[SOLVED]New Win 7 + Arch Dual on UEFI and GPT SSD

Sorry for asking this question but i am very confused by reading the wiki. But i don't know what exactly i have to do.
There are alternatives for using GRUB2 and UEFI's booting capabilities. Which one should i choose? If i choose GRUB2, i don't need to create a seperate partition for GRUB2? I can install Windows 7 and Arch directly on their own partition without any steps?
And if i choose UEFI way, the wiki says you have to create a partition => 400 MiB. Should i create this for Windows 7 too? Two seperate 400 MiB partitions or one 800 MiB partition?
I will install Windows 7 first.
My motherboard: Asus P8Z68-V Pro / Gen 3
My SSD: OCZ Vertex 3 120 GB
Last edited by Paingiver (2012-03-13 19:19:49)

@Paingiver: That 400 MB EF00 FAT32 partition is a requirement of UEFI (UEFI System Partition), not of GRUB2 or Windows itself. Any UEFI system requires it. The UEFI bootloaders of both Archlinux (GRUB2) and Windows (bootmgfw.efi) are installed to this FAT32 partition, but they won't overwrite each other. Do not confuse UEFISYS partition with /boot partition where bios bootloaders and the kernel and initramfs files are stored.
You can have a single rootfs partition (i.e. no separate /boot partition) as that is not related to UEFISYS. UEFISYS partition is required for any UEFI system.

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    vintherine wrote:
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    Last edited by the.ridikulus.rat (2013-09-27 18:29:09)

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    Last edited by Archer61 (2014-06-11 13:48:56)

  • [Solved] Arch + W8 dual boot, UEFI, partitioning question

    Hello,
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    Last edited by centos (2013-06-18 19:24:58)

    The wiki quotes you've presented make it look like the wiki was created with an MBR/BIOS assumption and then poorly edited to incorporate GPT/EFI information. The rules, presented in a more cohesive way, are these:
    Windows ties its partition table type to the computer's firmware: under BIOS, Windows requires MBR; and under EFI, Windows requires GPT.
    Linux is more flexible: It can use either MBR or GPT under BIOS. In theory, Linux can use either MBR or GPT under EFI, although many EFIs seem to require GPT, so it's best to stick with GPT on EFI-based computers.
    When dual-booting, Windows is the limiting factor when it comes to partition table type.
    Most EFIs include a Compatibility Support Module (CSM), which enables them to boot BIOS-based OSes. The CSM can usually be enabled or disabled in the firmware setup utility, although the details of how to do this vary from one implementation to another.
    Computers that ship with Windows 8 pre-installed almost always use EFI, and therefore GPT.
    Converting from MBR to GPT or vice-versa is possible with GPT fdisk (gdisk, cgdisk, or sgdisk), but this requires re-installing the boot loader for any already-installed OS(es). If Windows is one of those OS(es), it's probably not worth the effort.
    GParted and parted can convert from MBR to GPT or vice-versa only by destroying existing partition entries, so you should use these tools to make such a change only on a blank disk or if you intend to lose all the existing partitions.
    Since you (centos) say you're installing to a computer with a pre-installed Windows 8, you've almost certainly already got an EFI/GPT setup. Under these circumstances, you won't be choosing a partition table type unless you want to completely wipe that installation and install both OSes fresh. GParted will detect the partition table type and work with it automatically; you should not select the option to create a new partition table, which your first quote (partially) describes. You should, however, be sure that you install Arch in EFI mode and that you install an EFI-mode boot manager and/or boot loader, rather than a BIOS-mode version of GRUB. Getting an EFI-mode Windows and a BIOS-mode Linux to coexist is possible, but awkward. Converting a BIOS-mode Linux installation to boot in EFI mode is also possible, if you mistakenly install in BIOS mode; but it's usually easier to install in EFI mode to begin with. There are lots of threads here on EFI-mode Arch installations, as well as information in the Arch wiki on this topic. Unfortunately, EFI is still new enough that there are still a lot of kinks to be worked out, both in specific firmware implementations (many of them are buggy) and in OS support (which is still not as mature as is BIOS support).

  • [SOLVED] Advice for Arch install with rEFInd dual boot Lenovo laptop?

    I am trying to plan an Arch install on a new laptop for dual boot with Windows 8.1, but I know there is a potential to cause huge problems so I have been trying to read and learn about the hard disk partition structure and how I might install the rEFInd boot files so that I am still able to boot Windows once Arch is installed. (Unfortunately for some tasks such as updating the maps on my satnav box Windows is essential). However I am really quite unsure if I am doing the right thing in the way I am thinking about the Arch install so I would appreciate any help from experts on the forum.
    The laptop is a Lenovo IdeaPad Y510p which came with Windows 8 pre-installed, with the option to upgrade to Windows 8.1.  The upgrade was completed without issue and I then looked into the question of hard drive partitions and boot.  I had read posts on the Ubuntu forums about users who had installed Ubuntu on this same laptop and ended up being unable to boot Windows afterwards so I wanted to tread very carefully before executing anything which might cause really major damage. I had also read on the Lenovo forums replies about people who had replaced the hard drive and installed linux only to find that they could  not boot to the recovery partitions, with replies from Lenovo moderators saying that if the partition structure had been changed then the laptop would have to be sent back to Lenovo for a factory repair.
    On this laptop to get into the bios or boot options you do not just press the power button and hit an F key, but instead there is a special small "OneKey Recovery" button next to the power jack, which opens up with options for BIOS setup and boot options as well as normal boot or recovery. This OneKey Recovery button is therefore needed to boot a usbkey - the power button only allows it to boot to windows presumably until/unless a different bootloader and NVRAM entry is amended.
    I have done all the initial ( safe!)changes necessary to move to the point at which I can execute the Arch install. From within Windows (switched off fastboot, and shrunk the "C:" drive to make space for linux partitions).  I have also switched off Secure Boot from the BIOS, and made sure that Windows still boots up fine.
    The current arch install iso (February 2014) boots under uefi just fine - and of course once booted I have access to the gdisk programme.  That certainly showed the pre-existing partitions on the drive (8 partitions with partition number 2 being the EFI partition, and three recovery partitions!) with a GPT partition table, and it should therefore be possible to make the necessary new linux partitions in the now unallocated space on the disk that was freed up with the internal disk management facility within Windows 8.1.  So at that point I created three partitions for a root partition (type 8300), a swap partition (type 8200) and another type 8300 partition which will become /opt in the installed Arch system.
    In order to try and not make any changes to the partition structure I let the three new linux partitions be number 9, 10 and 11.
    I am told that for a GPT disk it is a definite no-no to try to create more than one EFI partition. So I will need to use the existing EFI partition to place the rEFInd files and the kernel once I install Arch.
    In this (Y510p) laptop the EFI partition contains the following structure:
    BOOT/ - containing only boot.sdi
    BOOTSECT.BAK
    EFI/ which contains two directories Boot/ and Microsoft/
    so EFI/Boot/ contains only Boot64.efi which is likely a fallback copy of the Windows 8.1 bootloader
    and EFI/Microsoft/ contains a Boot/ directory - so
    EFI/Microsoft/Boot/ contains loads of language specific directories like en-GB/
    plus bootmgfw.efi (which I believe is the Windows main efi loader file)
    bootmgr.efi
    memtest.efi
    The scheme that I am planning to use which I have previously used in pure Arch uefi machines, is that /boot is a directory in the root partition, /. That way /boot is an ext4 directory and will contain the kernel and initramfs plus the rEFInd linux config file.
    Then I can mount the EFI (vfat) partition as /boot/efi and so I can then make a /boot partition under /.  Then the EFI /BOOT/ directory would be seen in Linux as /boot/efi/BOOT/ and the Windows efi stuff would be in /boot/efi/EFI/Boot/Microsoft/Boot/ in which case I would presume that I have to make a new directory in /boot/efi/EFI/refind/ and put the refind stuff including the filesystem drivers there, and let the kernel go into the (ext4) /boot/ directory which would be preferred!  However I am not 100% confident that this is what will work and I need to read more before trying to do the install. The thing that concerns me is how the system will handle the uefi boot process, and whether it would auto-detect the Windows efi file as well as the Arch refind efi file once the system has started up?
    ... and then there is the issue of the NVRAM entries and I am no longer confident that if I use the usual tools to create an entry (efiboomgr or bcfg), that I will get a successful dual boot system!
    There is still a chance that I would irrevocably damage being able to boot to the Windows and Recovery partition boot options by messing up the EFI and/or the NVRAM so I have to tread very very carefully with this.
    If anyone has gone through this kind of dual boot install with a Windows 8 or 8.1 machine using rEFInd for the bootloader, and can offer advice or help here I would very much appreciate it.  I have another pure Arch system which uses rEFInd that works extremely well, but it seems that dual boot with uefi is a rather more complex animal than a pure linux system!
    Last edited by mcloaked (2014-02-22 10:06:03)

    vipin wrote:I have recently bought the y510p , im planning to install Arch , this is my 4th laptop , i had installed Arch in all the other 3 with no problems, but im a bit worried with the installation as this is the first laptop which has EFI , im a linux user for the past 6 years , i started with fedora , now i like Arch , mike documentation is excellent, i just had one question when i had grub , it automatically finds the new kernel when i update (grub.conf/menu.lst gets updated), does rEFInd also do that.
    When there is an update to the rEFInd package you need to copy the files across to your ESP from the files contained in /usr/share/refind/  usually you need to copy the refind_x64.efi binary as well as the icons, fonts, and drivers directories.  Since there is flexibility in how you configure the kernel and initrd files in terms of where they are located whether you need to do anything else when a new kernel update arrives depends on how you set your system up.  If you have the /boot directory as your ESP partition which will then have the kernel and initrd files updated by default then there no need to do anything else when there is a kernel update. If the ESP is then at /boot/EFI and within that is your refind/ directory then that is where the replacement files go if refind-efi gets a pacman update. So it is actually fairly straight forward. If you configure rEFInd to look for kernels in some other directory than /boot/ then you may need to copy the files there after a kernel update but there is more information in the arch wiki about this.
    During a refind-efi package update there are helpful files in the pacman output (and log) reminding you of what you need to do.  eg for the latest refind-efi update you get:
    [2014-06-18 18:48] [PACMAN] upgraded radvd (1.12-1 -> 1.13-1)
    [2014-06-18 18:48] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]
    [2014-06-18 18:48] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] rEFInd UEFI application has been installed at /usr/share/refind/refind_*.efi
    [2014-06-18 18:48] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]
    [2014-06-18 18:48] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Other UEFI applications have been installed at /usr/share/refind/tools_*/
    [2014-06-18 18:48] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]
    [2014-06-18 18:48] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] UEFI drivers have been installed at /usr/share/refind/drivers_*/
    [2014-06-18 18:48] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]
    [2014-06-18 18:48] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Copy the efi application (according to your UEFI ARCH)
    [2014-06-18 18:48] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] and /usr/share/refind/refind.conf-sample to a sub-directory of <EFISYS>/EFI/
    [2014-06-18 18:48] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] as refind.conf and add an entry to firmware boot menu using efibootmgr
    [2014-06-18 18:48] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] or mactel-boot (for Macs)
    [2014-06-18 18:48] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]
    [2014-06-18 18:48] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] rEFInd Icons have been installed at /usr/share/refind/icons/
    [2014-06-18 18:48] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] rEFInd Fonts have been installed at /usr/share/refind/fonts/
    [2014-06-18 18:48] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]
    [2014-06-18 18:48] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] HTML Documentation is available at /usr/share/refind/docs/html/
    [2014-06-18 18:48] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]
    [2014-06-18 18:48] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] More info: [url]https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/UEFI_Bootloaders#Using_rEFInd[/url]
    [2014-06-18 18:48] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]
    [2014-06-18 18:48] [PACMAN] upgraded refind-efi (0.8.1-1 -> 0.8.2-1)
    I hope that helps.
    By the way you can also boot uefi using grub and in fact you can get rEFInd to chainload grub as a backup bootloader as an added safety factor and have both rEFInd as well as grub installed simultaneously. How that can be done is explained in the thread at https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=181906
    Last edited by mcloaked (2014-06-25 17:41:12)

  • (SOLVED)Toshiba P850 UEFI and issues with bootloaders

    So I've been using Arch for over a year and a half and have installed it on 10+ systems. I got a new laptop in January 2013 which has a UEFI motherboard (I hate Intel) And ive tried installing Arch from pure memory and also from the beginners guide, the first day I got the laptop I installed Arch in 15 minutes with NO issues, now all of a sudden when I boot into UEFI (For some reason legacy support which is called "CSM" Does not seem to work with Arch, so I must use UEFI, if you know a way around this let me know) on the live disk, install goes successful, but when I try and install GRUB (Not grub-legacy) it says "UEFI Commands are not supported on this device" I read the article in the wiki about starting the kernel module, and I did that, install went successful with GRUB and I was able to make my grub file install to /boot/efi/EFI/grub.cfg. When I try and boot up it takes me to a grub screen for about 2 seconds, then reboots, then shows grub for 2 seconds, then reboots, etc..... And the grub menu that pops up ONLY says "grub" twice, it doesn't display any information as to what its going to load, so it seems like it failed. I DID change the root directory which is sda4, and I still get this issue.
    My partitions are:
    sda1 /boot 300MB
    sda2 /boot/efi 700MB
    sda3 SWAP 2048MB
    sda4 / (the remaining amount of my 1TB HDD)
    Does anyone have any tips? I really need to get this working.
    EDIT: Also, I have tried SysLinux as well, that didn't work either. I don't care what bootloader I use as long as it can boot Arch! Ive currently got Debian installed and for some reason that's failing as well, but that disables my screen due to a kernel issue, I see the module fail to load in SystemD with Debian and it goes out, so I need Arch. Debian isn't that great anyways IMHO
    SOLVED: Just installed via CSM instead. Took me some work arounds but i finally got it installed.
    Last edited by Kitkin15 (2013-12-20 07:43:32)

    grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi/ --bootloader-id=grub --recheck --debug
    It told me to do that HERE
    First, mount the ESP at your preferred mountpoint (usually /boot/efi, hereafter referred to as $esp). On a first install, you will need to mkdir /boot/efi, if that's where you want to mount it.
    Now, install the GRUB UEFI application to $esp/EFI/grub and its modules to /boot/grub/x86_64-efi:
    # grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=$esp --bootloader-id=grub --recheck --debug
    The way I understand it is that I still needed /boot to be the MBR boot partition, then /boot/efi as the UEFI partition so I can build compatibility with my legacy support later on, right now that's an even bigger pain as it doesn't fully work (After I get it running with UEFI I can tinker with it, if I cant get it running then ill have to wait for a BIOS update).
    Also, ive tried the Alternative method listed below that and it still didn't load GRUB like it should have, same original error
    Also, right now im trying to install with just using these partitions:
    mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda1 #EFI BOOT 700MB
    mkswap /dev/sda2 #SWAP 2048MB
    mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda3 # / Remaining amount of my 1TB HDD
    Right now im going to wipe my HDD and then try and install using GummiBoot, I had it all correct but my partitions were not GPT so it didn't work (Which is most likely why GRUB failed, I don't know too much about the differences but from what I know that's what did it) Now when I try to erase and re-partition using a GPT tool it gives me an error saying its not possible to partition /dev/sda or something along the likes of that, im going to see if I can try gparted live later tonight or tomorrow instead of the one they use in the beginners guide.
    Im honestly confused as to how I got it running earlier this year when I set it up lmfao. I know I used cfdisk to partition and was still using UEFI.
    Last edited by Kitkin15 (2013-12-18 22:05:24)

  • Dual Booting OEM WIN 8.1 with Win 8.1 with UEFI enabled

    I am a college student.I use Lenovo Z510 which has full UEFI with 1TB hdd of which 931gb is free.I shrinked it to 2 X 465 GB partitions of which one has oem install of win 8.1 with my personal stuff and games.My course requires a clean install of win 8.1 for various softwares like creo, catia.I want to install a clean win 8.1 for college and projects on my second partition with the same oem license...I have prepared a fresh win 8.1 usb with windows media creation tool....but i dont know how to proceed for a sucessful full UEFI installationhow do i do that ? guys ..help me...when i googled it came across efi and two other partitions...what should i do ?also i have no plans to upgrade to win 10 as it doesnt support the existing versions of design softwarea

    I tried to boot windows from UEFI shell ( tried to map all the possible partitions with command "map"
    ) , but had no success. (when going, for example, into blk0: ; writing : "ls", error was displayed : "no file exists"
    Looks like you were trying to use UNIX commands?   <eg>
    Try using  diskpart  instead?
    Robert Aldwinckle
    There have been some cases where an EFI deployment of Windows has failed, and you have to use the system's EFI shell to boot the OS manually. The 'map' command is used after booting into the shell (if it does not run by default) to show which volumes exist
    on the system.
    See here for more info:
    https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/efi-shells-and-scripting
    The specs for the tablet in question seem to indicate it only has 16GB "disk" for the OS to use. A standard Windows 8.1 core/pro would not be viable and Windows 8.1 with Bing is not available to the public. Since the tablet is already licensed
    for Windows 8.1 with Bing, it would be best to get the recovery solution from the manufacturer. Otherwise you'd have to purchase a new license and then the OS may not have enough space to install/use properly.

  • Dual Booting OEM WIN 8.1 with Win 8.1 with UEFI

    I use Lenovo Z510 which has full UEFI with 1TB hdd of which 931gb is free.I shrinked it to 2 X 465 GB partitions of which one has oem install of win 8.1 with my personal stuff and games.My course requires a clean install of win 8.1 for various softwares like creo, catia.I want to install a clean win 8.1 for college and projects on my second partition with the same oem license...I have prepared a fresh win 8.1 usb with windows media creation tool....but i dont know how to proceed for a sucessful full UEFI installationhow do i do that ? guys ..help me...when i googled it came across efi and two other partitions...what should i do ?

    I tried to boot windows from UEFI shell ( tried to map all the possible partitions with command "map"
    ) , but had no success. (when going, for example, into blk0: ; writing : "ls", error was displayed : "no file exists"
    Looks like you were trying to use UNIX commands?   <eg>
    Try using  diskpart  instead?
    Robert Aldwinckle
    There have been some cases where an EFI deployment of Windows has failed, and you have to use the system's EFI shell to boot the OS manually. The 'map' command is used after booting into the shell (if it does not run by default) to show which volumes exist
    on the system.
    See here for more info:
    https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/efi-shells-and-scripting
    The specs for the tablet in question seem to indicate it only has 16GB "disk" for the OS to use. A standard Windows 8.1 core/pro would not be viable and Windows 8.1 with Bing is not available to the public. Since the tablet is already licensed
    for Windows 8.1 with Bing, it would be best to get the recovery solution from the manufacturer. Otherwise you'd have to purchase a new license and then the OS may not have enough space to install/use properly.

  • [solved] For each new wine prefix / need to install mono?

    Hi!
    Haven't "worked" with wine for a while now and I don't remember getting prompted to download/install wine ("bla bla no mono detected... download / install / you should use your distributions package or something", guess winecfg is doing that) every time I create a new prefix.
    Has something changed here? Or did I change something (remove a package, compile wine the wrong way)? Or did I just forget about that dialogue?I think basic mono support just used to be there... just like it's with gecko, using an archlinux package or something... but I'm not sure. The only "mono-package" I have installed is: "mono 2.10.8-1"... so...  uhm...
    TL/DR: Why no mono automatically there / how fix it? I'm confused.
    Thanks!
    Last edited by whoops (2012-06-11 13:42:52)

    fiddlinmacx wrote:Try looking here:
    http://wiki.winehq.org/Mono
    I already looked there at the beginning of my "journey", it only confused me more
    The newest version of wine adds automatic installation of mono. It's looking for an MSI
    http://www.winehq.org/announce/1.5.6
    There is a wine-mono package in the AUR as well that you can try.
    That though, explains everything, thanks!
    ( For some reason I thought wine was trying to use parts of my native mono and couldn't find it, somehow totally missed the "msi part" :3 )
    => solved
    edit: In case you have the MSI in place but it's still downloading mono every time: Check the md5sum. There seem to be different valid & working versions of the msi around (maybe for different languages?), but only one seems to be recognized by wine. That one seems to work for me at the moment: 972b4e96e677c2cf5065fbdd13183c66
    Last edited by whoops (2012-06-16 08:04:48)

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