Arch Linux

ice_pickin

Member

Registered: 2026-07-10

Posts: 2

Need Suggestions for Best Setup for Dual booting with Windows

I wanted to use Arch+Hyperland from a long time & I am wondering the best reliable way for a setup.

What I generally do is : make a separate efi system partition for linux then add the windows one to grub using grub customizer afterwards as pre-installed windows one is small so i wanna avoid in case any complexities that might occur in future

Morever what i've considered is like using separate disks but i do not want that one as i have a laptop not pc (I know it works on laptop too but i don't wanna go that way)

I can go for 2 bootloaders but i use nvidia card and my windows updates are what i'm scared of in having 2 bootloaders

I would really appreciate your help like i need a reliable one

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 20,683

Re: Need Suggestions for Best Setup for Dual booting with Windows

Welcome to the forums.

I am certain I am not in the majority here, but I don't use a boot loader.  If you have a reasonable uEFI implementation on your system, I suggest using an EFI Boot stub. https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/EFI_boot_stub

TL;DR, at startup you tell the pre-boot environment which EFI entry to use.  One can point to the Windows bootloader, and another directly at your kernel.   I also have them set up for booting an LTS kernel and an EFI Shell.  The default is Arch, and (on this system) hitting esc during the built-in test brings up a boot menu.

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ice_pickin

Member

Registered: 2026-07-10

Posts: 2

Re: Need Suggestions for Best Setup for Dual booting with Windows

Thanks will definitely try that one

I'm not sure but will i need 2 efi system partitions one for windows and one for arch so that i can later add other one to boot menu

Last edited by ice_pickin (2026-07-11 05:52:00)

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 76,935

Re: Need Suggestions for Best Setup for Dual booting with Windows

No, you're supposed to have exactly one ESP.
As a matter of fact multiple ESPs on multiple physical disks (likely) *might* be supported by the UEFI but multiple ESPs on the same physical disk will (likely) be not.

Also make sure to read https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Dual_boot_with_Windows - notably the part about windows fast-start (which is also the 3rd link in my signature for a reason )

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