bugzilla.

Once again thanks!

[martinw]

Isn't this an issue caused by Windows 8 and not a bug in Linux?
Wouldn't disabling 'fastboot' (in Windows) solve this?
Another workaround is to shutdown Windows using (windows) command "shutdown -s"
Windows think it is the only OS and so created a shutdown so that when rebooted, it can use the 'retained memory' to boot faster. Disabling that should do the trick.

Yes, the issue is caused by Windows, that's why this point is not marked as a bug in Mageia (it's for other users, who will look for the solution for that).

There is a proposed fix for this - https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=10179. Another solution, if you don't need to write to your Windows system partition, is to set it to be read-only (under "advanced options" in the disk partitioner GUI).

[doktor5000]

Isn't this an issue caused by Windows 8 and not a bug in Linux?
Wouldn't disabling 'fastboot' (in Windows) solve this?
Another workaround is to shutdown Windows using (windows) command "shutdown -s"
Windows think it is the only OS and so created a shutdown so that when rebooted, it can use the 'retained memory' to boot faster. Disabling that should do the trick.

Yes, the issue is caused by Windows, that's why this point is not marked as a bug in Mageia (it's for other users, who will look for the solution for that).
[/quote]

No, the issue is actually not caused by windows. Mageia should simply not fail to boot when non-critical partitions cannot be mounted, for whatever reason.
Most people consider the current status a design flaw, systemd upstream considers it expected behaviour (to fail booting when requested mounts cannot be mounted).
The issue is only made much more visible for the many people that have a Win8 dualboot-system.