Enable UEFI with current partitions?

[67GTA]

My last Dell laptop bios update has enabled me to now select bios or uefi. I have Win7/Kubuntu 12.10 dual boot. Both were installed with traditional bios. Will enabling uefi destroy anything?

[sithlord48]

it shouldn't break anything. however it might not boot since UEFI may want an EFI partition on the disk where it can store some stuff.

[james147]

It might work if you reinstall grub, but I bet windows will have a fit.

[67GTA]

I had read another thread where uefi had to create it's own storage space. I wanted to play with it, but I might wait and reinstall everything when I install 13.04 to test it out. Seems like a headache after reading https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI It seems Win7 doesn't like it's "little" 30GB partition anyway. It only has 9GB free after a fresh install. Skyrim doesn't have enough room to install :-(

[james147]

Skyrim works really well under wine

[SteveRiley]

How to convert a Windows installation from BIOS to UEFI.

https://social.technet.microsoft.com...n-to-uefi.aspx

Ick. Don't bother.

[67GTA]

This might cause problems coming up http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...tem&px=MTI4NjE

[SteveRiley]

Stop! Make it go away!

[67GTA]

LOL After reading that, I will just stick with the old bios. I don't need any of the improvements brought by uefi. I just wanted to experiment.

[SteveRiley]

Well, if you want to experiment, don't let my/our warnings stop you. I'd recommend you completely pave the machine, set the firmware into UEFI mode, install Windows, and then install Kubuntu. So long as you keep Secure Boot disabled, the installation procedures will work without a hitch. I've done this a couple times on my ThinkPad X1 just to see what the results are. Both Windows and Ubuntu create their respective entries in the UEFI NVRAM variables and place their respective boot loaders in the FAT32 EFI system partition.

[67GTA]

Well, I can't stand it any more. I have to screw something up :-) I Just backed up my data, and will try turning on uefi (without secure boot) this weekend, and nuking/reinstalling Win7/Kubuntu 13.04. Will a uefi partition be created automatically when I switch to uefi in the bios settings (wiped hdd), or will I need to create it? The Ubuntu auto install is supposed to create it, but I always choose custom mount points.

[67GTA]

I answered my own question after reading the arch uefi wiki. I forgot to check there first. I really like their wiki pages. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php...ware_Interface

[67GTA]

After playing with gpt and a spare usb drive, it seems exactly the same (as traditional) as far as the aspects I care about. My plan is to wipe the hdd, set up gpt partition table, create FAT32 /boot/efi , EXT4 swap, /home and / (linux), and ntfs for Win7. Enable UEFI without secure boot, and install Win7, and then 13.04. Hopefully it all works out as planned. I'm going to have to read up on Windows and gpt. I'm not sure how to tell if windows is in gpt or bios from the install disc. If I wind up with some hybrid boot, my brain will probably melt. LOL

[SteveRiley]

Hey, how did your experiment go?

[67GTA]

Win7 64 refused to boot in uefi mode, so I just reinstalled Kubuntu 13.04 in uefi mode, and Win7 in virtualbox. Kubuntu is working fine. I really wanted to test dual booting. I might try it again with Win8/13.04 this weekend just for kicks.