Hello,
I have to install Windows 8.1 so that Dell technician can troubleshoot my system. I have not installed Windows in years, so, I wanted to confirm the process before destroying my system.
I will create a 50GB partition for Windows 8.1. I installed Fedora with automatic partitioning. As a result, home partition which I will resize is in middle. Is it okay to resize the partition in the middle to install Windows?
$ lsblk NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT nvme0n1 259:0 0 238.5G 0 disk ├─nvme0n1p1 259:1 0 200M 0 part /boot/efi ├─nvme0n1p2 259:2 0 1G 0 part /boot ├─nvme0n1p3 259:3 0 197.3G 0 part /home ├─nvme0n1p4 259:4 0 20G 0 part [SWAP] └─nvme0n1p5 259:5 0 20G 0 part /
Once I have installed Windows, it will probably overwrite Grub and possibly UEFI entries. Do I simply have to reinstall the Grub for Fedora to start detecting it as a second OS.
grub2-install /dev/nvme0n1 grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/efi/EFI/fedora/grub.cfg
Do I have the process correctly understood?
On 12/15/2017 11:21 AM, Sudhir Khanger wrote:
Hello,
I have to install Windows 8.1 so that Dell technician can troubleshoot my system. I have not installed Windows in years, so, I wanted to confirm the process before destroying my system.
I will create a 50GB partition for Windows 8.1. I installed Fedora with automatic partitioning. As a result, home partition which I will resize is in middle. Is it okay to resize the partition in the middle to install Windows?
$ lsblk NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT nvme0n1 259:0 0 238.5G 0 disk ├─nvme0n1p1 259:1 0 200M 0 part /boot/efi ├─nvme0n1p2 259:2 0 1G 0 part /boot ├─nvme0n1p3 259:3 0 197.3G 0 part /home ├─nvme0n1p4 259:4 0 20G 0 part [SWAP] └─nvme0n1p5 259:5 0 20G 0 part /
Once I have installed Windows, it will probably overwrite Grub and possibly UEFI entries. Do I simply have to reinstall the Grub for Fedora to start detecting it as a second OS.
grub2-install /dev/nvme0n1 grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/efi/EFI/fedora/grub.cfg
Do I have the process correctly understood?
In the past, I have had problem with windows which were not installed on the first partition. So, if I were you, I would simply remove current drive, and insert a small HD and install windows on it, and then let your techies look into your hardware to see what's wrong.
On 12/15/2017 10:21 AM, Sudhir Khanger wrote:
I have to install Windows 8.1 so that Dell technician can troubleshoot my system. I have not installed Windows in years, so, I wanted to confirm the process before destroying my system.
I will create a 50GB partition for Windows 8.1. I installed Fedora with automatic partitioning. As a result, home partition which I will resize is in middle. Is it okay to resize the partition in the middle to install Windows?
I don't know if Windows cares about which partition it is on, but be careful with the install. Make sure you have all your files backed up first. My experience with using recovery images is that it will wipe out everything on the hard drive. Maybe doing a normal install is safer.
Once I have installed Windows, it will probably overwrite Grub and possibly UEFI entries. Do I simply have to reinstall the Grub for Fedora to start detecting it as a second OS.
grub2-install /dev/nvme0n1 grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/efi/EFI/fedora/grub.cfg
If it wipes the UEFI entries, then you will need to run "efibootmgr" to create a new Fedora entry. If you still have the /root/anaconda-ks.cfg file, you can find the exact command in there. Depending on the laptop, you might be able to add the boot entry from the BIOS. If you can do that, select the shim.efi file from EFI/fedora.
On Fri, Dec 15, 2017 at 11:21 AM, Sudhir Khanger ml@sudhirkhanger.com wrote:
Hello,
I have to install Windows 8.1 so that Dell technician can troubleshoot my system. I have not installed Windows in years, so, I wanted to confirm the process before destroying my system.
I will create a 50GB partition for Windows 8.1. I installed Fedora with automatic partitioning. As a result, home partition which I will resize is in middle. Is it okay to resize the partition in the middle to install Windows?
Only if you use the Microsoft installer, e.g. from an ISO downloaded from microsoft.com. If it's a restore image that came with the Dell, it will obliterate everything on the drive. No options.
Once I have installed Windows, it will probably overwrite Grub and possibly UEFI entries.
That only happens on BIOS firmware. On UEFI, the Windows bootloader will go into its own directory on the ESP, and get its own NRAM entry set as default. To reboot Fedora, you'll hold shift when you choose Reboot in Windows, and you'll get a menu, one option will be Troubleshooting, and another option in there hopefully is related to booting off other media. The exact location has changed a bit between 8.0, 8.1, and 10 so I can't tell you where it is in there exactly but I know I can choose Fedora (i.e. GRUB) from within one of the Windows 10 shift+reboot Troubleshooting submenus. This does not stick though, it's a one time boot so once you're back to Fedora you'll look at efibootmgr and change the bootorder with --bootorder, making it explicit (all boot entries listed in the order you want them attempted, starting with the Fedora boot entry).
Do I simply have to reinstall the Grub for Fedora to start detecting it as a second OS.
grub2-install /dev/nvme0n1
Please do not do this on UEFI, it's a bad idea.
grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/efi/EFI/fedora/grub.cfg
This won't hurt anything but it also shouldn't be necessary. You will need to use efibootmgr to make the Fedora boot menu entry first in the bootorder, however.
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Chris Murphy -
JD -
Samuel Sieb -
Sudhir Khanger