installation on a laptop with secureboot

[Member stoeren]

hi.
today i found a laptop in my vaters flat.
it is asus e200ha and i´m a total newbe on linux
becouse it just had a 32gb on board harddisk and 2gb on board ram i want to use usb stick as primare drive with linux.
i try other linxus distros but i get some troubel with the secure boot, but the live versions allways work. i don´t have the password for the win10 and the bios is locked.
so i can only acces it via windows…
my qusten is: how i can install antix on the stick but not as live distro without having troubel with the secure boot?

[Member Xecure]

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Hello, stoeren

stoeren wrote:

my qusten is: how i can install antix on the stick but not as live distro without having troubel with the secure boot?

You have these options:

A) Use your USB key as Persistance device. It is similar to installed, with the option to boot both as the original live-iso or with your changes saved. With this you also have the advantage of a live antiX environment that works even with Secure Boot.

B) Have a Frugal install on your system. What this does is create a folder (where antiX will be installed) inside an existing partition, for example your Windows partition, without having to format and create specific partitions for antiX. In your case, your Disk space is so small this option is not worth it. For any other people interested, you can read more in the antiX FAQ for Frugal Install.

C) Install on a different USB stick. From the Live environment, you can choose to install antiX on a different USB device from the live USB. I am not sure this is possible to install and boot if the Secure Boot is enabled. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable can answer this.

D) Disable Secure Boot. If you cant do c (because of Secure Boot) and still want to have it installed on the stick or you want to replace Windows some day, you may need to disable Secure Boot before being able to install.

The most interesting in your case may be option A. I will also explain option D as it may be useful for you or someone else.

USING YOUR USB LIVE ENVIRONMENT WITH PERSISTANCE
If you have burned your antiX ISO in the USB stick with option to create persistence (non dd), you should be able to Create a Persistence homefs and rootfs files to store all changes you perform in the live environment. There are two ways of setting up persistence, but I will explain the simplest one.

When booting to USB, before starting up the hole antiX system, you will have different boot options to choose from. I presume your system has UEFI Bios, so I will explain the steps to follow (if you have a Legacy Bios, it will be even easier than this, as you would be able to choose options with the Function keys: see video linked below).

1. Choose the antiX Full Customize Boot (text menus) option and hit Enter.
2. Choose your language, console columns (I choose default), Timezone, Special boot option (if in antiX 17.4, and you would like wicd to manage your wifi connection, select wicd option if you dislike ceni), and mount option (default is automount).
3. IMPORTANT OPTION: The next option is the important one. It is the Persistence option. These are the most important options for a newbie (in my opinion):
a) persist_static The best option for you. It will save all your changes continuesly in the USB device. It is a bit slower than other options but it will respect your RAM.
b) persist_all Not the best option for your very small amount of RAM. It will load all persistent files in RAM. All changes done in the live environment will be saved in RAM, but on shutdown the changes will be saved on your USB device (or manually saved if so you choose). It runs faster as it isn’t limited by the speed of your USB device/port, but at the expense of taking some of your RAM.
4. then select font dpi.
5. SETING UP PERSISTENCE If you chose this option and your USB permits it, you will be following the steps to create and configure your persistence system. antiX will ask you to create a rootfs (where all your programs will be stored), and a homefs (where you will save your personal files, like downloads, pictures and documents) file. Depending on the amount of space available in your USB device, you will have to decide how much to give each one. Don’t panic, you can resize them later if you want from inside your antiX live environment. Let us imagine you have a 10GB USB device. I would start assigning 1GB to rootfs and 2GB to homefs. You can later resize them if you need more space. For now it is a good exercise.
You will be asked to change the demo and root passwords (for security reasons, as this device is no longer a “virgin” liveUSB and will contain you system). Give them a password you will remember.
6. After setting this up, you may be asked about how you want your persistence changes to be saved. If you have chosen persist_static, ignore this option, as your changes will be continuously saved in the USB device automatically. For persist_all option, Automatic means all changes will be saved when you power-off automatically (as they are all saved in RAM and not USB). Semi-Automatic will enable you to choose to save your changes or not when powering off (a prompt will ask you if you want to save your changes when you are shutting down).
7. Select your preferred Desktop and you should boot into your new antiX persistence.

These steps may be a little different if using antiX-19. If you want to see a step by step video guide, follow dolphin_oracle’s video linked below.

More Information:
dolphin_oracle video tutorial
antiX FAQ – Persistence

DISABLING SECURE BOOT
You have to disable Secure Boot. Only distros that are signed by Microsoft can (theoretically) install and work with Secure Boot. Debian 10 and Ubuntu (and maybe openSUSE) have that feature. I had to disable Secure Boot in my tablet for antiX to install.

If you want to continue and Disable Secure Boot and install antiX (or some other distro) in your device, you will first have to enter the BIOS configuration.
For your device, the ASUS website recommends two options:

a) The laptop must be powered-off / turned off. Maintain F2 Button pressed. While doing so, press the Power button as you would do for starting up the laptop. Keep pressing the F2 key until the BIOS Configuration comes up.

b) Accessing UEFI BIOS from Windows. You will have to restart the computer and access the Advance Startup EFI screen. There is a key combination on the restart session, but I cannot remember it right now. The GUI way is: Settings > Updates and Security > Recovery > Advanced Startup > Restart Now (you can follow the video in ASUS page linked below). Once it restarts, navigate to the UEFI options: Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > UEFI Firmware Settings > Restart. You will now enter the BIOS.

Source: ASUS FAQ – Entering BIOS for ASUS laptops

Extra option (for other cases): If Fast Boot is enabled, you won’t be able to follow the previous steps to access the BIOS configuration. Completely Shutting Down Windows will “disable” the Fast Boot for the next session. From the Windows Login screen, maintain Shift Key pressed while clicking Shut Down. Wait until your computer completely shuts down before releasing the Shift key. Then follow step a) to enter the BIOS.
You can also enter the advanced EFI options by doing the same process but clicking Reboot instead. On reboot, it should display Windows’ Advance Startup EFI screen, where maybe one can find the option to access the UEFI Bios Configuration.

Once inside the BIOS configuration you will be able to disable Secure Boot. You should be able to find the option in the BOOT Tab.

I hope this helps. I am sure someone will correct me if

• This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by Xecure. Reason: Big Update explaining Persistence
• This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by Xecure. Reason: Adding enfasis
• This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by Xecure. Reason: Extra information about accessing BIOS

antiX Live system enthusiast.
General Live Boot Parameters for antiX.

[Member stoeren]

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thanks for the help.
i found a bug my keyboard dosn´t work in antiX Full Customize Boot (text menus).
i try use another keyboard the install it but i found out it is not possible to start it without keyboard…

• This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by stoeren.

[Member Xecure]

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stoeren wrote:

i found a bug my keyboard dosn´t work in antiX Full Customize Boot (text menus).

So, you are saying the keyboard worked before entering the text menus? Could you select options with the keyboard arrow keys and Enter?
I suspect two possible things:
1. You were trying to write the numbers with the Num-pad, and “strange symbols” came out instead of numbers. Try using the number keys in your keyboard and not the numpad. Numpad is not locked, so hiting “Num Lock” in you keyboard will enable the numbers in the numpad.
2. You have a special keyboard (non US) that has the numbers somewhere else. We would need more information about the keyboard to be able to help you. “my keyboard” has very little information.

stoeren wrote:

i try use another keyboard the install it but i found out it is not possible to start it without keyboard…

I thought you were on a laptop. Cannot you use the laptop’s keyboard? How did you disconnect the laptop’s keyboard? Again, more information is needed.

antiX Live system enthusiast.
General Live Boot Parameters for antiX.

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