Arch Linux

torsar

Member

Registered: 2025-06-28

Posts: 2

Ventoy and booting Arch linux

Ventoy.
Flash drive: 128 Gb.
archlinux-2025.06.01-x86_64.iso

Old Notebook (Legacy BIOS)

Booting...
/init : No such file or directory
NIT NOT FOUND

Booting in Grub Mode...
Out menu item:
Arch linux install medium (x86_64, UEFI)

UEFI not supported in my comp!!!

ps.
Other distribution: Ubuntu, Kali, Win 10, Win PE
booting normally!!!!

How to resolve problem???

ntb314

Member

Registered: 2025-02-13

Posts: 16

Re: Ventoy and booting Arch linux

Hi, your old notebook probably only supports Legacy BIOS, but the Arch ISO boots in UEFI mode by default on Ventoy. You could try this:

- Make sure Ventoy is updated to the latest version.

- At the Ventoy menu, try booting the Arch ISO in Legacy BIOS mode (sometimes via memdisk or grub mode).

- If that doesn't work, use a tool like Rufus or similar to create a USB in MBR/BIOS mode instead of Ventoy.

- Other distros work because they support both BIOS and UEFI, but Arch ISO is more UEFI-focused.

That should fix the “/init not found” error on Legacy BIOS systems

torsar

Member

Registered: 2025-06-28

Posts: 2

Re: Ventoy and booting Arch linux

>>Arch ISO is more UEFI-focused.

On old notebook (Legacy BIOS, NOT SUPPORTED UEFI ) possibly install Arch?

ntb314

Member

Registered: 2025-02-13

Posts: 16

Re: Ventoy and booting Arch linux

Yes, Arch can install on Legacy BIOS its fully supported.

You just need to boot it right:

- Use Rufus (MBR/BIOS mode), or

- Write ISO with dd (not Ventoy)

Once it boots, install it as usual with GRUB for BIOS. This should work totally fine.

Danielbbom

Member

Registered: 2025-06-08

Posts: 19

Re: Ventoy and booting Arch linux

>>Arch ISO is more UEFI-focused.

On old notebook (Legacy BIOS, NOT SUPPORTED UEFI ) possibly install Arch?

Yes, but it must have a legacy-compatible bootloader like grub; bootloaders like systemdboot are not legacy-compatible.

Last edited by Danielbbom (2025-06-30 15:46:49)

Lone_Wolf

Administrator

From: Netherlands, Europe

Registered: 2005-10-04

Posts: 13,937

Re: Ventoy and booting Arch linux

archiso uses syslinux for bios legacy boot and grub or systemd-boot for uefi boot.

See https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Archiso#Boot_loader

---

Disliking systemd intensely, but not satisfied with alternatives so focusing on taming systemd.

clean chroot building not flexible enough ?
Try clean chroot manager by graysky

joshthetechie

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2025-06-27

Posts: 3

Re: Ventoy and booting Arch linux

Ventoy should automatically determine what boot mode you're in based on your motherboard settings.

If all else fails, using Rufus or dd should get it working since you're removing Ventoy from the equation.

foobarDestroyer

Member

Registered: 2025-07-08

Posts: 9

Re: Ventoy and booting Arch linux

How to resolve problem???

- https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Ventoy
- https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/USB_fl … ion_medium

- https://github.com/ventoy/Ventoy

x86 Legacy BIOS, IA32 UEFI, x86_64 UEFI, ARM64 UEFI and MIPS64EL UEFI are supported in the same way.
Both MBR and GPT partition style are supported in the same way.

Your options are bountiful:

1. fdisk

2. gdisk

3. sgdisk

4. cgdisk

5. cfdisk

6. parted

7. gparted

8. dd

9. cat

10. echo

Not a fully enumerated list of tools to directly write an Arch Linux live ISO directly to the USB device.

wipefs is also a convenient tool to destroy previous MBR/GPT layouts in addition to all partition tables.
- https://man.archlinux.org/man/wipefs.8.en

From the "man" pages (from a URL from above):

dd bs=4M if=path/to/archlinux-version-x86_64.iso of=/dev/disk/by-id/usb-My_flash_drive conv=fsync oflag=direct status=progress

Alternatively:

dd bs=4M if=path/to/archlinux.iso of=/dev/sda conv=fsync oflag=direct status=progress

Use lsblk before and then after inserting the USB to easily identify the file path of the USB (EG: /dev/sda).

Ventoy's GitHub page has the instructions near the bottom.

Last edited by foobarDestroyer (2025-07-08 01:58:04)