Arch Linux

user_cero

Member

Registered: 2011-08-11

Posts: 5

[solved] trying to Dual-boot arch and w7 but w7 won't boot

Hi, I'm trying to dual boot w7 and arch on a efi system with a GPT partition but I'm confused with GPT and how it boots.

When creating the partitions I had:

sda
---sda1 100MB efi system
---sda2 128MB MS reserved (boot)
---sda3 467GB MS basic data
---sda4  16GB swap *
---sda5  30G / *
---sda6 417G /home*

   * i added these during installation

Then i created the partitions, as instructed i did:
  mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda1

Then i mounted them:
  mkdir -p /mnt/boot
  mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot

Finally, I installed and configured gummiboot as instructed.I read a note on gummiboot's wiki that it automatically looks for "Windows Boot Manager". So i wrapped up the install and rebooted but it didn't work as no menu pops up and arch loads immediately. What did I miss? More importantly was i supposed to create a partition on sda1 and mount the boot there?

Solution: You are not supposed to format the ESP when dualbooting!

Last edited by user_cero (2014-01-18 17:25:29)

frank604

Member

From: BC, Canada

Registered: 2011-04-20

Posts: 1,212

Re: [solved] trying to Dual-boot arch and w7 but w7 won't boot

no menu pops up and arch loads immediately

Did you setup loader.conf?  Can you show us this file?  Can you also show us the entries' .conf?

user_cero

Member

Registered: 2011-08-11

Posts: 5

Re: [solved] trying to Dual-boot arch and w7 but w7 won't boot

Loader.conf looks like:
#timeout 3
default a9f40e3696394ea006072d8bea125f3e-*

entries only has arch.conf and it looks just like the wiki:
title Arch Linux
linux /vmlinuz-linux
initrd /initramfs-linux.img
options root=/dev/sda5

frank604

Member

From: BC, Canada

Registered: 2011-04-20

Posts: 1,212

Re: [solved] trying to Dual-boot arch and w7 but w7 won't boot

Uncomment timeout and see if you get the menu options at boot.

user_cero

Member

Registered: 2011-08-11

Posts: 5

Re: [solved] trying to Dual-boot arch and w7 but w7 won't boot

Uncommented. Now the menu pops up but still no entry for windows.

I was reading the gummiboot wiki again and it says:  Note: Gummiboot will automatically check for "Windows Boot Manager" (\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\Bootmgfw.efi), "EFI Shell" (\shellx64.efi) and "EFI Default Loader" (\EFI\Boot\bootx64.efi), and display entries for them if they are present, so you do not have to manually create entries for them. However it does not autodetect other EFI applications (unlike rEFInd), so for booting the kernel, manual config entries must be created as mentioned above.

Also, from the firmware I tried to use the "Boot override" option to load windows boot manager but it doesn't find it. Is it possible that I deleted this? I did mount /boot on sda2 which used to be windows boot...

user_cero

Member

Registered: 2011-08-11

Posts: 5

Re: [solved] trying to Dual-boot arch and w7 but w7 won't boot

I asked around on IRC and it turns out I was not supposed to format the ESP(  mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda1) just mounted. Hence, the reason is not working.

Thanks for your help frank604.