* [gentoo-user] How to find the EFI partition?
@ 2016-10-11 21:19 Daniel Quinn
2016-10-11 21:47 ` Alarig Le Lay
0 siblings, 1 reply; 6+ messages in thread
From: Daniel Quinn @ 2016-10-11 21:19 UTC (permalink / raw
To: gentoo-user
I just bought the prettiest desktop there ever was and I'm having
trouble with the install. I'm quite comfortable with a BIOS setup, but
UEFI is still making my brain hurt and Windows 10 co-existing on the
machine isn't helping.
Basically, I can't find where to tell Grub and everything else to look
for boot stuff. On my laptop (Surface Pro), the machine came
partitioned (by Windows 8) to have an "EFI system partition". So the
output of `parted` on my laptop looks like this:
Number Start End Size File system
Name Flags
1 1049kB 379MB 377MB ntfs Basic data
partition hidden, diag
2 379MB 588MB 210MB fat32 EFI system
partition boot, esp
3 588MB 722MB 134MB Microsoft reserved
partition msftres
4 722MB 53.2GB 52.4GB Basic data
partition msftdata
5 53.2GB 256GB 203GB ext4
6 256GB 256GB 16.1MB
However, my new desktop came pre-installed with Windows 10 and there's
no EFI system partition on either of the drives:
# parted /dev/nvme0n1
GNU Parted 3.2
Using /dev/nvme0n1
Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands.
(parted) print
Model: Unknown (unknown)
Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 512GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:
Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 106MB 105MB primary ntfs boot
2 106MB 354GB 354GB primary ntfs
4 354GB 512GB 157GB primary ext4
3 512GB 512GB 524MB primary ntfs diag
# parted /dev/sda
GNU Parted 3.2
Using /dev/sda
Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands.
(parted) print
Model: ATA WDC WD4002FFWX-6 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 4001GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags:
Number Start End Size File system
Name Flags
1 17.4kB 134MB 134MB Microsoft reserved
partition msftres
2 135MB 4001GB 4001GB ext4 Basic data
partition msftdata
Note that all I did to the partitioning scheme above was:
* Shrink partition #3 on the first disk and create a new one in the
vaccuum (ext4) for Gentoo
* Delete partition #2 on the second disk (it was empty ntfs) and replace
it with one big ext4.
So what do I tell grub and the kernel to use for boot information? The
handbook mentioned that there were differences between gpt and msdos
partition setups, but the machine came this way, setup with msdos on the
first disk and I'd rather not blow away all 300GB of Windows on a
hunch. Do any of you have experience with this? Some guidance here
would be super.
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread
* Re: [gentoo-user] How to find the EFI partition?
2016-10-11 21:19 [gentoo-user] How to find the EFI partition? Daniel Quinn
@ 2016-10-11 21:47 ` Alarig Le Lay
2016-10-12 8:31 ` Daniel Quinn
0 siblings, 1 reply; 6+ messages in thread
From: Alarig Le Lay @ 2016-10-11 21:47 UTC (permalink / raw
To: gentoo-user
[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 596 bytes --]
On Tue Oct 11 22:19:04 2016, Daniel Quinn wrote:
> So what do I tell grub and the kernel to use for boot information? The
> handbook mentioned that there were differences between gpt and msdos
> partition setups, but the machine came this way, setup with msdos on the
> first disk and I'd rather not blow away all 300GB of Windows on a
> hunch. Do any of you have experience with this? Some guidance here
> would be super.
Hi,
As far as I know, you can’t use UEFI on a msdos partitioned hard drive.
So… are you not just using an old but known and stable BIOS?
--
alarig
[-- Attachment #2: Digital signature --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 473 bytes --]
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread
* Re: [gentoo-user] How to find the EFI partition?
2016-10-11 21:47 ` Alarig Le Lay
@ 2016-10-12 8:31 ` Daniel Quinn
2016-10-12 9:42 ` Andy Mender
0 siblings, 1 reply; 6+ messages in thread
From: Daniel Quinn @ 2016-10-12 8:31 UTC (permalink / raw
To: gentoo-user
On 11/10/16 22:47, Alarig Le Lay wrote:
> As far as I know, you can’t use UEFI on a msdos partitioned hard drive.
> So… are you not just using an old but known and stable BIOS?
Honestly, that hadn't occurred to me. The BIOS is fancy (lots of colour
and supports a mouse!) and I thought that Windows 10 only worked with
UEFI. Alright, I'll proceed under the impression that I'm working with
a standard BIOS and write Grub to the MBR as in the Old Days. Thanks
for the clarity on this.
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread
* Re: [gentoo-user] How to find the EFI partition?
2016-10-12 8:31 ` Daniel Quinn
@ 2016-10-12 9:42 ` Andy Mender
2016-10-12 18:15 ` Mick
0 siblings, 1 reply; 6+ messages in thread
From: Andy Mender @ 2016-10-12 9:42 UTC (permalink / raw
To: gentoo-user
[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1379 bytes --]
Dear Daniel,
You don't mention what is "the prettiest desktop there ever was", but I
reckon that it's a) a 64-bit PC and b) it's modern enough to have UEFI, not
the standard BIOS. Therefore, the drive is a GPT-partitioned drive (as
that's UEFI's requirement) and you have a /boot or /boot/efi partition
somewhere in the table layout you provides us with. It does not necessarily
need to be called "EFI partition" or something of that sort. Per my old
Windows 7 installed, Windows used a rather small boot partition of ~200 mb.
Your Windows 8 install is consistent with that observation. In addition,
you have something similar in your Windows 10 installation, from the first
1mb bit onward and spanning ~105 MB. It's also tagged as "boot".
Best regards,
Andy
On 12 October 2016 at 10:31, Daniel Quinn <gentoo@danielquinn.org> wrote:
> On 11/10/16 22:47, Alarig Le Lay wrote:
> > As far as I know, you can’t use UEFI on a msdos partitioned hard drive.
> > So… are you not just using an old but known and stable BIOS?
>
> Honestly, that hadn't occurred to me. The BIOS is fancy (lots of colour
> and supports a mouse!) and I thought that Windows 10 only worked with
> UEFI. Alright, I'll proceed under the impression that I'm working with a
> standard BIOS and write Grub to the MBR as in the Old Days. Thanks for the
> clarity on this.
>
>
[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 1806 bytes --]
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread
* Re: [gentoo-user] How to find the EFI partition?
2016-10-12 9:42 ` Andy Mender
@ 2016-10-12 18:15 ` Mick
2016-10-12 21:56 ` Daniel Quinn
0 siblings, 1 reply; 6+ messages in thread
From: Mick @ 2016-10-12 18:15 UTC (permalink / raw
To: gentoo-user
[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1260 bytes --]
On Wednesday 12 Oct 2016 11:42:56 Andy Mender wrote:
> Dear Daniel,
>
> You don't mention what is "the prettiest desktop there ever was", but I
> reckon that it's a) a 64-bit PC and b) it's modern enough to have UEFI, not
> the standard BIOS. Therefore, the drive is a GPT-partitioned drive (as
> that's UEFI's requirement) and you have a /boot or /boot/efi partition
> somewhere in the table layout you provides us with. It does not necessarily
> need to be called "EFI partition" or something of that sort. Per my old
> Windows 7 installed, Windows used a rather small boot partition of ~200 mb.
> Your Windows 8 install is consistent with that observation. In addition,
> you have something similar in your Windows 10 installation, from the first
> 1mb bit onward and spanning ~105 MB. It's also tagged as "boot".
>
> Best regards,
> Andy
The OP can mount and have a look in those partitions for any efi files, which
would be a give away; or in MSWindows 10, go to Start menu, press and hold
the Shift key, and click Restart. Then select Troubleshoot/Advanced Options
and check to see if there is an entry saying "UEFI Firmware Settings. If not,
your MSWindows installation was an MBR based installation.
--
Regards,
Mick
[-- Attachment #2: This is a digitally signed message part. --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 473 bytes --]
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread
* Re: [gentoo-user] How to find the EFI partition?
2016-10-12 18:15 ` Mick
@ 2016-10-12 21:56 ` Daniel Quinn
0 siblings, 0 replies; 6+ messages in thread
From: Daniel Quinn @ 2016-10-12 21:56 UTC (permalink / raw
To: gentoo-user
On 12/10/16 19:15, Mick wrote:
> The OP can mount and have a look in those partitions for any efi
files, which
> would be a give away; or in MSWindows 10, go to Start menu, press and
hold
> the Shift key, and click Restart. Then select Troubleshoot/Advanced
Options
> and check to see if there is an entry saying "UEFI Firmware Settings.
If not,
> your MSWindows installation was an MBR based installation.
And that confirms it! Thank you! I'm definitely running an MBR-based
setup.
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread
end of thread, other threads:[~2016-10-12 21:57 UTC | newest]
Thread overview: 6+ messages (download: mbox.gz follow: Atom feed
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2016-10-11 21:19 [gentoo-user] How to find the EFI partition? Daniel Quinn
2016-10-11 21:47 ` Alarig Le Lay
2016-10-12 8:31 ` Daniel Quinn
2016-10-12 9:42 ` Andy Mender
2016-10-12 18:15 ` Mick
2016-10-12 21:56 ` Daniel Quinn
This is a public inbox, see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox