[SOLVED] GPT -> MBR transformation

greengold · 2013-12-14 21:51:01

Hi all,
in these days I need to install windows because of working with photos with Lightroom which is sadly not supported on linux.
Thing is that win 7 x64 does not like GPT - like partitioned disk. I have two disks - one where GPT partitions resiede and second where is root and swap located. Arch's grub 2.0 however count on with GPT so, my question is how will grub handle this transformation when I reformat first disk and make it MBR? How should I prepare for this operation?

Thank you!

Last edited by greengold (2013-12-18 19:35:05)

WonderWoofy · 2013-12-14 23:56:18

Covert to MBR using gdisk. Reinstall grub if necessay.

t0m5k1 · 2013-12-15 10:05:32

the lightroom linux equivalent is called Darktable:

http://www.darktable.org/

frostschutz · 2013-12-15 13:30:50

greengold wrote:

Thing is that win 7 x64 does not like GPT

I had Win7 x64 installed on a 3TB GPT disk on my previous (non-uefi) machine and it worked. IIRC it had to be GPT at install time already though.

You could install Windows in a VM only. That's what I'm doing on my current machine now, for the handful of proprietary solutions that don't work in Linux (and wine has bugs more often than not).

greengold · 2013-12-15 16:04:52

@t0m5k1
yes, I have tried darkroom, its probably best raw edit soft for linux but still I find lightroom much better.

@frostschutz
When I bought NB, there was Win7 installed on GPT and I added linux on second disk. So it was working with GPT. But when I tried to reinstall win, it was complaining about GPT. I dont know... I have also setted VM but its just slow...

@WonderWoofy
Thank you!
I transformed GPT to MBR with gdisk, reinstalled win and grub dissapeared, of course... so I need to reinstall grub. I went through this instructions but in final step

grub-install /dev/sdXX

I'm getting

EFI distributor id isn't specified.

. I tried to follow this post, but moving efi,grub form /boot is not helping. Can you give me a hand, please?
Thank you!

srs5694 · 2013-12-15 16:44:14

Windows ties partition table support to firmware type: It boots and installs on MBR disks if and only if the computer is booting in BIOS mode, and it boots and installs on GPT disks if and only if the computer is booting in EFI mode. Thus, to install Windows on a GPT disk, you need to boot the installer in EFI mode. It can be tricky to get the Windows 7 installer to boot in this way. The only URL I have handy that describes how to do this is the "Installing Windows Under DUET" section of this page on DUET. It includes some DUET-specific details, though, so if you can find something more general, that's probably better.

Since you've already done the GPT-to-MBR conversion, though, that means that you've also opted to boot Windows in BIOS mode, and that implies you'll also be booting Linux in BIOS mode. (It's sometimes possible to boot one OS in one mode and another in the other mode, but that can be rather ugly.) The "EFI distributor id isn't specified" message certainly sounds like your GRUB is set up to do an EFI-mode installation. You'll need to reinstall or reconfigure GRUB for BIOS mode to get it to work -- or reverse the GPT-to-MBR conversion and work on installing Windows in EFI mode. Unfortunately, I can't give you specific advice on the GRUB side because I'm not all that familiar with how Arch packages GRUB; you may need to uninstall the GRUB you've got an install a BIOS version or just run some command to reconfigure it for BIOS mode.

greengold · 2013-12-15 16:55:35

@srs5694
thanks for nice clarification. anyway, I would rather convert to MBR than to mess up with 'Installing Windows Under DUET' just to keep it as simple as it can be. I hope it would be more straightforward to reinstall grub 2 to its legacy version.

WonderWoofy · 2013-12-15 16:55:45

srs5694 wrote:

Stuff.

Listen to this guy's advice.

As a side note, I'll just point out that if you are on newer HW with Intel's VT-x or AMD's AMD-V, then virtualization should work pretty well. Of course you'll never achieve native speeds, but with KVM you can do pretty darn well performance wise.

greengold · 2013-12-18 19:33:08

well, instead of messing up with installing grub-leg. from aur during liveboot, i have installed Syslinux and problem is solved.
thank you, guys for your advices!

Arch Linux

#1 2013-12-14 21:51:01

[SOLVED] GPT -> MBR transformation

#2 2013-12-14 23:56:18

Re: [SOLVED] GPT -> MBR transformation

#3 2013-12-15 10:05:32

Re: [SOLVED] GPT -> MBR transformation

#4 2013-12-15 13:30:50

Re: [SOLVED] GPT -> MBR transformation

#5 2013-12-15 16:04:52

Re: [SOLVED] GPT -> MBR transformation

#6 2013-12-15 16:44:14

Re: [SOLVED] GPT -> MBR transformation

#7 2013-12-15 16:55:35

Re: [SOLVED] GPT -> MBR transformation

#8 2013-12-15 16:55:45

Re: [SOLVED] GPT -> MBR transformation

#9 2013-12-18 19:33:08

Re: [SOLVED] GPT -> MBR transformation

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