Ubuntu – Ubuntu 12.04 and 13.04 installs fail if Secure Boot (UEFI) is enabled on Toshiba Tecra R950

13.04secure-bootsystem-installationtoshibauefi

Just bought a Toshiba Tecra R950 laptop, which comes with Secure Boot enabled by default, and Win8 preinstalled.

I wrote an Ubuntu 12.04 amd64 iso on an USB using Linux Live Usb Creator – LiLi (I use this on all Ubuntu installs), installed the OS alongside Windows8-64 and the system continued to boot in Windows 8 without any boot prompt.

I wiped Win8 (actually dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda) and reinstalled, and the bootloader went for PXE boot (didn't recognize the grubx64.efi file in the EFI partition).

I tried the same with Ubuntu 12.10 and 13.04 with no success. I tried reinstalling grub-uefi-amd64-signed, running grub-install –uefi-secure-boot, copying grubx64.efi to /EFI/Ubuntu/ and adding the bootloader entry using efibootmgr, with no success. The bootloader just loads Windows (or PXE if no Windows is installed).

I tried changing the BootOrder via efibootmgr to make the Ubuntu entry the only option, with no success. Also tried setting the entry name to "Windows Boot Manager", didn't have any effect.

A trip to the BIOS Setup didn't help much. I can disable SecureBoot but I want to keep Windows8 setup in UEFI mode, and apparently I can't have Ubuntu installed alongside it. Also I don't see any section in the BIOS for adding additional UEFI bootloader keys.

Has anyone had any success booting Linux with Secure Boot enabled on this device ? Or on a similar Toshiba (Tecra) model ?

Best Answer

I've experienced dual-booting with dual-boot and UEFI. Here's what I did:

Disable Secure Boot from BIOS (Keep it disabled, as it prevents booting once installed)
Install Ubuntu normally

Open up a Terminal from the live CD and run:

sudo apt-get install boot-repair
sudo boot-repair

Choose the recommended option and follow the instructions it gives you
Reboot
Your computer should boot straight into GRUB, with Ubuntu as the main option

Add a custom entry to GRUB bootmenu

Append the code below to /etc/grub.d/40_custom.

menuentry "Windows 8" {
    insmod part_gpt
    insmod chain
    set root='(hd0,gpt1)'
    chainloader /EFI/microsoft/BOOT/bootmgfw.efi
}

You can use Ctrl+Alt+T to open a terminal and run sudo nano /etc/grub.d/40_custom, then copy and paste the code. Finally then press Ctrl+O to save and Ctrl+X to leave.

Heads up: hd0,gpt1 here is the ID of my EFI System Partition (ESP). If your ESP is not the first partition on your first harddrive during boot, then yours is different! E.g. hd1,gpt2 for the second partition on the second drive.

Replace part_gpt with part_msdos if the drive uses MBR and legacy partitioning and also change hd0,gpt1 to hd0,msdos1 respectively.

Apply changes to GRUB

Simply run the following command, which should generate a new GRUB configuration, including the new custom entry:

sudo update-grub

Now reboot, you should be able to boot Windows 8 now. If not, and Windows complains about corrupted BCD configuration, then continue on superuser: How can I repair the Windows 8 EFI Bootloader?

Warning: On some occasions, if you boot Windows 8, GRUB will be replaced by Windows Boot Manager as default boot manager.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – How to understand Ubuntu UEFI Secure Boot install

Ubuntu – Dual-boot Ubuntu 12.10 on UEFI along Windows 8 (GRUB – error: can’t find command drivemap)

Add a custom entry to GRUB bootmenu

Apply changes to GRUB

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