Install Arch Before Windows?

My profession requires that I triple boot Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows. I have purchased a Macbook Pro and know this is possible. I want to do anything possible to avoid Vista and have decided to download the Windows 7 RC this coming Tuesday. I would like to start making my Arch system right now, however. I know it is more than advised you install Windows first, but does anyone know how I could install Arch, then Windows, and not have a big mess on my hands?

If you want to dual/triple boot on a mac you need to boot from the EFI bootloader first, and most people install rEFIt. From there you can boot into your OS's. Remember your partition table will be a dual gpt/mbr, so you can only have four primary partitions.
Also, I don't see how the order of installing the OS's would matter at all.
Last edited by Stythys (2009-05-01 22:32:43)

Similar Messages

Dual boot, installing arch before xp

Hi! I'm just wondering, how I can enable dualboot. I've heard that there is a way to enable dualboot even though I've installed archlinux before I installed xp. But now I cant choose whether I would like to use arch or xp. Any suggestions on how, or even an guide to enable dualboot?:P

well, if u have problem and for those who wonder what zenlord said...
boot to arch linux install CD.
when it loads and gives u a set of instructions. U wanna boot with this parameter.
root=/dev/sdxx
where xx is the partion of arch install. This will load the kernel from arch install CD and mount the file system on your HD. Once it loads u will have a CLI, login and then issue the command
grub-install /dev/sdx
x = the HD MBR u would want grub to be installed too.
then edit /boot/grub/menu.lst as u see fit to get windows working.
Last edited by jacko (2008-01-13 13:11:06)

SSD install Arch Vs Windows 7

HI All,
Is there a metric to know about the read write overhead in Arch Vs Windows 7. I am wondering how to quantify it as I am concerned that Linux has way too much disk read write load.
Also I have a laptop with 4GB ram and just a 60 GB SSD, how can I keep the read write load down?
Any tips will be appreciated.
Thanks

See the sad article on the wiki... Win7 is faaaaaaaar worse on IO than Linux is IMO.

Install Arch alongside windowsXP

I have install arch before but i did auto-install
Now I want to install Arch over my Xubuntu partition,
I want to avoid this problem that others have encountered: http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=95606
and http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=95141
of windows not being able to boot.
I checked the wiki of course but its not clear.
WHen I boot the Arch CD it says 'install' but it doesnt ask which partition to install to.
When I choose to install it says 'parsing hooks' but doesnt actually write anything to the hard drive.
Last edited by slenkar (2010-05-19 13:17:42)

Please, follow the Begginer's Guide

Installing arch without network drivers

I'm trying to use a live cd to install arch on my desktop, however the kernel doesn't have the drivers for my atheros ar8161.
What would be the easiest way to get my network working so that I can install arch?
I don't have any wireless adapters or any other wired adapters, but I do have a laptop and a usb to transfer files.

If you have either experience installing Arch before (the current CLI way) or with the Linux CLI in general, you could always install pacman onto a running system, install the arch boot scripts, and then do it from a working system. It should be pretty much the same (for the most part).
Alternatively, I have been told that it is possible to loop mount the iso and chroot into it, then installing to a partition that is mounted into the chrooted iso. I don't see why this wouldn't work, and then you should be booted from a kernel with the necessary network support.
In either case, if you have no experience installing a system in the fashion that Arch requires, I would wait. (Doing a Gentoo installation probably would be adequate experience, since the process is quite similar)

Installing Arch WinXP Dual-Boot

Hello! I'm new with Arch-Linux.
I'm trying to install Arch with Windows XP. I looked at the guide and several threads but I can not solve my problem. I make an installation in "Legacy" because my drive is IDE. I have installed Win XP. I do manually the partitions partitions / boot, /, / swap, / home, all logic, after the XP ntfs. And then I install the grub in the MBR which is on the XP partition. When booting, I get a dual-boot XP and I started without problems, but when I boot Arch I get the following problem:
FileSystem CHECK FAILED
And here I have not managed to solve anything, I have consulted several forum threads where people could think the same thing, wiki, but I have not been solved. If anyone can help me with the installation, or if I am wrong partition table or something, I would be very helpful.
Sorry about my English, it isn't my frist language.
Last edited by xunele (2009-11-13 11:48:32)

I can see two issues here:
I install the grub in the MBR which is on the XP partition
The MBR is not on any partition, is sits at the beginning of your disk. Partitions have bootsectors. And you should not install anything into the boot sector of the XP partition, since that will make XP unable to boot. Wikipedia is quite good on these topics.
Secondly, /boot must be on a primary partition.

Recovering earlier installed Windows 7 after installing Arch Linux

I'm trying to boot windows on my ASUS notebook.
There was windows 7 from the very beginning (disks C:\ and D:\), then I divided disk D:\ on several partitions and installed Arch Linux. I overwrited Windows boot information by boot part of Linux. Now I want to recover windows, that I still have on hard drive. It doesn's matter what there will be: dualboot or only windows (but dualboot is prefered).
Disk info:
[jhon@fckrsns ~]$ sudo fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 698.7 GiB, 750156374016 bytes, 1465149168 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 1AFC9DFF-CD3B-4CE1-8CAF-41C3E5B75772
Device Start End Size Type
/dev/sda1 2048 411647 200M EFI System
/dev/sda2 411648 673791 128M Microsoft reserved
/dev/sda3 673792 586731519 279.5G Microsoft basic data
/dev/sda4 586731520 691589119 50G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda5 1412718592 1465147391 25G Windows recovery environment
/dev/sda6 691589120 901304319 100G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda7 901304320 1412718591 243.9G Microsoft basic data
[jhon@fckrsns ~]$ lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda 8:0 0 698.7G 0 disk
├─sda1 8:1 0 200M 0 part /boot
├─sda2 8:2 0 128M 0 part
├─sda3 8:3 0 279.5G 0 part
├─sda4 8:4 0 50G 0 part /
├─sda5 8:5 0 25G 0 part
├─sda6 8:6 0 100G 0 part /home
└─sda7 8:7 0 243.9G 0 part
sr0 11:0 1 1024M 0 rom
[jhon@fckrsns ~]$ lsblk -f
NAME FSTYPE LABEL UUID MOUNTPOINT
sda
├─sda1 vfat 4DEB-D6D2 /boot
├─sda2
├─sda3 ntfs OS 62364BE9364BBCB3
├─sda4 ext4 c4da4683-871a-49fa-96a3-4da11387d31d /
├─sda5 ntfs Recovery 8ECE4F50CE4F2FAF
├─sda6 ext4 3eba01c6-e422-4542-8442-16064c74a563 /home
└─sda7 ntfs 3B29E7794F6CD932
sr0
OS partition (/dev/sda3):
[jhon@fckrsns /]$ ls /run/media/jhon/OS
altera Boot djvureader DrWeb Quarantine eSupport hiberfil.sys MSOCache N56VM.BIN pagefile.sys Program Files Recovery SecurityScanner.dll VisualCLibs
AsusVibeData bootmgr Documents and Settings eclipse Games Intel MS.Office.2007.Portable.micro.v.1.16 N56VZ.BIN PerfLogs Program Files (x86) $Recycle.Bin System Volume Information Windows
AVScanner.ini BOOTSECT.BAK DOSBox_SIM END gcc Keil_v5 mtd NVIDIA ProgramData Qt R.G. Catalyst Users
I tried to recover MBR with different ways:
with syslinux:
[jhon@fckrsns /]$ sudo dd if=/usr/lib/syslinux/bios/mbr.bin of=/dev/sda
0+1 records in
0+1 records out
440 bytes (440 B) copied, 0.0226394 s, 19.4 kB/s
with ms-sys:
[jhon@fckrsns /]$ sudo ms-sys --partition /dev/sda1
Start sector 2048 (nr of hidden sectors) successfully written to /dev/sda1
Physical disk drive id 0x80 (C:) successfully written to /dev/sda1
Number of heads (255) successfully written to /dev/sda1
[jhon@fckrsns /]$ sudo ms-sys --mbr7 /dev/sda
Windows 7 master boot record successfully written to /dev/sda
But there is still no way to boot windows.
I run grub-mkconfig before and after these manipulations with MBR:
[jhon@fckrsns ~]$ sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-linux
Found initrd image: /boot/initramfs-linux.img
Found fallback initramfs image: /boot/initramfs-linux-fallback.img
No volume groups found
done
[jhon@fckrsns /]$ sudo os-prober
/dev/cdrom: open failed: No medium found
No volume groups found
I installed rEFInd, now I have two choices on boot screen: vmlinuz-linux, which it founded, and my earlier installed grub bootloader.
Maybe I missed something, but i don't know what exactly.
Last edited by Jhon (2014-09-28 16:45:38)

Now I know that I don't need MBR at all (but google told me that recovering windows = recovering MBR..)
Are there any ways to recover boot information on EFI system partition from Linux without using Windows Live CD and it's bootrec.exe?
I have bootmgr and bootmgfw.efi files on /dev/sda3 (partition with windows installed), what else I need? Simple copy of bootmgfw.efi to /boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi and addition of custom menu item to /etc/grub.d/40_custom does'nt work. There is Windows now in rEFInd and GRUB menus, but there is error on loading.

Installing Arch Linux after Windows 7 64bit dual boot

Total noob here ^^
Im trying to install Arch Linux after my installation of Windows 7, without fucking up that one...
I freed up 50GB and removed it from my Windows boot partition, so Arch can be installed there, I have almost absolutely no experience with this kind of stuff since I've only used Ubuntu and Kali Linux before.
I've got a working arch image on my usb stick and i somehow can't figure out, how to install it without touching the existing partitions.
Is it possible to create a working dual boot, without changing my windows configuration?

yes its possible. What research have you done in order to install Arch. We do not hand hold here in this community. Go read up the appropriate wiki pages and ask specific questions with details in case you get stuck.
Start with the Beginners Guide.

Before I install Arch w/XFCE on my old computer...

I'm installing Arch on an older computer and I want to keep it kind of lean. The computer is a PIII @ 1Ghz w/512MB RAM, so it isn't old-old; but it's just old enough that I don't want a lot of extra junk, which is precisely why XFCE was my choice of DE.
I'm doing my homework and read the Arch XFCE wiki and saw a package called "xfce-goodies." What is in that package?
Also, this computer has a wireless internet connection, so two questions:
1: Will I be able to connect to the web before I need to install xorg and networkmanager?
2: Will nm-applet work on the xfce-panel, or will I have to do tricks to get it to work. I know it works in Xubuntu, but that doesn't mean it works in default xfce.

pogeymanz wrote:Actually, my #1 question was the other way around from how you answered it. I know that I need to be online to get xorg, but I was asking if I will be able to GET online without installing netcfg2/whatever. And now that I think about it, probably not... I will just need to plug into the network for a few hours and then move back to where it belongs I guess.
A package called wireless_tools is included in the install CD which allows you to use the CLI to configure a wireless network. See the 'connect manually' section in this gentoo wiki article: http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Wireless_C … nd_Startup
AFAIK this should be enough to get your wireless going.
[edit: Tigrmesh is right, the netcfg package is in core now, so get the new iso's]
Last edited by dyscoria (2008-03-27 23:39:43)

I have an iPhone4s. When I install apps, I have to give my Apple password first. That's okay. The last few apps I tried to download have opened another security window before they will install. The window says, "Security info Required. To help insure

I have an iPhone4s. When I install apps, I have to give my Apple password first. That’s okay. The last few apps I tried to download have opened another security window before they will install. The window says, “Security info Required. To help insure the security of your Apple ID we require additional information” When I select okay, the Apple ID Password window opens and asks for my Apple password a second time.
It doesn't happen with every app and I’m concerned that these apps may be trying to collent my password. Is Apple really doing a double check on my password?

See http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57413072-37/apple-ratchets-up-app-store-securi ty/ and http://www.macrumors.com/2012/04/12/apple-enhancing-apple-id-safety-by-enforcing -security-question-requirements/.

Questions before I install Arch

Hi everyone. I decide to try Arch after using Ubuntu for almost a year. After reading the installing guide, I find the wireless network is the big problem. I am using wireless, and I can easily get connected with it by wicd. But installing Arch needs a wireless under command line, so I try that in terminal:
# ifconfig wlan0 up
# iwlist wlan0 scan ( and I see my target wireless network is there)
# iwconfig wlan0 essid "My_Network" key 0123456789
# dhclient wlan0
But it did not work. What I was sure was I managed to connect to this network with this key in Ubuntu Network Manager, or wicd, if using GUI. I later searched for this problem and it seemed that iwconfig recognized the key as hex by default. If using ascii, it should be:
# iwconfig wlan0 essid "My_Network" key s:0123456789
But even that I failed too. So I am just wondering how to get a hex key out of it? Is there any algorithm for this...?
I have downloaded the core version of Arch. But I am wondering if I need the internet by installing X windows and fluxbox, using pacman... If not, I can go directly with it and grab a GUI network manage like wicd and I will have no problems.
Thank you very much.
Last edited by shva (2009-04-25 15:51:59)

Does it post the same error? Try messing about with the different combinations of quotation marks taking them off both the key and network name, and then try with them on both the key and the network name.
iwconfig wlan0 essid "My_Network" key "0123456789"
iwconfig wlan0 essid My_Network key 0123456789
Last edited by jack.mitchell (2009-04-25 17:25:30)

Resize Windows XP to install Arch Linux

Me again! Hi! Well my Dad finally gave me permission to install Arch on our computer (hes a bit paranoid..) But I need some help.. I boot archlive and when I go into Cdisk to setup the partitions, Windows Controls the ENTIRE partition on the Hard drive.. How can I resize it so I can install Arch Linux onto the system?

skottish wrote:
arch0r wrote:first of all defragment windows
+100000000000000000000
Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeefinitely. (Emphasis on the "Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeefinitely")
If you're not careful, it's very easy to lose data from Windows partitions due to fragmentation.
Not to discourage or anything. Just be careful.

Impossible to install arch in UEFI mode on my Acer Aspire S3-391

Hi there,
I am trying to install arch-linux on my Acer Aspire S3-391, which came with a pre-shipped Windows 8. I am trying to make a dual boot, so I would like to keep the UEFI mode at startup. However, my computer won't boot on the Arch Linux USB Flash drive when in UEFI mode : when plugged in, the key prevents the computer from loading anything. The "Acer" page keeps on reloading itself, without even letting me access the BIOS menu (In other words, the computer is blocked at "POST" phase when the installation media of arch is plugged in).
Here's what I did to try and solve the problem :
1) of course, I disabled Secure Boot and hibernation in Windows 8.
2) tried to boot in legacy bios. It works, and i could install arch this way : but as told before, i would like to install it in UEFI mode.
3) Checked, re-checked and re-rechecked the installation media.
4) tried to install Ubuntu in UEFI mode. It worked : the bootable key of Ubuntu was loaded, when the bootable key of arch is blocked. Why ? No idea...
5) Installed Ubuntu, and tried to install Arch in UEFI mode from Ubuntu, following the tutorial "Install_from_Existing_Linux". No luck here : i was blocked at step "Testing if you are booted into UEFI mode" on the beginner's guide : I was not, and I couldn't find any solution in the tutorial.
Any suggestions on what I should try next ?

If you've already installed in BIOS/CSM/legacy mode, my recommendation is to install your EFI-mode boot loader and try it out. You'll need to use something else that does boot (such as Ubuntu), install the boot loader using the Windows bcdedit command (assuming you're dual-booting), or install the boot loader as EFI/BOOT/bootx64.efi (if you're setting up for Linux alone) to get it to work, though.

How to install Arch for dual-boot with Win 7 (on 2 hard drives)?

Hello,
the TLDR first: how exactly should I proceed when setting up GRUB for 2 hard drives to dual-boot Arch (64 bit)and Win 7 (64 bit)?
Long version: So, I have the following hard drive & partition layout:
On my first hard drive (250 GB big) I have: Win 7 64 bit, all the programs for Windows and of course the EFI partition
My second hard drive is 1 TB big and formatted in NTFS and it only contains data. It has 2 partitions, one is about 750 GB big and used for simple storage.
Sidenote 1: sometimes my disk management (Windows' own gparted) shows either the little disk or the big one as disk 0. Don't know what exactly this means, but I have never ever experienced any problems whatsoever during use.
Sidenote 2: the UEFI motherboard (ASRock H67M) cannot boot into Legacy mode.
I want to install Arch on a ~200 GB partition on the second hard drive (the one with 1 TB). (click here if you want to see a screenshot) I am posting this because I am confused with how exactly I should deal with the whole "2 hdds & UEFI" thing.
So how exactly should I proceed when setting up GRUB for this setup?
For partitioning I suppose I would have to use fdisk or cgdisk. I used cgdisk before and found it to be straightforward. Then, because I have experienced my fair share of problems with rEFInd, I'd like to use GRUB.
Last edited by jones (2013-06-29 14:36:56)

First thing you should do is become familiar with your motherboard.
http://www.asrock.com/mb/manual.asp?Model=H67M
This will probably help you out in understanding the sidenote 1 thingie (hdd's on sata3 and/or sata2 connectors)
As on sidenote 2, according to the manual it seems to be possible to boot legacy mode, see Storage Configuration.

[Success] Dual Booting Arch and Windows 7 [Advice / Confirmation]

So I have been trying to get Starcraft II to work with wine and no luck.
I have decided to install windows back on my computer, besides it might come in handy since I'm heading back to school soon.
Anyways I have tried dual booting arch and windows in the past, and my results have never been stable.
Today I will try using the program gparted.
Let me give you my thoughts on how I plan to go through this and please give me some advice so I don't loose everything I have worked for on my linux box
1.Currently I have two hard drives, one for all my main programs and one for my media files (mounting usb, dvd, etc, and it actually has no files in it xD).
I plan to use gparted to re-size my second harddrive (media drive), create an extended partition, and a logical ntfs partition within it.
2.I pop in my windows cd that I recieved with my laptop and install it on the space I have partitioned for windows.
3. If my grub gets wiped out my windows (which I hope it doesn't not sure how the MBR stuff works) I insert a Ubuntu live cd and do
sudo grub
> root (hd0,0)
> setup (hd0)
> exit
4.Configure grub to boot windows 7.
5.Be happy with no headache.
SO....
If someone with past experience with dual booting windows and arch could please give me some advice, as I do not want to lose all my data, start over, and have another headache.
I know I must learn to backup arch, which I will before september.
But if anyone has any protips, or sees a flaw in my plan please point it out!!!
Thank you very much for taking the time to read this and even more if advice has been given to boost my confidence!
For now I will wait
Thank you fellow archies.
Last edited by Jabrick (2011-07-03 01:29:36)

satanselbow wrote:
1) Windows must be installed to a primary partition - attempting to install it to an logical partition will result in an epic fail
2) Physically disconnect the harddrive you do not want windows on as windows typically installs the bootloader on the 1st hardisk (ie /sda) regardless of installation drive (ie /sdb)
3 / 4) Complete the windows installation then reattached your Arch drive and edit /boot/grub/menu.lst (as root) pointing the W7 entry to (hd1,0) - no need to reinstall grub
5) Hey it's windows - anything could happen
If you create an NTFS partition right at the beginning of the the drive before you start the W7 install you can prevent it greedily using up 2 of you 4 primary partitions - I would also completely update you new W7 installation past SP1 before reattaching the other drive to further prevent W7 going mental
satanselbow thank you so much!
Everything works great I had no stumbles, and I hope no problems in the future!!
I will post exactly what I did in case someone has the same issue.
1. Partition you're secondary harddrive as primary ntfs with gparted
2. Reboot, and if you get a file system check error, check you're udev rules. (For my case in particular I had to change the udev rules I got for auto mounting usb, ext harddrive, etc.
3.Power off your computer and physically remove the harddrive that contains all your linux goodies
4. Plug in your windows cd and install in the partition you created
5. Update your windows OS
6. Plug in Ubuntu live CD and reboot
7. Use commands to get grub to overwrite the windows boot loader (In my case I put grub everyone hd0,0 hd0,1 just to be sure, but you might want to do things cleaner)
8. Reboot and see if grub loads up
9. Use Ubuntu live CD again and launch Gparted, select the boot to your extra linux space (if you had one, not sure if this is needed)
10. Plug in your linux harddrive and reconfigure /boot/grub/menu.lst and your good to go
Once again shout outs to satanselbow!!! For without him I might've failed brutally!
Cheers!

Install Arch Before Windows?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for