Arch Linux

Paulo39

Member

Registered: 2011-12-26

Posts: 3

Installing Arch on Asus ZenBook UX330

Hi everybody,

I just bought an Asus ZenBook UX330UA [1] (13.3'', i5 7200U, 8GB, 512GB SSD, Win 10 Home) and I am planning to install Arch on it for daily use. However, the laptop comes with Windows 10 Home pre-installed and I'd like to keep it and have it side by side with Arch.

I asked the salesperson at the computer shop if there was any kind of Windows recovery partition I could use to reinstall the OS after reformatting the disk and installing Linux and he told me that the Windows license key is built-in the BIOS. He also told me I should create a clean disk image into a backup pen-disk during the very first use and configuration of the Windows OS so that I could use it as a recovery image whenever I wanted to.

So my question is: does installing Arch on this machine messes up with the BIOS such that there is the risk of losing the Windows license key?
Also, has anyone tried to use Arch on this particular machine? I found wiki entries for the ZenBook UX303 [2], the ZenBook UX305 [3], the ZenBook Prime UX31A [4] and the ZenBook Pro UX501 [5], but not for this specific model yet. I am also aware of the need to account for the fact of having an SSD [6].

Generally speaking, I'd be really thankful if you could give me any further tips so that I can make sure I go through the installation without any problems.
Much appreciated.

[1] https://www.asus.com/Notebooks/ASUS-Zen … fications/
[2] https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/ASUS_Zenbook_UX303
[3] https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/ASUS_Zenbook_UX305
[4] https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/AS … rime_UX31A
[5] https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/AS … _Pro_UX501
[6] https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Solid_State_Drives

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 19,774

Re: Installing Arch on Asus ZenBook UX330

Technically, it is not in the BIOS.  Actually, your system probably does not even have a BIOS as it is almost certain your system is UEFI.  But I dwell on semantics.

Be that is it may, what we are really talking of here is probably a Trusted Computing Module (TCM), and yes, it is used for storing Window Licences, and no, installing Linux will not impact the stored keys.
There is no need to uninstall Windows prior to installing Linux.  There are utilities where you can resize the existing Windows partition with a high probability of success.   

You will want to read https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Du … th_Windows
and https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NTFS-3G

Last edited by ewaller (2017-04-12 01:42:18)

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tom.ty89

Member

Registered: 2012-11-15

Posts: 897

Re: Installing Arch on Asus ZenBook UX330

It might be easier and safer to shrink the Windows partition/filesystem ("online") with its builtin Disk Management...

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 19,774

Re: Installing Arch on Asus ZenBook UX330

It might be easier and safer to shrink the Windows partition/filesystem ("online") with its builtin Disk Management...

This.

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Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
---
How to Ask Questions the Smart Way

tlmiller

Member

Registered: 2009-06-10

Posts: 93

Re: Installing Arch on Asus ZenBook UX330

IMO, if you have no important information on the machine, my preferred method of dual booting w/ win10 is:

Download media creation tool from M$.
Create a 8GB+ USB drive using aforementioned tool
Boot from tool, choose "install windows" and wipe the drive, then choose to create a single partition of whatever size you want windows and choose that as the target, Windows will automatically create several other partitions including the needed EFI partition.
Because your system already had Win10 on it from the OEM, it is registered with Win10 with a digital entitlement, and so Win10 will install fully activated and without any of the GARBAGE that most OEM's install by default.
Install Linux on however much drive you wanted with Windows properly controlled from taking everything.

Obviously not the fastest method, but I like it because:

1.  CLEAN Win10 install without all the bloatware installed by default.
2.  You can make sure that Windows is installed in as small of a partition as you wish, as it will only shrink so far, IMO, I've never found an install that will shrink to the size I wanted it to be (I want ~75% of the drive for linux).

Last edited by tlmiller (2017-04-12 02:36:04)