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I have Sony VAIO computer having Windows 8 64-bit installed (in UEFI mode) on it. I want to install Ubuntu alongside Windows 8.

Steps I followed:

  1. Disabled Fast-Startup

  2. Disabled Secure Boot

  3. Inserted Ubuntu Live DVD

  4. Reboot

RESULT:

Windows 8 loads without detecting the DVD

I checked this link: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI

But all the solutions it showed are after the DVD has been detected.

My problem is my computer is not detecting the DVD as long as the UEFI mode is enabled. It only detects the DVD in LEGACY mode. If I install Ubuntu in Legacy mode, it works but then Windows 8 doesn't load.

Please HELP!

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2 Answers 2

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A possible solution may be to install Ubuntu via USB. There is a guide in the official page: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/create-a-usb-stick-on-windows

The software you need is Universal USB Installer and a 1GB at least, Flash Drive. Then when you boot you have too choose your USB or change from bios the boot order settings. Also note that there is a button almost in every computer that at boot will popup a list of bootable devices.

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George Sofianos has presented a good suggestion. Three more:

Fiddle with the firmware

You can play with your firmware options. In particular, look for any that refer to BIOS, CSM, or legacy support, and disable them. There might also be a "boot mode" setting with options like "UEFI only" and "UEFI and legacy." If you see such an option, set it to "UEFI only." This should prevent the computer from booting the DVD in BIOS/CSM/legacy mode.

Use rEFInd

You could prepare a USB flash drive with my rEFInd boot manager (there's a download link for a USB flash drive image). Boot it with the Ubuntu CD/DVD in the drive and rEFInd should present an option to boot the Ubuntu disc. By default, this option will boot the Ubuntu disc in EFI mode.

Install in BIOS mode, then switch to EFI mode

You can go ahead with a BIOS-mode installation and then switch to EFI-mode booting by installing a suitable EFI-mode boot loader for Linux. My Web page on EFI boot loaders describes the options. Although Ubuntu uses GRUB 2 for this purpose, it's likely to be easier and safer to use something else, such as rEFInd or GRUB Legacy, since this won't disrupt the action of the BIOS version of GRUB 2, so you should still be able to switch modes by using the firmware's built-in boot manager or adjusting firmware options.

Note that some EFIs use obscure and undocumented details to determine the boot mode. Thus, you might need to experiment to get the system to switch from a BIOS-mode to an EFI-mode boot after installing your EFI-mode boot loader. Checking the firmware settings is the way to start with this. If you find that you're stuck in a BIOS-mode boot, post back with a link to the RESULTS.txt file generated by the Boot Info Script.

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