Convert from EFI to BIOS boot mode












4














I have a Samsung Notebook NP900X4C with an LUKS encrypted installation on it. The system is booting in UEFI mode.



The problem is that the samsung-notebook kernel module is disabled in UEFI mode and due to that I am missing features like the keyboard backlight.



Is it possible to modify the current installation so it can boot in BIOS mode?



Is this correct that the basic steps would be converting the disk from GPT to MBR and installing grub from a live CD? Would this be possible with a LUKS partition?










share|improve this question
























  • @karel: are you trying to re-open this? (pressed skip in the queue for now...)
    – Fabby
    Dec 15 at 14:50






  • 2




    @Fabby Reopening this question seems like a good idea. There's so many unanswered questions about the Ubuntu installation USB won't boot at all, not even to a black screen, and instead the computer boots straight into Windows when trying to install Ubuntu. But Legacy boot will sometimes boot even if UEFI boot doesn't, and after installing Ubuntu grub must be converted from BIOS mode to UEFI mode. And sometimes it's also necessary to convert from UEFI mode to BIOS mode.
    – karel
    Dec 15 at 15:25








  • 1




    Re-open vote cast, Your comment upvoted so the next one in the queue sees it as well.
    – Fabby
    Dec 15 at 15:30










  • I reoepend it. I have no idea why it was closed. If you look at the answers you are clearly using ubuntu to modify the install.. Clearly on-topic
    – Seth
    Dec 15 at 18:38
















4














I have a Samsung Notebook NP900X4C with an LUKS encrypted installation on it. The system is booting in UEFI mode.



The problem is that the samsung-notebook kernel module is disabled in UEFI mode and due to that I am missing features like the keyboard backlight.



Is it possible to modify the current installation so it can boot in BIOS mode?



Is this correct that the basic steps would be converting the disk from GPT to MBR and installing grub from a live CD? Would this be possible with a LUKS partition?










share|improve this question
























  • @karel: are you trying to re-open this? (pressed skip in the queue for now...)
    – Fabby
    Dec 15 at 14:50






  • 2




    @Fabby Reopening this question seems like a good idea. There's so many unanswered questions about the Ubuntu installation USB won't boot at all, not even to a black screen, and instead the computer boots straight into Windows when trying to install Ubuntu. But Legacy boot will sometimes boot even if UEFI boot doesn't, and after installing Ubuntu grub must be converted from BIOS mode to UEFI mode. And sometimes it's also necessary to convert from UEFI mode to BIOS mode.
    – karel
    Dec 15 at 15:25








  • 1




    Re-open vote cast, Your comment upvoted so the next one in the queue sees it as well.
    – Fabby
    Dec 15 at 15:30










  • I reoepend it. I have no idea why it was closed. If you look at the answers you are clearly using ubuntu to modify the install.. Clearly on-topic
    – Seth
    Dec 15 at 18:38














4












4








4


1





I have a Samsung Notebook NP900X4C with an LUKS encrypted installation on it. The system is booting in UEFI mode.



The problem is that the samsung-notebook kernel module is disabled in UEFI mode and due to that I am missing features like the keyboard backlight.



Is it possible to modify the current installation so it can boot in BIOS mode?



Is this correct that the basic steps would be converting the disk from GPT to MBR and installing grub from a live CD? Would this be possible with a LUKS partition?










share|improve this question















I have a Samsung Notebook NP900X4C with an LUKS encrypted installation on it. The system is booting in UEFI mode.



The problem is that the samsung-notebook kernel module is disabled in UEFI mode and due to that I am missing features like the keyboard backlight.



Is it possible to modify the current installation so it can boot in BIOS mode?



Is this correct that the basic steps would be converting the disk from GPT to MBR and installing grub from a live CD? Would this be possible with a LUKS partition?







grub2 uefi mbr luks gpt






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited Dec 15 at 9:44









karel

56.5k11124143




56.5k11124143










asked Oct 17 '13 at 21:35









Lukas F.

51115




51115












  • @karel: are you trying to re-open this? (pressed skip in the queue for now...)
    – Fabby
    Dec 15 at 14:50






  • 2




    @Fabby Reopening this question seems like a good idea. There's so many unanswered questions about the Ubuntu installation USB won't boot at all, not even to a black screen, and instead the computer boots straight into Windows when trying to install Ubuntu. But Legacy boot will sometimes boot even if UEFI boot doesn't, and after installing Ubuntu grub must be converted from BIOS mode to UEFI mode. And sometimes it's also necessary to convert from UEFI mode to BIOS mode.
    – karel
    Dec 15 at 15:25








  • 1




    Re-open vote cast, Your comment upvoted so the next one in the queue sees it as well.
    – Fabby
    Dec 15 at 15:30










  • I reoepend it. I have no idea why it was closed. If you look at the answers you are clearly using ubuntu to modify the install.. Clearly on-topic
    – Seth
    Dec 15 at 18:38


















  • @karel: are you trying to re-open this? (pressed skip in the queue for now...)
    – Fabby
    Dec 15 at 14:50






  • 2




    @Fabby Reopening this question seems like a good idea. There's so many unanswered questions about the Ubuntu installation USB won't boot at all, not even to a black screen, and instead the computer boots straight into Windows when trying to install Ubuntu. But Legacy boot will sometimes boot even if UEFI boot doesn't, and after installing Ubuntu grub must be converted from BIOS mode to UEFI mode. And sometimes it's also necessary to convert from UEFI mode to BIOS mode.
    – karel
    Dec 15 at 15:25








  • 1




    Re-open vote cast, Your comment upvoted so the next one in the queue sees it as well.
    – Fabby
    Dec 15 at 15:30










  • I reoepend it. I have no idea why it was closed. If you look at the answers you are clearly using ubuntu to modify the install.. Clearly on-topic
    – Seth
    Dec 15 at 18:38
















@karel: are you trying to re-open this? (pressed skip in the queue for now...)
– Fabby
Dec 15 at 14:50




@karel: are you trying to re-open this? (pressed skip in the queue for now...)
– Fabby
Dec 15 at 14:50




2




2




@Fabby Reopening this question seems like a good idea. There's so many unanswered questions about the Ubuntu installation USB won't boot at all, not even to a black screen, and instead the computer boots straight into Windows when trying to install Ubuntu. But Legacy boot will sometimes boot even if UEFI boot doesn't, and after installing Ubuntu grub must be converted from BIOS mode to UEFI mode. And sometimes it's also necessary to convert from UEFI mode to BIOS mode.
– karel
Dec 15 at 15:25






@Fabby Reopening this question seems like a good idea. There's so many unanswered questions about the Ubuntu installation USB won't boot at all, not even to a black screen, and instead the computer boots straight into Windows when trying to install Ubuntu. But Legacy boot will sometimes boot even if UEFI boot doesn't, and after installing Ubuntu grub must be converted from BIOS mode to UEFI mode. And sometimes it's also necessary to convert from UEFI mode to BIOS mode.
– karel
Dec 15 at 15:25






1




1




Re-open vote cast, Your comment upvoted so the next one in the queue sees it as well.
– Fabby
Dec 15 at 15:30




Re-open vote cast, Your comment upvoted so the next one in the queue sees it as well.
– Fabby
Dec 15 at 15:30












I reoepend it. I have no idea why it was closed. If you look at the answers you are clearly using ubuntu to modify the install.. Clearly on-topic
– Seth
Dec 15 at 18:38




I reoepend it. I have no idea why it was closed. If you look at the answers you are clearly using ubuntu to modify the install.. Clearly on-topic
– Seth
Dec 15 at 18:38










2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes


















6














It's possible and it's easier than you think. Linux can boot fine from a GPT disk in BIOS mode, so there's no need to do the MBR-to-GPT conversion. With any luck, all you'll need to do is to install a BIOS-mode boot loader (GRUB, LILO, or SYSLINUX) to the disk. There are three caveats, though:




  • I've never used LUKS, so I'm not sure how this would affect things. I wouldn't expect any problems, but that might be my lack of experience talking.

  • Some EFIs have quirky requirements for booting in BIOS mode. Most commonly, some will only boot in BIOS mode if they see a boot/active flag on an MBR partition, and this is normally absent on GPT disks. You can work around this by using an old version of fdisk (one that lacks GPT support, which was added only very recently) to set the boot/active flag or by using a new version of parted to set a flag (whose name I don't recall offhand) on the whole disk. If you're lucky you won't need to deal with this issue. See this page for more on this problem.

  • If the computer is dual-booting with Windows, converting it to boot in BIOS mode is likely to be much trickier. In this case, it might be easier to install rEFInd as a boot manager. rEFInd can then boot Windows in EFI mode and boot the BIOS-mode GRUB (or whatever you end up using). To do so, though, you'll need to edit refind.conf: Uncomment the scanfor line and ensure that hdbios is among the items that are scanned.






share|improve this answer





























    3














    I figured out the exact way by myself. Rod Smith was right, it’s easier than I thought.



    Here the solution if anybody else needs it:



    Original Partition Layout:





    • /dev/sda1 (EFI Partition)


    • /dev/sda2 (Boot Partition)


    • /dev/sda3 (LVM2/LUKS encrypted Root & Swap)


    Converting to BIOS boot:




    1. I deleted the EFI Partition and created a new partition with the bios_grub flag instead of it.

    2. Using this tutorial I mounted the encrypted file system, chrooted into it and installed GRUB.

    3. Remove the EFI Partition from /etc/fstab.






    share|improve this answer



















    • 1




      The telesyn.net link is dead, but archive.org saves the day: web.archive.org/web/20131210060246/http://telesyn.net/…
      – springloaded
      Oct 8 '17 at 3:29










    • @springloaded Thanks for your notice. You could have edited the answer yourself (and got +2 reputation)!
      – Melebius
      Nov 28 at 13:42











    Your Answer








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    2 Answers
    2






    active

    oldest

    votes








    2 Answers
    2






    active

    oldest

    votes









    active

    oldest

    votes






    active

    oldest

    votes









    6














    It's possible and it's easier than you think. Linux can boot fine from a GPT disk in BIOS mode, so there's no need to do the MBR-to-GPT conversion. With any luck, all you'll need to do is to install a BIOS-mode boot loader (GRUB, LILO, or SYSLINUX) to the disk. There are three caveats, though:




    • I've never used LUKS, so I'm not sure how this would affect things. I wouldn't expect any problems, but that might be my lack of experience talking.

    • Some EFIs have quirky requirements for booting in BIOS mode. Most commonly, some will only boot in BIOS mode if they see a boot/active flag on an MBR partition, and this is normally absent on GPT disks. You can work around this by using an old version of fdisk (one that lacks GPT support, which was added only very recently) to set the boot/active flag or by using a new version of parted to set a flag (whose name I don't recall offhand) on the whole disk. If you're lucky you won't need to deal with this issue. See this page for more on this problem.

    • If the computer is dual-booting with Windows, converting it to boot in BIOS mode is likely to be much trickier. In this case, it might be easier to install rEFInd as a boot manager. rEFInd can then boot Windows in EFI mode and boot the BIOS-mode GRUB (or whatever you end up using). To do so, though, you'll need to edit refind.conf: Uncomment the scanfor line and ensure that hdbios is among the items that are scanned.






    share|improve this answer


























      6














      It's possible and it's easier than you think. Linux can boot fine from a GPT disk in BIOS mode, so there's no need to do the MBR-to-GPT conversion. With any luck, all you'll need to do is to install a BIOS-mode boot loader (GRUB, LILO, or SYSLINUX) to the disk. There are three caveats, though:




      • I've never used LUKS, so I'm not sure how this would affect things. I wouldn't expect any problems, but that might be my lack of experience talking.

      • Some EFIs have quirky requirements for booting in BIOS mode. Most commonly, some will only boot in BIOS mode if they see a boot/active flag on an MBR partition, and this is normally absent on GPT disks. You can work around this by using an old version of fdisk (one that lacks GPT support, which was added only very recently) to set the boot/active flag or by using a new version of parted to set a flag (whose name I don't recall offhand) on the whole disk. If you're lucky you won't need to deal with this issue. See this page for more on this problem.

      • If the computer is dual-booting with Windows, converting it to boot in BIOS mode is likely to be much trickier. In this case, it might be easier to install rEFInd as a boot manager. rEFInd can then boot Windows in EFI mode and boot the BIOS-mode GRUB (or whatever you end up using). To do so, though, you'll need to edit refind.conf: Uncomment the scanfor line and ensure that hdbios is among the items that are scanned.






      share|improve this answer
























        6












        6








        6






        It's possible and it's easier than you think. Linux can boot fine from a GPT disk in BIOS mode, so there's no need to do the MBR-to-GPT conversion. With any luck, all you'll need to do is to install a BIOS-mode boot loader (GRUB, LILO, or SYSLINUX) to the disk. There are three caveats, though:




        • I've never used LUKS, so I'm not sure how this would affect things. I wouldn't expect any problems, but that might be my lack of experience talking.

        • Some EFIs have quirky requirements for booting in BIOS mode. Most commonly, some will only boot in BIOS mode if they see a boot/active flag on an MBR partition, and this is normally absent on GPT disks. You can work around this by using an old version of fdisk (one that lacks GPT support, which was added only very recently) to set the boot/active flag or by using a new version of parted to set a flag (whose name I don't recall offhand) on the whole disk. If you're lucky you won't need to deal with this issue. See this page for more on this problem.

        • If the computer is dual-booting with Windows, converting it to boot in BIOS mode is likely to be much trickier. In this case, it might be easier to install rEFInd as a boot manager. rEFInd can then boot Windows in EFI mode and boot the BIOS-mode GRUB (or whatever you end up using). To do so, though, you'll need to edit refind.conf: Uncomment the scanfor line and ensure that hdbios is among the items that are scanned.






        share|improve this answer












        It's possible and it's easier than you think. Linux can boot fine from a GPT disk in BIOS mode, so there's no need to do the MBR-to-GPT conversion. With any luck, all you'll need to do is to install a BIOS-mode boot loader (GRUB, LILO, or SYSLINUX) to the disk. There are three caveats, though:




        • I've never used LUKS, so I'm not sure how this would affect things. I wouldn't expect any problems, but that might be my lack of experience talking.

        • Some EFIs have quirky requirements for booting in BIOS mode. Most commonly, some will only boot in BIOS mode if they see a boot/active flag on an MBR partition, and this is normally absent on GPT disks. You can work around this by using an old version of fdisk (one that lacks GPT support, which was added only very recently) to set the boot/active flag or by using a new version of parted to set a flag (whose name I don't recall offhand) on the whole disk. If you're lucky you won't need to deal with this issue. See this page for more on this problem.

        • If the computer is dual-booting with Windows, converting it to boot in BIOS mode is likely to be much trickier. In this case, it might be easier to install rEFInd as a boot manager. rEFInd can then boot Windows in EFI mode and boot the BIOS-mode GRUB (or whatever you end up using). To do so, though, you'll need to edit refind.conf: Uncomment the scanfor line and ensure that hdbios is among the items that are scanned.







        share|improve this answer












        share|improve this answer



        share|improve this answer










        answered Oct 17 '13 at 21:48









        Rod Smith

        35.1k43870




        35.1k43870

























            3














            I figured out the exact way by myself. Rod Smith was right, it’s easier than I thought.



            Here the solution if anybody else needs it:



            Original Partition Layout:





            • /dev/sda1 (EFI Partition)


            • /dev/sda2 (Boot Partition)


            • /dev/sda3 (LVM2/LUKS encrypted Root & Swap)


            Converting to BIOS boot:




            1. I deleted the EFI Partition and created a new partition with the bios_grub flag instead of it.

            2. Using this tutorial I mounted the encrypted file system, chrooted into it and installed GRUB.

            3. Remove the EFI Partition from /etc/fstab.






            share|improve this answer



















            • 1




              The telesyn.net link is dead, but archive.org saves the day: web.archive.org/web/20131210060246/http://telesyn.net/…
              – springloaded
              Oct 8 '17 at 3:29










            • @springloaded Thanks for your notice. You could have edited the answer yourself (and got +2 reputation)!
              – Melebius
              Nov 28 at 13:42
















            3














            I figured out the exact way by myself. Rod Smith was right, it’s easier than I thought.



            Here the solution if anybody else needs it:



            Original Partition Layout:





            • /dev/sda1 (EFI Partition)


            • /dev/sda2 (Boot Partition)


            • /dev/sda3 (LVM2/LUKS encrypted Root & Swap)


            Converting to BIOS boot:




            1. I deleted the EFI Partition and created a new partition with the bios_grub flag instead of it.

            2. Using this tutorial I mounted the encrypted file system, chrooted into it and installed GRUB.

            3. Remove the EFI Partition from /etc/fstab.






            share|improve this answer



















            • 1




              The telesyn.net link is dead, but archive.org saves the day: web.archive.org/web/20131210060246/http://telesyn.net/…
              – springloaded
              Oct 8 '17 at 3:29










            • @springloaded Thanks for your notice. You could have edited the answer yourself (and got +2 reputation)!
              – Melebius
              Nov 28 at 13:42














            3












            3








            3






            I figured out the exact way by myself. Rod Smith was right, it’s easier than I thought.



            Here the solution if anybody else needs it:



            Original Partition Layout:





            • /dev/sda1 (EFI Partition)


            • /dev/sda2 (Boot Partition)


            • /dev/sda3 (LVM2/LUKS encrypted Root & Swap)


            Converting to BIOS boot:




            1. I deleted the EFI Partition and created a new partition with the bios_grub flag instead of it.

            2. Using this tutorial I mounted the encrypted file system, chrooted into it and installed GRUB.

            3. Remove the EFI Partition from /etc/fstab.






            share|improve this answer














            I figured out the exact way by myself. Rod Smith was right, it’s easier than I thought.



            Here the solution if anybody else needs it:



            Original Partition Layout:





            • /dev/sda1 (EFI Partition)


            • /dev/sda2 (Boot Partition)


            • /dev/sda3 (LVM2/LUKS encrypted Root & Swap)


            Converting to BIOS boot:




            1. I deleted the EFI Partition and created a new partition with the bios_grub flag instead of it.

            2. Using this tutorial I mounted the encrypted file system, chrooted into it and installed GRUB.

            3. Remove the EFI Partition from /etc/fstab.







            share|improve this answer














            share|improve this answer



            share|improve this answer








            edited Nov 28 at 13:41









            Melebius

            4,37251838




            4,37251838










            answered Oct 26 '13 at 17:50









            Lukas F.

            51115




            51115








            • 1




              The telesyn.net link is dead, but archive.org saves the day: web.archive.org/web/20131210060246/http://telesyn.net/…
              – springloaded
              Oct 8 '17 at 3:29










            • @springloaded Thanks for your notice. You could have edited the answer yourself (and got +2 reputation)!
              – Melebius
              Nov 28 at 13:42














            • 1




              The telesyn.net link is dead, but archive.org saves the day: web.archive.org/web/20131210060246/http://telesyn.net/…
              – springloaded
              Oct 8 '17 at 3:29










            • @springloaded Thanks for your notice. You could have edited the answer yourself (and got +2 reputation)!
              – Melebius
              Nov 28 at 13:42








            1




            1




            The telesyn.net link is dead, but archive.org saves the day: web.archive.org/web/20131210060246/http://telesyn.net/…
            – springloaded
            Oct 8 '17 at 3:29




            The telesyn.net link is dead, but archive.org saves the day: web.archive.org/web/20131210060246/http://telesyn.net/…
            – springloaded
            Oct 8 '17 at 3:29












            @springloaded Thanks for your notice. You could have edited the answer yourself (and got +2 reputation)!
            – Melebius
            Nov 28 at 13:42




            @springloaded Thanks for your notice. You could have edited the answer yourself (and got +2 reputation)!
            – Melebius
            Nov 28 at 13:42


















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