Arch Linux

Wyrm88

Member

Registered: 2010-05-05

Posts: 53

Question regarding dualbooting w/ Win7

Hi all!

I have a rather simple question (haven't installed Arch in over 2 years, so with this new installation principle and everything I don't want to mess anything up):

I have Win7 installed (/dev/sda1 is the boot partition, /dev/sda2 ntfs partition for the Windows). While in the cfdisk partitioning unallocated space, do I need to assign another boot partition (e.g. /dev/sda4) for Arch? I'm asking because when mounting the partitions, is the...

mount /dev/sda4 /mnt/boot

...actually neccessary? Of course, later on...

grub-install /dev/sda

... to install grub to the MBR, and "chainloader +1" in the /boot/grub/menu.lst to the Windows section.

Any help is appreciated!

DSpider

Member

From: Romania

Registered: 2009-08-23

Posts: 2,273

Re: Question regarding dualbooting w/ Win7

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Partitioning

No, you don't necessarily need a separate boot partition; the /boot folder can reside on the root partition just fine. Follow the Beginners' Guide and you should be fine.

... to install grub to the MBR, and "chainloader +1" in the /boot/grub/menu.lst to the Windows section.

GRUB Legacy support has been dropped from Arch Linux since July:

https://www.archlinux.org/news/grub-leg … supported/

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"How to Succeed with Linux"

I have made a personal commitment not to reply in topics that start with a lowercase letter. Proper grammar and punctuation is a sign of respect, and if you do not show any, you will NOT receive any help (at least not from me).

Wyrm88

Member

Registered: 2010-05-05

Posts: 53

Re: Question regarding dualbooting w/ Win7

@DSpider

Thank you for the reply!

If I understood you correctly, I just need to make the boot directory when mounting all the partitions, except I don't actually mount the boot anywhere? Just:

...
mkdir -p /mnt/boot
...

...but without:

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot

/dev/sda1 is the original partition which came with the preinstalled Windows.

DSpider

Member

From: Romania

Registered: 2009-08-23

Posts: 2,273

Re: Question regarding dualbooting w/ Win7

Forget about /dev/sda1. Just mount the root partition (/dev/sda5 or whatever), and when you install the base package group ("pacstrap /mnt base base-devel"), you'll get a "boot" folder there. Basically, the root partition will also contain the bootloader, and will do the same job as a separate boot partition just fine. A separate boot partition is only useful if you have more than, say, two operating systems on your computer.

Last edited by DSpider (2012-11-25 09:41:00)

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"How to Succeed with Linux"

I have made a personal commitment not to reply in topics that start with a lowercase letter. Proper grammar and punctuation is a sign of respect, and if you do not show any, you will NOT receive any help (at least not from me).

DeadDingo

Member

Registered: 2012-09-29

Posts: 46

Re: Question regarding dualbooting w/ Win7

Follow the Arch Wiki Beginners Tutorial.  It outlines how to do this.  But don't long story short don't even create a boot partition.  Create a /root partition and flag it as boot-able and a swap partition and you should be golden.  Make your /root partition large enough and you don't even need a /home partition.

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In order to understand recursion, one must first understand recursion.