Booting signed versions of Linux on Windows 8 machines

[mjg59]

Some people have complained that they can't install Linux on new machines because their firmware won't let them choose a boot device. This is part of Windows 8's fast boot support - the keyboard may not be initialised until after the OS has started. To deal with this, insert the install media and reboot your computer. Wait for Windows 8 to start. While holding down shift, click on the power icon and click on restart. When the menu appears, click "Use a device" and then click your install media. If it's listed more than once, choose the one that says "UEFI" in front of it. Your system will now restart and boot off the install media.

Comments

Debian Wheezy...

[(Anonymous)]

... has UEFI support, and there is a Windows-based installer. I don't know about signed UEFI, though.

Re: Debian Wheezy...

[mjg59]

The Windows-based installer has UEFI support?

Re: Debian Wheezy...

[(Anonymous)]

Probably.

The windows thing just writes a kernel, an initrd, and a grub with NTFS support to the hard disk, and then uses Windows' own boot menu system to boot it. That means that if Windows can boot the hardware, then debian-installer can boot the hardware. The only potential issue is that support for this kind of boot menu may have been significantly altered or even disappeared altogether with Windows 8 (I have no idea whether it has one way or the other).

At any rate, once you've managed to boot wheezy's debian-installer, no matter how you got there, UEFI is supported.

Re: Debian Wheezy...

[mjg59]

You can't boot a BIOS version of GRUB from the UEFI bootloader in Windows.