[SOLVED] Can you install Fedora Grub UEFI over legacy?

Chortle Buffer · 09-21-2019, 11:08 AM

I was trying to revive my Fedora 30 installation using the live disk and chrooting to install grub
This is quite involved. Finally I got grub to install.without errors on /sda with the EFI files in /boot/EFI.

No luck. I am told there is no operating system.

Should this have worked? I am just asking to figure out whether I have a valid boot there somewhere.

I got into this mess installing Fedora 30 over my Fedora 25 which dual booted with windows 8.1 in legacy mode (what I just tried was all done in UEFI mode.)

I have a HP laptop. Back when I initially got the dual boot going via legacy mode was the way to do it. Somehow I got windows to boot again, that time, from a Windows live disk and bootrec etc.

colorpurple21859 · 09-21-2019, 11:12 AM

Did you check out my last post on your other thread

Chortle Buffer · 09-21-2019, 01:00 PM

Posted a reply over there. I am tired now, as it is late. I will have another go in the morning.

business_kid · 09-21-2019, 02:26 PM

FWIW On my Samsung NP350V5C, if I have sda formatted GPT, the BIOS defaults to super-secure UEFI, despite what I tell it. Only way to get legacy boot is to format MBR. Fancy me trying to work that out in 2013, when all this was new!

colorpurple21859 · 09-21-2019, 03:11 PM

What has come out of the ops other thread, had a duel boot of windows 8 and fedora 25 in efi mode on a gpt drive. Did a reinstall with fedora30 in legacy mode, and windows quit booting. Fedora 30 would only boot in legacy mode. According to the op

Quote:

Boot device not found" when I disable legacy.

During the process of trying to help the op out, I was able to figure out what was happening when fedora 30 is installed in legacy mode on an uefi system gpt disk. The fedora 30 installer sets the active flag of the protective partition on the gpt.

This is what you get if you run gdisk on a gpt disk after installing fedora 30 in legacy mode

Code:

sudo gdisk /dev/sda
Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.

Command (? for help): v

Warning: The 0xEE protective partition in the MBR is marked as active. 
This is technically a violation of the GPT specification, and can cause some EFIs to ignore the disk, but it is required to boot from a GPT disk on some BIOS-based computers.
 You can clear this flag by creating a fresh protective MBR using
the 'n' option on the experts' menu.

I had something similar happen to me a while back after installing fedora in legacy mode on a hp uefi gpt drive system and started this thread about it:
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...de-4175657780/

Chortle Buffer · 09-22-2019, 06:55 AM

Quote:

sudo gdisk /dev/sda
Command (? for help): v
Command (? for help):x
Expert command (? for help):n
Expert command (? for help):w

Windows booted after following your instructions. Now I'm trying to revive Fedora. I am staying in UEFI mode (legacy off).