ppartarr / archdualboot.md
There are already dozens of tutorials to setup an Arch and Windows dual boot — welcome to a dozen + 1. Like most others this is a step by step guide. Unlike most others the steps are ordered in a way that makes sense (starting with the download first — duh!) so you won’t have to restart your computer a gazillion times.
I did this on a single SSD Dell XPS 15 with windows 10 preinstalled. It’s obviously possible to follow this guide if you’re installing Arch onto a different drive or if you’re running older hardware. If you run into any problems please be sure to read through the Arch Installation Guide and the Arch Dual boot with Windows wiki.
To get started you will need:
- a stable internet connection
- a USB key with 1GB storage
- a cup of coffee & and a can do attitude
Let’s begin by downloading the .iso preferably using BitTorrent and verifying the checksum [1].
Check the partition table type in Windows
If you recently purchased a laptop it will most likely be using UEFI. In case you’re performing this dual-boot installation on an old laptop you should check this by:
- starting the run dialog with Win key + R
- type msinfo32 and press enter
- in the System information section open System Summary and take note of the value of BIOS mode
Let’s begin by doing some wiping. In Windows 10 launch the Disk Management tool and create a partition of the desired size by reducing the size of the existing windows installation:
- start the run dialog with Win key + R
- type diskmgmt.msc and press enter
- shrink the partition to the desired size
Create a bootable USB with Arch
I recommend you use Etcher but you can also use Rufus. Simply download the tool, plug in your USB and flash it with the .iso.
Note: I recommend that you keep the .iso installed on the USB key. You might need it after completing the setup since Windows updates may overwrite your boot partition (see FAQ for more info)
Disable Fast Boot & Secure Boot & optionally switch from RAID to AHCI
This may sound dumb but trust me on this one: since you’ll be restarting your computer, read all the steps in this section before following through:
- use your favourite search engine to lookup what key to press during boot to enter the UEFI settings
- restart your computer and press it
- the UEFI interface varies depending on your motherboard but they shouldn’t be too hard to find:
- disable Fast Boot
- disable Secure Boot
- change the boot order to prioritise your USB over the Windows Boot Loader
- (optional) if you have problems partioning your disk switch from RAID to AHCI
If you’re using a particular keyboard layout, search for it with:
# list available layouts $ ls /usr/share/kbd/keymaps/**/*.map.gz # modify the layout by running $ loadkeys whatever-your-layout-is1
# Find your interface name $ iw dev # use an network manager to do the work for you $ wifi-menu whatever-your-interface-is # check your connection $ ping cloudflare.com
Create partitions for your new system
Here you will need to create 3 partitions: boot (>200MB), swap (match your RAM [3]), and a root partition (whatever space you have left)
# find out the name of your drive (sometimes /dev/sda - I'll be using /dev/nvme0n1) $ fdisk -l # make sure to check the storage of the drive to verify that you're not formatting your USB stick $ fdisk /dev/nvme0n1 n # create a new partition Enter> # use default partition number Enter> # use default starting sector +256MB # or whatever size you want your boot sector to be n # create a new partition Enter> # use default partition number Enter> # use default starting sector +256MB # or whatever size you want your swap to be t # change the partition type Enter> # use default partition 82 # use Linux swap partition type n # create a new partition Enter> # use default partition number Enter> # use default starting sector Enter> # fill the rest of the disk t # change the partition type Enter> # use default partition 83 # use Linux partition type w # write the changes to disk & exit
You should end up with something similar to this:
$ lsblk NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT nvme0n1 259:0 0 477G 0 disk ├─nvme0n1p1 259:1 0 680M 0 part ├─nvme0n1p2 259:2 0 128M 0 part ├─nvme0n1p3 259:3 0 204.8G 0 part ├─nvme0n1p4 259:4 0 990M 0 part ├─nvme0n1p5 259:5 0 13.2G 0 part ├─nvme0n1p6 259:6 0 1.3G 0 part ├─nvme0n1p7 259:7 0 244M 0 part ├─nvme0n1p8 259:8 0 954M 0 part └─nvme0n1p9 259:9 0 254.8G 0 part
# create & enable your swap $ mkswap /dev/nvme0n1p8 $ swapon /dev/nvme0n1p8 # format the partitions $ mkfs.ext4 /dev/nvme0n1p9 $ mkfs.ext4 /dev/nvme0n1p7 # mount the partitions $ mount /dev/nvme0n1p9 /mnt $ mount /dev/nvme0n1p7 /mnt/boot # mount your UEFI boot partition $ mkdir /mnt/boot/efi $ mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt/boot/efi
Install the base arch packages
# optionally add base-devel at the end of the following command for development tools $ pacstrap /mnt base linux linux-firmwareGenerate your fstab file so that partitions are mounted when your reboot
The fstab (short for filesystems table) is used to list disk partitions or various block devices and specify how they should be mounted into the filesystem.
# generate the fstab file $ genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab # verify that /, /boot, /boot/efi, and swap are here $ cat /mnt/etc/fstab # /dev/nvme0n1p9 UUID=UUID-should-be-here / ext4 rw,relatime 0 1 # /dev/nvme0n1p7 UUID=UUID-should-be-here /boot ext4 rw,relatime 0 2 # /dev/nvme0n1p1 LABEL=ESP UUID=UUID-should-be-here /boot/efi vfat rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remou nt-ro 0 2 # /dev/nvme0n1p8 UUID=UUID-should-be-here none swap defaults 0 0
Change root & install GRUB
Now that your base packages have been installed and that your partitions are mounted, let’s change the root directory for the current running process. These steps are the exact same as arch’s installation guide configure the system section, so feel free to switch, follow those instructions and come back before you start the boot loader setup. If you prefer to stay here, the commands are the exact same except you won’t get the usefull documentation links in case of a boo-boo.
# change root $ arch-chroot /mnt # set the timezone $ ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Region/City /etc/localtime $ hwclock --systohc # set your locale by uncommenting en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 in /etc/locale.gen (and any other locales you may use) $ locale-gen $ echo "LANG=en_US.UTF-8" > /etc/locale.conf # set the keyboard layout $ echo "KEYMAP=whatever-your-keymap-from-the-keyboard-setup-section-is1" > /etc/vconsole.conf # set your hostname $ echo "whatever-you-want-your-hostname-to-be" > /etc/hostname # set the root password $ passwd
And now for the main event: the boot loader installation! For this step to work, the partitions must be properly mounted:
$ lsblk NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT nvme0n1 259:0 0 477G 0 disk ├─nvme0n1p1 259:1 0 680M 0 part /boot/efi ├─nvme0n1p2 259:2 0 128M 0 part ├─nvme0n1p3 259:3 0 204.8G 0 part ├─nvme0n1p4 259:4 0 990M 0 part ├─nvme0n1p5 259:5 0 13.2G 0 part ├─nvme0n1p6 259:6 0 1.3G 0 part ├─nvme0n1p7 259:7 0 244M 0 part /boot ├─nvme0n1p8 259:8 0 954M 0 part └─nvme0n1p9 259:9 0 254.8G 0 part /
$ pacman -S grub efibootmgr os-prober $ grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=grub $ grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg $ os-prober
To check that grub has properly detected the windows boot loader have a look in /boot/grub/grub.cfg you should see a menuentry that looks a little like this:
menuentry 'Windows Boot Manager (on /dev/nvme0n1p1)' --class windows --class os $menuentry_id_option 'osprober-efi-UUID-XXXX' < insmod part_gpt insmod fat if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root UUID-XXXX else search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root BUUID-XXXX fi chainloader /EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi >
You’ve partitoned your system, installed your base packages and your bootloader — what could you possibly be missing? Oh yeah the wpa_supplicant package used for key negociation when you want to connect via WiFi. I made these mistakes so that you don’t have too:
# update & install wpa_supplicant along with the easy to use wifi-menu $ pacman -Syyu wpa_supplicant wifi-menu dialogIf you got to this stage without any errors, crashes or additional reboots — please let me know because you’re probably the one we’ve all been waiting for and I could use you to debug some C. I hope this guide helped you, give me a thumbs up if you liked it and don’t forget to subscribe to my youtube channel /s
$ exit $ umount -R /mnt $ rebootThere are so many different ways forward from here but I recommend following the Arch general recommendations to secure your system by doing some system administration before you move on to more exciting stuff. If you want to dive into the rabbit hole you should have a look at i3. You can find my Arch + i3 setup guide here.
Q: After a Windows update my computer boots directly to Windows instead of grub, how do I fix this?
Windows updates can sometimes mess with your boot partition. To fix this you will need a USB key with the Arch .iso on hand. It’s quite simple to fix if you follow these steps.
- Plug-in the USB key with the Arch .iso
- Boot into BIOS settings and switch from RAID to AHCI
- Boot into Arch
- Reinstall grub by using these commands
[1] This is recommended to guarantee that the file you downloaded hasn’t been tampered with. You shouldn’t compare the checksum of the downloaded .iso with the checksum provided to you in the install since if the torrent or ftp server has been compromised it is likely both image and the checksum will have been modified. To verify the checksum, simply follow these steps:
- open a command line by running Win key + R and typing cmd and pressing enter
- run certutil -hashfile C:\path\to\arch-linux.iso MD5 and compare the output to the MD5 checksum on the arch download page
[2] As you can see in the output of lsblk I only allocated 1GB for my swap. Since then, I have upgraded this to 8GB. It is also possible to use a swapfile instead of creating a swap partition.
[3] Although this guide is for setting up an encrypted arch linux system it is clear & easy to follow
How to add Windows 10 to GRUB on Arch install With EFI?
I just installed Arch Linux and with GRUB and want to add my windows 10 with EFI partition to grub. Now I have Arch installed on the hard drive /dev/sdc/ with a EFI system on /dev/sdc1 . On an other hard drive I have Windows 10 installed where the efi drive is /dev/sda1 . I tried to follow the arch wiki but could not find out were to get the EFI system partition for the command esp/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi . Do I have to mount the windows 10 drive if yes where should I mount it to?
2 Answers 2
Get the UUID with: sudo grub-probe -t fs_uuid -d /dev/sda1
and then add an entry for Windows at the end of your grub.cfg:
menuentry "Windows 10" < insmod part_gpt insmod fat insmod search_fs_uuid insmod chain search --fs-uuid --no-floppy --set=root XXXXXXXXX chainloader ($)/efi/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi >Normally grub-mkconfig should auto-detect dual booted operating systems (via the os-prober utility). This, however, requires you to have the Windows drive mounted. For example, try this:
$ mkdir -p /mnt/windows $ mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/windows $ grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfgIt should now automatically detect your Windows installation and you should be able to boot into Windows.
Another important thing to note regarding the previous answer to this question: you should never manually edit /boot/grub/grub.cfg , since it can easily be overwritten by tools like grub-mkconfig (and the syntax isn’t really all that intuitive either way).