A Few Questions About Dual Booting Windows 10 and Arch Linux

mypetbirdrules · 2015-10-04 21:37:03

After trying several times and failing horribly, I think I need to rethink my action plan.

I have a set of 2 hard drives in my PC.

/dev/sda (second hard drive) [Arch Linux]
/dev/sdb (Windows 10 hard drive)

I want to use systemd-boot for my boot loader. It's a UEFI motherboard.

How do I configure Arch Linux to dual boot?

Last edited by mypetbirdrules (2015-10-04 21:37:32)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2015-10-04 21:45:53

Share the Windows-generated EFI system partition (mounted to /boot) and install Arch in UEFI mode.

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2015-10-04 21:46:11)

mypetbirdrules · 2015-10-04 22:37:37

How exactly would I do that?

Head_on_a_Stick · 2015-10-04 22:47:41

Follow the Beginner's Guide -- do not create another EFI system partition and instead simply mount /boot to the Windows-generated ESP (shown in the output of `parted -l`) before using `arch-chroot` (but after mounting the root partition).
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners'_guide

mypetbirdrules · 2015-10-04 22:48:55

Thank you so much. I'll try it and report back.

mypetbirdrules · 2015-10-04 23:12:35

I did what you said to do but it failed while runnning:

pacstrap -i /mnt base base-devel

markzz · 2015-10-05 00:57:58

mypetbirdrules wrote:

I did what you said to do but it failed while runnning:
pacstrap -i /mnt base base-devel

And the error was......?

Head_on_a_Stick · 2015-10-05 07:10:10

Please also describe all the steps taken up to that point.

Include the full commands used and any terminal output.

mypetbirdrules · 2015-10-05 23:33:50

Looking into /dev/sdb1 on the Windows 10 disk, I couldn't find a single .efi file. After running

parted -l

it told me the windows disk had an ms-dos partition table. Do you think I'm running in legacy mode? The boot partition of the Windows 10 disk is also ntfs instead of fat32.

Last edited by mypetbirdrules (2015-10-05 23:34:04)

markzz · 2015-10-06 14:49:49

Yes, if you only have one partition for windows, it is a legacy mode install. There should be a separate FAT32 partition for EFI information if you are using a UEFI BIOS.

Since it is in legacy, you can just simply point your bootloader to that partition and it should work. Provided you stay in legacy boot mode.

mypetbirdrules · 2015-10-06 20:16:35

Actually, the Windows 10 hard drive has 3 partitions. The first one appears to be a boot partition, the second one is the main partition, and the third partition appears to be a recovery partition. I assumed my PC was running in UEFI mode because my motherboard supports it, but the boot partition has an ms-dos partition table.

markzz · 2015-10-06 20:32:37

You can use an msdos table for UEFI, just from your posts, it looked like one partition was being used for Windows. To properly dual boot, mount that boot partition into /boot and install. This will install the needed files alongside the Windows ones.

Last edited by markzz (2015-10-06 20:32:46)

mypetbirdrules · 2015-10-07 00:10:50

Yeah, but whenever I install with /boot mounted I can't find a single .efi file on any of the Windows 10 partitions and when I install, Arch complains about the Windows 10 boot partition being NTFS instead of fat32.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2015-10-07 07:07:39

Post the output of:

# parted -l

mypetbirdrules · 2015-10-07 09:26:44

# parted -l

Model: ATA WDC WD10EZEX-00B (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size    File system  Name  Flags
 1      1049kB  1000GB  1000GB  ext4


Model: ATA WDC WD10EZEX-00B (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size   Type     File system  Flags
 1      1049kB  368MB   367MB  primary  ntfs         boot
 2      368MB   1000GB  999GB  primary  ntfs
 3      1000GB  1000GB  472MB  primary  ntfs         diag


Model: SanDisk Cruzer Glide (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdc: 15.6GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size    Type     File system  Flags
 2      88.1kB  32.6MB  32.5MB  primary  fat16        esp

Head_on_a_Stick · 2015-10-07 20:54:18

Windows is installed in non-EFI mode.

mypetbirdrules · 2015-10-08 01:32:16

How do I dual boot with separate hard drives in non-EFI mode?

Head_on_a_Stick · 2015-10-08 20:30:53

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners'_guide
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Wi … stallation

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2015-10-08 20:32:21)

mypetbirdrules · 2015-10-10 13:54:28

I installed Windows 10 in UEFI mode. I was able to check by running

 msinfo32

I converted the second hard drive to a single ext4 root partition and mounted the Windows 10 EFI partition. Everything went smoothly. When I booted the computer up after the install, I saw that both Windows 10 and Arch were detected by the boot manager. After selecting Arch Linux, it booted up perfectly but Windows 10 failed to boot and was complaining about a file being deleted. It gave me an error code

 0xc0000225

I reinstalled Windows 10 and I'm ready to try again but I want to get it right this time.

Blasphemist · 2015-10-15 23:01:54

First thing I'd do, go into setup/UEFI shell and make sure you are in UEFI mode, not legacy/CSM mode.

Then I'd create a new GUID partition table (GPT) on the windows drive, as long as you don't have any data on it that must be preserved. You can use the instructions in the Arch wiki linked from the beginners guide.

That gives you two drives using GPT and your UEFI set to UEFI mode, not legacy. That is the desired mode and partition table match. Install win 10 ensuring you install it in UEFI mode.

Install Arch being sure to follow the wiki for installing in UEFI mode. Choose to EFI System Partition on the windows drive as the ESP and mount it to /boot if you will only be using Arch, and only one instance of Arch. If you will be installing other distros or more than one instance of Arch (especially the latter), use /boot/efi as the mount point. Pay close attention when installing or configuring any boot loader or boot manager to use the correct path for the mount point used. The mount point used also limits the boot loader options as explained in the wiki.

Boot Arch and win 10 and ensure proper access to the UEFI variables. In Arch, check whether the directory /sys/firmware/efi exists, if it exists it means the kernel has booted in EFI mode. If this is not the case, reinstall Arch following the guide closely.

Arch Linux

#1 2015-10-04 21:37:03

A Few Questions About Dual Booting Windows 10 and Arch Linux

#2 2015-10-04 21:45:53

Re: A Few Questions About Dual Booting Windows 10 and Arch Linux

#3 2015-10-04 22:37:37

Re: A Few Questions About Dual Booting Windows 10 and Arch Linux

#4 2015-10-04 22:47:41

Re: A Few Questions About Dual Booting Windows 10 and Arch Linux

#5 2015-10-04 22:48:55

Re: A Few Questions About Dual Booting Windows 10 and Arch Linux

#6 2015-10-04 23:12:35

Re: A Few Questions About Dual Booting Windows 10 and Arch Linux

#7 2015-10-05 00:57:58

Re: A Few Questions About Dual Booting Windows 10 and Arch Linux

#8 2015-10-05 07:10:10

Re: A Few Questions About Dual Booting Windows 10 and Arch Linux

#9 2015-10-05 23:33:50

Re: A Few Questions About Dual Booting Windows 10 and Arch Linux

#10 2015-10-06 14:49:49

Re: A Few Questions About Dual Booting Windows 10 and Arch Linux

#11 2015-10-06 20:16:35

Re: A Few Questions About Dual Booting Windows 10 and Arch Linux

#12 2015-10-06 20:32:37

Re: A Few Questions About Dual Booting Windows 10 and Arch Linux

#13 2015-10-07 00:10:50

Re: A Few Questions About Dual Booting Windows 10 and Arch Linux

#14 2015-10-07 07:07:39

Re: A Few Questions About Dual Booting Windows 10 and Arch Linux

#15 2015-10-07 09:26:44

Re: A Few Questions About Dual Booting Windows 10 and Arch Linux

#16 2015-10-07 20:54:18

Re: A Few Questions About Dual Booting Windows 10 and Arch Linux

#17 2015-10-08 01:32:16

Re: A Few Questions About Dual Booting Windows 10 and Arch Linux

#18 2015-10-08 20:30:53

Re: A Few Questions About Dual Booting Windows 10 and Arch Linux

#19 2015-10-10 13:54:28

Re: A Few Questions About Dual Booting Windows 10 and Arch Linux

#20 2015-10-15 23:01:54

Re: A Few Questions About Dual Booting Windows 10 and Arch Linux

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