On Monday, September 18, 2017, Peter Humphrey <pe...@prh.myzen.co.uk> wrote: > > On Monday, 18 September 2017 05:17:34 BST R0b0t1 wrote: > > On Sun, Sep 17, 2017 at 9:12 AM, Peter Humphrey <pe...@prh.myzen.co.uk> > wrote: > > > On Thursday, 14 September 2017 19:51:37 BST R0b0t1 wrote: > > >> On Thu, Sep 14, 2017 at 3:20 AM, Peter Humphrey < pe...@prh.myzen.co.uk> > > > > > > wrote: > > >> > On Thursday, 14 September 2017 05:09:14 BST R0b0t1 wrote: > > >> >> The trickiest part is still the same - going from GRUB or, now, your > > >> >> EFI shell, to Window's bootloader. See here: > > >> >> https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GRUB#Chainloading_ Windows.2FLin > > >> >> ux_ > > >> >> ins talled_in_UEFI_mode. > > >> > > > >> > That advice, though helpful, is about Grub, which isn't installed on > > >> > this box. I did try at first to get it to work here, but failed, so I > > >> > removed it and went for bootctl. It's a fiddle to keep up to date > > >> > with > > >> > kernel upgrades, but at least it works. > > >> > > >> In that case it seems like systemd-boot will check for the Windows > > >> loader and add it to its menu automatically > > >> (https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/systemd-boot#Adding_ boot_entries) > > >> . > > >> As above, you may need to reinstall it if the Windows bootloader > > >> installs itself on top of systemd-boot. > > >> > > >> I originally thought you were just booting an EFI stub kernel, in > > >> which case you would have needed some kind of boot manager. > > > > > > I have three questions now: > > > > > > 1. Will Windows 10 install itself in the unpartitioned space? I've > > > attached a screen shot of gparted to show the current layout. > > > > Yes. It will split the free space into a number of partitions if you > > give the installer no further instruction besides selecting the > > unallocated area. > > That's what I was hoping to hear - thanks. > > > To force Windows to use one partition delete the ones it creates > > automatically. You will need to select "custom" or "advanced" in every > > place it is offered as an option. > > > > > 2. What will happen to the UEFI kernel entries in /dev/nvme0n1p1? > > > > When people say "entries" they are usually referring to settings in > > the nonvolatile memory used by a motherboard's EFI firmware. An entry > > associates with an ID a path, priority, and name which is used to > > start the corresponding EFI executable. > > I mean the things that "bootctl status" displays. I've already disabled the > unwanted ones in the UEFI BIOS's list of bootable kernels, but bootctl still > shows them and won't remove them. >
Having checked bootctl's documentation it should be changing EFI variables (it may manage kernels also, I am not entirely sure). Are you sure this isn't related to the bug Mick mentioned? If it is then I am unsure why efibootmgr works. Now it's fixed (by using something else) and I can't expect you to care, but I am left perplexed. > > The actual kernels on /dev/nvme0np1 will remain there because Windows > > won't touch that partition unless you tell it to. > > > > > 3. Those entries include some left over from experimenting with > > > other distros. How can I manage the entries and purge the ones I don't > > > need? "Bootctl remove" ignores them. > > > > If you are referring to the kernels left in your /boot then simply > > delete them. "Bootctl remove" and other EFI boot managers I have seen > > refuse to touch your disk. They operate on the EFI configuration > > memory. > > > > > Thanks everyone for your help so far. > > > > > > I don't want to install into a VM, because my main reason for installing > > > Win10 is to be able to run an occasional firmware update program, none > > > of > > > which, it seems, run on Linux. Of course, it should also help me get up > > > to speed with the M$ world. > > > > If you pass an entire hard disk to the VM you can then take it out and > > put it in another computer and boot it (or boot it in the same > > computer sans hypervisor). > > Maybe that's a use for a couple of spare SSDs I have here. > > > With Linux you can pass partitions in individually and use what the > > guest thinks is a raw character device as a disk, so that if you > > wanted to boot that installation from outside of the hypervisor you > > could. This might not be possible with Windows. > > > > If you install into a VM you can pass almost everything to the VM > > directly. I suppose the only thing that may not work extremely well > > would be motherboard firmware updates, but if you look QEMU has > > options to pass almost everything in a computer to a VM. Admittedly > > this isn't a very plug-and-play solution. > > > > Aside from firmware updates (realize though that almost everything - > > barring some low level interfaces like I2C - can be passed to a VM) I > > would invite you to use Windows only in a VM. I find it easier to get > > work done in this way while using Windows programs. Xfreerdp is a good > > way to interact with a Windows guest and can provide better desktop > > integration than QEMU or libvirtd. > > I use VirtualBox here, mostly because some BOINC projects require it. > Fair enough.
