[ubuntu-uk] Windows 8 (a pox on it)

[Rowan Berkeley]

On 15/02/13 16:44, Alan Pope wrote:
> On 15/02/13 13:50, Rowan Berkeley wrote:
>> "Windows 7 won't solve the problem, because it won't give you access to
>> UEFI.
>
> What does that mean? UEFI is something which Windows 7, Windows 8,
> 64-bit Ubuntu, Fedora and probably other Linux distros support. It's
> baked into the machine just like the BIOS used to be.
>
>  > Windows 8 is not just software;
>
> That's exactly what Windows 8 is, software. UEFI is not part of Windows,
> if it were, what would it be doing on a 3 year old Apple MacBook Pro I
> have?
>
>> it is also the PROM chips that
>> contain the start-up sequence, which is UEFI. You are stuck with those
>> PROM chips permanently, so I think you will have to go for dual boot
>> rather than replacing Windows 8 with Ubuntu, otherwise you'll never be
>> able to get to the start-up settings, which are in UEFI and are only
>> accessible from inside Windows 8. That's the way they've designed it.
>>
>
> No. Windows 8 has a utility which makes it easy for you to get to the
> UEFI settings, but that doesn't mean you can't get to them via other means.
>
>> Therefore, you must:
>> (1) Reinstall Windows 8, and you shouldn't have to pay for this. There
>> should be a disk or stick or even an online package to reinstall Windows
>> 8, where you just type in your license key number.
>> (2) Learn how to access UEFI from inside Windows 8, following these
>> instructions:
>> http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-access-the-bios-on-a-windows-8-computer/
>>
>>
>
> Or just install Ubuntu 12.04.2 or 12.10 64-bit and don't install Windows
> at all as per:-
>
> https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI
>
> Noting specifically this section:-
>
> https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI#SecureBoot

Thanks for all that, Alan. So, concretely, let's take for instance the 
Compaq machine which I successfully converted from Windows 8 to Ubuntu 
12.10 using a USB stick. Given that F2 no longer works, and that the 
Windows 8 machinery for getting into UEFI us no longer there, how in 
fact would I get into UEFI on that machine if for some reason I needed 
to? The answer is, install Boot-Repair from repositories:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair