[tutorial] VAIO EFI dual+ boot tutorial

This is a tutorial on how to dual boot Windows + Linux + *any* EFI capable os on the 2012 Sony VAIO line (and possible any other similarly restricted laptops).

this tutorial is needed because on the Sony VAIO S and probably many other laptops the UEFI Firmware is hard-coded to look for windows bootloaders and ignore all others.
this will NOT disable secure-boot on laptops on which it is enabled

This tutorial is based on FEDORA with grub2 and has not been tested on any other distributions or bootloader !!
( I will update when I get the chance to play with Ubuntu )
As per usual I am not responsible for any damage done to your laptop or any loss of personal information.
REQUIERS

a usb stick with at least 100mb (I know that's virtually nothing now a days)

windows must already be running on UEFI

a somewhat descent knowledge of linux

comfortable using the terminal

Step 1: make a grub usb stick
Format the usb stick to fat 32
Copy the contents of ftp://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/fedora/linux/releases/test/18-Alpha/Fedora/x86_64/os/EFI or any other fedora mirror
to /EFI on your usb stick by running this on the root of your usb stick
** we MUST use fedora 18 because the bootloader shipped with <17 is grub legacy and it will complicate the process **
Code:
wget -r -nH --cut-dirs=8 ftp://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/fedora/linux/releases/test/18-Alpha/Fedora/x86_64/os/EFI/
/test/18-Alpha/ will eventually change to /test/18-Beta/ then just /18/

Now uninstall all grub related components
If you are asked to uninstall grubby DO NOT DO IT, it is required by the kernel and will remove the kernel if you try to do so.
Code:
sudo yum remove grub{,2}{.*,-*}
Now re-install grub2-tools
Code:
sudo yum install grub2-tools
Update the conf file on the usb stick
Code:
sudo grub2-mkconfig -o /YOUR_USB_MOUNT_POINT/EFI/BOOT/grub.cfg
At this point you should be able to reboot and use grub off the usb stick to boot into linux, if this dosn't work ask for help here.
Step 2: backup windows boot loaders
Go to /boot/efi/EFI

Rename the Microsoft folder to Microsoft .bak
and the boot folder to bak_boot (if the folder name starts with boot it is likely to cause problems)

Clear the efi nvram with
Code:
 sudo  efibootmgr -O
Now reboot with the usb stick unplugged, you should see "No Operating System Found"
if windows starts you did not rename everything you needed to and you need to do this step again
Step 3: Install Grub
Plug in the usb stick and use it to boot into Linux
Delete any old grub config files
Code:
sudo rm -rf /boot/grub*
Install grub2-efi
Code:
sudo yum install grub2-efi
Rename /boot/efi/EFI/fedora to /boot/efi/EFI/boot
Code:
sudo mv /boot/efi/EFI/fedora /boot/efi/EFI/boot
Since this isn't grub's default location we can tell the os where it is by
Code:
sudo ln -s /boot/efi/EFI/boot/grub.cfg /etc/grub2-efi.cfg
Update the cfg file
Code:
sudo grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/efi/EFI/boot/grub.cfg
At this point you should be able to boot into linux from grub without the usb stick.
Step 4: Re-add Windows
In /boot/efi/EFI
rename Microsoft.bak/ back to Microsoft/
rename Microsoft/Boot/bootmfg.efi to Microsoft/Boot/bootmrg.efi.bak
now move ./Microsoft/Boot/bootmrgfw.efi to ./Win7.efi
Code:
sudo mv /boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgrfw.efi /boot/efi/EFI/Win7.efi 
Chainload windows from grub
add a menu entry consisting of
Code:
menuentry "Microsoft Windows 7" {
    insmod part_gpt
    insmod fat
    insmod search_fs_uuid
    insmod chain
    search --fs-uuid --no-floppy --set=root YOUR_OUTPUT_HERE
    chainloader /efi/Win7.efi
}
where YOUR_OUTPUT_HERE is the output of running the command
Code:
echo `grub2-probe --target=hints_string /boot/efi/EFI/Win7.efi` `grub2-probe --target=fs_uuid /boot/efi/EFI/Win7.efi`
which sould be something like
Code:
--hint-bios=hd0,gpt1 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt1 EAE5-4F3B
Update the cfg file again
Code:
sudo grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/efi/EFI/boot/grub.cfg
Step 5: Test

Reboot your computer to ensure everything worked
If it did jump with joy and thank me

Setp 6: Troubleshoot
If it didn't work try to find what you did wrong (READ every single line of the post and comments),
then use google,
if all else fails boot with the usb stick and post the output of
Code:
sudo find /boot/efi/
Code:
sudo grub2-mkconfig
Code:
echo `grub2-probe --target=hints_string /boot/efi/EFI/Win7.efi` `grub2-probe --target=fs_uuid /boot/efi/EFI/Win7.efi`

gabcas Newbie

rou Newbie