Remove/replace Gummiboot with GRUB?

hydn · 2014-10-14 21:21:13

Are their any how-tos / wiki on the best way to remove and replace gummiboot with GRUB. This is the closest discussion I could find (the opposite of what I'd like to do):
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=183210

I have Window 7 installed using bios to boot. Cannot change Windows 7 to UEFI to match Arch as Win7 uefi isn't supported on this laptop. (already tried as well)
http://na.alienwarearena.com/forums/thr … -boot-mode

I need boot menu where Arch GPT UEFI and Win7 MBR BIOS can coexist.

Thanks!

Last edited by hydn (2014-10-14 21:22:48)

graysky · 2014-10-14 21:23:10

Just install grub per the wiki which should add an entry to boot to it. You can optionally edit your efiboot menu manually removing the entry for gummi.

hydn · 2014-10-14 21:25:39

Thanks, will try GRUB install per wiki now. Do I install GRUB EFI and then the BIOS win7 will still be listed there along with Arch UEFI?

Also, as per:

graysky wrote:

You can optionally edit your efiboot menu manually removing the entry for gummi.

...what file do I edit to remove gummi?

Last edited by hydn (2014-10-14 21:27:38)

olive · 2014-10-15 04:01:20

Grub won't offer you to boot alternatively from UEFI and BIOS. Only the boot manager of your firmware can do that, if it supports it (my ASUS motherboard do) (to access it, I need to press F8 while the machine boot but this depends of your firmware) and you will have to choose the way you want to boot from your UEFI/BIOS. You will then need two bootloaders, one for BIOS, one for UEFI (you can use your Windows 7 bootloader to boot Windows). The reason of this is that is your firmware which decides to put your system in BIOS or UEFI mode and once it has decided in which system your computer should boot, a bootloader can't revert the decision. There are versions of grub for BIOS and for UEFI but there can't exist a single version allowing you to choose between the two systems.

If your firmware allow easily to switch between the two, you could:

1) Partition your hard disk with an MBR (required for BIOS booting Windows 7), mark the Windows partitions bootable and install a standard MBR to the boot sector of your hard disk.
2) Have an EFI partition (type ef00) with a UEFI bootloader (which may be gummiboot or grub, but it will necessarily be UEFI aware only, unable to start Windows 7) configured to boot archlinux.

This way a BIOS boot should boot windows 7 and an UEFI boot should boot archlinux. Now the feasibility of that depends of your motherboard (could you easily switch from UEFI/BIOS, does the firmware accepts to boot an UEFI system from an MBR partition?).

You could also boot archlinux in BIOS mode. You will not loose anything, given the fact that Linux don't currently really use UEFI or Bios once it is booted and both system can then be seen by the same bootloader (for example grub).

Note: to remove gummiboot, simply remove the package. Use efibootmgr (efibootmgr -b xxxx -B, where xxxx is the number shown by efibootmgr) to remove the boot entry. But read what I tell you before, no bootloader except the one of your firmware could allow you to choose between BIOS and UEFI booting.

Last edited by olive (2014-10-15 04:17:19)

progandy · 2014-10-15 04:19:53

refind might be able to boot efi as well as bios systems at the same time. It always depends on how exactly the system chooses between uefi and bios.
http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/using.html#legacy

Still, I'd suggest you simply install everything in legacy/bios mode if you have problems with uefi. Arch supports BIOS/GPT, so uefi is not a requirement for a GPT disk. That is only a windows restriction.

Last edited by progandy (2014-10-15 04:20:53)

chaonaut · 2014-10-15 04:33:48

seems like you should convert yout windows 7 to GPT/EFI setup (since it will not accept GPT partitioning in legacy BIOS mode), but i don't know whether it's possible without reinstall.

olive · 2014-10-15 04:56:46

chaonaut wrote:

seems like you should convert yout windows 7 to GPT/EFI setup (since it will not accept GPT partitioning in legacy BIOS mode), but i don't know whether it's possible without reinstall.

I don't think so, but we could make an hybrid GPT/MBR partition.

Now, I think the simpler solution would be to use BIOS/MBR for both systems, unless of course there is a specific need not fulfilled.

It seems that refind booted in UEFI mode could boot a system in legacy mode, after all.

hydn · 2014-10-15 05:33:47

Thanks for the insight guys! Olive, I'm totally clear now thanks to your explanation. Its an Alienware m14x R2 also supports UEFI.

I installed Arch using UEFI for no particular reason other than reading various people saying "its the future". But my only issue now is that windows 8 drives me crazy so I chose Win 7 but it won't install or boot using UEFI as per above link to Alienware forum discussion.

...Thus my thread. But after reading your explanation it sounds like my best solution is to change Arch from UEFI to BIOS so they are not split up into two methods that can't see each other.

Right now laptop boots to Arch by default which is what I want. BUT to access Win7 I much press F12 during boot to switch to legacy boot of Win.

Ideally I would like GRUB with 5 second delay that would allow me to switch to Win7 occasionally.

Last edited by hydn (2014-10-15 05:34:42)

chaonaut · 2014-10-15 06:11:54

hydn wrote:

so I chose Win 7 but it won't install or boot using UEFI

in fact, WIn7 64-bit installs & boots using UEFI. i have such kind of 7 installation on my laptop.
but i managed to do it only by turning off any legacy/BIOS compatibility features in firmware setup (to get pure EFI boot) and installing 7 on empty HDD with wiped out partition tables (it strongly dislikes any partitioning made by anything else than its own installer). if Win7 detects any traces of legacy/BIOS mode, it will go on with MBR/BIOS setup. if you need some compatibility features, they must be turned off for windoze installation, and enabled after it's installed.

important: in UEFI mode, one should let it create all additional partitions it wants to (those will be 100MiB EFI partition of type EF00 and 128MiB Micro$oft Reserved partition of type 0C01).

if for some reason you want to have your linux partitions before windows partitions, linux partitions must be created from windows installer (and later on linux installation you will have just to change their type), otherwise you are likely to have troubles with booting windows, since windows boot process depends of partition numeration. (if you need to plan your partitioning, windows installer's megabytes are binary, not decimal.)

Last edited by chaonaut (2014-10-15 06:50:12)

hydn · 2014-10-15 09:20:20

chaonaut wrote:

in fact, WIn7 64-bit installs & boots using UEFI. i have such kind of 7 installation on my laptop.

hydn wrote:

as per above link to Alienware forum discussion.

Not speaking to Win7 in general. Just my hardware experience for "this" laptop. I've used UEFI with Win 7 on a Thinkpad t431s without issue.

thanks

Last edited by hydn (2014-10-15 09:25:24)

Arch Linux

#1 2014-10-14 21:21:13

Remove/replace Gummiboot with GRUB?

#2 2014-10-14 21:23:10

Re: Remove/replace Gummiboot with GRUB?

#3 2014-10-14 21:25:39

Re: Remove/replace Gummiboot with GRUB?

#4 2014-10-15 04:01:20

Re: Remove/replace Gummiboot with GRUB?

#5 2014-10-15 04:19:53

Re: Remove/replace Gummiboot with GRUB?

#6 2014-10-15 04:33:48

Re: Remove/replace Gummiboot with GRUB?

#7 2014-10-15 04:56:46

Re: Remove/replace Gummiboot with GRUB?

#8 2014-10-15 05:33:47

Re: Remove/replace Gummiboot with GRUB?

#9 2014-10-15 06:11:54

Re: Remove/replace Gummiboot with GRUB?

#10 2014-10-15 09:20:20

Re: Remove/replace Gummiboot with GRUB?

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