I looked at this a while back for Ubuntu on my laptop the most recent time I rebuilt it. Specifically I was increasing the size of the boot partition so I didn't run out of space. Read a lot of articles on setting it up, but don't have the details any more.

But the good news is that it's definitely possible. IIRC the biggest challenge was working out what bios setting needed to be... 

On Wed, 23 Jan. 2019, 18:43 Lindsay W via luv-main <luv-main@luv.asn.au wrote:
Juts in case.................................
A lot of more recent bios's will NOT boot from a cd/dvd rom or usb key unless you specifcly enable this feature on a one time only bassis, ie one needs to enable this for every boot from such a device.

Lindsay

----- Original message -----
From: Jason White via luv-main <luv-main@luv.asn.au>
To: luv-main <luv-main@luv.asn.au>
Subject: Contemplating a complex UEFI-based Linux installation
Date: Wednesday, January 23, 2019 10:57 AM

I have a Lenovo P51 laptop here (currently running Microsoft Windows 10) on
which I'm contemplating installing Linux - probably Arch Linux, or perhaps
Debian Testing - or another distribution that is kept fairly up to date. Arch
is of interest in that the packages are kept fairly close to upstream, which
could be useful for some of my purposes (e.g., reporting bugs on
accessibility-related tools such as braille display software and screen
readers, and compiling development versions thereof).

I need to keep Microsoft Windows around for work purposes, due to
compatibility issues. I'm contemplating a dual-boot configuration. I would
rather not turn off Microsoft's virtualization-based security, which requires
Secure Boot to be enabled; unfortunately, there are too many vulnerabilities
and plenty of Windows malware is circulating.

On the Windows side, I have enabled Device Guard and Credential Guard in local
group policy, set to require "secure boot with UEFI lock". I don't know
whether this will complicate Linux installation, or whether it will need to be
disabled, even temporarily.

At this point, neither an Arch ISO image (written to a USB drive with dd) nor
a GRML64 image will boot. I suspect Secure Boot is responsible, unless of
course this system cannot boot from these prepared ISO images.

I've read documentation on the Arch wiki and elsewhere about UEFI and Secure
Boot, most of which is not very clear or somewhat incomplete. There are
several boot loaders from which to choose, for example, as well as
complications with Secure Boot. I've installed
Arch before (and Debian more than once), but only on BIOS-based systems and
never with another operating system also present. Further, there are various
reports of mixed success with Linux on this particular laptop model. It isn't
clear what information is up to date.

Also, I want to avoid corrupting the UEFI firmware or data in ways that would
necessitate board replacement; I've had to deal with unrelated hardware issues
recently and definitely don't want to have to go through the pain of that
experience again, if I can avoid it.

So, what would be my best source of advice at this point on how to proceed?
Suggestions and links would be welcome. I'm also willing to discuss it with
someone who knows UEFI well, if necessary.


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