Boot with both legacy and UEFI

[Rabie]

Hi There,

is there a way to make TinyCore boots from a boot media with both legacy and UEFI if the PC doesn't support legacy boot?

i am using TinyCore x64 with the bootloader extlinux.

Thank you

[Rich]

Hi Rabie
I kind of sounds like you answered your own question.

Regardless of what you do to the boot media, how could you expect to boot it legacy mode if the hardware
does not support legacy mode?

[Rabie]

Hi Rich,

i may have asked the question wrong.

how could you expect to boot it legacy mode if the hardware
does not support legacy mode?

it has to boot with UEFI if the PC doesn't support legacy! Not with legacy if its not supported 

[mocore]

it has to boot with UEFI if the PC doesn't support legacy! Not with legacy if its not supported 

AFAIK usually this choice of which to prioritise  is handled by the system bios.

wrt how to setup a hdd/usb ect  see

http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?topic=20939.0 - How to make a legacy bios/uefi dual boot usb stick with syslinux

http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,19364.0.html -  Howto make a legacy bios/uefi dual boot usb stick with grub2 

[Rabie]

hi mocore,

http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?topic=20939.0 - How to make a legacy bios/uefi dual boot usb stick with syslinux

yes i already found this topic but i couldn't really follow the instructions.

is Syslinux the same as extlinux ?

[Rich]

Hi Rabie

... is Syslinux the same as extlinux ?

Syslinux and extlinux are both found in the  syslinux.tcz  extension.

From the  .info  file:

----- Snip -----
                bootloaders for MS-DOS FAT filesystems (SYSLINUX),
                network booting (PXELINUX),
                bootable "El Torito" CD-ROMs (ISOLINUX), and
                Linux ext2/ext3/ext4 or btrfs filesystems (EXTLINUX).
 ----- Snip -----

Found here:
http://tinycorelinux.net/12.x/x86/tcz/syslinux.tcz.info

[Rabie]

Hi Rich,

Syslinux and extlinux are both found in the  syslinux.tcz  extension.

i see.

I have installed TinyCore on a USB media and can boot with it but only with legacy.

It would be nice, if you told me step by step how do i make the same USB media boot on a UEFI system.

You already helped me so much before.

Thnx

[Rich]

Hi Rabie
I've only had to deal with  UEFI  once, and this was the writeup I followed:
http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,22848.msg143377.html#msg143377

[polikuo]

is Syslinux the same as extlinux ?

They are the same family, just different design for different file system.
If your boot media is FAT(32) use syslinux
If it is EXT2(,3,4) use extlinux

It would be nice, if you told me step by step how do i make the same USB media boot on a UEFI system.

Which part do you have trouble with ?

[Rabie]

Hi polikuo,

first i have an understanding question.
when i try to make the USB-Stick bootable with both legacy and UEFI, should i follow the instruction on an new attached USB-Stick or on the same boot Stick i use ?

when i try to do your instruction from: http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,20939.0.html

i get like 9 Partitions

Code: [Select]

sudo gdisk /dev/sdb
sdb   sdb1  sdb2  sdb3  sdb4  sdb5  sdb6  sdb7  sdb8  sdb9
i continue anyway with:

Code: [Select]

sudo gdisk /dev/sdb
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.4

Partition table scan:
  MBR: MBR only
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: not present


***************************************************************
Found invalid GPT and valid MBR; converting MBR to GPT format
in memory. THIS OPERATION IS POTENTIALLY DESTRUCTIVE! Exit by
typing 'q' if you don't want to convert your MBR partitions
to GPT format!
***************************************************************


Warning! Secondary partition table overlaps the last partition by
33 blocks!
You will need to delete this partition or resize it in another utility.



but that seems to be wrong in my case, cause all sdb* Partitions are mounted and in the next step you say:

formatting

tce-load -wil dosfstools
mkfs.vfat /dev/sdb1
mkfs.vfat /dev/sdb2
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb3
sudo rebuildfstab

[Rich]

Hi Rabie

... when i try to make the USB-Stick bootable with both legacy and UEFI, should i follow the instruction on an new attached USB-Stick or on the same boot Stick i use ? ...

The instructions are for a stick which is not mounted and the contents will be destroyed.

[Rabie]

Which part do you have trouble with ?

i don't get this part

# follow gdisk instruction to set up MBR hex code and bootable flags
07       # M$
n        # not bootable
EF       # ESP
y        # personally I prefer putting all the files together
83       # Linux filesystem
n        # if you pick the 3rd partition as the bootable partition, use extlinux to install the boot loader
x        # go back to expert menu

i was asked from gdisk to create entry for GTP:

Code: [Select]

Creating entry for GPT partition #1 (MBR partition #1)
Enter an MBR hex code (default 07):
Set the bootable flag? (Y/N): n

Creating entry for GPT partition #2 (MBR partition #2)
Enter an MBR hex code (default 83):
Set the bootable flag? (Y/N): n

GPT partition #3 does not exist or is too big; skipping.

[polikuo]

Hi Rabie

My tutorial destroys everything on an USB stick

Back in the days, windows only allow a single partition on an USB stick.

If windows finds more, it would read the first partition and pretend that the rest do not exist.

Therefore, I setup a FAT32 partition as the first for file sharing between the systems.

You don't need this if you're not using TC that way.

I put my EFI in the second partition when TC takes the third.

i get like 9 Partitions

Code: [Select]

sudo gdisk /dev/sdb
sdb   sdb1  sdb2  sdb3  sdb4  sdb5  sdb6  sdb7  sdb8  sdb9
i continue anyway with:

Code: [Select]

sudo gdisk /dev/sdb
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.4

Partition table scan:
  MBR: MBR only
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: not present


***************************************************************
Found invalid GPT and valid MBR; converting MBR to GPT format
in memory. THIS OPERATION IS POTENTIALLY DESTRUCTIVE! Exit by
typing 'q' if you don't want to convert your MBR partitions
to GPT format!
***************************************************************


Warning! Secondary partition table overlaps the last partition by
33 blocks!
You will need to delete this partition or resize it in another utility.



This means your disk/USB is not a GPT one.
Converting from MBR to GPT may cause data loss.
It's not a must, but most machine that use UEFI prefer GPT format.

Which part do you have trouble with ?

i don't get this part

Which part of my tutorial do you have trouble with ?

[Rabie]

Hi polikuo,
so i have done the following Part successfully

Code: [Select]

sudo gdisk /dev/sdb
# main menu
o        # create a new empty GUID partition table (GPT)
n        # add a new partition
# number, size, type = 0700
n        # add a new partition
# number, size, type = ef00
n        # add a new partition
# number, size, type = 8300
# now we'll create a hybrid MBR for legacy BIOS
x        # extra functionality (experts only)
# expert menu
r        # recovery and transformation options
h        # make hybrid MBR
1 2 3    # assign partitions to MBR
# Place EFI GPT (0xEE) partition first in MBR (good for GRUB)? (Y/N):
n        # we're using syslinux
# follow gdisk instruction to set up MBR hex code and bootable flags
07       # M$
n        # not bootable
EF       # ESP
y        # personally I prefer putting all the files together
83       # Linux filesystem
n        # if you pick the 3rd partition as the bootable partition, use extlinux to install the boot loader
x        # go back to expert menu
# expert menu
a        # set attributes
2        # your legacy bootable partition
2        # boot flag attribute code
w        # write table to disk and exit

i have trouble with the following:

formatting

tce-load -wil dosfstools
mkfs.vfat /dev/sdb1
mkfs.vfat /dev/sdb2
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb3
sudo rebuildfstab

in my case is the Device "sdd" but There is no sdd2 and sdd3

Code: [Select]

/dev/sdd*
/dev/sdd   /dev/sdd1


[Rich]

Hi Rabie
What does this return:

Code: [Select]

fdisk -l /dev/sdd