UEFI Boot Support & Partitioning...

[R0b0ty]

Can someone please 'un-confuse' me? My BIOS has "UEFI Boot Support", where 'ENABLE' means that the system can boot Legacy OS or UEFI OS. 'DISABLE' means that the system can boot Legacy OS only. What setting should I choose for my dual boot (Win 7 / Fedora 16) installation? Windows 7 boot properly with the setting = 'ENABLE' or 'DISABLE'. Interestingly, my Gparted Live CD only booted when setting = 'DISABLE'.

Regarding partitions... after talking to another member (Dutchy), I planned to 'Create a Custom Layout' during the Fedora Installation. However, if I select 'Replace Existing Linux Systems' (removes Linux partitions and keeps the others), its recommended partitioning seems OK to me (see first figure). Does anyone see an issue with this? Should I keep the LVM setting selected?

Basically, SDA1 = Win 7 Boot Partition, SDA2 = Win 7 C: Drive, SDA3 = reserved Fedora Partition, SDA4 = Samsung Recovery Partition. See second figure...

I guess SDA5 and 6 are logical partitions for Linux? Note that SDA5 is the Fedora boot partition... If Windows 7 boot partition is on SDA1 and Fedora on SDA5... Will I be able to boot into both OS's? This doesn't seem right... it seems like it'll boot into one or the other, but not both.

Thanks for helping out. I had planned to install Fedora 16 today, but obviously am not smart enough to proceed alone.

[srs5694]

Originally Posted by R0b0ty

Can someone please 'un-confuse' me? My BIOS has "UEFI Boot Support", where 'ENABLE' means that the system can boot Legacy OS or UEFI OS. 'DISABLE' means that the system can boot Legacy OS only. What setting should I choose for my dual boot (Win 7 / Fedora 16) installation? Windows 7 boot properly with the setting = 'ENABLE' or 'DISABLE'.

Switching the firmware's boot modes between UEFI-enabled and BIOS-only ("disable") is likely to be awkward, so you want both your OSes to boot in the same manner. Given your description and screen shots, it appears that Windows is booting in BIOS mode, so setting the "UEFI Boot Support" option to "disable" is the safest way to install Linux. This will guarantee that Linux boots and installs in BIOS mode. If you enable UEFI support, the Fedora installer might boot in BIOS mode or in UEFI mode, and if the latter, it's not likely to go too well, judging by other posts I've seen. (OTOH, it might still boot and install in BIOS mode even then, but why take the chance?)

Regarding partitions... after talking to another member (Dutchy), I planned to 'Create a Custom Layout' during the Fedora Installation. However, if I select 'Replace Existing Linux Systems' (removes Linux partitions and keeps the others), its recommended partitioning seems OK to me (see first figure). Does anyone see an issue with this? Should I keep the LVM setting selected?

I'm not sure exactly how those two options differ in the installer, but the partition layout you've shown in your screen shot seems reasonable. The root (/) logical volume seems a bit big (50 GiB, but few installations need more than 20 GiB, in my experience), but if you've got the disk space, making the root (/) volume too big isn't a major problem.

I guess SDA5 and 6 are logical partitions for Linux? Note that SDA5 is the Fedora boot partition... If Windows 7 boot partition is on SDA1 and Fedora on SDA5... Will I be able to boot into both OS's? This doesn't seem right... it seems like it'll boot into one or the other, but not both.

Yes, Fedora will reside on /dev/sda5 and /dev/sda6. During installation, Fedora will install a boot loader called GRUB 2. When you next boot, it should give you the option of booting either Linux or Windows.

[R0b0ty]

Thanks SRS. It all makes sense to me.... except for how the boot process would work. How does the computer know to go to the extended /boot partition - GRUB2 - for the bootloader (from where you could select either OS to boot into), as opposed to the small 100MB Windows boot partition (allowing only Win 7 boo)?

[srs5694]

On a BIOS-based computer, the BIOS reads the first 512 bytes of the disk (the MBR) and executes it. The program in that tiny space controls the boot process. On a stock Windows-only PC, the MBR-based boot loader loads another tiny boot loader in the active partition, and that then continues the boot process. When you install Linux, though, the installer replaces the Windows MBR boot loader program with GRUB's MBR code. This code loads additional GRUB code, which presents a menu of options. One of these will boot Linux and another will direct the boot process to the Windows partition.

[R0b0ty]

So (if I understand it correctly)... even though Fedora Installer is creating a /boot partition in the Extended Partition, it is STILL overwriting the Windows MBR boot loader with GRUB2? If so, then it all makes sense to me.

Thanks for your input (and patience).

[srs5694]

Originally Posted by R0b0ty

So (if I understand it correctly)... even though Fedora Installer is creating a /boot partition in the Extended Partition, it is STILL overwriting the Windows MBR boot loader with GRUB2? If so, then it all makes sense to me.

Yes, that's correct.

[AdamW]

The /boot partition contains the Linux kernel, initrd, and bootloader stage2 stuff: bootloader stage1 goes in the MBR, which is what srs has been (correctly) describing.

[R0b0ty]

Thanks to all who answered my questions. I've successfully installed Fedora 16 (Dual-boot with Win 7) without any issues.