[SOLVED]Windows and Linux running side by side but not dual boot

Cromulent · 2014-11-15 09:04:56

I want to install Linux and Windows side by side but not in dual boot on my UEFI system. From reading the installation guide again in the Arch Linux wiki it appears that something like Gummiboot will do the trick nicely.

So my set up will be as follows:

Windows on /dev/sda
Arch Linux on /dev/sdb

Arch Linux will install Gummiboot to /dev/sdb1 and will install in /boot/efi and Windows will install its boot loader into /dev/sda1 this should add two boot manager options to the UEFI boot screen allowing me to select which boot manager I want to use on my system. Is this correct?

So to recap I'd do the following.

Install Windows to /dev/sda.
Install Arch Linux to /dev/sdb.

Install Gummiboot to /dev/sdb1 (mounted as /boot) using the following commands:

gummiboot --path=/boot install

Create /boot/loader/loader.conf with the following content:

default  arch
timeout  4

Create /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf with the following content:

title          Arch Linux
linux          /vmlinuz-linux
initrd         /initramfs-linux.img
options        root=/dev/mapper/VolGroup00-lv_root rw

Does this look correct?

Last edited by Cromulent (2014-11-16 12:57:10)

nomorewindows · 2014-11-15 09:30:54

Windows boot loader is already present. Gummiboot will just enable Windows and Arch to boot from their prospective entries in UEFI.

Cromulent · 2014-11-15 09:50:37

nomorewindows wrote:

Windows boot loader is already present. Gummiboot will just enable Windows and Arch to boot from their prospective entries in UEFI.

Cool.

So the rest of the stuff I posted looks correct then?

TheSaint · 2014-11-15 09:59:39

You might use efibootmgr to setup your boot option in BIOS and choose for there which OS you want to use.
You might use win bootloader to drive you to the Arch installation
You might use all kind of boot manager as gummiboot, rEFInd
Last you might read this

nomorewindows · 2014-11-15 10:01:09

Prior to UEFI, boot loaders would use chainloading to load a foreign OS. UEFI changes that and expects every OS to conform to UEFI. Don't forget to use BBcode tags. It will need to install the booting partition for Linux under /dev/sdb1 and it will need to place something in the UEFI partition, and would add Linux in the UEFI list. I haven't used gummiboot, but you should look for possible error messages when you run the install script. I have also somehow managed to avoid getting a(n) UEFI system as of yet. From the wiki, path should be your ESP/UEFI partition. It also says that Windows is supposed to be autodetected, so you won't have to bother with that. If I get my hands on an UEFI machine, I might use gummiboot.

Cromulent · 2014-11-15 10:36:27

Cool. Thanks for the tips guys. I'll reinstall Arch today at some point. Gummiboot sounds so much better than GRUB 2 which I have been using up to this point.

I got a bit fed up with GRUB 2 due to it nuking my Windows boot (probably my fault but Gummiboot sounds like it is much harder to make a mistake with). I'm looking forward to getting back into programming on Arch Linux rather than relying on running Linux in virtual machines under Windows.

TheSaint · 2014-11-15 11:54:53

Yeah, grub became cumbersome. I also prefer gummiboot for its simplicity.
You need to remember that a kernel update should go into ESP, so it's better to mount ESP on /boot.

nomorewindows · 2014-11-15 21:45:33

If your bootloader is the problem you don't need to reinstall unless you seriously out of date

drcouzelis · 2014-11-16 02:12:50

Cromulent wrote:

I want to install Linux and Windows side by side but not in dual boot on my UEFI system.

I'm so confused! What does this mean? How can two operating systems be installed side by side but not dual boot?

Everyone responded to you as if it makes perfect sense, so I'm pretty sure that means I'm an idiot for not understanding what you mean...

TheSaint · 2014-11-16 08:10:24

Cromulent wrote:

Arch Linux will install Gummiboot to /dev/sdb1 and will install in /boot/efi and Windows will install its boot loader into /dev/sda1

For this case you may have one ESP each disk. Even though is redundant. The only advantage would be the day you remove one disk you'll be able to find your boot loader in its ESP.
Make sure you know how to prepare ESP partitions.

Cromulent · 2014-11-16 11:09:04

Just wanted to come in here and thank everyone for your help. I had a massive computer session last night where I formatted both my Windows hard drive and Linux hard drive and reinstalled everything from scratch.

In the end decided against having two ESP independent of each other and went with a shared solution. Gummiboot installed first time with no problems and picked up my Windows 7 install (which I use for gaming) without a hitch. I was pretty impressed with the ease of use of gummiboot compared to GRUB 2 and the overall maintenence appears to be very low meaning that I'm less likely to break the boot loader in the future.

I'm now running my nice fresh XFCE Arch Linux desktop and slowly pulling in all my programming projects. So yeah, thanks guys!

mrunion · 2014-11-16 23:16:39

drcouzelis wrote:

Cromulent wrote:
I want to install Linux and Windows side by side but not in dual boot on my UEFI system.
I'm so confused! What does this mean? How can two operating systems be installed side by side but not dual boot?
Everyone responded to you as if it makes perfect sense, so I'm pretty sure that means I'm an idiot for not understanding what you mean...

FWIW, me too. One ESP per OS is still dual booting isn't it? That's how I did my first UEFI install. Anyway, glad it's working for the OP.

Last edited by mrunion (2014-11-16 23:17:03)

nomorewindows · 2014-11-17 01:01:58

mrunion wrote:

drcouzelis wrote:
Cromulent wrote:
I want to install Linux and Windows side by side but not in dual boot on my UEFI system.
I'm so confused! What does this mean? How can two operating systems be installed side by side but not dual boot?
Everyone responded to you as if it makes perfect sense, so I'm pretty sure that means I'm an idiot for not understanding what you mean...
FWIW, me too. One ESP per OS is still dual booting isn't it? That's how I did my first UEFI install. Anyway, glad it's working for the OP.

I guess it could be that running side by side could be a reference to CoLinux, but it's only good for 32-bits ATM. If Windows were running side by side with Linux, does it still have to stop and reboot? One ESP per disk I think was the throw of this thread, just like one MBR per disk.

Last edited by nomorewindows (2014-11-17 01:37:57)

Arch Linux

#1 2014-11-15 09:04:56

[SOLVED]Windows and Linux running side by side but not dual boot

#2 2014-11-15 09:30:54

Re: [SOLVED]Windows and Linux running side by side but not dual boot

#3 2014-11-15 09:50:37

Re: [SOLVED]Windows and Linux running side by side but not dual boot

#4 2014-11-15 09:59:39

Re: [SOLVED]Windows and Linux running side by side but not dual boot

#5 2014-11-15 10:01:09

Re: [SOLVED]Windows and Linux running side by side but not dual boot

#6 2014-11-15 10:36:27

Re: [SOLVED]Windows and Linux running side by side but not dual boot

#7 2014-11-15 11:54:53

Re: [SOLVED]Windows and Linux running side by side but not dual boot

#8 2014-11-15 21:45:33

Re: [SOLVED]Windows and Linux running side by side but not dual boot

#9 2014-11-16 02:12:50

Re: [SOLVED]Windows and Linux running side by side but not dual boot

#10 2014-11-16 08:10:24

Re: [SOLVED]Windows and Linux running side by side but not dual boot

#11 2014-11-16 11:09:04

Re: [SOLVED]Windows and Linux running side by side but not dual boot

#12 2014-11-16 23:16:39

Re: [SOLVED]Windows and Linux running side by side but not dual boot

#13 2014-11-17 01:01:58

Re: [SOLVED]Windows and Linux running side by side but not dual boot

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