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I bought a new Toshiba with a pre-installed version of windows 8.1 64-bit. It happens that I need to install Ubuntu, but because of UEFI I'm not sure how to do it correctly. I'm trying to avoid virtual machines. I've read many foruns but I didn't find the answer I need. For what I read, it is possible to dual boot the system by just disable secure boot, boot from liveUSB/CD and creating root, swap and home partitions on hard drive's free space (correct me if I'm wrong). However, I would like to know how to install ubuntu as a single and main OS of my computer. Can I do such thing by activating CMS boot mode (instead of UEFI) on BIOS and booting from a pen or am I skiping some important steps? Thanks in advance.

rcbauer
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For Toshiba laptops it seems one can't boot from USB in the UEFI mode:

See http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1894515/toshiba-satellite-wont-boot-usb.html

and http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/85143-35-toshiba-satellite-boot

Since you want to remove Windows, it is possible to enable CMS/Legacy mode in UEFI/BIOS and boot from the Ubuntu LiveUSB. There should be no issues.

In general it should be possible to install Ubuntu in the UEFI mode:

See How do I install Ubuntu alongside a pre-installed Windows with UEFI? for a comprehensive guide to installing Ubuntu on machines that comes with Windows 8 and above pre-installed.

I think it may be easier to keep the UEFI and install Ubuntu in most cases. During installation you will see a choice of keeping Windows and install Ubuntu side by side, or replacing Windows and using the whole drive (remove all partitions data etc.) for Ubuntu. There is a third choice, "Something else..." for experts. On some computers the side-by-side choice is not available, and one has to take the expert route of "Something else..."

When you choose the boot device to boot from USB in the UEFI boot menu, select the UEFI USB option. You may see two USB options, one of them is UEFI-USB. Normal 64bit Ubuntu Live USB should detect UEFI and BIOS/CMS/Legacy and proceed accordingly. If this does not work, you may want to see How to create UEFI-only bootable USB live media?

If you boot from the LiveUSB in the UEFI mode you will see this screen:

enter image description here

On the other hand if you boot from the USB in the BIOS/Legacy mode you will see:

enter image description here

Also see for more details https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI

Hope this helps

user68186
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