[SOLVED] dual boot partitions

I have four partitions for my arch install. Does this mean that I won't be able to dual boot another distribution without having to reinstall arch? There can only be 4 partitions right? Or is there some way around it?
Thanks
Last edited by acidic (2012-04-20 11:06:23)

There can be only 4 primary partitions on a disk. However, one of the partitions can be made 'extended'. In that you can have any number of logical partitions. So there is no problem for multibooting. I believe Windows and BSD need a primary partition for installation. Obviously one of the primary partitions has to go. You can install full Arch system on one partition. I am not sure if this can be done without need for reinstalling arch. Following link of full system backup may be of help:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fu … with_rsync
Also see:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ad … Partitions
Output of 'sudo fdisk -l' will show you if all your partitions are primary or there is an extended one also. You may post the output here.
If there is a swap partition, that can be deleted, converted to extended, logical partitions made in extended, one of them made swap, and other distributions can be added. This should not cause any loss of data but this will require partitions to be resized.
Last edited by rnarch (2012-04-19 11:40:59)

Similar Messages

[SOLVED] Longwinded beginner - Dual-boot & partition questions

Hello,
I'm interested in installing Arch Linux alongside Windows XP (dual-boot). I have little previous linux experience, although I have rented some servers that have used it in the past, as well as compiling some stuff with it while at University (studying Computer Science). Nevertheless, I am relatively confident that if I can still boot into XP, I will be able to acccustomise myself and like the fact that this distribution seems to be hands-on and leaves a lot up to the user.
I've been reading the Beginner's Guide and the dual boot guide, and I would like to get started, however, I'm not going to go ahead with this until I am certain that I will be left with a system that can still boot into Windows XP. I assume that it'll take me a while to get to grips with Arch, and in the meantime it would be massively inconvenient if I couldn't work/play/etc...
What I already know
Anyway, currently I have a 250GB hard drive that I use for Windows (as well as 3 other hard drives full of stuff). I have partitioned the drive with Windows XP on it with gparted like so:
(in order)
UNALLOCATED 32GB
SDB1 (Windows XP) 50GB
SDB2 (Downloads) 150GB
I hope to use the unallocated space to hold linux (and then have access to my other windows drives in the future, using ntfs-3g), however, I am a little confused over what partitions I 'should' have and how large they should be, considering that I will use the OS to mainly develop, browse the web, listen to music, etc...
I was thinking:
/boot -- ext2 -- 100MB
/ -- ext4 -- 15GB
swap -- -- 1GB
/home -- ext4 -- 12GB
/var -- ReiserFS -- 4GB
Questions
• Is 30GB too little, even though most of my stuff is on other NTFS hard drives?
• How large should / be? I've read that it contains /bin, /dev, /etc and others. How do I know how much space these need? Am I misunderstanding things?
• Is a /var partition unnecessary? How large should it be?
• 10GB for /home, 1GB for swap, 100MB for /boot?
• Do I need a /tmp or /usr? This is a single-user machine, but I don't want it to get messy!
• I was thinking of giving /boot ext2, and /var ReiserFS, and then giving every other partition ext4. That okay?
• Do I need to set these partitions up when installing, or can I set them up in advance with gparted - it might be simpler.
• Due to already having 2 NTFS primary partitions on the hard disk, I presume that some of the above will need to be logical partitions in an extended partition? How is this done?
Once the partitions have been set up, and linux is installed, I presume it's just a matter of completing the rest of Part I of the guide, and then ammending /boot/grub/menu.lst to include 'Windows XP'? At that point I am able to restart Windows XP, and only delve into Arch when I want to continue with the configuration, fixing, and so on...
Sorry for the wall of text, and thanks for your patience. (:
Last edited by Bedtimes (2009-09-27 14:21:55)

That's the thing, I expect that I'm doing something wrong with the GRUB loader - and I admit my hard disk layout has been quite strange for a long time before installing linux.
Basically, it currently looks like this:
/dev/sda1 ntfs Music 250GB
/dev/sdb3 ext2 /boot 120MB
/dev/dsb4 extended
---- /dev/sdb5 linux-swap 1GB
---- /dev/sdb6 ext4 / 20GB
---- /dev/sdb7 ext4 /home 12GB
/dev/sdb1 ntfs Windows XP 50GB
/dev/sdb2 ntfs Downloads 150GB
/dev/sdc1 ntfs TV & Movies 950GB
• This list is in order that the entries appear on the hard disk, hence /boot is in the first 1024 cylinders of the hard disk, but as you can see the sdb numbers are actually in the chronological order that I created them.
• I used an extended partition with logical partitions inside since I had read that there was an issue with more than 4 partitions in a hard disk, and I already had 2 NTFS partitions.
• When it asked me to install GRUB to the MBR, I installed it to SDB as opposed to SDBx as it asked me to in the manual. This is the drive that contains /boot!
• I just managed to amend something in the menu.lst, in order that I can boot into Windows XP. Therefore my machine is not totally fucked up any more. (: Unfortunately, what I changed doesn't make sense to me, since I would have expected Windows XP to be on a different hard disk.
The contents of sdb3:
grub kernel26-fallback.img kernel26.img
lost+found System.map26 umlinuz26
When typing the command /sbin/blkid:
/dev/sda1: UUID="D0..." LABEL="Music" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sdb1: UUID="A8..." LABEL="Windows XP" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sdb2: UUID="557..." LABEL="Downloads" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sdb3: UUID="2676..." TYPE="ext2"
/dev/sdb5: UUID="0474..." TYPE="swap"
/dev/sdb6: UUID="0886..." TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sdb7: UUID="519becf..." TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sdc1: UUID="46AC59" LABEL="TV & Movies" TYPE="ntfs"
Inside /boot/grub/menu.lst:
timeout 5
default 0
color light-blue/black light-cyan/blue
# (1) Windows XP
title Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1
# (2) Arch Linux
title Arch Linux
root (hd1,5)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/0886... ro vga=773
initrd /boot/kernel26.img
# (3) Arch Linux (Fallback)
title Arch Linux (Fallback)
root (hd1,5)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/0886... ro vga=773
initrd /boot/kernel26-fallback.img
edit: I'm able to access all of the installation partitions with gparted-live's terminal (by mounting the devices I need to access into folders in my root folder), so is there anything else you want me to check/change in order to find my linux root/boot partition?
Last edited by Bedtimes (2009-09-27 12:54:24)

[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.

[SOLVED] Dual boot with Windows 8, problems after updating Windows

Hi all,
I have been maintaining a dual boot of arch and Windows 8 for some time. I recently updated Windows to 8.1, and found that the update process had two side effects:
1) The update added a new partition in the middle of my file table, so my /etc/fstab which referenced "/dev/sda6" was wrong because that partition is now "/dev/sda7."
2) The default boot device was switched to the Windows Boot Loader instead of grub. But, this is not a problem because I can work around this by using the "Choose boot device" feature of my bios at start up.
So, neither of these problems are critical for me at the moment. I can fix my fstab and just press a hotkey at startup.
EDIT: I have avoided the /etc/fstab issue by referencing my partitions using UUID as specified in https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fstab.
How do I set the default boot device back to grub? There is some weirdness here, I think windows is using UEFI booting and my grub uses the old booting system.
Last edited by bjmnbraun (2014-05-14 19:00:36)

Rex: I tried that command, got some warning messages regarding blocklists, but no dice.
Loqs: You are right about windows using a ESP and UEFI while my linux is not booting using UEFI. My bios is configured to try "Legacy boot" first before trying UEFI. Getting linux to boot using UEFI seemed like a pain, so...
I went into my BIOS settings and found that the Windows Boot Manager boot device was listed in front of my hard disk (which boots linux). I don't think this used to be the case, so something about the update caused my BIOS to reorder the boot devices (probably because the partitions changed).
Switching my hard disk to be above the Windows Boot Manager in the boot device list now makes me boot into linux by default, and I can boot into windows by pressing a hotkey at bootup and selecting the windows boot manager.

[SOLVED] Dual boot windows 7 and arch Linux with seperate hard drives

Ok so I'm stuck trying to get my computer to dual boot windows 7 and arch. They are installed on different hard drives and I have grub 2 as the boot loader. I can't find any tutorials on how to do it with seperate hard drives I know how to do it if they are on the same hard drive. Also I want windows on the "first" hard drive how do I check to see which one it considers the first?
Last edited by bdawg (2012-09-21 23:15:37)

DSpider wrote:
drobole wrote:If you want to change it so that sda becomes sdb and sdb becomes sda, you should be able to do that in BIOS.
Not from the BIOS. He would need to physically open up the computer and switch the cables between them (or add another drive).
There's no actual performance increase in changing this order. Performance increase is when you have the partitions as close to the beginning of a HDD as possible, where the platters spin faster (basic mechanics, not to be confused with CD/DVD, which are being written from the inside-out to prevent errors after extended usage), and it especially doesn't apply to SSDs whatsoever.
You may be right about that. I remember I had to do this a while back but I probably switched the cables. It also messed up the drive mapping in Windows 98 if I remember correctly.

[SOLVED] Dual Boot Window 7 & Arch on a Uefi system.

From the Wiki
Windows 7 x86_64 versions support booting in x86_64 UEFI mode from GPT disk only, OR in BIOS mode from MBR/msdos disk only. They do not support IA32 (x86 32-bit) UEFI boot from GPT/MBR disk, x86_64 UEFI boot from MBR/msdos disk, or BIOS boot from GPT disk.
I don't understand this. As stated in the title I have a ueif system so that means I have to create a GPT disk ? I already have a gpt disk which I confirmed by running Arch Live USB. Under type it said GPT. I don't understand this at all
However if Arch is installed in BIOS-GPT in one disk and Windows is installed in BIOS-MBR mode in another disk, then the BIOS bootloader used by Arch CAN boot the Windows in the other disk, if the bootloader itself has the ability to chainload from another disk.
Note: If Arch and Windows are dual-booting from same disk, then Arch SHOULD follow the same firmware boot mode and partitioning combination used by the installed Windows in the disk.
In the Note above it says both Arch and Windows follow the same boot mode if they are dual booting from same disk. I DO NOT want to do this. I have already decided to partition my drive with 200 Gb going to Windows and 500 Gb going to Arch. Does this mean that I should install both in different modes i.e. Arch in Bios-GPT and Windows in Bios-MBR.
The recommended way to setup a Linux/Windows dual booting system is to first install Windows, only using part of the disk for its partitions. When you have finished the Windows setup, boot into the Linux install environment where you can create additional partitions for Linux while leaving the existing Windows partitions untouched.
UEFI systems
Both Gummiboot and rEFInd autodetect Windows Boot Manager \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi and show it in their boot menu, so there is no manual config required.
For GRUB(2) follow GRUB#Windows_Installed_in_UEFI-GPT_Mode_menu_entry.
Syslinux (as of version 6.02 and 6.03-pre9) and ELILO do not support chainloading other EFI applications, so they cannot be used to chainload \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi .
Computers that come with newer versions of Windows often have secure boot enabled. You will need to take extra steps to either disable secure boot or to make your installation media compatible with secure boot.
Being a beginner should I go with Gummiboot then. GRUB made a mess last time.
Also my secure boot is NOT enabled so is that good.
I have read the FAQs, Beginner's guide, Installation Guide, Dual Boot wiki entry but I just don't understand the above concepts. But it looks this this is the main thing in dual booting. Almost everything else is doable but this I have to get right on account of what happened the last time I installed Arch without getting the above right.
Last edited by Some Arch Lovin (2014-06-14 08:53:14)

A few issues with the dual boot setup
Hello again, I lost my dual factor authentication grid from lastpass. Opensuse was acutally overwriting new pdf files over my old pdf files so now that grid pdf is actually an Arch cheat cheet with the name last_pass_grid.pdf. And the gmail account I used to register to Arch forums is also in last pass.
This is why I created another account. I am some arch lovin.
The installation went smoothly but I could not dual boot Windows7 with Arch because my Win7 image is not UEFI bootable so had to dual boot win8(not a fan at all) and arch.
Almost everything is working correctly. I have a few issues that aren't affecting how the system is working but they still need sorting out.
I'll do them one at a time but I want to know from the admins if I should start a new thread? Because in a way this thread accomplished it job i.e. win7 and arch dual booting in uefi system.
If the answer is yes I should create a new thread depending upon the issue then I will do that but in case its a no since I have only 2-3 problems I am going to ask help for the first one.
My gummiboot is not working on startup. I have to press f12 and use bios booting menu to boot. The problem with that is if I put Windows at the top of the boot priority the bios does not show F12 and F2 at the time of booting up so I can't access the boot menu. I have to boot into Windows and crash it by holding the power button and then the F12 options shows up and I am able to boot into Arch. If I put Arch at the top then Windows keeps restoring back to an earlier version due to start up options.
NOTE : I can't be sure but one it did work(only once). I checked the images online to compare with what I saw and its very similar. An all black screen with three bootloading options
Windows
Arch
Opensuse(don't know why I created a completely new GPT partition table)
This is what I did while installing Gummiboot
# mount -t efivarfs efivarfs /sys/firmware/efi/efivars
# pacman -S gummiboot
# gummiboot install
I tried going through the gummiboot to see if I can do something but it very difficult to comprehend as a beginner. All I get is the characters gummiboot understands but thats all.
Last edited by Archer61 (2014-06-11 13:48:56)

[SOLVED] Dual-boot Arch/Windows - 2 hard drives

Hi Everyone
I've just installed Arch and I'm having a bit of a problem dual-booting between Arch and Windows XP, which are each on a seperate Hard drive.
I've done this successfully before with Mepis Linux and Windows XP, but for some reason it's not working this time.
The difference is that I've recently purchased a new computer and both Windows and Arch are on SATA drives whereas last time they were both on IDE drives. Also I'm not sure whether or not to enable SATA AHCI mode in the BIOS (apparently it doesn't work with XP anyways), or SATA port 0-3 Native mode. Although I've tried all possible combinations and it doesn't seem to work at all.
Here is my menu.lst file:
# (0) Arch Linux
title Arch Linux
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/0df05d3b-537c-4576-ad36-1f90a6b01ec0 ro vga=773
initrd /boot/kernel26.img
# (1) Windows
title Windows
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1
When I boot into Arch from Grub it works fine, but when I try to boot into Windows from Grub, I get this:
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1
and then nothing....No error message or anything. It just hangs. Does anyone have any ideas as to what's happening? Thanks in advance.
edit: It seems I solved the problem by adding these lines to the menu.lst file:
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
root (hd1,0)
I can now boot into either Arch or Windows from the Grub menu
Last edited by axle (2008-09-30 02:35:54)

This is a question that can very easily be answered by doing a simple google serach. Google is your friend. I suggest you start there and come back if you run into issues.

[SOLVED] Dual booting arch onto an SSD that already has W7 in MBR?

I currently have windows 7 64bit installed onto a 256gb m4 SSD. I would like to be able to dual-boot W7 and Archlinux, but so far I've been getting wildly varying accounts of doom and data deletion from every source that I've looked at- and unfortunately, the Archwiki's guide to dualbooting is out of date.
So here's the questions:
First, is UEFI something I need to look at? At the moment W7 seems to be on MBR. I'm getting conflicting accounts on whether this is not even an issue or if it will attempt to make my computer eat my dog.
Next, what is going on with sectors and alignment and such? Some people ignore them, some people delve so far into it that I think I vaguely know they're still talking about a hard drive.
Which leads me into partitioning, and not doing it in a way that's terrible. I can't find any information on this anywhere that isn't buried within the above-mentioned posts, along with incredibly vague warnings of GParted moving a partition, spoken of in a way as if that data is lost to the twilight zone.
Finally... pulling all this together is the largest issue.
Do any of you know good, factual resources where I can look into this stuff?
Last edited by ilar (2013-04-03 03:53:31)

1) If you knew what UEFI was you should have known it wasn't an option, and shouldn't have asked about it.
2) (G)parted and gdisk (if you go with GPT at some point) handle SSD sector alignment automatically, and have for some time. A google search could have revealed that.
3) Whether one uses an SSD or HDD, dual-booting will be the same: 2+ partitions devoted to separate operating systems. While SSDs and HDDs may be fundamentally different constructs, booting from them is not different at all. That's why you aren't finding anything saying such.
4) As for the wiki being out-of-date, the specific reason (as stated page's in the header) is that GRUB legacy is no longer officially supported in Arch. Disregard that information and use GRUB2/Syslinux/LILO and the process remains the same: Install the operating systems side-by-side and chainload the secondary OS. It doesn't matter one bit: I've dual-booted every Linux distro I've used over the past four years with Windows, from Ubuntu to Mint to SuSE to Sabayon to Arch to whatever, and I've done it all the exact same way, using HDDs and an SSDs and both in combination. There's plenty of information out there on this, and your time could better have been spent looking it up rather than arguing with people here.
5) Welcome to Arch.

[SOLVED]Dual boot Grub2 : file not found

here is my config :
Ubuntu 11.1 installed on sd1. It is my default system, and where the GRUB2 config is.
I installed Archlinux on sd2, with /boot on (hd1,1) and / on (hd1,2).
I want to set up GRUB to boot both systems.
here is my /etc/grub.d/11_linux_arch, in the Ubuntu system :
#!/bin/sh -e
echo "Adding Archlinux"
cat << EOF
menuentry "ArchLinux" {
set root=(hd1,2)
linux /boot/vmlinuz-linux
initrd /boot/initramfs-linux.img
EOF
vmlinux-linux and initramfs-linux.img are well in my /boot folder on (hd1,1)
At grub prompt, I can see Archlinux as an option. When I select it, I get an error message, "file not found".
I can't see where is an error.
TY for any help.
Last edited by gabx (2011-11-29 22:41:11)

Here is what I added to /etc/grub.d/40_custom
# Arch Linux
menuentry "Arch Linux" {
set root=(hd1,1)
linux /vmlinuz-linux root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/38616db1-366f-40f4-a728-1230e81abb21 ro
initrd /initramfs-linux.img
I think telling the uuid is better but /dev/sdb2 (my / partition) works too.
Then :
#sudo update-grub
and I have been able to dual boot Archlinux and Ubuntu 11.10.
The resolution is bad, so I will add a line about it, but I guess it is not diificult.

[SOLVED] Dual boot with ubuntu w/o installing GRUB? (YES)

Hi all -
This is my first shot at arch, tho I've installed a few other linux distros.
So far I really appreciate the excellent documentation, especially compared to other linuxes!
But I can't find a good answer to this question:
I already have ubuntu installed and would like to dual-boot with arch. (I also have Win7 but boot it from a separate disk selected via BIOS, and usually leave this disk disconnected anyway, so it's not an issue; grub doesn't know it exists).
Q: Before installing, can I make a new LOGICAL ext4 partition (say /dev/sda7),
- then install arch on that **w/o installing grub** and **without messing with the MBR**,
- then edit ubuntu's existing menu.lst to add arch to the boot options?
Current $ fdisk -l
/dev/sda1 ext4 primary/boot (/ for ubuntu)
/dev/sda2 extended
--/dev/sda6 linux-swap
--/dev/sda5 NTFS (data - mp3s, etc)
unallocated 480GB --> Create new ext4 partition /dev/sda7, (logical or primary? Prefer logical)
Current menu.lst entry that I normally boot:
title Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, kernel 3.2.0-24-generic REGULAR
uuid UUIDforSDA1 (file has actual UUID number...)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-24-generic root=UUID=UUIDforSDA1 ro
initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-24-generic
and add something like this to menu.lst:
title Arch Linux
uuid UUIDforSDA7
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-linux root=/dev/sda7/ARCH ro (??? - from example in arch docs)
initrd /boot/initramfs-linux.img
or
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-linux root=UUID=UUIDforSDA7 ro (??? - like the ubuntu entry)
I'd really like to NOT mess up booting ubuntu! (Another option might be install arch to a separate disk with the ubuntu disk disconnected, then copy the whole install over via a USB adapter...I've done worse!)
TIA for any help!
Edit: so I guess there's three questions:
1 - Can I install arch w/o installing grub & MBR messing-wth?
2 - What's the correct syntax for menu.lst to access and boot arch?
3 - Will this work?
Last edited by Flemur (2012-05-25 15:24:18)

Well, it worked and booted up first time - no grub install.
The main hassle was merely creating a new ext4 partitions because "Partition Wizard" boot CD screwed up and I kept getting "Unable to update kernel until reboot" messages until I deleted and rebuilt all the partitions in the extended partition with puppy linux & gparted instead of Partition Wizard.
In case others stumble upon this trhread, here's some info:
The entry in the ubuntu (original) menu.lst was this:
title Arch Linux
uuid af7...etc...9f3c
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-linux root=UUID=af7...etc.f3c ro
initrd /boot/initramfs-linux.img
I'm even posting this from arch/fluxbox/Firefox, although getting X set up with nvidia (PITA!) apparently required using a different pacman source:
File "mirrorlist" now points to
Server = http://mirror.us.leaseweb.net/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
which wasn't in the original file.
Then
$ pacman -Su --> "/etc/mtab exists" --> delete it and something else broke,
so
$ pacman -Su --force --> worked fine (against official advice)
Also: needed to install nvidia-utils and xorg-xinit
Thanks again!

[SOLVE] Dual Boot Windows and ArchLinux with Syslinux

Ok, i installed ArchLinux on my laptop with Windows XP (syslinux) and I cannot find get Windows to boot or mount it. I have tried to do what i can to do this but cannot. I Installed XP first like a should and something i think might be needed to know is after i created the partitions scheme (10Gb (boot partition), 50GB (XP), 80GB(was unallocated)). The installation disk formated both 2 partitions in NTFS but i installed XP on the second and Windows reported them as C and D drives. Windows being D. Thought that was bit werid thinking Windows installed the mbr on that partition. When I installed ArchLinux, it did have the boot flag set on 10GB (or C drive).
Since I installed ArchLinux, I have been unable to find a solution to mounting/booting to Windows. Installed NTFS-3G and that didn't work when i tried mount /dev/sda3 windows and i did created a folder named windows but got ...
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda3,
missing codepage or helper program, or other error
In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
dmesg | tail or so.
Tried dmesg | tail and got
[ 76.524133] SGI XFS with ACLs, security attributes, realtime, large block/inode numbers, no debug enabled
[ 179.468499] ACPI: \_SB_.PCI0.LPC0.ACAD: ACPI_NOTIFY_DEVICE_CHECK event: unsupported
[ 705.472330] 8139too 0000:02:03.0 enp2s3: link down
[ 717.380879] 8139too 0000:02:03.0 enp2s3: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0x41E1
[ 726.447184] 8139too 0000:02:03.0 enp2s3: link down
[ 727.596128] ACPI: \_SB_.PCI0.LPC0.ACAD: ACPI_NOTIFY_BUS_CHECK event: unsupported
[ 732.616138] 8139too 0000:02:03.0 enp2s3: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0x41E1
[ 733.848832] 8139too 0000:02:03.0 enp2s3: link down
[ 834.062062] 8139too 0000:02:03.0 enp2s3: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0x41E1
[ 2131.449211] perf samples too long (2534 > 2500), lowering kernel.perf_event_max_sample_rate to 50100
This is when i run sudo lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda 8:0 0 149.1G 0 disk
|-sda1 8:1 0 9.8G 0 part /boot
|-sda2 8:2 0 1K 0 part
|-sda3 8:3 0 53.6G 0 part
`-sda5 8:5 0 85.7G 0 part /
sr0 11:0 1 1024M 0 rom
My syslinux is
LABEL arch
MENU LABEL Arch Linux
LINUX ../vmlinuz-linux
APPEND root=/dev/sda5 rw
INITRD ../initramfs-linux.img
LABEL windows
MENU LABEL Windows
COM32 chain.c32
APPEND hd0 3
NOTE: chain is in the same directory with syslinux
I really think Windows got corrupted but not sure. Thought about repairing the mbr on windows and booting to it then reinstall syslinux but really don't want too.
Thanks in advance
Last edited by jag-ster (2014-11-27 02:12:12)

Here is the partition table:
/dev/sda1 one HUGE linux /boot primary partition (assuming ext4)
/dev/sda2 "name" of the extended partition
/dev/sda3 primary Windows partition (assuming NTFS)
/dev/sda5 logical Linux root partition (assuming ext4)
/dev/sda1 to /dev/sda4 are either all primary, or three primary and one extended. After /dev/sda4 all partitions are logical. If you're still wondering why is there no /dev/sda4, it's because you have 2 primary and one extended, so /dev/sda4 is reserved for another primary partition.
Windows problem:
The /dev/sda1 which Windows named C: is Windows equivalent of linux /boot. When you told linux to place its /boot on /dev/sda1 it formated boot files of Windows. Now you have Windows OS with no kernel. In other words there is no way to boot Windows if you don't reinstall it. Actually there is a way, but you would than screw up Arch.
Mounting problem:
You can never mount extended partition, only logical (an extended partition is made of logical partitions). You want to do:
sudo mount /dev/sda3 -t NTFS-3g -o rw,uid=YourUserName /path/where/you/want/this/partition/mounted
EDIT:
Try it this way:
- Backup all your data
- Delete every partition
- Start Windows installation
- Make only one partition (c:/ for Windows)
- Let Windows make another partition
- Make one more so you could have a data partition, which does not need to be formated to reinstall Windows
- Start Arch installation
- Get to partitioning
=Partitioning=
- /dev/sda4 extended (take the rest of the drive)
- /dev/sda5 logical /boot 512MiB
- /dev/sda6 logical / 20GiB
- /dev/sda7 logical /home (the rest)
Making a separate /home partition will come in handy when reinstalling Arch (any linux distribution), or switching between distros, because it is the equivalent of D:/ in Windows. Also consider LVM.
Last edited by bstaletic (2014-02-28 23:25:33)

[SOLVED]Dual boot problem with an Asus UX31A (EFI)

I never did an EFI install before and I still don't understand how it works however following the Zenbook wiki, I have successfully installed Arch. Now I can't boot Windows 7 anymore. I am using grub2, have installed os-prober. Grub menu has windows 7 entry but when used prompts a wrong EFI file path error.
My partition table is:
[root@zenbook sonay]# lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda 8:0 0 238.5G 0 disk
├─sda1 8:1 0 200M 0 disk
├─sda2 8:2 0 128M 0 disk
├─sda3 8:3 0 98.6G 0 disk
├─sda4 8:4 0 4G 0 disk
├─sda5 8:5 0 90.7G 0 disk
├─sda6 8:6 0 512M 0 disk /boot/efi
├─sda7 8:7 0 3.9G 0 disk
├─sda8 8:8 0 10G 0 disk
├─sda9 8:9 0 200M 0 disk /boot
└─sda10 8:10 0 30.3G 0 disk /
sdc 8:32 0 931.5G 0 disk
└─sdc1 8:33 0 931.5G 0 disk /run/media/sonay/My Passport
/dev/sda1 used to be Windows 7 EFI partition. Gparted says it is flagged as boot.
What I did to install arch:
Partitioned /dev/sda5 with windows disk manager to create linux partitions and formatted the new partitions with gparted as the noob I am.
created /dev/sda6 for EFI boot
created /dev/sda9 for boot partition
created /dev/sda10 as root.
Did not touch
/dev/sda1 which was the EFI partition named SYSTEM
/dev/sda2 which was windows boot partition
/dev/sda3 which was windows C:,
/dev/sda4 and /dev/sda7 which I don't know what they used to be (possible for Asus fast wake up or swap whatever)
/dev/sda8 which is recovery partition.
I did not touch any grub files, except /etc/default/grub
[sonay@zenbook ~]$ cat /etc/default/grub
GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_TIMEOUT=1
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR="Arch"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet init=/bin/systemd add_efi_memmap elevator=noop i915.i915_enable_rc6=1 pcie_aspm=force drm.vblankoffdelay=1 i915.semaphores=1 nmi_watchdog=0"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""
# Preload both GPT and MBR modules so that they are not missed
GRUB_PRELOAD_MODULES="part_gpt part_msdos"
# Uncomment to enable Hidden Menu, and optionally hide the timeout count
#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=5
#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
# Uncomment to use basic console
GRUB_TERMINAL_INPUT=console
# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal
#GRUB_TERMINAL_OUTPUT=console
# The resolution used on graphical terminal
# note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE
# you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo'
GRUB_GFXMODE=auto
# Uncomment to allow the kernel use the same resolution used by grub
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=keep
# Uncomment if you want GRUB to pass to the Linux kernel the old parameter
# format "root=/dev/xxx" instead of "root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/xxx"
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true
# Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entries
GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY=true
# Uncomment and set to the desired menu colors. Used by normal and wallpaper
# modes only. Entries specified as foreground/background.
#GRUB_COLOR_NORMAL="light-blue/black"
#GRUB_COLOR_HIGHLIGHT="light-cyan/blue"
# Uncomment one of them for the gfx desired, a image background or a gfxtheme
#GRUB_BACKGROUND="/path/to/wallpaper"
#GRUB_THEME="/path/to/gfxtheme"
# Uncomment to get a beep at GRUB start
#GRUB_INIT_TUNE="480 440 1"
#GRUB_SAVEDEFAULT="true"
Finally my /boot/grub/grub.cfg is:
[sonay@zenbook ~]$ cat /etc/default/grub
GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_TIMEOUT=1
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR="Arch"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet init=/bin/systemd add_efi_memmap elevator=noop i915.i915_enable_rc6=1 pcie_aspm=force drm.vblankoffdelay=1 i915.semaphores=1 nmi_watchdog=0"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""
# Preload both GPT and MBR modules so that they are not missed
GRUB_PRELOAD_MODULES="part_gpt part_msdos"
# Uncomment to enable Hidden Menu, and optionally hide the timeout count
#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=5
#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
# Uncomment to use basic console
GRUB_TERMINAL_INPUT=console
# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal
#GRUB_TERMINAL_OUTPUT=console
# The resolution used on graphical terminal
# note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE
# you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo'
GRUB_GFXMODE=auto
# Uncomment to allow the kernel use the same resolution used by grub
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=keep
# Uncomment if you want GRUB to pass to the Linux kernel the old parameter
# format "root=/dev/xxx" instead of "root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/xxx"
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true
# Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entries
GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY=true
# Uncomment and set to the desired menu colors. Used by normal and wallpaper
# modes only. Entries specified as foreground/background.
#GRUB_COLOR_NORMAL="light-blue/black"
#GRUB_COLOR_HIGHLIGHT="light-cyan/blue"
# Uncomment one of them for the gfx desired, a image background or a gfxtheme
#GRUB_BACKGROUND="/path/to/wallpaper"
#GRUB_THEME="/path/to/gfxtheme"
# Uncomment to get a beep at GRUB start
#GRUB_INIT_TUNE="480 440 1"
#GRUB_SAVEDEFAULT="true"
[sonay@zenbook ~]$ cat /boot/grub/grub.cfg
cat: /boot/grub/grub.cfg: Permission denied
[sonay@zenbook ~]$ su
Password:
[root@zenbook sonay]# cat /boot/grub/grub.cfg
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
insmod part_gpt
insmod part_msdos
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ x"${feature_menuentry_id}" = xy ]; then
menuentry_id_option="--id"
else
menuentry_id_option=""
fi
export menuentry_id_option
if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
save_env saved_entry
set prev_saved_entry=
save_env prev_saved_entry
set boot_once=true
fi
function savedefault {
if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
saved_entry="${chosen}"
save_env saved_entry
fi
function load_video {
if [ x$feature_all_video_module = xy ]; then
insmod all_video
else
insmod efi_gop
insmod efi_uga
insmod ieee1275_fb
insmod vbe
insmod vga
insmod video_bochs
insmod video_cirrus
fi
if [ x$feature_default_font_path = xy ] ; then
font=unicode
else
insmod part_gpt
insmod ext2
set root='hd0,gpt10'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt10 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt10 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt10 cf66f05a-418c-4517-a0e0-af01b3be4a67
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root cf66f05a-418c-4517-a0e0-af01b3be4a67
fi
font="/usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2"
fi
if loadfont $font ; then
set gfxmode=auto
load_video
insmod gfxterm
set locale_dir=$prefix/locale
set lang=en_US
insmod gettext
fi
terminal_input console
terminal_output gfxterm
set timeout=1
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'Arch GNU/Linux, with Linux core repo kernel' --class arch --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-core repo kernel-true-cf66f05a-418c-4517-a0e0-af01b3be4a67' {
load_video
set gfxpayload=keep
insmod gzio
insmod part_gpt
insmod ext2
set root='hd0,gpt9'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt9 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt9 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt9 42d2ba69-758d-4a54-9482-ae5d60866a52
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 42d2ba69-758d-4a54-9482-ae5d60866a52
fi
echo 'Loading Linux core repo kernel ...'
linux /vmlinuz-linux root=UUID=cf66f05a-418c-4517-a0e0-af01b3be4a67 ro quiet init=/bin/systemd add_efi_memmap elevator=noop i915.i915_enable_rc6=1 pcie_aspm=force drm.vblankoffdelay=1 i915.semaphores=1 nmi_watchdog=0
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /initramfs-linux.img
menuentry 'Arch GNU/Linux, with Linux core repo kernel (Fallback initramfs)' --class arch --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-core repo kernel-fallback-cf66f05a-418c-4517-a0e0-af01b3be4a67' {
load_video
set gfxpayload=keep
insmod gzio
insmod part_gpt
insmod ext2
set root='hd0,gpt9'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt9 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt9 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt9 42d2ba69-758d-4a54-9482-ae5d60866a52
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 42d2ba69-758d-4a54-9482-ae5d60866a52
fi
echo 'Loading Linux core repo kernel ...'
linux /vmlinuz-linux root=UUID=cf66f05a-418c-4517-a0e0-af01b3be4a67 ro quiet init=/bin/systemd add_efi_memmap elevator=noop i915.i915_enable_rc6=1 pcie_aspm=force drm.vblankoffdelay=1 i915.semaphores=1 nmi_watchdog=0
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /initramfs-linux-fallback.img
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry 'Windows 7 (loader) (on /dev/sda3)' --class windows --class os $menuentry_id_option 'osprober-chain-5246C0D846C0BE4B' {
insmod part_gpt
insmod ntfs
set root='hd0,gpt3'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt3 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt3 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt3 5246C0D846C0BE4B
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 5246C0D846C0BE4B
fi
chainloader +1
menuentry 'Windows Recovery Environment (loader) (on /dev/sda8)' --class windows --class os $menuentry_id_option 'osprober-chain-3C98C9B298C96B4A' {
insmod part_gpt
insmod ntfs
set root='hd0,gpt8'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt8 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt8 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt8 3C98C9B298C96B4A
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 3C98C9B298C96B4A
fi
drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
chainloader +1
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f ${config_directory}/custom.cfg ]; then
source ${config_directory}/custom.cfg
elif [ -z "${config_directory}" -a -f $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
SOLUTION:
first I needed to mount Windows EFI partition which was /dev/sda1, so :
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
Then issue the following commands and take note of the outputs:
grub-probe --target=fs_uuid /mnt/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
which outputs: 18DF-E58E and
grub-probe --target=hints_string /mnt/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
which outputs: --hint-bios=hd0,gpt1 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt1
Finally edit the os-prober entry to the following in /boot/grub/grub.cfg
menuentry 'Windows 7 (loader) (on /dev/sda3)' --class windows --class os $menuentry_id_option 'osprober-chain-5246C0D846C0BE4B' {
insmod part_gpt
insmod fat
insmod search_fs_uuid
insmod chain
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt1 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt1 18DF-E58E
chainloader /EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
Last edited by sonay (2012-10-07 18:20:20)

grub-probe --target=hints_string /boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
--hint-bios=hd0,gpt1 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt1
Sorry, no need to anymore. Thanks anyways.
Last edited by sonay (2012-10-07 18:08:39)

[Solved]dual boot windows 7 and arch linux

I have successfully installed arch linux dual boot with the original win7 on my PC. If I only use linux, then the system works well. The problem is that once I boot into Win7 then after reboot, the linux boot manager will stop working and the system always boots into windows automatically. My guess is Win7 automatically repair the boot loader.
My current solution is whenever I have finished using Windows, I'll boot with my linux USB installation, and run "gummiboot --path=/boot install". Afterwards, linux will work fine. But I believe there must be a better solution. Any help will be appreciated.
I have UEFI board by the way.
Last edited by jl2014 (2015-04-19 17:35:57)

Thanks for all your help first! I have tried Head_on_a_Stick's suggestions as the first step. Here is what I did. I have created :
$ cat /boot/loader/entries/windows.conf
title Windows
efi /EFI/hidden/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
The window boot path was :
/boot/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
and I changed
/boot/EFI/Microsoft
to
/boot/EFI/hidden
After reboot, I clicked 'Windows' option on the linux boot manager. Below are the error messages:
Windows failed to start.
File: \EFI\Microsoft/Boot/BCD
Info: An error occurred while attempting to read the boot configuration data.
Any idea what goes wrong?
I'll try other suggestions soon. Thanks all of you again.
Last edited by jl2014 (2015-04-19 00:03:33)

Solved Dual Boot Win7 & Arch quick ?

Quick setup here. I have win7 installed on 1/2 of my 500GB HD. SDA: my 160GB storage drive.
I'm in cfdisk during Arch install
sdb1 Prim NTFS sys reserved. 100MB
sdb2 Prim NTFS 250GB
sdb3 Prim Linux "my /boot" 100MB
sdb4 Prim Linux. "/" 30GB
Can't' setup my /swap & /home partition it says unusable.
Thanks for the help.
Last edited by mr.marcus (2012-07-06 02:57:44)

You can't have more than 4 primary partitions. Try extended partitions.
Edit:
I don't have swap, home, boot partitions. I have just one root partition.
Last edited by hadrons123 (2012-07-06 02:01:16)

[solved] Dual Boot OCZ RevoDrive 3

I just received an OCZ RevoDrive 3 for christmas and was wondering why it wasn't showing up under Arch when it was definitely being detected by the BIOS. I found a thread from last year about the original RevoDrive that said it needed dmraid to work correctly and I assumed that was problem and that the modules weren't built into the CK kernel I was using. So I rebooted to the stock kernel and it still wasn't listed with fdisk -l, so I googled stuff about it and saw on the OCZ forums that Linux was supported!! Luckily some Canadian guy wrote drivers for it and said they were accepted into the mainline kernel as of 3.2-rc1 but dual-booting was supported yet (this was from 12/8/2011).
Before I waste a few hours on trying to get Arch and Windows 7 installed on it (it's 120GB), does anyone know if this works yet? Thanks!
edit: I can't seem to build a working 3.2-rc7 kernel image. I tried building it twice with this script but I got kernel panics each time. So I decided to manually compile it and not use my current .config but all that does is hang after "loading linux.....", I really don't want to return this drive because it's going to be absolutely amazing when it works!
edit: Here's better support
Last edited by brando56894 (2012-01-09 21:40:36)

How should I be compiling my new kernel? Should I be copying my currently running config or should I start fresh? Whenever I try and use my old config it just results in a kernl panic, even with the dmraid package installed. If I start fresh it will boot but some of my devices don't work (because I forgot to select them during the config, it was a test run).
mkinitcpio.conf
HOOKS="base udev autodetect scsi sata dmraid filesystems usbinput"
rc.conf
MODULES=(vboxdrv snd_seq_oss snd_pcm_oss snd_mixer_oss dm_mod)
# Scan for FakeRAID (dmraid) Volumes at startup
USEDMRAID="yes"
Last edited by brando56894 (2011-12-27 19:02:59)

[SOLVED] dual boot partitions

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