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Dual Boot openSUSE 13.2 and Windows 8.1 UEFI

opensusegeeko

November 13, 2014, 14:35(EST) By Eric (a.k.a. TweakHound)

opensusegeekoThis is how I dual-boot my Windows 8.1 rig with openSUSE 13.2.
Though virtually unchanged from this version, I’ve put up a new version here: Dual Boot openSUSE Leap and Windows 10 UEFI
Notes:
– BACKUP your computer with a disk image before attempting this!
– Please do not contact me with questions on this topic.
That’s what the openSUSE forums are for.
– For how I dual-boot with a standard BIOS (legacy) see here: Dual-Boot openSUSE 12.3 And Windows (article is NOT compatible with BTRFS)

Interesting Links
openSUSE:UEFI
BCD System Store Settings for UEFI
Dual booting with Windows 8, not as painful as expected.

Preparation
1 – Full disk image backup using Acronis True Image.
2 – Make or leave unpartitioned space on OS drive for openSUSE. (If you can’t do this without a tutorial, well…..)
3 – Make UEFI boot usb flash drive with Rufus.

Installation
Pardon the odd screenshots. I used Vmware player for this article.

I should note that I am not a believer in using multiple partitions for my Linux installs.

Boot up, go through setup until you get to the partitioning section.
I do not use BTRFS and I always use Create Partition Setup…
os132_uefiboot_1

Choose Custom Partitioning (for experts) and click Next

os132_uefiboot_2

Right-click on the DRIVE where you want to install openSUSE and choose Add Partition
Make a swap partition, 2-4GB is fine.

os132_uefiboot_3

Below are the options I use. Ext4 for file system, noatime, discard (=trim)

os132_uefiboot_4

This next step is critical as your system will not boot without it.

Right-click on the Windows EFI boot partition and choose Edit

os132_uefiboot_5

Choose Mount partition
Choose /boot/efi
Click Finish

os132_uefiboot_6

Done?  click Accept

os132_uefiboot_7

Last chance to bail…
Click Next

os132_uefiboot_8

I don’t use Secure Boot. It can be disabled here:

os132_uefiboot_9

Boot Screen:

os132_bootmenu_1

 

Everything should run just peachy until you boot into Windows again.

Windows will usually try and make its bootloader default again which means openSUSE isn’t an option.

While in Windows, open an Elevated Command Prompt and copy/paste this command (source):

bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path \EFI\opensuse\shim.efi

That’s it!

Tagged With: How-To's, Linux, openSUSE, This Site

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