Arch Linux

Oblong_Cheese

Member

Registered: 2007-01-25

Posts: 44

[SOLVED] Dual boot Windows 11 / Arch Linux

Hi everyone.

I believe that my issue is straightforward but I have been trying for too long to solve it and I need some help.

• The ext4 partition is an existing partition from an existing install. I have run mkinitcpio -P to ensure kernel images are on /boot

• The device nvme1n1 used to be MBR partition but I converted it to GPT partitioning.

I have the following hardware:

/dev/nvme0n1
	nvme0n1p5 > Windows 11
/dev/nvme1n1
	nvme1n1p1 > Arch Linux (ext4) [PARTUUID=e5ab5ca7-3dac-4b89-8228-aed83ca8696d]
	nvme1n1p2 > EFI (vfat) [UUID=6862-5FD9]
	nvme1n1p3 > swap

I am trying to use reFind as my bootloader for both Windows and Linux.

Refind menu entry:

menuentry "Arch Linux" {
	icon 	/EFI/refind/icons/os_arch.png
	volume 	"Arch Linux"
	loader 	/boot/vmlinuz-1inux
	initrd 	/boot/initramfs-linux. ing
	options "root=PARTUUID=e5ab5ca7-3dac-4b89-8228-aed83ca8696d rw add_efi_memmap"
	submenuentry "Boot using fallback initramfs" {
	initrd /boot/initramfs-linux-fallback.img
	}	
	submenuentry "Boot to terminal" {
		add_options "systend.unit=multi-user.target"
	}
	#disabled
}

fstab looks like this:

#/dev/nvme1n1p1
UUID=b5bf5256-f80a-40ed-a2a9-1d8303c998bb	/	ext4	rw,relatime	0 1

#/dev/nvmeln1p2
UUID=5862-5FD9	/boot	vfat	rw,relatime, fmask=0022,dmask=0022. codepage=437, iocharset=ascii.shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro

When I try to boot from the entry as listed, I get an error message 'invalid loader file, not found while loading vmlinuz-linux'

Any help greatly appreciated! Thank-you!

Last edited by Oblong_Cheese (2024-10-30 08:57:25)

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 12,119

Re: [SOLVED] Dual boot Windows 11 / Arch Linux

So your ESP is mounted to /boot, and that's where your kernel and inittamfs would be. Why are you yelling rEFInd to look in the /boot dir of the "Arch Linux" partition?

Mona5

Member

Registered: 2023-07-24

Posts: 30

Re: [SOLVED] Dual boot Windows 11 / Arch Linux

Hello,
Sorry i don't have Experience with rEFInd i use grub for my self.
check lines for typos for example line

     initrd 	      /boot/initramfs-linux. ing

i believe you accidentally overwrite ". ing" when you copy pasted in the forum right because normally it's ".img" for image files i believe . make sure if rEFInd find your boot files with giving correct address just as Scimmia said.

So your ESP is mounted to /boot, and that's where your kernel and inittamfs would be. Why are you yelling rEFInd to look in the /boot dir of the "Arch Linux" partition?

think of it this way if a program (rEFInd) run how the program look at my files where he think it is. if a program think of /boot ( is a root directory (your EFI/boot partition)) doesn't make this that program could see the real Linux root directory? that partition(Linux partition) that isn't mounted yet and it's going to mount on near future. means after booting up. search wiki for how EFI partition boot up and how it works,( i might be wrong).

inside #Installing_the_rEFInd_Boot_Manager is written

"To use the rEFInd, you must install it to the EFI system partition either using the refind-install script or by copying the files and setting up the boot entry manually.
Warning: Your kernel and initramfs must reside on a file system that rEFInd can read."

i believe you did have kernel inside of EFI partition.

i think it's after loading arch EFI partition mounted on arch. before that rEFInd cant see root "/" because EFI partition booted on it's own and it's going to mount later on "/boot/" after arch linux boot image loaded up completely and then linux mount root partitions based of information you gave to linux image in beginning by boot loader(like telling root partion uid) and then linux look at fstab in root partition(means you linux partition) directorys and etc and mount partitions and run services and etc.

i hope i gave you correct information. maybe i give you wrong information worng, but i hope it's solved your problem.

Last edited by Mona5 (2024-10-30 07:15:28)

Oblong_Cheese

Member

Registered: 2007-01-25

Posts: 44

Re: [SOLVED] Dual boot Windows 11 / Arch Linux

Hi all, thanks for your replies.

I fixed it - simple as it was in the end; the relative path to my initrd had an extraneous '/boot' string.

menuentry "Arch Linux" {
	icon 	/EFI/refind/icons/os_arch.png
	volume 	"Arch Linux"
	loader 	/vmlinuz-1inux
	initrd 	/initramfs-linux.img
	options "root=PARTUUID=e5ab5ca7-3dac-4b89-8228-aed83ca8696d rw add_efi_memmap"
	submenuentry "Boot using fallback initramfs" {
	initrd /boot/initramfs-linux-fallback.img
	}	
	submenuentry "Boot to terminal" {
		add_options "systend.unit=multi-user.target"
	}
	#disabled
}

check lines for typos for example line

That was probably caused by my phone's image-to-text app as I had to take a photo of the configuration to record it... !

Last edited by Oblong_Cheese (2024-10-30 08:58:29)