Posted on Mar 3, 2019 • Originally published at rtfm.co.ua on Feb 24, 2019

Arch Linux: installing with EFI and Windows dual-boot

#archlinux #gnulinuxutils #hardware #howtos

The goal is to set up a new Arch Linux and Windows (just for some games) on my new PC and use dual-boot using GRUB.

Disks

Currently, disks layout is next:

[root@archiso ~]# lsblk NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT loop0 7:0 0 476.7M 1 loop /run/archiso/sfs/airootfs sda 8:0 0 223.6G 0 disk sdb 8:16 0 931.5G 0 disk sdc 8:32 1 28.9G 0 disk ├─sdc1 8:33 1 588M 0 part /run/archiso/bootmnt └─sdc2 8:34 1 64M 0 part

/dev/sda – SSD, will be for Windows
/dev/sdb – HDD, for Arch Linux

On /dev/sdb have to create the next partitions:

sdb1 – EFI, 512M
sdb2 – boot, 1G
sdb3 – swap, 32G
sda4 – LVM, all

`fdisk`

Run fdisk, and create new partitions table:

[root@archiso ~]# fdisk /dev/sdb Welcome to fdisk (util-linux 2.33). Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them. Be careful before using the write command. Command (m for help): p Disk /dev/sdb: 931.5 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors Disk model: TOSHIBA DT01ACA1 Units: sectors of 1 \* 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes Disklabel type: dos Disk identifier: 0x73c946df ...

Create new for EFI, 512М:

... Command (m for help): n Partition type p primary (0 primary, 0 extended, 4 free) e extended (container for logical partitions) Select (default p): Using default response p. Partition number (1-4, default 1): First sector (2048-1953525167, default 2048): Last sector, +/-sectors or +/-size{K,M,G,T,P} (2048-1953525167, default 1953525167): +512M Created a new partition 1 of type 'Linux' and of size 512 MiB. ...

Set its type to EFI:

... Command (m for help): t Selected partition 1 Hex code (type L to list all codes): L ... 10 OPUS 55 EZ-Drive a7 NeXTSTEP ef EFI (FAT-12/16/ ... Hex code (type L to list all codes): ef Changed type of partition 'Linux' to 'EFI (FAT-12/16/32)'. ...

The next partition – for /boot, 1G:

... Command (m for help): n Partition type p primary (1 primary, 0 extended, 3 free) e extended (container for logical partitions) Select (default p): Using default response p. Partition number (2-4, default 2): First sector (1050624-1953525167, default 1050624): Last sector, +/-sectors or +/-size{K,M,G,T,P} (1050624-1953525167, default 1953525167): +1G Created a new partition 2 of type 'Linux' and of size 1 GiB. ...

And next – for swap, 32G:

... Command (m for help): n Partition type p primary (2 primary, 0 extended, 2 free) e extended (container for logical partitions) Select (default p): Using default response p. Partition number (3,4, default 3): First sector (3147776-1953525167, default 3147776): Last sector, +/-sectors or +/-size{K,M,G,T,P} (3147776-1953525167, default 1953525167): +32G Created a new partition 3 of type 'Linux' and of size 32 GiB. ...

Set its type to swap:

... Command (m for help): t Partition number (1-3, default 3): Hex code (type L to list all codes): 82 Changed type of partition 'Linux' to 'Linux swap / Solaris'. ...

The last one is for LVM (take a note: fdisk will suggest Extended type – I used Primary here):

... Command (m for help): n Partition type p primary (3 primary, 0 extended, 1 free) e extended (container for logical partitions) Select (default e): p Selected partition 4 First sector (70256640-1953525167, default 70256640): Last sector, +/-sectors or +/-size{K,M,G,T,P} (70256640-1953525167, default 1953525167): Created a new partition 4 of type 'Linux' and of size 898 GiB. ...

Check the partitions layout now:

... Command (m for help): p Disk /dev/sdb: 931.5 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors Disk model: TOSHIBA DT01ACA1 Units: sectors of 1 \* 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes Disklabel type: dos Disk identifier: 0x73c946df Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type /dev/sdb1 2048 1050623 1048576 512M ef EFI (FAT-12/16/32) /dev/sdb2 1050624 3147775 2097152 1G 83 Linux /dev/sdb3 3147776 70256639 67108864 32G 82 Linux swap / Solaris /dev/sdb4 70256640 1953525167 1883268528 898G 83 Linux ...

Write new partitions table:

... Command (m for help): w The partition table has been altered. Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table. Syncing disks.

LVM

Create Physical Volume:

[root@archiso ~]# pvcreate /dev/sdb4 Physical volume "/dev/sdb4" successfully created.

Create Volume Group:

[root@archiso ~]# vgcreate vg_arch /dev/sdb4 Volume group "vg_arch" successfully created

Logical Volume with the root name:

[root@archiso ~]# lvcreate -L 100G -n root vg_arch Logical volume "root" created.

Logical Volume with the home name:

[root@archiso ~]# lvcreate -l 100%FREE -n home vg_arch Logical volume "home" created.

Filesystems creation

For the EFI – fat32:

[root@archiso ~]# mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sdb1 mkfs.fat 4.1 (2017-01-24)

ext2 – for /boot:

[root@archiso ~]# mkfs.ext2 /dev/sdb2

ext4 for root:

[root@archiso ~]# mkfs.ext4 /dev/vg_arch/root

ext4 for /home

[root@archiso ~]# mkfs.ext4 /dev/vg_arch/home

Create swap:

[root@archiso ~]# mkswap /dev/sdb3 Setting up swapspace version 1, size = 32 GiB (34359734272 bytes) no label, UUID=14e18ccc-11f4-4e2b-baf2-c141735b8800

Turn it on:

[root@archiso ~]# swapon /dev/sdb3

Mount root into the /mnt directory:

[root@archiso ~]# mount /dev/vg_arch/root /mnt/

/home:

[root@archiso ~]# mkdir /mnt/home [root@archiso ~]# mount /dev/vg_arch/home /mnt/home/

/boot:

[root@archiso ~]# mount /dev/sdb2 /mnt/boot/

EFI:

[root@archiso ~]# mkdir /mnt/boot/EFI [root@archiso ~]# mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/boot/EFI

Arch Linux install

Install OS, sshd и vim and whatever you want right now:

[root@archiso ~]# pacstrap -i /mnt base base-devel openssh vim

Generate /etc/fstab:

[root@archiso ~]# genfstab -pU /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab

Chroot to the new system:

[root@archiso ~]# arch-chroot /mnt /bin/bash

Edit the /etc/mkinitcpio.conf, add the lvmhook:

HOOKS=(base udev autodetect keyboard keymap modconf block lvm2 filesystems fsck)

Build the kernel:

[root@archiso /]# cd /boot/ && mkinitcpio -p linux

GRUB

Install GRUB and other needed packages:

[root@archiso boot]# pacman -S grub efibootmgr dosfstools os-prober mtools

Install bootloader with the EFI type and ArchLinux name:

[root@archiso boot]# grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --bootloader-id=ArchLinux --recheck Installing for x86_64-efi platform. GUID Partition Table Header signature is wrong: 0 != 5452415020494645 GUID Partition Table Header signature is wrong: 0 != 5452415020494645 GUID Partition Table Header signature is wrong: 0 != 5452415020494645 GUID Partition Table Header signature is wrong: 0 != 5452415020494645 GUID Partition Table Header signature is wrong: 0 != 5452415020494645 GUID Partition Table Header signature is wrong: 0 != 5452415020494645 Installation finished. No error reported.

Create GRUB’s config file:

[root@archiso boot]# grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Check this post if it hangs –Arch Linux: grub-mkconfig hangs on the /boot/grub/grub.cfg config generation.

[root@archiso /]# grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg Generating grub configuration file ... Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-linux Found initrd image: /boot/initramfs-linux.img Found fallback initrd image(s) in /boot: initramfs-linux-fallback.img done

And we are done Arch for now.

Windows dual boot

For the obvious reasons – Windows installation process is out of the scope of this blog :-)

Install it on the /dev/sda device and check partitions now:

[root@archlinux /]# lsblk NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT sda 8:0 0 223.6G 0 disk |-sda1 8:1 0 499M 0 part |-sda2 8:2 0 100M 0 part |-sda3 8:3 0 16M 0 part `-sda4 8:4 0 223G 0 part sdb 8:16 0 931.5G 0 disk |-sdb1 8:17 0 512M 0 part /boot/EFI |-sdb2 8:18 0 1G 0 part /boot |-sdb3 8:19 0 32G 0 part [SWAP] `-sdb4 8:20 0 898G 0 part |-vg_arch-root 254:0 0 100G 0 lvm / `-vg_arch-home 254:1 0 798G 0 lvm /home sdc 8:32 1 28.9G 0 disk |-sdc1 8:33 1 588M 0 part `-sdc2 8:34 1 64M 0 part

Windows-boot can be seen in the UEFI BIOS on the device 1 (/dev/sda):

Аnd Arch – on the deivce 2 (/dev/sdb).

If os-prober not installed yet – install it:

[root@archlinux /]# pacman -S os-prober

Check the /dev/sda partitions:

[root@archlinux /]# fdisk -l /dev/sda Disk /dev/sda: 223.6 GiB, 240057409536 bytes, 468862128 sectors Disk model: KINGSTON SA400S3 Units: sectors of 1 \* 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disklabel type: gpt Disk identifier: 78241A73-6994-4D0B-9FCB-433076B5EC41 Device Start End Sectors Size Type /dev/sda1 2048 1023999 1021952 499M Windows recovery environment /dev/sda2 1024000 1228799 204800 100M EFI System /dev/sda3 1228800 1261567 32768 16M Microsoft reserved /dev/sda4 1261568 468860927 467599360 223G Microsoft basic data

To make os-prober available to find Windows, which is installed on another device – we need to mount its boot-partition which is 204800 100M EFI System. for Windows.

Mount it:

[root@archlinux /]# mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/ [root@archlinux /]# ls -l /mnt/ total 1 drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 1024 Feb 24 10:24 EFI

Run os-prober:

[root@archlinux /]# os-prober /dev/sda2@/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi:Windows Boot Manager:Windows:efi

Backup existing GRUB’s config:

[root@archlinux /]# cp /boot/grub/grub.cfg /boot/grub/grub.cfg-origin

Re-generate it:

[root@archlinux /]# grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg Generating grub configuration file ... Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-linux Found initrd image: /boot/initramfs-linux.img Found fallback initrd image(s) in /boot: initramfs-linux-fallback.img Found Windows Boot Manager on /dev/sda2@/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi done

Reboot PC: