Arch Linux

hermite

Member

Registered: 2015-02-03

Posts: 5

Invalid EFI file path when dual boot

I'm trying to dual boot arch linux with windows 7.
I have windows 7 and my plan for partition is

sda      4:0       128g           <- SSD
├─sda1   4:1    0   70g     0 part    <- windows 7 already installed.
├─sda2   4:2    0   4g       0 part    <- /swap
├─sda3   4:3    0   500m  0 part    <- /boot
├─sda4   4:4    0    40g    0 part    <- /, /usr, /usr/local, /opt
sdb      2:0       500g           <- HDD
├─sdb1   2:1    0   150g  0 part    <- windows D drive
├─sdb2   2:2    0   350g  0 part    <- /var, /home, /tmp

Also, my motherboard supports UEFI boot.
Following Beginner's guide, I formatted sda2, sda3, sda4, sdb2 typing

# mkfs.ext4          /dev/sda2
# mkfs.vfat -F32     /dev/sda3
# mkfs.ext4          /dev/sda4
# mkfs.ext4          /dev/sdb2

and I mounted /boot on sda3.
After installing grub,  I typed

# grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Then to make windows7 menu on grub, following Linux menu entry , I modified /etc/grub.d/40_custom file as

#!/bin/sh
exec tail -n +3 $0

# Windows 7
menuentry "Windows 7" {
	set root="(hd0,1)"
	chainloader +1
}

Finishing arch installation and rebooting,  I could see the windows 7 section  on grub boot menu,
but if I choose windows7, it prints error

error: invalid EFI file path
press any key to continue...

Actually, there was one more error message at first line,
but seeing this error message and reinstalling again and again,
I think something was twisted, and now I can't boot windows either...
So I'm reinstalling windows.

What is the correct way to dual boot windows and arch?

Last edited by hermite (2015-02-04 00:54:00)

TheSaint

Member

From: my computer

Registered: 2007-08-19

Posts: 1,523

Re: Invalid EFI file path when dual boot

Please post

# blkid /dev/sda3

I think your sda3 should be flagged with EF00.

EDIT
Then the windows menu entry fails to be correct if you don't specify which module to load by insmod. See the wiki

Last edited by TheSaint (2015-02-04 05:40:51)

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do it good first, it will be faster than do it twice the saint

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: London

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 7,732

Website

Re: Invalid EFI file path when dual boot

It looks like your Windows system was booting in non-EFI mode and so does not have a bootloader on the EFI system partition.

When you have re-installed Windows, check the partition table from the Arch ISO (`parted -l`) -- if there is no EFI system partition (type EF00) then you should install Arch in non-EFI mode (don't use FAT for /boot) and install GRUB using:

# grub-install --target=i386-pc --recheck /dev/sda

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Be … therboards

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Are you infected with Wetiko?