Dual boot system: unable to boot Windows

Hello guys!
I've read a lot of resources about this problem, but I didn't find any solution yet. Hope you can help me.
I'm trying to install Arch in a disk that already has a Windows partition.
I've followed all steps described in Begginers Instalation Guide but, after Grub is installed and boot files are generated, after the reboort I'm able to boot in the new Arch system, but Windows keeps unreachable.
I receive an error just saying that the system couldn't boot properly (meaningless, I know).
My harddrive is setted with a GPT table.
So, I've followed what's described in arch's guide: I've created a separated boot partition of 300Mb, formatted as EXT4, and an extra UEFI partition, formatted as ef00 in gparted, with ~3Mb.
I've installed Grub normally in boot partition and created the boot files.
After all, Windows keeps refusing to boot.
I can't format Windows partition, since I still use it for my job and I'll spend a lot of time I don't have to reconfigure everything.
I just need to know the correct step-by-step I need to follow my case.
The whole Arch System is configured and running well (without UI yet). So, I'm just having troubles with boot manager.
Some extra informations:
MACHINE: MSI GT70 2OD
DISK TABLE TIPE: GPT
WINDOWS INSTALLED: Windows 7 64bits
If you guys need any extra information, feel free to ask.
I'll provide it as soon as possible.
Thanks in advance for your support, and have a nice week o/

A few points:
When posting the output of `lsblk -f`, this needs to be done after you have (arch-)chroot'ed into the target root partition, otherwise the mountpoints don't show up.
You claim that you created "an extra EFI partition" -- this is not present in the `gdisk -l` output: why not?
What was the original GRUB install command that was used (as described in the original post)? You can boot into Arch, so clearly that worked...
I really don't understand how Arch managed to boot at all if you were running a non-EFI system from a GPT disk without a BIOS Boot Partition -- this should not be possible!
I didn't realized that.
I'll perform all steps again, taking in count the observations above and post the result here.
I think I've taken the SS after a try of making the system work, so maybe I've deleted the partition.
Don't worry, I'll redo all the steps again and give you a more accurate situation
About booting in Arch, in one of my tries I've achieved to install Grub successfully (I don't remember which configuration I've used). Arch loaded perfectly, but Windows not, and after that I've tried many configurations.
I think you must have deleted one or more of the partitions needed by Windows during the Arch installation proceedure.
No, I'm pretty sure I haven't deleted anything.
As I said, before running any command to install Arch I've checked my partition table and no boot partition, from both Windows or Linux, was present.
I'll recreate the steps and give you guys a clearer view about the problem.
Thanks again, and sorry about the messy

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Lenovo C340 i3 System - Dual boot windows 7 / 8 cant load windows 7 please help

Hi there
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hi botards01,
If you're planning to use linux occasionally (Ubuntu for example) and you don't want to risk losing the One Key Recovery functionality, try to install Ubuntu via Wubi as this doesn't repartition your HDD but creates a virtual disk on your current OS.
Check it out - Install Ubuntu in Windows With Wubi
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I want to dual boot Windows 8 on my 20-inch, Mid 2007 iMac, from an external USB drive.

I want to dual boot Windows 8 on my 20-inch, Mid 2007 iMac, from an external USB drive. The internal drive is completely dead, it doesn't even show up in Disk Utility. I'm running 10.8.2 from the external drive. When I start Boot Camp Assistant, at the Introduction page, when I press the continue button nothing happens. Do I have to have internal drive to run Boot Camp Assistant? Can anyone provide me with the steps to dual boot, with his setup? Thanks in advance!

Hi maczimillon,
Only follow these steps, it works for my:
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Then you can follow the usual Boot Camp installation using your WIN8 DVD iso image . The assistant program will proceed resizing your disk partition and installing necessary drivers for your iMac.
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Y500 dual boot windows 8 and fedora 19 problem

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windows failed to start
file:\BOOT\BCD
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hi,
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Hi,
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[SOLVED] dual booting windows 7 with btrfs on grub-bios -- core.img

I am trying to install arch in a dual boot configuration with an existing windows 7 partition. I have everything from the beginner's guide done but the bootloader. When I run grub-install it tells me that core.img is too big.
Some googling tells me that this is relatively common with btrfs, and it seems the only work around is to switch to gpt mode and use a grub bios partition. But the info I've seen indicates that I need to use MBR mode to dual boot windows.
Is it safe to do this with windows? Is there another workaround? Or will I have to settle for ext4?
Last edited by jorenko (2013-06-09 03:53:24)

Well there's your problem, your first partition starts at sector 63. With recent versions of windows and fdisk (and every other partitioning tool I can think of off the top of my head) things now align themselves correctly. Also because there is now GPT, the first partition typically starts later as the GPT partition table will typically sit between the MBR and the first partition.
On a MBR partitioned system, grub2 will actually use the first 446 bytes like normal, but will then also use the space that is empty where GPT would sit. This is why when you have a GPT partitioned system, it will require you to create a 1-2MB grub boot partition, as it needs somewhere else to put its bloat. GPT actually still uses the MBR section, but simply creates one large partition covering the whole disk. This is so that tools that are not GPT aware will not think that they have a whole free disk to use as they please.
For comparison, here is whe I get from fdisk:
# fdisk -l /dev/sda
sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda
[sudo] password for curtisshima:
WARNING: fdisk GPT support is currently new, and therefore in an experimental phase. Use at your own discretion.
Disk /dev/sda: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes, 488397168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk label type: gpt
# Start End Size Type Name
1 2048 2099199 1G EFI System EFI System
2 2099200 252166798 119.2G Linux filesyste arch-btrfs-1
3 252168192 488397134 112.7G Linux filesyste arch-btrfs-3
Note that I do use GPT. But that is not the point here. What I am trying to show is where my first partition starts. This is also where fdisk will start partitions these days. This is to ensure compatibility with 4k advanced format disks.
If you are not dead set on Grub2, you could try using syslinux. I really like it much better, though if you are booting more than one Linux, you need to either employ chainloading to various partition boot records, or have a shared /boot. Having a windows partition doens't really matter, as you are simply chainloading to that funky reserved partition anyway.
The other option is to use grub-legacy, which can still be found in the AUR. I actually liked the orginal Grub, as it provided a nice feature set, but was still configurable by hand and it actually fit into the MBR.

Dual booting Windows 8 and Arch Linux with UEFI

Hi all!
I'm trying to install Arch Linux on my computer where I already have Windows 8, and I'm getting a little stuck when it comes to the partitioning.
Following the beginner's guide and the method here: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Un … n_in_Linux for setting up the partitions properly, regarding UEFI. My problem is that when using cgdisk to set up a new EFI system partition (ef00), I get an error message when trying to write the partition table (just saying that something went wrong). I figure the problem is that I already have a partition like this (correct me if I'm wrong), but it really looks like it succeded (see info below). So my question is: How do I preceed to keep my Windows 8 installation happy, but installing Arch? Do I remove the old EFI system partition and create a new one, or is there some method that allows me to edit the already existing one, to allow me to dual boot Windows 8 and Arch?
My partition table now looks like this:
Part. # Size Partition Type Partition Name
1007KB free space
1 500MB Windows RE Basic data partition
2 300MB EFI System EFI system partition (this one was already present on my system)
3 128MB Microsoft reserved Microsoft reserved partition
4 63.5GB Microsoft basic data Basic data partition
8 512MB EFI System EFI System partition (this is the one I tried to create when I got the error message)
5 29.5GB Linux filesystem Arch (this is where I was going to put my Arch installation)
6 22GB Windows RE Basic data partition
7 1024MB Windows RE Basic data partition
615KB free space
Just for the record; I only created partition #8 and #5.
Any help is appreciated! And sorry for beeing a total noob, but I really suck at this.

sudo make sandwich wrote:If it is possible to share ESP between OSes, how do I do this (would it be sufficent to follow this section: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners'_Guide#For_UEFI_motherboards)?
There's really very little to do to share an ESP between OSes. Most OS installers will auto-detect the ESP and use it. Problem solved. For Arch it may be a bit more effort just because Arch uses a more hands-on installation process, but I've only done a couple of Arch installations, and the last one was several months ago, so I don't recall the details clearly enough to comment.
And how big will the partition need to be? The beginner's guide says 512MB or higher.
I don't know what was in the mind of the author, but my guess is that's because that's roughly the cutoff point where mkdosfs starts creating FAT32 by default rather than FAT16. The ESP is officially supposed to be FAT32, not FAT16, although FAT16 usually works OK. It's also possible to create FAT32 on smaller partitions by using an explicit option to mkdosfs ("-F 32").
The optimal size of the ESP depends on the files stored on it. If you don't store your Linux kernels, something as small as 100MiB is usually adequate; but a few Linux kernels and their initrd files can consume twice that amount. My own recommendation is for the ESP to be 200-500MiB.
The only error message I got from cgdisk is "Problem saving data! Your partition table may be damaged!", however booting Windows again works fine. Parted did not complain about antything.
Use the "verify" function in cgdisk. That will reveal any problems with the data structures. If a verify turns up OK, then that means that cgdisk ran into some sort of disk problem. Running gdisk rather than cgdisk and using the gdisk "w" option (without making any changes) may produce a more helpful error message.

Dual boot Windows 7 and Arch from 2 seperate drives (UEFI)

Hello everyone, I've been working on installing Arch to a secondary hard drive for the past few hours, but I am trying to make sure I won't mess up my Windows 7 install. I have found several topics talking about dual booting Windows 7 and Arch, but not a whole lot on booting them from separate drives. My drives are currently setup as follows.
sda (120GB SSD for Windows 7)
sda1 (100MB System Reserved NTFS partition)
sda2 (Windows 7 install)
sdb (1TB HDD for Windows programs, files, etc)
sdb1 (1TB NTFS partition)
sdc (1TB HDD)
sdc1 (boot 512MB FAT32)
sdc2 (root 500MB ext4)
sdc3 (home 300GB ext4)
sdc4 (swap 10GB)
rest unallocated "free space"
I used Gparted to create the partitions. I ended up getting hung up on the "Create Filesystems" sections, specifically this line"
# mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sdXY
Now that I am looking at it, I'm thinking the "Create Filesystems" section maybe isn't necessary because I've used Gparted?
If it isn't necessary, when I get to the "mount the EFI System Partition to /boot" section, would I simply use
# mount /dev/sdc1 /mnt/boot
instead of
# mount /dev/sdXY /mnt/boot ?
The way I had this setup with Ubuntu was 3 partitions on sdc (/, home, swap) and I set my PC to boot to the sdc drive on startup. The boot loader would then give me the option to boot into Ubuntu or Windows 7, and I never had to alter the sda or sdb drives at all. Is this possible through Arch? My thinking is that even if it isn't, I should still be able to enter the BIOS boot menu and select which drive to boot manually correct? That wouldn't be too big of a deal for me because I spend 90% of my time in Linux, and only use Windows for Photoshop and gaming occasionally.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. I would have just tested this out, but I am afraid of messing up my Windows install.

After several sleepless hours I had to give up and go to bed about 5 hours ago. The installation process went smoothly (or so I thought). I followed the tutorial closely and upon rebooting I was met with a blinking cursor. After some googling I found others who said I should press TAB, but nothing seemed to work.
I rebooted to the iso disk and found the "boot installed OS" option and noticed it said "Press TAB to edit". I then found the boot parameters and tried everything from hd0 0 to hd4 4. I believe I have Grub setup correctly because every option besides hd0 0 either says "Booting..." and then gets stuck, or says "That disk and partition combination does not exist". So yea, I think hd0 0 is the correct boot path, it just gets stuck with the blinking cursor.
silverhammermba wrote:
You have the right idea. You want to install a bootloader on sdc1 which will be able to boot both Arch and Windows.
Your best bet would be to use something like rEFInd. It has a "scanfor" option that should automatically detect your BIOS-configured Windows installation and add a boot option for it. Note that depending on your motherboard, you may have to switch to UEFI-only mode and Windows will be unbootable without the assistance of a UEFI program which is backwards compatible with BIOS (like rEFInd).
Thank you for the link. Considering I can't get into my install and the actual install only took about 30 minutes, I think I am going to just start from the beginning again with REFIndr. It seems much simpler. I only used Grub because I've used it before with Ubuntu, but my very limited knowledge is telling me Grub is probably the problem.
MoonSwan wrote:Just an idea: My bios has a "Boot-up Prompt" which I can invoke when it's POSTing by hitting F11. This brings me to a menu that allows me to choose which drive I want to boot up that day. I use it when Syslinux isn't working properly (Which is right now as a matter of fact ...) in order to boot Windows so I can do some SCII, for example. I, too, dual-boot but I have both OSes on different SSDs. So my 120GB Crucial SSD has Arch on it and the 240GB Kingston has Windows, SCII, Portable Apps, etc and nary the two shall meet. It makes dual-booting easier in the case of a corrupt OS or MBR or what-have-you. You may want to give your Bios a better look to see if you can do the F11 trick. It probably can and will usually tell you so at POST by printing that information on-screen along with your drives-detected and other messages (I hit Pause sometimes to read all the POST messages).
This is exactly what I was talking about doing when I mentioned:
My thinking is that even if it isn't, I should still be able to enter the BIOS boot menu and select which drive to boot manually correct?
That's good to know, because even if this next install doesn't work I think if I pull the other drives I should be able to get it working fairly easily.
Thanks again everyone.

Dual Boot Windows 7 and Arch with Shared NTFS partition.

Hi everyone,
I want to dual boot windows 7 and Arch Linux.
Here's the problem... my hard drive isn't the biggest. I want to store all my music, movies, pictures, and documents on partition that both linux and windows can access seamlessly.
I want the partition to be NTFS. -- (the programs that map an ext4 drive to Windows are trash).
Here's what I think I need.
30GB NTFS to Windows.
30GB ext4 to Arch Linux
The remainder (190ish GB) to Shared Data.
I don't want the swap partition because I have a SSD and 4GB of RAM.
What is the best way to setup my partitions? And is this even possible?
Thanks!

Not a problem. I would create:
First of four primary partitions for windows.
Second of four primary partitions for /boot
Third of four partitions is an extended partition encompassing all the space not used by the first two partitions.
Put everything else inside the extended partition.
Mine is a bit more complicated, but this should give you an idea:
ewaller@odin:~ 1005 %sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda
Password:
Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x87b33479
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2048 121778159 60888056 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2 597366784 625135615 13884416 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 121778160 597366783 237794312 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 * 121778223 123770219 995998+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 123770283 131770589 4000153+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7 193213818 597360959 202073571 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 131781258 193213754 30716248+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda9 131770591 131781194 5302 1 FAT12
Partition table entries are not in disk order
ewaller@odin:~ 1006 %
Partitions 1 and 2 are Primary partitions. Partition 3 is an extended partition. All the others live in partition 3

How to best partition the HDD for dual boot: Windows 8 & Linux

Hi,
I'm a newbie in Windows 8, linux, Partition....
I would like to use my new laptop with windows 8 pre-installed to the following:
Create a Dual Boot Windows 8 / Ubuntu
Create on my C drive (unique drive on my laptop):
*a partition for the system
*one for Windows 8
*one for Data and
*last one for Ubuntu OS
My aim is :
-to install VmWare on Windows 8 and run Checkpoint Splat with virtual machines to perform CCSA labs.
to install GNS3 on Ubuntu for CCNP labs but with GNS3 accessing files in the Data partition
I have a Toshiba Satellite with 750Gb and 8 Go RAM.
According to you what's the best size for my partitions?
Is there a better way to partition my C drive regarding my aim?
Best Regards
***I don't know if it's the right section, sorry for that. Feel free to move this thread in the appropriate section***

Hi,
Thank you all,
Isn't it too much 200G for Windows as i will on ly install VMWARE Workstation 9 for lab purposes and possibly a few softwares.
VMWARE installed on Windows will require 2 GB + 1 GB per host (i will use approximatively 15 hosts).
Checkpoint products will be installed on VMWARE that is installed in Windows :
- disk space needed for 3 Checkpoint gateways: 3*37 GB
- disk space needed for 2 Checkpoint gateways management servers: 2*10 GB
On Linux I'll install GNS3 with 10 GB disk space required and a few softwares.
I've got a Toshiba stellite computer with Windows 8 pre-installed.
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3210M CPU @2.5 Ghz
RAM: 8 Go
64 bits OS, processor x64
See below the screenshot
I've taken screenshot of my partition (below).
* Don't take into account the disk 1 (E) partition
Can u confirm that in Disk o, partitions with 450 Mo, 260 Mo and 9.48 Go are for recovery system?
I am planning to let the recovery partition as it is and divide the TI30985500A (C) partition (688 Gb) into:
- 200 Gb windows partition
-100 Gb Linux partition
-388 Gb data partition
What do you think about this partionning regarding the informations i've provided above?
Greets

Dual Booting Windows and Solaris

Hi
how do i dual boot windows and solaris
Do i install windows first and then solaris or do it the other way around..?
how do i make sure that Windows and Solaris appear in my boot options..?
Is their a guide on doing this...?
Thanks
Liam

Hey I did a quick google search for you. So I havent tried this method myself but it sounds reasonable.
The text below is from the following link:
http://www.hccfl.edu/pollock/AUnix1/DualBoot.htm
"Solaris boot loader
Partition the drive to leave at least 2GB of space available for Solaris;
more drive space is desirable.
As with Linux, install Windows first then Solaris.
Do not use the Installation CD but boot and install
from Software CD 1.
If you accept the default partitioning scheme which
the installer provides you will soon run out of space in
your / and /usr partitions since only enough space is
allocated to install the system.
All extra space is allocated to /export/home.
A typical installation on a 4.5GB partition might look
something like this:
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/dsk/c0d0s0 900M 536M 310M 64% /
/dev/dsk/c0d0s1 334M 109M 192M 36% /var
swap 671M 8.0k 671M 1% /var/run
swap 671M 8.0k 671M 1% /tmp
/dev/dsk/c0d0s5 845M 222M 565M 29% /opt
# (FAT32 partition):
/dev/dsk/c0d0p0:1 5.0G 3.3G 1.6G 66% /c
/dev/dsk/c0d0s7 1.1G 92M 954M 9% /export/home
/dev/dsk/c0d0s4 752M 225M 474M 33% /usr/local
The Solaris boot selector enables you to choose either
Solaris or Windows with Solaris as the default.
(I prefer grub or lilo!)
To mount FAT under Solaris:
# mount -F pcfs /dev/dsk/c0d0p0:c /dos (or �:1�?)
And the vfstab file:
/dev/dsk/c0d0p0:c - /dos pcfs - yes -
To create a GRUB boot floppy, follow these steps:
$ mkfs -t ext2 /dev/fd0
$ mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/fd0
$ mkdir /mnt/fd0/boot /mnt/fd0/boot/grub
$ cp /boot/grub/stage[12] /boot/grub/grub.conf \
> /mnt/fd0/boot/grub
$ /sbin/grub --batch <
Hope this helps!
/Oscar

Advice on dual-booting Windows 7 with UEFI motherboard

I'm going to build a desktop PC tomorrow, having finally purchased all the parts for it. I'll be installing Arch as my main OS, and Windows for gaming. However I'm not really versed in UEFI and its uses, advantages/disadvantages; since my laptop just uses BIOS.
My plan is to have 3 drives: 32GB SSD for the / partition, 1TB HDD for /home, and 500GB for Windows 7 x64 Ultimate.
Being unused to UEFI I was thinking about trying to just run everything in BIOS/Legacy mode, but that doesn't seem very sensible to me, especially since I have the hardware so I might as well use it.
So, reading the wiki and forums have led me to conclude that having a 1GB EFI System Partition on the SSD should be sufficient, and use gummiboot for my bootloader.
Other reading about setting up dual boots suggests to me that installing Windows 7 on its own HDD with MBR partitioning and Arch on a separate (set of) drive(s) with GPT partitioning will be sufficient. The reason being that if the BIOS is set up to boot sda, which has GRUB as its bootloader, using GRUB I can choose to boot into Windows despite it being on a separate hard drive.
My questions are (and it occurs to me that I am in the most part just looking to have my ideas confirmed):
1. Have I gotten this all completely wrong?
2. If I'm correct, can the above system of using GRUB on one drive to boot up an OS on another drive be applied to UEFI?
3. Has anybody tried/succeeded/failed to dual-boot in this fashion before me, and if so what did they do?
Thanks one and all! Hopefully I've made myself clear enough here

billodwyer wrote:Being unused to UEFI I was thinking about trying to just run everything in BIOS/Legacy mode, but that doesn't seem very sensible to me, especially since I have the hardware so I might as well use it.
Using BIOS/CSM/legacy mode can work fine; however, it will probably slow down the boot process by a few seconds, and it will close off some possible future (and even current) advantages, as EFI support in Linux is improved.
So, reading the wiki and forums have led me to conclude that having a 1GB EFI System Partition on the SSD should be sufficient, and use gummiboot for my bootloader.
A 1GB ESP is more than sufficient. In terms of space requirements, 100-500MB is enough, depending on how you use the ESP; but various bugs and default settings make me recommend 550MiB as a good size. Bigger is OK, but wastes some disk space.
A bigger issue is that the ESP won't really benefit much from being on your SSD, since it's read once at boot time. The biggest advantage to putting the ESP on the SSD in your setup is that if you use gummiboot, you'll also have to put the Linux kernel and initrd file on the ESP, so having them on an SSD will speed up the boot process by about 1-5 seconds. Overall, I'd probably put the ESP on one of the spinning disks.
One more comment: gummiboot can launch boot loaders from its own partition but not from other partitions. This can work fine if you plan things carefully, but with three disks and two OSes, you must be absolutely positive that Windows uses the ESP on which gummiboot is installed. I'm not an expert on Windows installation, so I can't offer any specific pointers or caveats on this. If you need something with more flexibility, both rEFInd and GRUB can redirect the boot process to other partitions or physical disks. rEFInd can also redirect from an EFI-mode boot to a BIOS/CSM/legacy-mode boot. (See below.) Overall, rEFInd's flexibility on this score is a plus compared to gummiboot; but gummiboot is covered in the Arch wiki's beginner's guide, which is a plus. You'll have to pick which advantage you prefer. (Note that I'm rEFInd's maintainer, so I'm not unbiased.)
Other reading about setting up dual boots suggests to me that installing Windows 7 on its own HDD with MBR partitioning and Arch on a separate (set of) drive(s) with GPT partitioning will be sufficient. The reason being that if the BIOS is set up to boot sda, which has GRUB as its bootloader, using GRUB I can choose to boot into Windows despite it being on a separate hard drive.
This is an unworkable idea, at least as stated and if you want to do an EFI-mode boot. Windows ties the partition table type to the boot mode: Windows boots from MBR disks only in BIOS mode, and from GPT disks only in EFI mode. Thus, using MBR for the Windows disk will require a BIOS/CSM/legacy-mode installation of Windows. Furthermore, neither gummiboot nor GRUB can redirect from EFI mode to BIOS mode (or vice-versa), so if you do it this way, you'll be forcing yourself to boot Linux in BIOS mode, to switch between BIOS-mode and EFI-mode boots at the firmware level (which isn't always easily controlled), or to use rEFInd to redirect from an EFI-mode boot to a BIOS-mode Windows boot.
Overall, you're best off either using GPT for all your disks and booting all your OSes in EFI mode or using MBR for Windows (and perhaps all your disks) and using BIOS-mode booting for all your OSes.
Under EFI, the boot process is controlled by settings in the NVRAM, which you can adjust with "efibootmgr" in Linux, "bcfg" in an EFI shell, or "bcdedit" in Windows. (The Arch wiki covers the basics at least efibootmgr and bcfg.) In a typical dual-boot setup, you tell the computer to launch your preferred boot manager (EFI-mode GRUB, rEFInd, or gummiboot, most commonly), which then controls the boot process. You set up boot loaders for all your OSes on one or more ESPs. (Note: A boot manager lets you choose which boot loader to run, and a boot loader loads the kernel into memory. GRUB is both a boot manager and a boot loader. rEFInd and gummiboot are both boot managers. The EFI stub loader, ELILO, and the EFI version of SYSLINUX are all boot loaders but not boot managers. Most EFIs include their own boot manager, but it's usually primitive and awkward to use. It's also not standardized, so my computer's built-in boot manager is likely to be different from yours. Thus, I recommend against relying on the built-in boot manager for anything but launching your preferred boot manager.) Thus, the lowest-common-denominator type of setup is to put your preferred boot manager, the Windows boot loader, and a Linux boot loader (which could mean your Linux kernel) on a single ESP. If you want to use multiple ESPs or otherwise split things up, you cannot use gummiboot as the boot manager, since it can't redirect the boot process from one partition to another. (Many EFIs can do this with their own built-in boot managers, but this isn't guaranteed, and it's usually more awkward than using rEFInd or GRUB.)
I know this can be a lot to absorb. The official rules aren't really all that complex, but different EFIs interpret the rules differently, and the different capabilities of the various boot managers and boot loaders creates a lot of subtle implications for how you set everything up.
1. Have I gotten this all completely wrong?
Significant parts of it, I'm afraid; see above. You're working under BIOS assumptions, which don't apply to EFI.
2. If I'm correct, can the above system of using GRUB on one drive to boot up an OS on another drive be applied to UEFI?
GRUB can do this, but gummiboot can't. You set one of those (or something else, like rEFInd) as your primary boot manager. Using both GRUB and gummiboot adds unnecessary complexity, IMHO. OTOH, setting up multiple boot managers or boot loaders is possible, and can give you a fallback in case one fails. For instance, there's a known bug that affects 3.7 and later kernels, mostly on Lenovo computers, that causes the EFI stub loader to fail sometimes. Thus, if you use rEFInd, gummiboot, or the EFI's own boot manager to launch the kernel via the EFI stub loader, having GRUB, ELILO, or SYSLINUX set up as a fallback can provide helpful insurance in case a kernel upgrade causes your normal boot process to fail.
3. Has anybody tried/succeeded/failed to dual-boot in this fashion before me, and if so what did they do?
Many people dual-boot Windows and Linux under EFI. There are a huge number of possible solutions. My own Windows/Linux dual-boot system uses:
rEFInd
rEFInd's EFI filesystem drivers
Linux kernels on Linux-native /boot partitions (two partitions, one for each of the two distributions installed on that computer)
The Windows boot loader on the ESP
This works well for me, but it wouldn't work with gummiboot instead of rEFInd, since gummiboot can't redirect the boot process to another partition. (gummiboot also can't automatically load filesystem drivers.) Arch Linux users who use gummiboot often mount the ESP at /boot, which enables gummiboot to easily launch the Linux kernel. Doing this with multiple Linux distributions would be awkward, though, since you'd end up with two distributions' kernels in the same directory.

Edge e520 i5 UEFI/GPT Dual boot Windows/Ubuntu

Hi!
I have an Edge e520 1143GVG. It has an UEFI-Board with Win7/64 on MBR-Harddisk.
What I want:
GPT-Partition scheme and dual boot Windows 7/64 and ubuntu 14.04/64.
I managed to backup the partitions on an external HDD, install GPT on Harddisk, recopy saved Partitions and have now a fully running Win7/64 on GPT-System (it wasn't that easy as it seems here).
Next Step is to install Ubuntu on a separate Partition. I took a standard Ubuntu boot-CD, startet the pc with that boot disk (Board-Settings: UEFI/BIOS "Both", UEFI First) and installed Ubuntu without any trouble. Unfortunately no boot entry has been generated, so I tried to add one with EasyBCD. That doesn't work, an error is shown like "Windows cannot be startet, no valid file /NST/grub.mbr" or something like that.
I think the reason is that the cd booted in BIOS Mode, not UEFI. If I set board setting to "UEFI only", the boot CD will not start. So I built a bootable Ubuntu USB-Flashdrive with GPT-Scheme, but it didn't start as well.
After that I updated BIOS hoping UEFI-Boot from external devices will be possible then. It isn't.
The e520-board seems to be outdated or faulty, it is not possible to boot from USB or CD in UEFI-Mode.
Does anyone knows a solution? Will Lenovo update the BIOS?
kr,
Bernd Hollermann, Germany

I have to update my problem:
booting in gpt/uefi-mode is impossible from usb-key, but is ok from DVD. I managed to install Ubuntu now, everything runs well, after I took a 64-bit version on a dvd.

Dual boot windows from USB via grub?

HI all:
I recently had a motherboard failure on an existing PC on which I dual-booted Windows XP and Gentoo. I replaced that box with a new HP PC preloaded with Vista. Wiped that immediately, and installed ARCH. But, I would like to also boot XP, and, since my old hard drive is still OK (I have it in an external USB adapter), I was thinking that I might configure grub to point at an external USB drive like this:
# Windows XP
title Windows XP
root (hd1,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1
where "hd1" (I hope) would point at my old drive, now connected via USB. In this way, I am really booting from my HDD (where grub lives), but "chain loading" from my USB external. Can this work??
-dvh

dvh wrote:
I configured as shown in the wiki, but when I try to boot XP, I get a message that says something to the effect of "missing or corrupted <windows root>\system32\ntoskrnl.exe". I checked the disk and it seems to be there and OK. I get the feeling that it is either NOT finding the hard disk (or partition) or it cannot interpret the NTFS file system (but grub was able to boot this before,...). So, two questions...
1) how do I know what the designator for the external USB hard disk will be? I have speculated that grub will find it at "hd1", but maybe not?
2) does the target disk NEED a windows boot loader? as I said earlier, I used to dual boot it, so there is a grub loader on that disk also.
...ok, three questions...
3) anything else that I should consider??
Thanks again for any help.
-dvh
1) i don'tknow a way to check this, but the
missing or corrupted <windows root>\system32\ntoskrnl.exe message comes from the windows boot process,
so it seems grub is configured correctly.
The main problem is that BOTH grub and windows boot need to have the correct settings.
Windows takes the settings for boot from the boot.ini file in the root of C:\ , and that probably needs to be changed.
You will need some way to get read/write access to the windows C-drive partition.
Install ntfs-3g in archlinux (see NTFS_Write_Support ) and post the contents of boot.ini .

Dual boot windows mac mini

I got a Mac mini and in general I'm happy with it but found out that there's some software I use regularly that is just much better on Windows. They barely support OS X although technically they do. So I would like to dual boot Windows as it seems like this is supported and not crazy.
I followed the bootcamp and some guides I found via Google. I have the mac mini 2014 with 8 gig ram and 1 terabyte of space. I have dual monitors setup and a logitech mouse and a logitech gaming keyboard G110 - both USB. (I also own a wireless apple keyboard which I occasionally use with my iPad). My first problem was a DOS screen telling me I can't boot up on the specified disk but I did get some help off Google telling me to hold down option while booting (this should be in the guides ;p) but it was easy to fix.. however I'm stumped on what's happening now.
When I click the Windows partition, it starts booting up Windows 7 Premium 64 bit setup and all looks good. Then a screen pops up asking me what language/region I am. The default is United states (perfect). On this screen my keyboard and mouse are useless. Or it's frozen. I think the former. I think the computer just can't recognize them. And I cannot figure out a way around this. If anyone can - please help I will be very thankful.
I've tried booting up using the Windows 7 DVD I own and an ISO installed on a USB flash drive per the Bootcamp installer. Results are the same.

Use Boot Camp!! Sounds like you have the install disc. Make sure you completely erase a USB 2.0 Thumb Drive format it as one MS DOS Master Boot Record partition. Download Drivers to it. I checked this box in boot camp only.
Having install disc and driver thumb drive ready. Insert Windows install disc and plug in Thumb drive.
Open Boot Camp uncheck first 2 boxes. Continue
Size the BOOTCAMP partion you want it to be by sliding the bar. Or split your HD is an option.
After that is complete. You will be asked where to install. Select BOOTCAMP partition
Click Drive Options (advanced). Click Format. Click OK. All goes well you click Next and it will format as NTFS
Follow instructions to to install, set up and configure Windows.
GO TO APPLE SUPPORT no where else. PRINT BOOT CAMP Installation & Setup Guide. It is in my binder with my Windows 7 Professional Disc. You'll need this, I'm afraid, to have on hand. When Windows is up and going, Antivirus 1st, Install Windows express updates only. Do not update Apple drivers for Windows. Running Windows 7 Pro on my Mac Mini since I bought it in August. Use it for those outdated programs I can't run on Mac or Windows 8. Love it.
GET THE MANUAL Please. Have fun with it.
Oh, try left clicking your USB Mouse to make it work. If not use keyboard strokes. i.e. I a ccept the license agreement (note that the a is underlined. hit "a" on the keyboard to check box.

Dual boot Windows 7 partition help

I want to dual boot Windows 7 & arch but I need help with figuring out what partitions to make and where to put them because it seems the automatic partition-er won't do the trick for me.
I have two drives that I want to completely format for a fresh, clean install: a 60GB SSD & a 750GB hard drive. I want the end result to be that the SSD only has Windows 7 Pro x64 SP1 installed to it and I will point the 'My Documents', 'My Pictures', etc. to a NTFS partition on the hard disk drive ( I know how to do this folder pointing ). I don't want arch to touch the SSD if possible so I can reformat the SSD separately if I ever just want to reformat Windows. I only want arch to be on the hard disk for that reason. I don't think I care which one handles the OS switching at boot ( should I favor Windows MBR or syslinux? Please give advice. ) And I would assume I make the NTFS partition on the hard disk a primary partition so how do I split up arch for the 3 other primary partitions left since the auto partition from the arch boot CD uses 4?

I'm no expert, but the way I would do it would be like this:
1. Create partitions on the HDD for /, /boot, /home and swap, along with one (or more) for your Windows personal files
2. Set the BIOS to boot from the SSD.
3. Install Windows on the SSD.
4. Right-click the "My Documents" folder, select "properties", then the "Location" tab and choose the new location for the folder.
5. Install Arch on the HDD partitions, and allow the boot manager to install itself in the MBR of the SSD.
Then the whole boot process will be on the SSD... If you ever need to get rid of the Linux bootloader, you can overwrite it with a "clean" Windows one using bootrec.exe (see here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392).
Last edited by esuhl (2012-03-26 04:52:12)

Dual boot system: unable to boot Windows

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