This document describes how to deploy dual boot environment on SONY VAIO Pro 13 with UEFI boot.

1. [SONY VAIO Pro 13] Windows 8 + Ubuntu 13.10 with UEFI
2013/10/22 (Tue)
Tinydile Caspian
Tinydile@gmail.com
This document describes how to deploy dual boot environment on
SONY VAIO Pro 13 with UEFI boot.
Target Environment
Hardware: SONY VAIO Pro 13 with SSD 512GB
Operating System: Windows 8 and Ubuntu 13.10
Preparation
[A] Change BIOS settings
Press ASSIST button to powering on
Enter BIOS Setting menu
Security
Secure Boot: Disabled
Boot
Boot Mode: UEFI
External Device Boot: Enabled
Boot Priority: External Device -> Internal Hard Disk Drive
[B] Create Recovery DVD/Disk
This step is strongly recommended. If you take a mistake during following steps, you
cannot recover your VAIO unless using Recovery DVD/Disk (internal recovery partition
may not be accessible when you are in trouble).
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2. [C] Reduce Windows Partition
Use “Disk Management” on Windows 8
[D] Disable Fast Restarting Feature
Windows 8 with enabling fast restarting feature will “recover” some data including
EFI bootloaders when shutting down. Therefore, after you finish setting up dual boot
environment and boot Windows 8 once, you will lost your dual boot settings by next boot.
That’s why you need to turn off the fast restarting feature.
Start cmd.exe as Administrator
powercfg /h off
Verify settings
powercfg /a
References:
http://superuser.com/questions/499923/preinstalled-windows-8-and-linux-uefi-dual-boot-on
-a-laptop?rq=1
http://jp-andre.pagesperso-orange.fr/advanced-ntfs-3g.html#windows8
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc748940%28v=ws.10%29.aspx
[E] Create Live USB/DVD for Ubuntu 13.10
Download Ubuntu Image
http://releases.ubuntu.com/saucy/ubuntu-13.10-desktop-amd64.iso
Create Live USB by using Linux Live USB Creator
http://www.linuxliveusb.com/
Settings for Ubuntu 13.04 was OK for Ubuntu 13.10
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3. Install Ubuntu 13.10
Connect Live USB/DVD
Powering on
Install Ubuntu
CAUTION: You need to specify the partition for Ubuntu. Ubuntu recognize current Linux
partition and ask you to use the partition. But Ubuntu 13.10 installer doesn’t care about
destroying Windows partition.
Reboot
Setting up dual boot environment
[F] Connect USB-LAN to Internet
You need to get some files from internet.
[G] Check current partitioning
Launch xterm
$ sudo bash
# apt-get install gdisk
# gdisk -l /dev/sda
/dev/sda3 assumed as EFI partition
/dev/sda5 assumed as Windows 8 System partition
/dev/sda8 assumed as Ubuntu root(“/”) partition
# mount /dev/sda8 /mnt
# mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/boot/efi
# for i in /dev /dev/pts /proc /sys; do mount -B ${i} /mnt${i}; done
# modprobe efivars
# cp /etc/resolv.conf /mnt/etc/
# chroot /mnt
References:
http://superuser.com/questions/376470/how-to-reinstall-grub2-efi
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4. [H] Install bootloaders
[H-1] Install grub
# apt-get install grub-efi-amd64
[H-2] Configure grub
Ubuntu 13.10 fails to UEFI boot on VAIO Pro 13 in default. Here is the steps to fix the issue.
# vi /etc/default/grub
Old:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
New:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash libata.force=noncq"
Then update grub
# update-grub
References:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/360285/13-10-on-vaio-pro-with-uefi
http://www.nicksplace.com.au/2013/07/04/fedora-19-on-vaio-pro-13-ssd-issues/
[H-3] Install rEFInd
Get rEFInd for bootloader
rEFInd Boot Manager
http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/
# wget -O refind_0.7.4-1_amd64.deb ¥
http://sourceforge.net/projects/refind/files/0.7.4/refind_0.7.4-1_amd64.deb/download
# dpkg -i refind_0.7.4-1_amd64.deb
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5. [I] Check EFI partition
# cd /boot/efi/EFI
# ls
You will see several directories; Microsoft, refind, ubuntu, ...,
[J] Hack SONY firmware
SONY VAIO’s UEFI firmware seems to kick only “EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi”
however you put other efi files into EFI partition. Other efi binaries are never called. To get
dual boot environment, you need to replace the binary “EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi”
with refind boot manager.
# cd /boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot
# mv bootmgfw.efi ../
# cd /boot/efi/EFI/refind
# mv refind_x64.efi refind_x64.efi.default
# cp refind_x64.efi.default /boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
# cp refind.conf /boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/
# cp -r ./icons ./keys ./drivers_x64 /boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/
References:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/150174/sony-vaio-with-insyde-h2o-efi-bios-will-not-boot-in
to-grub-efi
[K] Finish
# exit
# for i in /sys /proc /dev/pts /dev; do umount /mnt${i}; done
# umount /mnt/boot/efi
# umount /mnt
# reboot
Now, you can select Windows 8 or Ubuntu 13.10 for boot.
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