Booting Debian jessie 64b with UEFI from USB

[Odrec]

Hello, I'm new to the forum but kind of desperate because I've been struggling with this issue for sometime now. Before it was so easy to do a dual boot machine but with this UEFI thing it's completely frustrating. I'm thinking about giving up already.

I have this new computer (MSI Ge70 2PE Apache Pro) that came with Windows 8 and UEFI. I freed space to make a partition to install Debian testing 64bits on the same HD where Windows is. I had no problem making the partition but after that I tried making a bootable usb to install Debian using the dd command and it didn't work. So I tried with an install dvd and even when I changed the boot order in the bios it didn't work.

After reading some more I realized that there could be a problem trying to boot a normal installation dvd with UEFi so I disabled Secure Boot and then switched the boot mode on my Bios to UEFI with CSM. Again it didn't work and it booted directly into Windows. So I switched the boot mode to Legacy. This time Windows didn't boot directly but I get a "Reboot and Select proper Boot device" message on a black screen.

I now realize that I need to install a UEFI "version" of Debian along the UEFI version of Windows 8. I guess that's why it didn't work with the Legacy boot mode. Now someone pointed me to these intructions but they are very confusing to me.

http://tanguy.ortolo.eu/blog/article51/debian-efi

Specially this part:

The installer does not provide a convenient way to install an UEFI boot loader, so you are going to install a regular BIOS boot loader at first, and switch to UEFI later.

Use the expert mode and format your hard drive with a GUID Partition Table (GPT). Create a small partition (1 MiB would be far enough), type it as a BIOS Boot Partition (this is the untitled flag above the “bootable” one in Partman), do not format it and do not mount it: this will be needed for BIOS booting. Create another small partition (same kind of size), type it as an EFI System Partition (this is the“bootable” flag), format it as FAT and mount it on /boot/efi: this will be needed for UEFI booting.

Can someone explain how to do this on a usb on Linux?

No matter what I do I can't get the dvd or usb to boot to install Debian. Any ideas what should I do?

[Head_on_a_Stick]

That guide you have linked is utter nonsense -- do not use it.
For EFI booting you need an EFI System Partition (already created & used by Windows -- FAT formatted).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EFI_System_partition
Don't botther installing to a USB stick & using dd.
Instead, boot up the installer use the "Advanced" mode, & make sure the EFI system partition (it will be the only FAT formatted partition) is marked as the "EFI Boot Partition".
The installer needs to be booted up in EFI mode (not CSM) for it to install an EFI bootable system.

Excellent guide to UEFI here;
https://www.happyassassin.net/2014/01/2 ... work-then/

[Odrec]

Ok, thanks for the quick reply. A couple of questions, sorry if they are obvious/dumb/redundant. How can I boot up the Debian installer if I can't boot from a usb or dvd? And second, should I create an EFI System Partition on the usb before it can boot up?

[Head_on_a_Stick]

I'm terribly sorry Oldrec I didn't read your post thoroughly enough...
I now understand why you want to use a USB stick.
What was the command you used to burn the .iso to the USB stick?
I use this:

Code: Select all

# dd if=/full/path/to/.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=4096; sync

Presuming the stick is /dev/sdb (check by plugging the stick & running `dmesg|tail`)
I have had experience with "bad" USB sticks before.
The 7.6 installer should boot up just fine in EFI-mode (leave CSM disabled).
Could you try burning the .iso to a DVD instead?
Your Windows installation will have already created an EFI system partition -- instruct the installer to use that one (it will be the only FAT formatted partition).

[Odrec]

Don't worry! Thanks for the help

Will any Debian iso work? The one I downloaded is called debian-testing-ia64-DVD-1.iso but maybe I have to download another one??

I burned that iso on the usb with the command you wrote and it didn't work. I also burned that iso to a DVD and it didn't work either

[kmathern]

Don't worry! Thanks for the help

Will any Debian iso work? The one I downloaded is called debian-testing-ia64-DVD-1.iso but maybe I have to download another one??

You need to download another one, the amd64 or i386 iso. The ia-64 iso is used with a Intel Itanium processor.

https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/ ... 01.html.en
Caution

The IA-64 architecture only supports Intel Itanium processors and not the much more common 64-bit processors from the Intel 64 family (including e.g. the Pentium D and the Core2 Duo). Those systems are supported by the amd64 architecture or, if you prefer a 32-bit userland, the i386 architecture.

[Odrec]

Duh... silly me. I'm going to dl the amd64 iso to see if that works. Thanks kmathern.

Well that solved the problem!