Arch Linux

Rumanoid

Member

Registered: 2016-02-14

Posts: 24

[solved] Dualbooting Arch with Windows 8.1

This is going to be my first try of Arch. I have used various distro's before, mainly debian based. Since I've recently gotten a new laptop, I wanted to try dualbooting arch with the already installed windows 8.1.
My setup is as follows:
  Lenovo Y500 laptop with 2 harddisks
    16GB SSD, gparted says filesystem unknown
    1TB HDD
      1GB recovery | 260mb EFI | 1GB OEM | 880GB Windows (C:) | 350MB Recovery | 25GB Lenovo (D:) | 20GB recovery

So, to install Arch, what partitions should I resize, and where should I install arch and the bootloader.
Also, does anyone now whats up with the unknown filesystem on the SSD, can I reformat and put arch there?
And why are there so many recovery partitions?

I might be posting in the wrong subforum, I'm new here

Last edited by Rumanoid (2016-02-18 06:51:54)

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 20,349

Re: [solved] Dualbooting Arch with Windows 8.1

Welcome to the Arch Linux forums.   What reference are you using as a guide? 
Have you seen this article? https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Du … th_Windows

Please post the output of lsblk when booted from the install media.

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Rumanoid

Member

Registered: 2016-02-14

Posts: 24

Re: [solved] Dualbooting Arch with Windows 8.1

Output from lsblk:

NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda      8:0    0  14.9G  0 disk 
└─sda1   8:1    0  14.9G  0 part 
sdb      8:16   0 931.5G  0 disk 
├─sdb1   8:17   0  1000M  0 part 
├─sdb2   8:18   0   260M  0 part 
├─sdb3   8:19   0  1000M  0 part 
├─sdb4   8:20   0   128M  0 part 
├─sdb5   8:21   0 883.9G  0 part 
├─sdb6   8:22   0   350M  0 part 
├─sdb7   8:23   0    25G  0 part 
└─sdb8   8:24   0    20G  0 part 
sdc      8:32   1   3.8G  0 disk 
└─sdc1   8:33   1   3.8G  0 part /run/archiso/bootmnt
loop0    7:0    0 307.8M  1 loop /run/archiso/sfs/airootfs

TheSaint

Member

From: my computer

Registered: 2007-08-19

Posts: 1,532

Re: [solved] Dualbooting Arch with Windows 8.1

Have you tried a search like dual boot archlinux site:archlinux.org
Beside that, first you should shrink the windows partition to allocate for archlinux. Probably best tool should be a live distro (like ArchBang) and a tool like gparted. But before any attempt make sure you can revert to original conditions by a full backup.
Better than lsblk it would be blkid to see all partition details.

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

x33a

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2009-08-15

Posts: 4,587

Re: [solved] Dualbooting Arch with Windows 8.1

Beside that, first you should shrink the windows partition to allocate for archlinux. Probably best tool should be a live distro (like ArchBang) and a tool like gparted.

GParted comes with its own live version. It's better not to recommend Arch derivatives to new comers as they might mistake them for Arch Linux itself.

TheSaint

Member

From: my computer

Registered: 2007-08-19

Posts: 1,532

Re: [solved] Dualbooting Arch with Windows 8.1

OK, I rectify. For (re-)partitioning one can use parted. As more resource, can look at freeware partitioning tool.

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

Rumanoid

Member

Registered: 2016-02-14

Posts: 24

Re: [solved] Dualbooting Arch with Windows 8.1

I now have a good and running arch installation, thanks for the help.
I resized the windows C partition, installed arch to that, and made the bootloader go to sdb2, the system's EFI partition.

x33a

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2009-08-15

Posts: 4,587

Re: [solved] Dualbooting Arch with Windows 8.1

@Rumanoid, please mark the thread as solved.

TheSaint

Member

From: my computer

Registered: 2007-08-19

Posts: 1,532

Re: [solved] Dualbooting Arch with Windows 8.1

As reference for other you might describe your procedures.

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