Arch and windows dual boot. [SOLVED]

davidcarvalho · 2010-05-16 11:16:52

Hey archlinux..
First of all let me say that the best thing that I have ever done on a computer is install Arch.
I am enjoying myself learning stuff.

But now i need to dual boot arch with windows. The problem being that I used autoprepare disks while booting arch and now i cant resize my partitions to give me another disk to boot windows.
So now I need a way to resize /dev/sd4 which is 460 Gb by being anle to give windows about 30GB from it. Is it possible without any data corruption. I am relatively new to linux. So please help. I am still trying to find answers on google.....

Last edited by davidcarvalho (2010-05-21 10:32:02)

demian · 2010-05-16 11:39:08

Welcome.

I assume your partition scheme is:
sda1 boot
sda2 swap
sda3 root
sda4 home

Although it's generally possible to resize a partition in this case you can't. Msdos partition tables only allow four primary partitions.

1, the simple solution) delete one partition (swap) and replace it with a windows partition by resizing with Gparted/Parted Magic. You'd have to pass on using swap from then on.

2, more work but more flexibility) backup your files in /home and delete it. Delete the swap partition, too. Now create a new partition for windows as well as an extended partition. Create a new /home and swap within the new extended partition. Copy back your files to the new home and adjust /etc/fstab.

Regards,
demian

davidcarvalho · 2010-05-16 12:53:14

Hey damian,
Thanks very much for the prompt reply. I decided to take the second option. So this is what i did. i tarred scped home to /root. But now i cant delete /home obviously because its mounted. Please tell how to go about it from here. I am assuming that i cant use gparted. and i cannot delete a partition with fdisk

jurkan · 2010-05-16 13:17:30

You can't resize partitions if they are mounted - and if your root isn't mounted, you can't use your system. You will have to use a live cd of your choice to do this (it should already contain gparted/parted or sth. similar or it should at least be "installable" via pacman or similar tools).

demian · 2010-05-16 15:50:06

Yeah, you should download Parted Magic or Gparted, burn it to disc and boot from it.
Although i prefer command-line and cli, resizing is probably done best with GUI.

davidcarvalho · 2010-05-20 03:47:49

hey arch,
so this is what i did:
used gparted and configures my hard drive as follows:

sda1--> windows -->boot
sda2--> extended
sda5--> boot
sda6--> root
sda7--> swap
sda8-->home

then installed xp on sda1 hd(0,0)
it worked fine.
then installed arch with boot at sda5.
but the grub does not load at start up.
i have configured everything as the wiki.
just to check i even made sda5 as boot but then system does not detect a boot partition. what did i do wrong?
this is my windows entry---

# (1) Windows
title Windows
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
#makeactive
chainloader +1

arch i have configured to boot at hd(0,4) as sda5 is /boot

demian · 2010-05-20 10:25:07

You have to install GRUB into the MBR of your harddrive. Boot into live-cd again and do the following:
mount /dev/sda6 /mnt
mount /dev/sda5 /mnt/boot
grub-install --root-directory=/mnt /dev/sda

Regards,
demian

davidcarvalho · 2010-05-20 11:21:41

thanks demian..
you are brilliant...

davidcarvalho · 2010-05-20 14:41:39

hey demian,
i tried exactly what you said and it errors saying usage incorrect

davidcarvalho · 2010-05-21 10:31:09

hey,
So this is what I did. I re installed arch and this time during "grub installation" I installed grub on /dev/sda and not on /dev/sda5(which )
After this it worked very well. No issues. Windows boots without any error too. But I am still not sure what to do exactly when I have to re-install Windows. But that is a problem for another day. For now Solved...
Thanks you everyone.

hokasch · 2010-05-21 10:46:28

still not sure what to do exactly when I have to re-install Windows.

After reinstalling windows, just reinstall grub, for example from an arch live cd.

davidcarvalho · 2010-05-21 14:42:57

hey hokasch,
Thanks for replying. as you can see from above I could not re-install grub.. that is the problem

hokasch · 2010-05-21 15:33:34

Well, afaik grub is not broken and you should be able to install it.

davidcarvalho wrote:

i tried exactly what you said and it errors saying usage incorrect

Next time, just follow up on the "usage incorrect" part - more information about installing grub can be found in the almighty Wiki.

Last edited by hokasch (2010-05-21 15:34:15)

demian · 2010-05-21 15:59:40

Glad you got it right this time

You must have misstyped though.
The line

grub-install --root-directory=/mnt /dev/sda

is correct.

Last edited by demian (2010-05-21 16:00:01)

davidcarvalho · 2010-05-24 11:30:10

hey demian,
nope. I made sure there were no typos. For some reason it just would not work. Could this be because my /boot was on a logical partition? That is what I am wondering atm.

Last edited by davidcarvalho (2010-05-24 11:31:12)

hokasch · 2010-05-24 15:09:28

wiki wrote:

Alternate method (grub-install)
Tip: This procedure is known to be less reliable, the recommended method is to use the GRUB shell.
GRUB will indicate whether it successfully installs. If it does not, you will have to use the GRUB shell method.

Arch Linux

#1 2010-05-16 11:16:52

Arch and windows dual boot. [SOLVED]

#2 2010-05-16 11:39:08

Re: Arch and windows dual boot. [SOLVED]

#3 2010-05-16 12:53:14

Re: Arch and windows dual boot. [SOLVED]

#4 2010-05-16 13:17:30

Re: Arch and windows dual boot. [SOLVED]

#5 2010-05-16 15:50:06

Re: Arch and windows dual boot. [SOLVED]

#6 2010-05-20 03:47:49

Re: Arch and windows dual boot. [SOLVED]

#7 2010-05-20 10:25:07

Re: Arch and windows dual boot. [SOLVED]

#8 2010-05-20 11:21:41

Re: Arch and windows dual boot. [SOLVED]

#9 2010-05-20 14:41:39

Re: Arch and windows dual boot. [SOLVED]

#10 2010-05-21 10:31:09

Re: Arch and windows dual boot. [SOLVED]

#11 2010-05-21 10:46:28

Re: Arch and windows dual boot. [SOLVED]

#12 2010-05-21 14:42:57

Re: Arch and windows dual boot. [SOLVED]

#13 2010-05-21 15:33:34

Re: Arch and windows dual boot. [SOLVED]

#14 2010-05-21 15:59:40

Re: Arch and windows dual boot. [SOLVED]

#15 2010-05-24 11:30:10

Re: Arch and windows dual boot. [SOLVED]

#16 2010-05-24 15:09:28

Re: Arch and windows dual boot. [SOLVED]

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