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Arch Linux Multi Boot Windows

Prerequisite

Assumptions

  • Use a UEFI compatible computer system hardware
  • Operating systems to be installed
    • Windows 10 Pro Build 1909 (production)
    • Arch Linux (production)
    • Arch Linux (testing)
  • Each operating system has a dedicated hard drive
  • Each hard drive is empty (no files, no partitions)
  • ESP (EFI system partition) located on the Windows hard drive
  • Have two USB flash drives
    • Windows
    • Arch Linux

Preparation

  1. Create A Bootable Microsoft Windows USB Flash Drive.
  2. Create a bootable Arch Linux USB Flash Drive.
  3. Physically disconnect all hard drives, except the desired drive for the use of Windows.

Installation of Windows

  1. Plug in the Microsoft Windows USB flash drive.
  2. Power on the computer system.
  3. At boot time select the USB flash drive to boot from. Steps vary depending on BIOS used.
  4. Select Custom Installation.
  5. Delete all partitions on the selected hard drive.
  6. Select "unallocated space".
  7. Left mouse click on the button "New" then the button "Apply". You will be left with 4 partitions.
    • Recovery
    • System (ESP)
    • MSR
    • Primary

  8. Delete each partition by left mouse clicking on the partition then the button "Delete".

    • System
    • MSR (Reserved)
    • Primary

    Warning

    Do not delete the Recovery partition.

  9. Press Shift + F10 to open the command prompt.

  10. Run diskpart. 
    C:\>diskpart.exe
  11. List disks. 
    DISKPART> list disk

  12. Select desired disk. 

    DISKPART> select disk 0

    Warning

    Do not select the USB flash drive.

  13. Create EFI partition. 

    DISKPART> create partition efi size=560

  14. Select EFI partition. 
    DISKPART> select partition 1
  15. Format EFI partition. 
    DISKPART> format quick fs=fat32 label="WIN EFI"
  16. Exit Diskpart. 
    DISKPART> exit
  17. Exit command prompt. 
    C:\>exit
  18. Left mouse click on the button "Refresh" to see changes.
    • Recovery
    • WIN EFI
    • unallocated space
  19. Select "unallocated space".
  20. Left mouse click on the button "New" then the button "Apply".
    • Recovery
    • WIN EFI
    • MSR (Reserved)
    • Primary
  21. Left mouse click on the "Primary" partition then left mouse click on the "Next" button.
  22. Follow the on screen instructions to complete the Windows installation.

  23. Follow Windows disable sleep more and hibernation.

    Info

    This is done to avoid harm to the Windows hard drive. Windows must do a complete shutdown in order for this configuration to work.

  24. When installation has completed shut down the system.

  25. Re-connect all the disconnected hard drives.
  26. Unplug the Windows USB flash drive.

Installation of Arch Linux

  1. Plugin the Arch Linux USB flash drive.
  2. Power on the computer system.

  3. Follow Install Arch Linux.

    Warning

    Be careful to pick the correct drive for installation of the operating system.

  4. Follow Post-Install Arch Linux Configuration.

  5. Follow Arch Linux Automate EFI Partition Updates.

Note

Repeat this section again for the second hard drive.

Installation of Systemd-boot

  1. Boot into the primary Linux operating system, Arch Linux (production).
  2. Find the Windows EFI system partition (ESP) UUID. 
    $ lsblk -f

    NAME   FSTYPE FSVER LABEL          UUID                                 FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINT
sda
├─sda1 ntfs         Recovery       EA5672C356729055
├─sda2 vfat   FAT32 WIN EFI        DAB8-549A                             430.3M    21%
├─sda3
└─sda4 ntfs                        081E33AE1E3393A2
sdb
├─sdb1 vfat   FAT32                07ED-7884
└─sdb2 ext4   1.0   archlinux-test 0f43d7db-ce0c-4d12-a71f-7af646a1305b
sdc
├─sdc1 vfat   FAT32                5352-AC6C                             376.9M    24% /boot
└─sdc2 btrfs        ArchLinux      cce03871-dc3b-4418-90f9-87ca427d4223  114.8G    51% /srv
  3. Mount the Windows EFI system partition (ESP). 
    # mount -U DAB8-549A /boot/WIN
  4. Installl systemd-boot. 
    # bootctl --path=/boot/WIN/ install
  5. Edit loader configuration. 
    # nano /boot/WIN/loader/loader.conf

    default arch.conf
timeout 5
console-mode max
editor no
  6. Create a loader entry for Arch Linux (production). 
    # nano /boot/WIN/loader/entries/arch.conf

    title   Arch Linux
linux   /EFI/arch/vmlinuz-linux
initrd  /EFI/arch/initramfs-linux.img
options root="UUID=cce03871-dc3b-4418-90f9-87ca427d4223" rootflags=compress=zlib,ssd,space_cache,subvol=ROOT rw
  7. Create a loader entry for Arch Linux (testing). 
    # nano /boot/WIN/loader/entries/lab.conf

    title   Arch Linux (testing)
linux   /EFI/lab/vmlinuz-linux
initrd  /EFI/lab/initramfs-linux.img
options root="UUID=0f43d7db-ce0c-4d12-a71f-7af646a1305b" rw
  8. Verify systemd-boot configuration. 
    $ bootctl --path=/boot/WIN/ status

    System:
    Firmware: UEFI 32.31 (American Megatrends 4.653)
 Secure Boot: disabled
  Setup Mode: user

Current Boot Loader:
     Product: systemd-boot 245.4-2-arch
    Features: ✓ Boot counting
              ✓ Menu timeout control
              ✓ One-shot menu timeout control
              ✓ Default entry control
              ✓ Default entry control
              ✓ One-shot entry control
             ✓ Support for XBOOTLDR partition
             ✓ Support for passing random seed to OS
             ✓ Boot loader sets ESP partition information
         ESP: /dev/disk/by-partuuid/d2f721a4-083f-4e05-b77e-9f01563fdfc8
        File: └─/EFI/SYSTEMD/SYSTEMD-BOOTX64.EFI

Random Seed:
Passed to OS: yes
System Token: set
      Exists: yes

Available Boot Loaders on ESP:
         ESP: /boot/WIN/ (/dev/disk/by-partuuid/d2f721a4-083f-4e05-b77e-9f01563fdfc8)
        File: └─/EFI/systemd/systemd-bootx64.efi (systemd-boot 245.4-2-arch)
        File: └─/EFI/BOOT/bootx64.efi (systemd-boot 245.4-2-arch)

Boot Loaders Listed in EFI Variables:
       Title: Linux Boot Manager
          ID: 0x0003
      Status: active, boot-order
   Partition: /dev/disk/by-partuuid/d2f721a4-083f-4e05-b77e-9f01563fdfc8
        File: └─/EFI/SYSTEMD/SYSTEMD-BOOTX64.EFI

       Title: Arch Linux
          ID: 0x0001
      Status: active, boot-order
   Partition: /dev/disk/by-partuuid/a6b9debe-9f1f-45b3-884d-d16012f20268
        File: └─/vmlinuz-linux

       Title: Arch Linx Lab
          ID: 0x0002
      Status: active, boot-order
   Partition: /dev/disk/by-partuuid/cb897b05-6687-4f5d-8ab9-d3fa926cf6cc
        File: └─/vmlinuz-linux

       Title: Windows Boot Manager
          ID: 0x0000
      Status: active, boot-order
   Partition: /dev/disk/by-partuuid/d2f721a4-083f-4e05-b77e-9f01563fdfc8
        File: └─/EFI/MICROSOFT/BOOT/BOOTMGFW.EFI

Boot Loader Entries:
       $BOOT: /boot/WIN/ (/dev/disk/by-partuuid/d2f721a4-083f-4e05-b77e-9f01563fdfc8)

Default Boot Loader Entry:
       title: Arch Linux
          id: arch.conf
      source: /boot/WIN/loader/entries/arch.conf
       linux: /EFI/arch/vmlinuz-linux
      initrd: /EFI/arch/initramfs-linux.img
     options: root="UUID=cce03871-dc3b-4418-90f9-87ca427d4223" rootflags=compress=zlib,ssd,space_cache,subvol=ROOT rw
  9. Unmount Windows EFI system partition. 
    # umount /boot/WIN

  10. Automate updating the EFI boot manager (systemd-boot) with a pacman hook. 

    # pikaur -Sy systemd-boot-pacman-hook

    Info

    When the systemd package is updated the pacman hook (/usr/share/libalpm/hooks/systemd-boot.hook) is ran automatically.

    Tip

    This can be done manually by running # bootctl --path=/boot/WIN/ update without double quotes when the Windows EFI system partition is mounted.