Windows 7 and Arch linux dual boot problem

hey guys I had an issue with windows 7 dual booted with arch and i was just wondering my windows 7 crashed. I had Reinstalled windows OS and all my partitions are set up but now when I try to boot up arch I cant at all cause windows Boot took over and i have no way of getting into arch is there anyway i can fix this or maybe reinstall arch without loseing my home folder with all my data, or is there just and easyer way to fix this issue im stuck. thank you all for your support as i am a noob

You need to re-install grub. When you reinstalled Windows it will overwrite grub preventing you booting Arch. You'll need to boot from a liveCD and chroot into your Arch installation. details for recovering grub are in the wiki - https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GR … stallation

Similar Messages

Windows 7 / Arch Linux Dual-Boot - win7 keeps changing the boot flag!

Greetings!
Its been a long while since I had to dual-boot with windows on the same machine.
I 've installed windows 7 and then arch linux and installed GRUB on my sda1 where the /boot partitions is located at.
I've managed to boot into arch successfully and later into windows also successfully.... but when i tried to boot into arch again I wasn't greeted with the typical GRUB boot screen... grub was ignored completely and win7 booting began as if it was the only OS in my hard drive.
I've used the gparted live cd and realized that the boot flag has changed from my /boot partition (sda1) to my windows partition (sda2). I've changed it back and I was able to boot into arch again. but when I rebooted to win7 and then to arch the same thing has happened. The boot flag keeps changing whenever im rebooting into windows making impossible for me to boot with GRUB unles I manually change the flag again.
I haven't installed GRUB into the MBR because I hear it is a bad practice when you have a windows OS also installed (something with service packs not being able to install, among other things). I also don't want to use the easyBCD method to boot arch using the win7 loader.
here is the partition scheme on my 500gb sata drive :
/dev/sda1 /boot 250mb (primary)
/dev/sda2 windows 7 ntfs 100gb (primary)
/dev/sda3 swap 4gb (primary)
/dev/sda5 / 16gb (logical)
/dev/sda6 /var 8gb (logical)
/dev/sda7 /home the rest of the hd space (logical)
What am I doing wrong and how do i prevent the boot flag from changing?
Thanks in advance for any help you can give me!
Last edited by kamigr (2010-01-12 14:35:07)

naequs wrote:
bumping this because i have the EXACT same problem !
however i installed grub to sda1 because i didnt want my installs to mess with each other (not that ive had any problems with grub in mbr though...) .
this just looked cleaner to me.
if anyone has figured out how to prevent windows from automagically changing the bootgflag, id like to know !
but maybe this is a question more suitable for a windoze forum
tia
/edit: seriously, ive been searching the net for some time now, including irc chans and there seems to be no solution to this ! all threads similar to this just end dead !
i hate how windows claims to own my computer!
1. don't necrobump
2. as mentioned in the thread, just install grub to mbr and chainload windows. It works just fine and is the easiest way to get it working reliable.

Windows 7 & 8.1 Dual Boot Problem

In my pc dual booting system is generated.
Both os windows 7 & 8.1 are separatly partitioned.
I have used it several day,but during 2 days windows 7 has been disrupting.
For that,i have only formated & reinstalled windows 7.
But now i can see that windows 7 is directly started but there are no options for windows 8.1 after opening my pc.
At early days options for both 8.1 & 7 can be seen.
But now that can't be seen.
Only windows 7 is started directly.
I have tried a lot,but can't understand the problem.
Please help me....

Hi,
Please using the command below to fix system boot loader for test.
Open Command Prompt with administrator.
Type bcdboot x:\windows, press Enter.
After that, restart your computer to check if problem resolved.
Roger Lu
TechNet Community Support

[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)

Dual boot Windows 7 (64) and Arch Linux (64) problems

Hello:
I am new to Arch Linux and just finished installing the 64bit on my laptop. It had a prebuilt Windows 7 (64) installed which I kept but split the hdd from 160Gb to 80Gb and 80Gb. I installed Arch there and set 4 partitions, all of them as Logical - a 64 MB ext2 /boot partition; a 512 MB swap partition; a 15 GB root partition; and the rest as my /home partition. My partitions look like this:
Disk Drive: /dev/sda
Size: 160041885696 bytes, 160.0 GB
Heads: 255 Sectors per Track: 63 Cylinders: 19457
Name Flags Part Type FS Type [Label] Size (MB)
sda1 Primary Unknown (27) 12889.02
sda2 Boot Primary NTFS 106.93
sda3 Primary NTFS [] 73915.11*
sda5 Logical Linux ext2 65.81*
sda6 Logical Linux 509.97*
sda7 Logical Linux ext2 15002.92*
sda8 Logical Linux ext2 57549.55*
The install was succesful(this was running from the core install cd) and I installed GRUB to my /boot but when I restarted it loaded Windows 7. I have used Knoppix USB disc to boot and see my Arch Linux install files and edited the /boot/gur/menu.lst file.
In Windows I installed EasyBCD 1.7.2 and tried to get NeoGrub bootloader working as a dual boot. I tried getting rid of the boot flag for Windows with cfdisk and setting it to my (Logical) sda5. That did not work. So far the only way I have booted into my Arch Linux install has been by going to the Live CD, choosing "Boot from Existing Linux Install" and editing the command files there.
root (hd0,4)
kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda3 ro
initrd /kernel26.img
My goal is to get a dual boot working for Windows 7 and Arch Linux 64 and continue installing the Xorg and KDE to Arch. I just don't know what the problem is here. I don't mind reinstalling Arch if something went wrong, but I would like to keep my Windows running in order and add Arch on.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I ran the LiveCD and chose "Install to MBR hd0". I ended up with this:
setup hd(0,1)
Checking if "/boot/grub/stage1" exists.....yes
Checking if "/boot/grub/iso9660_stage1_5" exists.....yes
Running "embed /boot/grub/iso9660_stage1_5 (hd0,1)".....failed(this is not fatal)
Running "embed /boot/grub/iso9660_stage1_5 (hd16)".....failed(this is not fatal)
Running "install /boot/grub/stage1 d (hd0,1) /boot/grub/stage2 p (hd0,1) boot/grub/menu.lst".....failed
Error 31: File is not sector aligned
My entry for Windows into the menu.lst looks like this:
# (0) Arch Linux x64
title Arch Linux x64
root (hd0,4)
kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/3841273c-d91e-41d6-9dbf-716a15d03a01 ro
initrd /kernel26.img
# (1) Arch Linux x64
title Arch Linux x64 Fallback
root (hd0,4)
kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/3841273c-d91e-41d6-9dbf-716a15d03a01 ro
initrd /kernel26-fallback.img
# (2) Windows 7
title Windows 7
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

Dual Booting Windows and Arch (SOLVED!)

Hello all, I'm having trouble getting a windows partition activated again. (Windows was on here for many years, then I installed arch on a separate partition.)
Here is the layout of fdisk -l:
Disk /dev/sda: 100.0 GB, 100030242816 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 12161 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 7833 62918541 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 7834 12039 33784695 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 12040 12161 979965 82 Linux swap / Solaris
sda1 is the windows partition, and sda2 is the arch partition. The linux partition SHOULD be primary bootable (have the * next to it),but all my attempts to do this have failed. (I've used "testdisk" to change the flags, but for some reason it keeps reverting back to setting sda 1 as primary bootable after a reboot or 2).
This is the pertinent section of /boot/grub/menu.lst:
title Arch Linux
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/f3be3baa-3b62-460c-8801-64b0b1cca$
initrd /boot/kernel26.img
# (1) Arch Linux
title Arch Linux Fallback
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/f3be3baa-3b62-460c-8801-64b0b1cca$
initrd /boot/kernel26-fallback.img
# (1) Windows
title Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1
I have a . . . modified . . . copy of XP Professional, which comes with a recovery console to reinstall the MBR if it's necessary.
From what I've researched, I somehow need to reinstall grub to the second partition, make the second partition primary bootable, then rewrite the MBR on the first partition, and correct any command errors in menu.lst, but I haven't really figure out a way to do it.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Last edited by mongoose088 (2008-12-20 21:48:18)

I read up on some documentation of installing GRUB to the MBR.
So far, I went into ArchLive (from the cd) and did the following
grub> root (hd0,1)
grub> setup (hd0)
The installation reports success with no errors, but the problem persists. Arch linux will boot fine, but when I select XP it flashes my configuration, like so:
title Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1
then kicks me back to the OS select GRUB screen. Did I install it to the wrong place?
EDIT:
I decided to issue this command:
grub> setup(hd0,1)
It reported some errors, then arch couldn't mount the ntfs partition because of possible MFT cluster errors.
Using testdisk, I repaired the boot sector and MFT clusters, then using ArchLive reinstalled grub with grub>(hd0)
Arch and Arch Fallback will boot correctly, but now the windows side shows an error:
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1
Loading stage2Read Error (or something to this extent)
I wonder if this error brings me closer or farther to a solution?
Thanks for the replies so far!
Last edited by mongoose088 (2008-12-20 05:41:43)

Can't get windows 8.1 with dual boot for fedora (linux) . system is UEFI .

Can't get windows 8.1 with dual boot for fedora (linux) . system is UEFI .

Hi,
Any update here?
We may seek help at Fedora forum as Milos suggested, if convenient we could share the related thread link here for reference.
In addition, please also check the information in the similar thread:
Dual Boot Windows 8 and Linux?
Best regards
Michael Shao
TechNet Community Support

Windows XP and Arch Linux

How do I install both Windows XP and Arch Linux on my system? I want to be able to boot either of the two from a menu that loads after the bios. I have created 4 partitions (NTFS, linux root, linux swap, linux home) and installed Windows XP on the NTFS system, as well as Linux on the other partitions. How do I go about the booting process? Are there any better ways of doing this than as above?
Kirk
PS How do I make a user supervisor in Arch Linux? When I try and reboot under my made user, I do not have sufficient rights.

kirkl_uk wrote:How do I install both Windows XP and Arch Linux on my system? I want to be able to boot either of the two from a menu that loads after the bios. I have created 4 partitions (NTFS, linux root, linux swap, linux home) and installed Windows XP on the NTFS system, as well as Linux on the other partitions. How do I go about the booting process? Are there any better ways of doing this than as above?
Just add the following in your /boot/grub/menu.lst
# (1) Windoze XP
title Windows XP Professional
root (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1
I assume from your description that you installed XP on the 1st partition of your 1st disc. If not, replace hd0,0 according to your setup.
kirkl_uk wrote:PS How do I make a user supervisor in Arch Linux? When I try and reboot under my made user, I do not have sufficient rights.
Just add that user in the root group in /etc/group. Or you can install sudo & 'man sudo' for details.
However, believe me, you don't want to do something like that. In windoze if you try to delete, ie the windows folder through explorer it'll stop you, pointing that this is evil. In linux you can easily call a 'rm -rf /' (as root) and wipe your disc out .
So better stick to a non-root user for everyday usage and su (or sudo) when you need root-access for a task.

Migrating from Arch to Dual Boot (Arch 64 + Win8.1 64).

Hello my friends.
I used to have a dual boot system (MBR, if I'm not mistaken), with Arch Linux on hda (1TB) and Windows 7 on hdb (300GB). I did this installation more than 3 years ago.
The disk with windows died recently, and because I need it for work (virtual machine is not an option), I decided to make a "refresh" on my machine.
I bought two new disks, a 240GB SSD and a 3TB HDD.
What I would like to do is to install both Windows 8.1 and Arch Linux on the SSD disk (100GB for Windows, 140GB for Arch, my main system), and use the 3TB (for Arch) and the 1TB (for Windows) disks as storage.
While doing a research on how to do the installation, some questions arised.
I know that I must (or at least should, for make the processe easier) install Windows first. I will install in the EFI mode, as my machine alread has it.
1. Which boot loader I should use when installing Arch Linux?
From what I'd read, to keep things simple, I should opt for a bootloader like gummyboat, that will recognise the Windows without manual intervantion. Is this right?
2. Will I have problems with the Windows Update?
I read here https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=187194 that when Windows update, it mess with the EFI partition and will make the Arch stop booting (the boot will enter directly on Windows). Is this correct? Is this related only to "automatic" updates (and manual updates can be made without problem)? There is any way to avoid this?
3. After installing both systems, will Arch Linux recognize my 1TB disk?
My 1TB disk has my actual Arch linux installation, and data. I would like to copy this data to the 3TB disk and then, under Windows, format it to serve as my Windows storage disk.
I can do this BEFORE installing the system, or after. But the second option causes me some concerning regarding the rights and so on, so that I do not know if my "new" system" will be able to copy things from the old system.
Should I make the copy before installing Arch Linux?
I think this is it.
If you could helping me with these questions and pointing problems/flaws with my approach, I'll be immensely gratefull.
Chhers,
Eduardo.

Hello elken
While I could maintain the system under BIOS/MBR, and I don't had any problem with this in the last 2 years, I want to change my system to EFI/GPT.
I found that Windows under EFI must be under GPT (As pre-installed Windows 8.1), while under BIOS it must be under MBR. So, as my system is (will be) a DUAL one, and It is not a MAC system (that would allow to the EFI/GPT loader to chain a BIOS/MBR, I have to choose between EFI/GPT or BIOS/MBR.
Because my system can be setup under EFI/GPT, and because sooner or later BIOS/MBR will start to disappear, I want to change it now. This will mke it easier in the future to upgrade my system, I think.
Not to mention that GPT has some nice advantages over MBR. For example, GPT can handle my 3TB disk without problems, while MBR not. (At least, fdisk wasn't able to deal with it).
So, you could say that despite BIOS/MBR being fully funcional right now, it's a matter of personal taste (and learning) to me, this desire to completely change my system to EFI/GPT
For now, I decided to mantain the LINUX and WINDOWS separated (as they are now), i.e., on separate disks. This should solve the problem of windows messing with the boot loader when upgrading (point 2).
About the bootloader, I think I'll change to gummybot, to test it. I think I could still use grub 2 (I'm not entirely sure), but Gummybot seems simple and fair enough.
As an aside, I think I will try to migrate my system to the new HDF using rsync and making the necessary adjustments (like in fstab).
It seems not to difficult, and there are many documents out there on how to do this.
When I finish, I'll post here how I did and what worked and what not
Cheers,
Eduardo

[SOLVED]GRUB Dual-boot problem

Hey guys, I need some help since I haven't had any issues with GRUB until now. I've read the GRUB page on the wiki and several other sites, but I'm still not sure which method I should use.
Anyway, everything was fine yesterday, I could boot into both my Windows and Arch. Then for some reason today, I tried booting into Windows, but stated BOOTMGR is missing, press CTRL+ALT+DEL to restart. So I tried booting into Arch, which was fine. So I used the Windows CD and then used Startup Repair to fix Windows, but unfortunately it didn't work. I then typed bootrec /fixmbr (which was typed impulsively, since I use that whenever I uninstall Linux). Anyway, that makes Windows overwrite to the MBR, so after booting my laptop it goes straight to Windows.
So I was wondering whether to use the method where you have to use chroot, the method you can just use grub> find /grub/stage1 and install to MBR, or just run through the Arch install CD and skip everything except installing the bootloader and rebooting.
Replies are appreciated, thanks in advance.
EDIT: Solved it. I booted in the Arch Linux install CD and followed the instructions on the wiki. I switched to the grub shell and used
grub> find /grub/stage1
for use in root. It displayed (hd0,6), so I then used
grub> root (hd0,6)
. Lastly I used
grub> setup (hd0)
to install GRUB to the MBR. It works perfectly again.
Last edited by Reki (2011-11-27 14:31:23)

I know exactly what the problem is.
If you're using rEFIt, sync your partition tables (should be the menu item called 'Partitioning Tool'). The problem is that GRUB has been installed, but doesn't know where to find the Arch partition.
After syncing, you may find that the boot process hangs at the Linux logo on a gray background. No worries — just reboot and the problem should fix itself.
N.B. You will need to do a partition table sync every time you change your hard drive's layout.

Rubix - yet another distro based on Slackware and Arch Linux

Today I was reading DistroWatch and saw info about Rubix.
This distro is based on Slackware and Arch Linux.
What do you think about this?

I tried it.
I really liked the install. Very simple and straightforward.
I didn't like fact that the rubix installer installs only one package at a time (and pulls in the deps of course), so the install is rather slow.
I also didn't like the repo structure. Seems cumbersome.
bonuses:
e17 installed easy, and just worked.
packages available are pretty reasonable
I really like the modifications rubix has made to rc.conf and some of the inits
There is some type of community repository
The distro seems to have a clear focus, and I like many of the security aspects.
bummers:
extra rc<int>.d directories
No gdm. boo-hiss.
No gnome (I get it. this is slackware. boo-hiss).
My fonts looked ugly. This one is such a huge deal for me, that I consider it a showstopper. Might be the fact that I installed it in vmware, but most distros have little issue with this. <caveat. I think arch fonts suck too. I have never had good looking fonts in arch...which is why I have only really used it as a server.>
Did I mention I didn't like the repo structure? It made the simple act of updating pacman repos (pacman -Sy) slow and painful.

Dual booting Windows 8 and Arch Linux with UEFI

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

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

[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.

Dual-booting with Windows 8, Arch Linux first?

I initially had Windows 7, then Arch. Now, I have a key for Windows 8. I can just upgrade the previous Windows 7 partition, but I only allocated 37 GB originally, so I want to expand it - I would therefore need to delete the partition and make a new one. However, dual-booting guides say that Windows should be first. What is the best way to go about this?

srs5694 wrote:
x33a wrote:Thanks, that's interesting. I always thought that it didn't run without secure boot.
Note that Secure Boot is NOT synonymous with EFI. Secure Boot is one optional feature of EFI. In fact, of five computers I've got that use EFI, only one supports Secure Boot.
I did know that
Microsoft requires manufacturers to ship their computers with Secure Boot enabled in order to get a Windows 8-compatible sticker. Because most manufacturers consider the lack of such a sticker to be the kiss of death for their products, this means that nearly all computers that ship with Windows 8 ship with Secure Boot enabled. Because Secure Boot is an EFI feature, this means that these computers also use EFI.
This does not mean that Windows 8 itself requires either EFI or Secure Boot; the requirement is a marketing requirement for new computers. If you buy a Windows 8 package at the store, it will install on an older BIOS-only computer (assuming it's not too old), on an EFI computer that lacks Secure Boot support, on an EFI computer with Secure Boot support but with that feature disabled, or on an EFI computer with Secure Boot and Microsoft's keys enabled. (It is possible to replace your firmware's Secure Boot keys, which would prevent the installation of Windows unless you re-signed the Windows boot loader yourself.)
Note also that it's possible to switch Secure Boot on and off, at least on x86-64 systems. (Microsoft's Windows 8 sticker requirements specify that users must be able to do this on x86-64 systems; but on ARM computers, Microsoft's sticker requirements say that users must not be able to disable Secure Boot.) Windows 8 should continue to boot when you turn Secure Boot on or off; however, some versions of GRUB have problems chainloading to other EFI boot loaders (including the Windows boot loader) when Secure Boot is enabled.
Thanks, that's very informative.

Question about the "Windows and Arch Dual Boot" wiki

I've been reading this wiki http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Win … _Dual_Boot to get a better understanding of what I need to do to install Arch along side of my XP installation and there's one point that I don't understand. Here it is
It is important to note that there is a 1024 cylinder limit with some older BIOSs. This means that the BIOS cannot access things beyond the 1024th cylinder (about 8.5GB), so the /boot partition should be in the first 8.5GB (space before Windows partition).
How does one go about getting the /boot partition created during the installation of Arch to install in the first 8.5g? I have installed Arch in Virtualbox twice so far just so that I'm familiar with the procedure and I can't see anything in the installation where I can do this.
There's one other item that is not clear to me as I've seen conflicting information on it. If I do create a seperate "/boot" partition for Arch, do I need to make it "bootable"during the installation? At this point I don't think that I do.
My understanding of installing to be able to dual boot is that I only need to install Grub to "Sda" and of course edit the grub menu to add the information needed for XP. Is this enough?
Thanks for any help.

Yes, you install grub to sda (master boot record), and add the entry for Windows. In the step where you partition the harddrive, you can choose where to create it. Actually it may not be that much of a problem anymore, my boot is on the third partition, after ~15 GB. You can forget about the bootable flag when using grub, it does not care.

Windows 7 and Arch linux dual boot problem

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