How to format HD for UEFI boot - Centos 7.7

[MartinR]

If you think that you might ever upgrade the system to a new major version, it is worth having two root partitions: the real one and a spare which will eventually be used for the new (C8? C9?) root partition. It's getting more complex to do this, but I always tried to keep system stuff well clear of user stuff which as well as easing an upgrade allowed for roll back in the case of problems, and the ability to recover old configuration information.

[desertcat]

Sorry. There was a reply delay.
Do you know what the criteria are to get the efi format to appear the menu?

OK the first suggestion is, do you know any Linux junkies near you?? If you do I'd suggest you contact them and let them set it up. They will probably know what to do.

Onward!! Just to be *sure* this laptop is ONLY going to have CentOS on it, and NOT a duel boot system, Correct?

If the above is correct the first stop is to bring up BIOS. You are correct that is set in UEFI. Why?? Because in all probability the laptop came with cursed Windows on it, and Windows ONLY uses -- you guessed it -- UEFI, and not a Legacy BIOS. That said it does NOT mean that it can't be set to use a Legacy BIOS. Linux tends to prefer using Legacy BIOS, but it can be set to use UEFI. UEFI tends to be the DEFAULT BIOS probably because most hardware out there are ex-Windows boxes. Here is where it gets kind of goofy: The DEFAULT BIOS is UEFI, but the PREFERRED BIOS is Legacy. Depending on who made your BIOS, you may have have graphical representation of two sets of hardware: One set will usually say UEFI an it and the other is blank inferring it is LEGACY equipment. This goes to the BOOT ORDER. In the Old Days the BOOT Order was Floppy drives followed by the hard drive. Then it is Floppy Drives, followed by CD-ROMs, followed the Hard Drives. The type of hardware in the Boot Sequence has to match or you are going nowhere fast. Once you have all the hardware in the Boot sequence matching then when you bring up the INSTALLER and -- like the hardware -- it must match the type of hardware... or you are going nowhere.

This might sound very complex, but I assure it is not. That said if you screw up you can screw up the BIOS, though every BIOS has a DEFAULT settings which will take you back to the manufacturer's DEFAULT SETTINGS. This is why I asked if you have a Linux Junkie nearby.

Once you have the BIOS settings selected you need to stick the install media into the laptop be it a DVD or a USB stick. IF you have a USB stick it is critical that you copied the install .iso on to it using the dd command, if you used a Windows' copy there is a possibility that you will get all types of strange errors... if it boots at all.

If you can say "Check" to all of the above, the installer will come up. It will ask you for Language Support, Keyboard Support, Time Zone, and then it will ask you about Software to be installed. Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES CHOOSE A MINIMAL INSTALL. What you want to choose is DESKTOP + GUI. There are a lot of guys here who are strictly konsole type of people, and would never DREAM of using a GUI, but many of us usually use both quite comfortably -- we use a GUI for speed, and a terminal konsole for a lot of other things.

The next thing that comes up it the type of installation you want. This is where we now come -- maybe -- to the question you ask about formatting and UEFI booting. Formatting is done AUTOMATICALLY the second you choose the partitioning scheme. I think the DEFAULT is something like AUTOMATICALLY PARTITION WITH LVM. Pick this and the computer does the rest. On the other hand if you are a Dinosaur like me, you can choose a CUSTOM INSTALL where you name the types of partition, their size, their labels, etc., and then there is the in between option that selects a LVM install but allows you to MODIFY IT. In your case just simply accept the DEFAULT AUTOMATIC INSTALL.

I think the next thing you do is to select a Machine Name and the Domain it belongs to. This can be skipped unless this laptop is going to be a a LAN, and you need to know which machine you are on. Even if you are not on a LAN it is still COOL give your computer a name. I think the DEFAULT is some like localhost at something. Ex: cat.verizon.com. At this point you will be also asked about your network turn it to ON.

At this point when you hit enter the disk will AUTOMATICALLY REFORMAT THE DRIVE and start installing the software you selected. During the Install phase it will ask you to do two things: Ask you to select a ROOT PASSWORD; second to identify a USER's ACCOUNT (this would be YOU) and a USER's PASSWORD. After that go get a beer and kick back and relax. When it is done I think it says something like eject the media and REBOOT, then something might pop up that says something that do you accept the license (say Yes) and then it brings up the GUI you selected.

One thing you might want to first do before you do the actual install: Wipe the entire disk so that there are no residual partitions on the drive. Use something like gparted just in case there is something quirky by having a fresh disk the ONLY thing that will now be on it is whatever you chose to install.

Still the BEST option at this time is to find someone with some experience in Linux help you with the install, rather than go it alone.

Best fishes,
D'Cat

[chlowden007]

D

OK the first suggestion is, do you know any Linux junkies near you??

D'Cat, thank you so much for your thoughts and your advice. I will try again with your suggestions in mind.
To be honest, I don't have a Linux junky in my entourage but it looks like I'm going to have to make friends (not one of my strengths). I make films and many of my favourite apps work very well on centos. After 35 years of mac I have turned my back on a product that no longer fulfills my needs and Windows is just ... an awful mess. Centos is functional, simple and effecient, just what I need.

TrevorH
Thank you for all the advice. The Gui defaults to LVM but this time I will start with the standard default and see where it takes me.

MartinR
With Centos 8 already out here, your dual boot idea is very interesting. I am not hurry to repeat what I am currently going through.

This is a great forum. Thank you all for your patience with a total newby. Once I have got it working, I promise to share my the method that worked me. (In the meantime, I'll probably have a few more questions)
Thank you

[desertcat]

D

OK the first suggestion is, do you know any Linux junkies near you??

D'Cat, thank you so much for your thoughts and your advice. I will try again with your suggestions in mind.
To be honest, I don't have a Linux junky in my entourage but it looks like I'm going to have to make friends (not one of my strengths). I make films and many of my favourite apps work very well on centos. After 35 years of mac I have turned my back on a product that no longer fulfills my needs and Windows is just ... an awful mess. Centos is functional, simple and effecient, just what I need.

[snip]

If there is a university of any size that has a sizable computer center, check there. Frequently there is a local Linux Users Group (LUG) and at least once per year, but usually several times a year they sponsor an "Install fest". There might be a theme like installing Linux on the oldest piece of junk found laying around, etc. If said university has a Super Computer there is a good chance it is running RHEL or CentOS ; that or Suse. Since you have a laptop take it with you. You might be asked a few questions such as do you have a preference of GUI. For Red Hat and its many spin offs such as Fedora, and CentOS, the DEFAULT GUI is GNOME. Me?!? I don't like GNOME, because I cut my teeth on KDE, but after at least 15 years of supporting both GNOME and KDE -- the big two -- Red Hat is no longer going to support KDE, and any installation will be via repo. You can still install KDE through to end of life of CentOS 7 from the installer. Indeed during the install phase of CentOS 7 you are given the option to install KDE. If asked say you would like to have both GNOME and KDE installed, this will allow you to try each GUI to see which one "speaks" to you. There are a ton of Desktop Environments (DE) out there besides GNOME and KDE. Some of the others include Xfce, Cinnamon, Mate, and a few more I can't remember right now.

If you try to do the install and you are at the point where you want to bang your head on the wall, STOP!!! You might hurt the wall!! Grab your laptop and head to the University and ask for help -- you already took the first step by posting here!! And you have already made friends here. In your case what you need is HANDS ON HELP which is kind of hard on a Forum Group (Duh ). Over time you will, I assure you, develop your own personal install style. Not only that, you will understand the tradeoffs you will have to make. Me? I do all CUSTOM Installs; my buddy chooses LVM but with options; still others an Automatic Install. Some might want to do a UEFI BIOS (especially if they plan to do a dual boot with the other OS being Windows) while others will swear up and down by Legacy BIOS. There is NO "Right" way or "WRONG" way to do an install. Sometimes on some real piece of junk you will be restricted to UEFI, and in OLD junk the CPU might limit you to ONLY a 32 bit OS (CentOS 7 is a 64 Bit OS), so you have to play the cards you are dealt. Sometimes you simply have to become a "vacuous experimenter", and simply "hack" to solve the problem. I once spent two weeks trying to solve a problem, but once you do, you experience the "Great Ah Ha!!" moment. Post your results of your experiments -- or ask ask a well formed question -- Chances are if someone does not have the whole answer to your question they might have a piece of information which might solve your problem, a problem that others may have already faced themselves.

Hope this helps,

Best fishes,
D'Cat

[chlowden007]

D'cat
Thank you for your encouraging words. What you wrote should probably be an opening advice for neophytes like myself.
There is no magic bullet

Following all the advice, I managed to boot on the machine.
I attach screen grabs of how I did it.

1. DELL BIOS check: Secure Boot off, UEFI ON with Legacy option ON.
2. Install CENTOS off a USB key using dd command.
3. Disk Format menu

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4. I set the boot device by clicking on the tiny link at the bottom of the screen.

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Selected all the drives. The OS gave me no choice.

[TrevorH]

Are you intending to replace everything on this machine with CentOS? Because if so, you can delete the stuff that's using all that space on your existing disks. You should also check your BIOS booting order and make sure that it is set to boot from the drive that you want to use to contain your CentOS system. If you do that then I suspect it will allow you to only select the single disk in the installer that you want to use.

[chlowden007]

4. In the "configure partition " window I erased all the old partitions using the - button, bottom left.
With an empty partition window, I could access automatic centos set up.
I SET THE PARTITION TYPE FROM THE DEFAULT LVM TO STANDARD PARTITION
The automatic set up generated the key partitions as you can see below ... with the /boot/efi. HOORAH, THE LINUX GODS ARE WITH ME.
Why the automatic set up returned what you, I don't know. My only thought is that I had never tried a STANDARD PARTITION as the initial config up to now.
Problem was that the STANDARD PARTITION, did not see the NMVE SSD. I changed the DATA Partition from STANDARD to LVM and , second miracle, the system grouped all the missing disk space into the DATA partition.
I reduced the size to have a little future proofing.
Below are screen grabs of each partition setup, giving an idea of the full setup.

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[chlowden007]

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Erasing the disk is the obligatory last hurdle.

Install and reboot ...

AND HOORAH, THE MACHINE BOOTED IN CENTOS.

For the moment, I am not in any rush to repeat the method to confirm if it is bullet proof or just luck.
It someone tries it, please can confirm if it works ... or not.

I will find some linux masters anyway as I am sure that the adventures have not finished.
Thank you to you all for your advice.

[chlowden007]

Trevor
You are absolutely right about the BIOS set up. In my adventures, the UEFI disk order BIOS changed many times. Pictured below is the set up that currently works. The BIOS only sees a Centos partition. I did not set this. In previous failed attempts, I could see the physical SSDs in the boot order.

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[chlowden007]

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