install debian to windows 10 machine

[debutano]

I have a fix for the problem but with a catch.

Install Debian on ACER Swift3
Relevant Machine Info
CPU i7-8550, UEFI boot, GPT partitioned, Bios Version 1.03, pre-installed with Windows 10

Steps:
Create a Rescue Disk of the Windows 10.

Under Windows, defragment the drive, use Disk Manager to shrink the c:\ partition to make room for Debian

Download 64-bit PC netinst iso from debian.org/distrib
This is a hybrid installation which can be used for both 32-bit and 64-bit machines.
NB: Do not try win32-loader. It will not work with 64-bit machine with UEFI boot and GPT.

Run Rufus. Choose ‘GPT partition scheme for UEFI’. The filesystem type will default to FAT32. UEFI cannot boot from NTFS.

Reboot while pressing F2
In the Boot Menu,
Enable ‘Boot with F12’
Disable ‘Secure Boot’

Press F10 to ‘Save and Exit’.

Reboot while pressing F12.

In the menu, select to boot Debian from the thumb drive

Installation of Debian will begin.

Skip the two steps to Detect Network Card and Set up Network. I will explain later.

Continue with the rest of the installation.

After finish installing, reboot while pressing F2.
Enable 'Secure Boot'
Select 'Give permission to UEFI to run ..."
Select HDD0
Select EFI
Select Debian
Select grubx64.efi
Name it DebianStreetch
F10 to Save and Exit

Reboot while pressing F2.
Set Secure Boot Disabled.
F10 to Save and Exit

Reboot while pressing F12.
Screen will appear with various boot sources.
Select DebianSearch.
You will be on your way to Debian GNU/Linux in commandline mode.


Why I skip the two networking step.
There was an error msg about non-free firmware not found. This is due to the small number of firmware available in the netinstall image. If a Live CD is used, this will not occur.

Any suggestion to deal with this beside a big download for a Live CD?

[sunrat]

Why I skip the two networking step.
There was an error msg about non-free firmware not found. This is due to the small number of firmware available in the netinstall image. If a Live CD is used, this will not occur.

Any suggestion to deal with this beside a big download for a Live CD?

Did you use the "unofficial" image which includes non-free packages? This supports a lot of hardware although some needs additional work after install and occasional bits are not supported by any Linux at all.
https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unof ... 0+nonfree/

[debutano]

Thanks. That should work. I have already sorted it out when I read your post. I have avoided big download as follows.

I get hold of a bootable backup of a Stretch system. With the non-free firmware installed, in Win 10 I download connman and all its dependencies, save it on the USB stick, boot up Stretch, now still available in command line mode only, use dpkg to install connman. With connman, I have internet. I use apt to install rsync and then use it to restore Stretch on the new machine.
Have to be careful to exclude directories and files like /boot/ and grub.cfg.
I now have a full Stretch dual booting with Win 10.

[debutano]

Putting everything together.

Install Debian on ACER Swift3
Relevant Machine Info
CPU i7-8550, UEFI boot, GPT partitioned, Bios Version 1.03, pre-installed with Windows 10

Steps: 
Using Win 10
1. Create a Rescue Disk of the Windows 10, in case things get screwed up.

2. Defragment the drive.
Use Disk Manager to shrink the c:\ partition to make room for Debian

3. Download ‘64-bit PC netinst iso’ from debian.org/distrib.
This is a hybrid installation which can be used for both 32-bit and 64-bit machines.
NB: Do not try win32-loader. It will not work with 64-bit machine with UEFI boot and GPT.

4. Run Rufus. Choose ‘GPT partition scheme’. The filesystem type will default to FAT32. UEFI cannot boot from NTFS. Leave other entries alone.

5.
Reboot while pressing F2
In the Boot Menu,
Enable ‘Boot with F12’
Disable ‘Secure Boot’
Press F10 to ‘Save and Exit’.

6.
Reboot while pressing F12.
In the Boot Menu, select to boot Debian from the thumb drive.
Installation of Debian will begin.

In the installation step ‘Detect Network Card’, if you encounter error about missing non-free firmware, skip it and the next step to Set up Network.

Continue with the rest of the installation.

7.
After finish installing Debian, reboot while pressing F2.
Enable 'Secure Boot'
Select 'Give permission to UEFI to run ..."
Select HDD0
Select EFI
Select Debian
Select grubx64.efi
Name it DebianStretch
Press F10 to Save and Exit

8.
Reboot while pressing F2.
Set Secure Boot Disabled.
Press F10 to Save and Exit

9.
Reboot while pressing F12.
Screen will appear with selections to boot from Windows 10, DebianStretch or the Debian Installation on the USB stick.
Select DebianStretch.
You will be on your way to Debian GNU/Linux in commandline mode.


9. To get a full Debian

a) Reboot to Win 10.
Insert the Debian installation USB stick.
From Debian site, download the non-free firmware for your wlan chipset to the USB stick. It will be a .deb file.
Reboot to DebianStretch.
In commandline mode, install non-free firmware .deb with ‘dpkg -i’ command.
Reboot to Debian Installation USB stick to start installation again. Now your Network Card will be recognised and you can carry out a full installation via the Internet.

b) If you have a backup on hand.
After the internet link is set up, install rsync.
Use it to restore the backed up system taking care to exclude critical directories and files like /boot/ and grub.cfg.
Reboot with F12. Select DebianStretch. You will be up with a full Stretch system.

Now, what you have is Debian Stretch dual-booting with Windows 10 from the same disk.

[debutano]

For improvement:

How about a win64-loader which can handle both 32- and 64-bit processor. It will avoid using another media.

Booting Debian with Secure Boot enabled. Right now, it can only boot with Secure Boot disabled. This exposes the system to malicious hacking of the BIOS.

I have not tried it but can the installation be done through 3G or 4G USB modem? The installation seems to be looking only for wlan.

[cat_astro]

question:
i have an acer swift 3 SF314-52G, a similar machine. I installed debian, but by using unetbootin to create a bootable usb (i found this tutorial very late) and disabling secure boot.
after install debian I have two problems:
1. i do not have dual boot, system starts windows automatically, the only way to enter to debian is in window's advanced startup option, select debian, then the grub is loaded and i can enter to debian.
2. After debian install, i can not enter to Bios using F2 or any other combination (did you have the same problem?). i can flash the bios since in acer's web page there is an actualization, but i want to avoid this option. why?, because i know that probably is the last option to restore default Bios settings, and if in the future i can not get a Bios actualization I will not be able to recover the Bios access and i hope to learn how to install debian in a correct way in this machine.
thanks

[Head_on_a_Stick]

by using unetbootin

That tool is obsolete and broken, using it with Debian images can cause strange problems, search bugs.debian.org for the thread.

Use `cp` or `dd` or `cat` instead.

system starts windows automatically, the only way to enter to debian is in window's advanced startup option, select debian, then the grub is loaded and i can enter to debian

You can tell Windows to load GRUB by default instead by running this command from an Administrator prompt:

Code: Select all

bcdedit /set "{bootmgr}" path "EFI/debian/grubx64.efi"

[stevepusser]

I am trying to install debian on a Z8 windows 10 machine. I have downloaded a ,iso which has an autorun. The machine appears not to respond to the autorun, so I started setup, the first command on the autorun. It installed dual boot but then stopped with a message that it cannot find g2ldr.mbr, although that is on the optical disk. I do not seem to be able to get past that point. I have tried Ubuntu also, which does not start. I have tried forcing the machine to use the optical disc by disabling other boot options, without success. What do I try next?

Have you disabled Secure Boot yet?