Petter Reinholdtsen

How to install Linux on a Packard Bell Easynote LV preinstalled with Windows 8
27th May 2013

Two days ago, I asked how I could install Linux on a Packard Bell EasyNote LV computer preinstalled with Windows 8. I found a solution, but am horrified with the obstacles put in the way of Linux users on a laptop with UEFI and Windows 8.

I never found out if the cause of my problems were the use of UEFI secure booting or fast boot. I suspect fast boot was the problem, causing the firmware to boot directly from HD without considering any key presses and alternative devices, but do not know UEFI settings enough to tell.

There is no way to install Linux on the machine in question without opening the box and disconnecting the hard drive! This is as far as I can tell, the only way to get access to the firmware setup menu without accepting the Windows 8 license agreement. I am told (and found description on how to) that it is possible to configure the firmware setup once booted into Windows 8. But as I believe the terms of that agreement are completely unacceptable, accepting the license was never an alternative. I do not enter agreements I do not intend to follow.

I feared I had to return the laptops and ask for a refund, and waste many hours on this, but luckily there was a way to get it to work. But I would not recommend it to anyone planning to run Linux on it, and I have become sceptical to Windows 8 certified laptops. Is this the way Linux will be forced out of the market place, by making it close to impossible for "normal" users to install Linux without accepting the Microsoft Windows license terms? Or at least not without risking to loose the warranty?

I've updated the Linux Laptop wiki page for Packard Bell EasyNote LV, to ensure the next person do not have to struggle as much as I did to get Linux into the machine.

Thanks to Bob Rosbag, Florian Weimer, Philipp Kern, Ben Hutching, Michael Tokarev and others for feedback and ideas.

Tags: debian, english.

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