Installing debian 7 besides windows 8

Question

I bought a VAIO laptop which Windows 8 preinstalled on it in UEFI mode. Now I want to install Debian 7 besides Windows 8 but when I entered to the Partition Setup of debian setup menu, there is a partition which named EFI partition system.

My question is do I have to create another partition for debian to boot in UEFI? or EFI partition system which belongs Windows8 is enough?

And if I have to create another EFI boot partition for Debian 7, What name should I choose for it? And do I have to delete EFI partition system?

Solution

Shrinking Windows 8 method

The simplest approach I've seen thus far when dual booting anything with Windows 8, has been to first use Disk Management to shrink the Windows 8 partition so that there is room on it for another installation.

Once you've shrunken it, you can use whichever distro you want to perform the installation using the space that was just freed up. Doing it this way gets you around having to monkey around with UEFI in any way.

Here's a guide titled: How to Dual Boot Windows 8 and Linux Mint on the Same PC, with the various steps in dealing with Disk Management down to the installation of Linux Mint.

Windows 8 1st, Linux 2nd

This method titled: How to dual-boot Windows 8 and Linux, is similar but if you don't want to shrink the partition, you can try this method instead. It opts to not use Grub to manage the dual boot, but chain load into Grub from Window's boot manager.

Resolving Boot Management & Grub Issues

Useful resources for getting either Window's Boot Manager to play nicely with Grub or vice versa:

• Installed Ubuntu My Windows8 Not Booting
• Windows 8 changes GRUB2 in every boot!

If you're determined to get Grub working as your primary boot manager you can see how to address that in this post:

• Windows 8 removes Grub as default boot manager

References

• How to dual-boot Fedora 18 and Windows 8 on 1 HDD, with GRUB in a PBR

Comments

[Sepahrad Salour]

I read them, But there is problem when I installed debian with boot partition it's boot properly and I can boot my windows properly too! But when I boot my Windows Grub2 doesn't show anymore! I mean after installing Debian with 3 partitions: 1. /boot with bootflag=off 2. /root 3. swap , My PC shows Grub2 and I can boot in both Debian and Windows without any problem but after booting windows, Grub2 doesn't show anymore!!? Can you please help me?

[slm]

Are you using Window's boot manager to boot into the OSes?

[slm]

Might help you out: Installed Ubuntu My Windows8 Not Booting or Windows 8 changes GRUB2 in every boot!

[Sepahrad Salour]

Windows 8 uses Windows Boot Manager, But I want GRUB2 always shows up and I select which OS boots.

[Sepahrad Salour]

Thanks slm. I'm reading them, but I have to create /boot with bootflag=on or off ? Thanks

[slm]

Windows requires bootflag, linux does not. The solution I was pushing you towards was to just use window's boot manager and not get hung up on having to use grub. It's good enough and easier to setup. You can get grub to work but it's much more involved with win8 now, it's a bit aggressive in wanting to be the boot manager.

[slm]

If you're determined to get grub you can see how to address that in this post: Windows 8 removes Grub as default boot manager

[slm]

Yes it should work fine with CentOS 6.