On Sat, 17 Apr 2021 15:29:13 -0400, David W. Hodgins wrote:

> On Sat, 17 Apr 2021 11:58:27 -0400, Jim Beard <jim.beard@verizon.net>
> wrote:
>
>> At some point, an upgrade to a new version of Mageia offered to convert
>> to UEFI and upgrade to gpt. I chose to do so for my main machine, but
>> left my backup machine on MBR.
>
> Upgrades have never supported converting like that, and it likely would
> not work. That must have been a new install erasing the existing
> partitions.
>
> The Mageia tools that handle booting check to see if /sys/firmware/efi
> exists.
> If it does, the system was booted in uefi firmware mode, and the
> installer and boot configuration tools will work assuming only uefi
> firmware mode will be used.
> If /sys/firmware/efi does not exist, only bios firmware mode will be
> used.
>
>> It is running Mageia 7, and still using MBR. I am inclined to allow
>> the Mageia version update offered by mgaapplet, but am unsure if that
>> will work.
>
> It will, assuming no file conflicts between packages occurs, which can
> happen if third party rpm packages require versions of packages only
> available in mga7, which then interfere with the installation of the
> mga8 packages.
>
> So remove any third party rpm repos. The command "urpmq --list-media"
> should only show lines starting with Core, Nonfree, or Tainted. I.E. The
> Mageia 7 repos.
>
> Any packages shown by "urpmq --not-available" should be removed prior to
> starting the upgrade.
>
> Remove any 32 bit devel packages. See
> https://wiki.mageia.org/en/
Mageia_8_Release_Notes#Upgrading_from_Mageia_7
>
> *** Make sure any screensaver has been disabled. ***
>
>> I am willing to let it upgrade from MBR to UEFI, if it will do that
>> automatically. If all goes to Hotel, I can simply wipe the old disk,
>> install from a DVD, and then update config files followed by backing up
>> my main machine to this machine once again.
>>
>> Does anyone know what the attempt to automatically upgrade will do?
>> Yes, I have read the Mageia website documentation but I am not entirely
>> happy with my understanding of whether UEFI and/or gpt will be
>> installed or not.
>>
>> Recommendations? (Yes, BitTwister, I do have an empty 80GB partition
>> that I could install to, but what then happens with MBR vs UEFI and a
>> few complete systems also on the same disk?)
>>
>> Cheers!
>>
>> jim b.
>
> For an iso boot, the uefi boot menu will show at least two options for
> the Mageia boot media. One for uefi mode, one for bios mode. The wording
> varies depending on the uefi manufacturer, and sometimes the firmware
> version.
>
> Which one on those options is selected determines whether or not the
> Mageia installer is running in uefi mode (/sys/firmware/EFI directory
> exists), or bios firmware mode, and it will set up any install it does
> on the hard drive to work in the same way.
>
> On an upgrade using mgaapplet or urpmi, Mageia will never change between
> uefi and bios firmware mode.
>
> Whether the disk drive uses a mbr or gpt style partition table has
> nothing to do with whether the boot is done with uefi firmware mode or
> bios firmware mode.
>
> A drive with a mbr partition table can be used with either uefi or bios
> firmware mode.
>
> A drive with a gpt partition table can be used with either uefi or bios
> firmware mode.
>
> Exception to the above, is that some really badly written uefi firmware
> will not boot from a mbr partitioned hard drive. While I've read about
> the problem, I'm not aware of any Mageia users who have been affected by
> it.
>
> If anything is not clear, ask before you start the upgrade.
>
> There's no such thing as a stupid question. :-)

Last-minute questions before installing Mageia 8 on my laptop.

The laptop was delivered with Windows 8 only, which was reworked to dual
boot. At some point Win 8 was replaced witn Win10. At some point,
/boot/EFI (empty) was created. /sys/firmware/EFI directory does not
exist. The menu.lst in /boot/grub appears to control boot, but grub2 has
been installed and there is a grub2.cfg in /grub2/ that has multiple
instances of a line set root 'hd7,gpt' and the kernel loaded would be an
old Mageia 7 kernel.

When I go to setup boot in MCC, it shows me grub text.

How can I determine definitely if gpt or uefi are involved?

The Mageia 8 DVD installer offers a choice of UEFI or BIOS install.

Can I install UEFI to a empty partition? If so, how will that affect
using old partitions containing Mageia 6, Mageia 7, and Win 10 if they
were installed under BIOS ???

Ideas on what and how to check? How to install?

Cheers!

jim b.

--
UNIX is not user-unfriendly, it merely expects users to be computer-
friendly.

On Sat, 24 Apr 2021 20:17:32 -0400, Jim Beard <jim.beard@verizon.net> wrote:
> Last-minute questions before installing Mageia 8 on my laptop.
>
> The laptop was delivered with Windows 8 only, which was reworked to dual
> boot. At some point Win 8 was replaced witn Win10. At some point,
> /boot/EFI (empty) was created. /sys/firmware/EFI directory does not
> exist. The menu.lst in /boot/grub appears to control boot, but grub2 has
> been installed and there is a grub2.cfg in /grub2/ that has multiple
> instances of a line set root 'hd7,gpt' and the kernel loaded would be an
> old Mageia 7 kernel.

If /sys/firmware/efi (note lowercase) does not exist then the currently running
system is using bios firmware mode. If the efi directory does exist it's using
uefi firmware mode.

> When I go to setup boot in MCC, it shows me grub text.
For a bios firmware mode, the boot menu may either be grub2 text or grub2 graphical
from the grub2 package.

For a uefi firmware system it can use grub2 text or grub2 graphical from the
grub2-efi package. On uefi, there is also the refind boot manager that can be used
instead of grub2-efi. I highly recommend it on uefi firmware systems.

> How can I determine definitely if gpt or uefi are involved?

Two totally unrelated questions. A system is either running using uefi firmware mode
or bios firmware mode. A hard drive is either using mbr style partition tables or
gpt partition tables. Except for some badly written uefi firmware that will not
boot from a mbr partitioned hard drive, which boot firmware mode is being used,
and which style of partition table is being used on the hard drive are not related.

If /sys/firmware/efi exists uefi firmware mode is being used. If it does not, bios
firmware mode is being used.

To find out if the hard drive has had a mbr or gpt partition table written on it,
use the blkid command (as root).

# blkid /dev/sda
/dev/sda: PTTYPE="dos

The above indicates it's using a mbr (aka dos) style partition table. If a gpt
partition table were being used it would show PTTYPE="gpt".

> The Mageia 8 DVD installer offers a choice of UEFI or BIOS install.
>
> Can I install UEFI to a empty partition? If so, how will that affect
> using old partitions containing Mageia 6, Mageia 7, and Win 10 if they
> were installed under BIOS ???
>
> Ideas on what and how to check? How to install?

Do not mix uefi and bios firmware mode installs on the same computer. It can be
done but usually results in very hard to debug and fix problems.

If you want to keep your existing installations, use the same firmware mode for
the new installation.

Let the installer or mcc/boot/setup boot system control setting up grub. It's
much easier then figuring out which file to modify for what in /boot/grub2
(never edit manually), /etc/grub.d (only if you know what you are doing), and
/etc/default/grub (which will be set up by mcc or the installer).

Regards, Dave Hodgins

--
Change dwhodgins@nomail.afraid.org to davidwhodgins@teksavvy.com for
email replies.

On Sat, 24 Apr 2021 21:21:08 -0400, David W. Hodgins wrote:

> On Sat, 24 Apr 2021 20:17:32 -0400, Jim Beard <jim.beard@verizon.net>
> wrote:
>> Last-minute questions before installing Mageia 8 on my laptop.
>>
>> The laptop was delivered with Windows 8 only, which was reworked to
>> dual boot. At some point Win 8 was replaced witn Win10. At some
>> point, /boot/EFI (empty) was created. /sys/firmware/EFI directory does
>> not exist. The menu.lst in /boot/grub appears to control boot, but
>> grub2 has been installed and there is a grub2.cfg in /grub2/ that has
>> multiple instances of a line set root 'hd7,gpt' and the kernel loaded
>> would be an old Mageia 7 kernel.
>
> If /sys/firmware/efi (note lowercase) does not exist then the currently
> running system is using bios firmware mode. If the efi directory does
> exist it's using uefi firmware mode.
>
>> When I go to setup boot in MCC, it shows me grub text.
> For a bios firmware mode, the boot menu may either be grub2 text or
> grub2 graphical
> from the grub2 package.
>
> For a uefi firmware system it can use grub2 text or grub2 graphical from
> the grub2-efi package. On uefi, there is also the refind boot manager
> that can be used instead of grub2-efi. I highly recommend it on uefi
> firmware systems.
>
>> How can I determine definitely if gpt or uefi are involved?
>
> Two totally unrelated questions. A system is either running using uefi
> firmware mode or bios firmware mode. A hard drive is either using mbr
> style partition tables or gpt partition tables. Except for some badly
> written uefi firmware that will not boot from a mbr partitioned hard
> drive, which boot firmware mode is being used,
> and which style of partition table is being used on the hard drive are
> not related.
>
> If /sys/firmware/efi exists uefi firmware mode is being used. If it does
> not, bios firmware mode is being used.
>
> To find out if the hard drive has had a mbr or gpt partition table
> written on it, use the blkid command (as root).
>
> # blkid /dev/sda /dev/sda: PTTYPE="dos
>
> The above indicates it's using a mbr (aka dos) style partition table. If
> a gpt partition table were being used it would show PTTYPE="gpt".
>
>> The Mageia 8 DVD installer offers a choice of UEFI or BIOS install.
>>
>> Can I install UEFI to a empty partition? If so, how will that affect
>> using old partitions containing Mageia 6, Mageia 7, and Win 10 if they
>> were installed under BIOS ???
>>
>> Ideas on what and how to check? How to install?
>
> Do not mix uefi and bios firmware mode installs on the same computer. It
> can be done but usually results in very hard to debug and fix problems.
>
> If you want to keep your existing installations, use the same firmware
> mode for the new installation.
>
> Let the installer or mcc/boot/setup boot system control setting up grub.
> It's much easier then figuring out which file to modify for what in
> /boot/grub2 (never edit manually), /etc/grub.d (only if you know what
> you are doing), and /etc/default/grub (which will be set up by mcc or
> the installer).

My confusion factor increases.

The laptop hard drive is gpt, per blkid /dev/sda. This much is clear.

I found in the microsoft partitions EFI boot software for both windows
and mageia. /system/firmware/efi does not exist. I think Mageia 7 is
using grub, but it looks like grub2 has been used from the entries in
configuration files, etc.

rpm -qa |grep grub says Mageia 7 has rpms installed for grub, grub2, and
grub2-efi.

I think I am going to tell the Mageia installer gpt, grub2, and uefi if
given the choice and see what happens. At worst, I will have to wipe the
hard drive.

Cheers!

jim b.

--
UNIX is not user-unfriendly, it merely expects users to be computer-
friendly.