On 31 Oct 2024 08:32 +0000, from an...@bellheath.org (Angus Mackenzie): > And finally the question - if I buy a new M2 SSD and install Debian to it > using > another machine, would that be expected to boot normally in place of the UEFI > Windows 10 SSD which is there at the moment?
As long as you don't use a custom kernel, moving a Debian installation from one system to another should be relatively unproblematic. You may need to do some manual tweaking with regards to which firmware gets loaded on boot to get full hardware functionality. Alternatively, if you simply install the new, empty SSD, the laptop should be unable to boot from it and depending on how the firmware is configured should let you boot from a different device. Both of those are, of course, assuming that the laptop will accept the new SSD in place of the old one without requiring the administrator password. Have you tried disconnecting all power from the motherboard (including any CMOS/RTC backup battery)? Historically that would clear NVRAM and thus firmware settings, but that of course requires that the settings are in battery-backed NVRAM and not in flash. If the Windows license details are stored in firmware settings memory this might cause you to lose that, but I assume that's not a significant issue for you. -- Michael Kjörling 🔗 https://michael.kjorling.se
