So I have a Surface Pro 5 with Debian 12 installed on it with the Surface Linux kernel and GRUB 6.10. It works fine but I’ve been wanting to replace Debian with Aurora-dx-surface just to make it more secure overall, because I want to use it for college teaching and since it is not a workplace-issued electronic device, I have to register it and convince the IT department that it is secure and won’t leave their network to attack vectors (unlike certain administration who continue to click on phishing emails and subject the rest of us to additional cybersecurity training).
Onwards to the issue - I made sure that Secure Boot was disabled, TPM off, and aurora-dx-surface ISO on a USB drive formatted with FAT32. When I select “install aurora”, I am just left with a cursor and nothing happens. If I select “test media and install” it shows “booting - test media…” and then just hangs there. The USB I am using has a light that flashes when data is being read and after 10 seconds, it stops. I’ve been looking around for anyone that has been having issues and I came across this:
Essentially, the kernel for F39 boots but not for F40. The link above was an issue posted with the Linux surface github but I’m wondering what linux-surface kernel is being shipped with aurora-dx-surface and if anyone else has had issues with installation or booting the uBlue surface images in general. Any suggestions on a fix are appreciated.
I was able to figure it out, so I am detailing what I found. With further digging, I found these links with a workaround and will put together exactly what I did to get Aurora-dx-surface ISO installed:
Copy the BOOTX64.efi and mmx64.efi files from the shim package to /EFI/BOOT in VTOYEFI partition.
Then rename the grub.efi file in /EFI/BOOT as grubx64.efi.
Copy your uBlue-OS-surface ISO to the Ventoy USB.
Make sure that secure boot is disabled and TPM is off (access this menu by holding down the volume-up button, pressing the power button to turn on, and release). Ensure that the boot configuration is changed so that “Boot from USB” is the first option.
Reboot the Surface and pick “Install aurora-dx-surface 40” (or your preferred equivalent ISO)
Pick the GRUB2 option for booting (the “normal” boot option didn’t work for me).
After 15 seconds or so, it should start booting and then take you to the installation screen.
N.B. As the provided links above demonstrate, the workaround was successful for installing other variants of Fedora 40 on Surfaces, but with additional steps for chrooting during installation and installing the surface kernel. Since uBlue provides images with the linux-surface kernel already in place, it is a streamlined process once you have a working bootable USB with the changes mentioned above.
