kaye n writes:
Hello Friends!Can someone please confirm to me once and for all if I'm correct with these assumptions regarding debian installation on hard drives:1. If the hdd has an MBR partition style, that hdd needs to have a FAT32 partition, flagged as esp and with mount point at /boot/efi. If this is correct, can I put it anywhere on the hdd or must it be on the left-most part of the drive (when looking at it in GParted) ? Also how big should the FAT32 partition be if, a) no Windows would be installed on the hdd, and b) Windows will be installed on the hdd making it a dual boot system.
The assumption is wrong.In case a FAT32 partition is needed for booting (see further below), it needs to be detected by your UEFI firmware. It seems quite possible that there exists firmware which has some special requirements for the partition being at the "beginning" of the disk. If that is the case, it is not Debian- specific though.
How big: I do not know, I think values between 100 MiB and 500 MiB are common. I am not using any systems booted by UEFI yet, nor have I done any dual-booting in recent years, so no experience to share on this from my side.
2. If the hdd has a GPT partition style, there is no need for a FAT32 partition (that is flagged as esp and mounted at /boot/efi), unless of course you would install Windows 10, making it a dual boot system, but even then, Debian would not use or need the FAT32 partition.
The assumption is wrong.
Please confirm my assumptions and answer some of my questions (in number one).
Here is my take on the requirements for FAT32 partitions in booting:A FAT32 partition for booting aka. ESP "EFI system partition" needs to be present on at least one of the attached drives if and only if you are booting in UEFI mode.
In this case, it is (in theory) unimportant whether the drives are using a MSDOS or GPT partition table. However, Windows demands the following equivalences:
* boot drive formatted GPT <=> boot using UEFI * boot drive formatted MSDOS <=> boot using BIOS/CSM "legacy"Hence, it is quite likely that a firmware is adapted to this situation and from that it follows, that in many cases, you will need the FAT32 partition if you are using GPT whereas you can do without if you are using MSDOS. Note that this is only a consequence of the "typically used boot method" and that is again only "typically" because its what the Windows world expects.
On the other hand, if you are booting in the BIOS/CSM "legacy" mode, then you do _not_ need the FAT32 ESP because it is meaningless. Instead, you can just install GRUB in the MBR (or whatever the GPT equivalent?) and it will problemlessly boot off an ext4 partition/RAID etc.
Just a short note on dual-booting (not from experience, but from reading):When dual-booting Windows and Linux it is recommended both are booting in the same "style" i.e. both BIOS or both UEFI. Reasons are: (1) It is difficult to convert OSes to a different boot style (although I did it for Linux in the past, and I know it is possible, albeit difficult for Windows), (2) If you are mixing the methods but using the same HDD for both OSes, you end up doing one of the uncommon combinations which are (a) GPT+BIOS and (b) MSDOS+UEFI -- AVOID THESE!. Previously undiscovered bugs are likely to occur using these combinations...
HTH Linux-Fan
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