Install Windows 8 and centos on UEFI + GPT

With the widespread use of virtual machine management software, dual-system installation is getting fewer and fewer, but there are still such places, especially when learning some hardware. This article describes how to install dual systems in the UEFI era.

The previous blog has described UEFI, GPT, and centos installation in detail. For details, see http://blog.csdn.net/smstong/article/details/9408451. This article describes how to install the dual system.

1. Installation Steps

(1) Use the diskgen tool to change the hard disk to the GPT format. (You can use a CD or USB flash disk with this tool ).

(2) Windows 8 is installed on the CD. When a partition is created, the installer automatically creates two additional partitions, MSR and ESP.

(3) Click Finish step by step.

In this case, the ESP partition contains the/EFI/Microsoft/boot/folder, which contains the boot devices of Windows 8, bootmgr. EFI, and bootmgfw. EFI.

(4) Add the centos-EFI disc and restart the machine.

(5) The installer can identify the ESP partition. All we need to do is mount the ESP partition to/boot/EFI. (Note: The GUID of the ESP partition type is fixed and identified accordingly)

(6) When installing grub, the installer is automatically set to install to the ESP partition. We can see it clearly.

(7) normal installation is complete.

In this case, the/EFI/RedHat/folder is added to the ESP partition, which contains grub. EFI and grub. conf.

2. Dual-system startup

So far, only two systems have been installed. The uefi nvram boot menu has these two menus, but only one Microsoft option is displayed when the motherboard is started. Therefore, you can only start Windows 8 and centos. There are several solutions:

• Use bootmgr. EFI of Windows 8 to start grub. EFI in a chain. In the BIOS era, ntldr can load the slice where grub is located. I have not found a feasible method yet (not feasible)
• Change the path and name of grub. EFI to bootmgfw. EFI, and then start bootmgfw. EFI through the grub. EFI chain. This is quite common in the BIOS era, but now I have demonstrated that the grub. EFI in centos cannot be chained to bootmgfw. EFI, and an error is prompted. (Not feasible)
• Upgrade the motherboard firmware so that the centos and Windows startup options are displayed when F12 is pressed. No feasible approaches have been found. (Not feasible)
• The third-party launch manager is used to replace the bootmgfw. EFI location. This manager then provides chain loading of bootmgfw. EFI and grub. EFI. I chose refind, which proves to be completely feasible. (Feasible !)

At present, I have not found a feasible way to repair the UEFI boot menu of this motherboard, so I changed refind. EFI to Microsoft's bootmgfw. EFI. Microsoft's bootmgfw. EFI is modified to another location. Procedure: (1) Change the/EFI/microsft/boot folder to/EFI/weiruan through the recue mode of the centos CD; (2) copy the refind folder to/EFI/Microsoft /, and renamed it boot; (3) changed refind_x64.efi to bootmgfw. EFI; Modify refind. conf. the smaple file name is refind. conf, and modify the content as needed. The modified content is as follows: timeout 20
Showtools shell, mok_tool, about, reboot, exit, firmware
Scanfor internal, external, optical, manual
Dont_scan_files Shim. EFI, mokmanager. EFI, memtest. EFI, bootmgr. EFI
Scan_all_linux_kernels
Default_selection weiruan now, the folder layout is: EFI/weiruan (which is the starter of Windows 8) EFI/Microsoft/boot (which is the refind file) EFI/RedHat (which is the grub initiator) after that, restart the machine. The refind page appears, showing the following:

3 UEFI dual startup

• Microsoft is still very aggressive, so during multi-system installation, windows must be installed first, saving the trouble of destroying other installed systems;
• In this era, the start loader is not yet fully mature and stable. Grub is an example, and its chain loading has problems;
• UEFI motherboard features are not complete yet, and the settings are not easy to modify and are not easy to use;
• In theory, multi-start is simpler;
• Currently, refind, as the startup manager, is very useful.