dual-boot uefi install with systemd-boot, but windows' efi system part

revivaloflostart · 2018-08-10 04:26:18

The arch wiki mentions it's best to have a 550 MB efi system partition, but since I installed windows first, I only have this 100 MB efi system partition. Is this enough ?

https://imgur.com/a/oeM4EnA

strangely, windows' disk management says that it's 100% free, shouldn't there at least be some windows files on there? guessing the files are probably not even a megabyte.

Anyways, is it possible to use this for systemd-boot for dual boot? If not, what are some of my other options?

ewaller · 2018-08-10 04:42:06

I think you are being a bit optimistic at 1MB. On my HP Envy, between Microsoft and HP, they use every bit of 100MB

ewaller@turing/home/ewaller % df /boot -h
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda2       256M  157M  100M  62% /boot
ewaller@turing/home/ewaller % 
ewaller@turing/home/ewaller % du /boot -h
156K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bg-BG
204K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/cs-CZ
204K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/da-DK
212K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/de-DE
212K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/el-GR
156K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/en-GB
200K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/en-US
204K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/es-ES
156K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/et-EE
204K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/fi-FI
212K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/fr-FR
156K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/hr-HR
212K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/hu-HU
204K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/it-IT
184K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/ja-JP
184K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/ko-KR
156K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/lt-LT
156K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/lv-LV
204K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/nb-NO
204K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/nl-NL
204K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/pl-PL
204K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/pt-BR
204K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/pt-PT
212K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/qps-ploc
156K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/ro-RO
200K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/ru-RU
156K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/sk-SK
156K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/sl-SI
204K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/sr-Latn-CS
156K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/sr-Latn-RS
200K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/sv-SE
204K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/tr-TR
156K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/uk-UA
176K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/zh-CN
176K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/zh-HK
176K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/zh-TW
13M	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/Fonts
16K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/Resources/en-US
112K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/Resources
156K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/es-MX
164K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/fr-CA
25M	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot
64K	/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Recovery
25M	/boot/EFI/Microsoft
84K	/boot/EFI/systemd
15M	/boot/EFI/HP/SystemDiags
2.7M	/boot/EFI/HP/BIOSUpdate
8.1M	/boot/EFI/HP/BIOS/Current
8.0K	/boot/EFI/HP/BIOS/New
8.1M	/boot/EFI/HP/BIOS/Previous
17M	/boot/EFI/HP/BIOS
232K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/bg-bg
328K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/cs-cz
328K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/da-dk
340K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/de-de
340K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/el-gr
220K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/en-gb
316K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/en-us
328K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/es-es
232K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/et-ee
328K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/fi-fi
13M	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/Fonts
340K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/fr-fr
232K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/hr-hr
340K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/hu-hu
328K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/it-it
296K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/ja-jp
296K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/ko-kr
232K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/lt-lt
232K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/lv-lv
328K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/nb-no
328K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/nl-nl
328K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/pl-pl
328K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/pt-br
328K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/pt-pt
16K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/Resources/en-US
40K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/Resources
232K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/ro-ro
320K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/ru-ru
232K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/sk-sk
232K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/sl-si
232K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/sr-latn-rs
328K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/sv-se
328K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/tr-tr
232K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/uk-ua
284K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/zh-cn
284K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/zh-hk
284K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/zh-tw
196K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/qps-ploc
156K	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot/sr-Latn-CS
32M	/boot/EFI/HP/Boot
80K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Boot/bg-bg
80K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Boot/cs-cz
80K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Boot/da-dk
84K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Boot/de-de
84K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Boot/el-gr
76K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Boot/en-gb
76K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Boot/en-us
80K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Boot/es-es
80K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Boot/et-ee
80K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Boot/fi-fi
84K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Boot/fr-fr
80K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Boot/hr-hr
84K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Boot/hu-hu
80K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Boot/it-it
72K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Boot/ja-jp
72K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Boot/ko-kr
80K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Boot/lt-lt
80K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Boot/lv-lv
80K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Boot/nb-no
80K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Boot/nl-nl
80K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Boot/pl-pl
80K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Boot/pt-br
80K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Boot/pt-pt
80K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Boot/ro-ro
80K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Boot/ru-ru
80K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Boot/sk-sk
80K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Boot/sl-si
80K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Boot/sr-latn-rs
80K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Boot/sv-se
80K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Boot/tr-tr
80K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Boot/uk-ua
68K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Boot/zh-cn
68K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Boot/zh-hk
68K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Boot/zh-tw
4.2M	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Boot
52K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/cs-cz
52K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/da-dk
52K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/de-de
52K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/el-gr
52K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/en-us
52K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/es-es
52K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/fi-fi
13M	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/Fonts
52K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/fr-fr
52K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/hu-hu
52K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/it-it
48K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/ja-jp
48K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/ko-kr
52K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/nb-no
52K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/nl-nl
52K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/pl-pl
52K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/pt-br
52K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/pt-pt
24K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/Resources
48K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/ru-ru
52K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/sv-se
52K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/tr-tr
48K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/zh-cn
48K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/zh-hk
48K	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/zh-tw
15M	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Microsoft/Boot
15M	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI/Microsoft
20M	/boot/EFI/HP/EFI
86M	/boot/EFI/HP
84K	/boot/EFI/Boot
716K	/boot/EFI/refind/icons
40K	/boot/EFI/refind/keys
1016K	/boot/EFI/refind
4.0K	/boot/EFI/tools
112M	/boot/EFI
12K	/boot/loader/entries
24K	/boot/loader
8.0K	/boot/System Volume Information
157M	/boot
ewaller@turing/home/ewaller %

It will be be very close, at best. I could save 1M by removing rEFInd, and 84K by removing systemd boot. I have them both set up, but do not often use either of them -- only when I want to experiment with kernel command lines.
Check to see if you have room for your kernel and initrd. If you do, and you have UEFI, you can get by without needing a bootloader.

revivaloflostart · 2018-08-10 06:39:01

https://imgur.com/a/tynjxLL
File Explorer from Windows shows 70.9 MB free of 96.0 MB

https://www.archlinux.org/packages/core/x86_64/linux/
so archlinux kernel is about 67.4 MB

how big is initrd though? part of this package?
https://www.archlinux.org/packages/core/any/mkinitcpio/

ewaller · 2018-08-10 14:58:02

ewaller@turing/home/ewaller % ll /boot -h
total 45M
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root    0 Mar 30  2015 BCD.LOG1
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root    0 Mar 30  2015 BCD.LOG2
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  512 Aug  1  2015 BOOTSECT.BAK
drwxr-xr-x 8 root root 4.0K Jul  8  2016 EFI
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1.6M Dec 31  1979 FSCK0000.REC
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  28M Aug  9 18:42 initramfs-linux-fallback.img
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 6.9M Aug  9 18:42 initramfs-linux.img
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1.7M Aug  8 00:47 intel-ucode.img
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4.0K Apr 10  2015 loader
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  472 Jul 10  2016 refind_linux.conf
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 754K Apr 19  2015 shellx64.efi
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1.4M Apr 30  2016 shellx64_v2.efi
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4.0K Mar 30  2015 System Volume Information
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 5.1M Aug  9 04:56 vmlinuz-linux
ewaller@turing/home/ewaller % ^C

This is my /boot. The initrd is just under 7MB, but the fallback is 28MB. The kernel is 5.1MB. Also, You may need to have the microcode update image for your processor. Mine is 1.7MB

With 70 MB Free, I think you will be okay. But check it when you boot your boot media using Linux tools. I find that File Explorer does some, er, unexpected things -- I never believe what it tells me. It hides some things and creates what appear to be directories and soft links out off whole cloth that are not really there.

revivaloflostart · 2018-08-13 15:31:39

Appreciate the help ewaller!
In the end, I decided to just uninstall Windows and make it single boot for arch only.
I don't play any games anymore, so it's about time I try running Linux only for a change.

Arch Linux

#1 2018-08-10 04:26:18

dual-boot uefi install with systemd-boot, but windows' efi system part

#2 2018-08-10 04:42:06

Re: dual-boot uefi install with systemd-boot, but windows' efi system part

#3 2018-08-10 06:39:01

Re: dual-boot uefi install with systemd-boot, but windows' efi system part

#4 2018-08-10 14:58:02

Re: dual-boot uefi install with systemd-boot, but windows' efi system part

#5 2018-08-13 15:31:39

Re: dual-boot uefi install with systemd-boot, but windows' efi system part

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