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Debiprasad Das
Debiprasad Das

Posted on • Updated on

How to Dual Boot Arch Linux With Windows

#linux #archlinux #beginners #windows

First Step:

Create an empty unallocated Empty partition in windows then boot into archiso via a USB drive after flashing it via balenaEtcher,

after entering in TTY change the font if you want a bigger font.

setfont ter-132n
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Setup WIFI connection on TTY:

check your internet connection using

ping archlinux.org
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if you don't have internet connection then connnect it using iwctl

  • First get your WIFI interface name 
iwctl
# Get WIFI interface name:
device list
# Scan WIFI networks:
station <interface_name> scan
station <interface_name> get-networks
# Finally, to connect to a network:
station <interface_name> connect <SSID>
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to learn more about iwctl

Partition Disk: 

cfdisk
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NOTE : If it's does not show correct partition
then select your drive. you can get drive list by typing lsblk

# example
cfdisk /dev/nvme0n1
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  • Then select gpt, after entering in GUI.
  • Select "Free space" and select "New" then press Enter.
  • and then Enter the storage space you want to give it to your root and press Enter.

  • and you will see a partition is being created and make sure this partition type is "Linux filesystem".

  • Next select the remaining "Free space" and press Enter, we will give this space to swap partition.

  • Do same as before and then select the swap partition and select "Type" press enter to see all the types available.

  • Select "Linux swap" from them.

  • We don't need to create boot partition as we already has boot efi partition running windows,

  • we just need to mount linux boot partition along side of windows, will do it later.

  • Then select "Write" and confirm it.

  • You will see "parition table has been altered" blue color text.

  • Then select "Quit"

  • type lsblk to see your partitions name.

Format Created Partitions:

  • Format root partition: 
mkfs.ext4 /dev/<root_partition>

# for example my root partition name is dev/sda1
# I will do "mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1"
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  • Format swap partition: 
mkswap /dev/<swap_partition>

# for example my swap partition name is dev/sda2
# I will do "mkfs.swap /dev/sda2"
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Mount Partitions:

  • Mount root partition: 
mount /dev/<root_partition> /mnt

# for example my root partition name is dev/sda1
# I will do mount "mount /dev/sda1 /mnt"
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  • Mount swap partition: 
swapon /dev/<swap_partition>

# for example my swap partition name is dev/sda2
# I will do mount "swapon /dev/sda2"
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Now type lsblk and see that both partition has given proper MOUNTPOINTS

Setup Fastest Mirrors: 

cp /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.bak
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  • Verify that mirrorlist.bak file is created by 
ls /etc/pacman.d/
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  • Setup fastest mirrors from your contry 
reflector --verbose --country '<YourCountry>' -l 5 --sort rate --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
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Install essential packages: 

pacstrap /mnt base linux linux-firmware sof-firmware base-devel grub efibootmgr neovim vim networkmanager dhcpcd
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Fstab:

  • Generate Fstab file and copy it to "etc" folder of arch linux system 
genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
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  • check if it's correctly copied by typing 
cat /mnt/etc/fstab
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Chroot:

  • Let's Chroot into linux system 
arch-chroot /mnt
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  • Check your parititions again by typing lsblk.

Root password:

  • Enter your root password by typing 
passwd
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Standard User:

  • Create Standard User 
useradd -m <username>
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  • Create user password 
passwd <username>
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  • Setup user privilages 
usermod -aG wheel,storage,power <username>
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  • Edit Sudoers file 
EDITOR=nvim visudo
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then remove "#" in this line(Uncomment this line in programming words)

# %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL
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Localization: 

nvim /etc/locale.gen
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then remove "#" in this line(Uncomment this line in programming words)

# en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8
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  • Generate locale 
locale-gen
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  • Create locale config file 
echo LANG=en_US.UTF-8 > /etc/locale.conf
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  • Export system language 
export LANG=en_US.UTF-8
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Hostname:

  • Create hostname 
echo <hostname> > /etc/hostname
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  • Update Hosts file 
nvim /etc/hosts
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put this in the file

127.0.0.1    localhost
::1          localhost
127.0.0.1    <hostname>.localdomain    localhost
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Time:

  • Setup time 
ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/<Region>/<City> /etc/localtime
# You can use <tab> key to provide you region and city suggestions
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then type this to sync current time

hwclock --systohc
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Grub/Bootloader:

  • First Deletermine your EFI partition using lsblk, mostly it will be first one in your primary drive 
mkdir /boot/efi
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  • Mount EFI partition to your grub boot partition 
mount /dev/<efi_partition> /boot/efi/
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  • Install os-prober 
pacman -S os-prober
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  • Do this so grub can detect windows 
nvim /etc/default/grub
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then remove "#" in this line(Uncomment this line in programming words)

#GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false
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  • Finally install grub 
grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --bootloader-id=grub-uefi --recheck
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  • Generate grub config 
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
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  • NOTE: It should detect Windows Boot Manager

  • If it's does not shows "Found Windows Boot Manager" follow this

Network Services:

  • Obtain IP addresss of wifi network 
systemctl enable dhcpcd.service
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  • This is strictly necessary for autostart wifi on boot and connect to wifi 
systemctl enable NetworkManager.service
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Wrapping up:

  • Exit from Chroot. 
exit
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  • Then do this to unmount all of the partitions. 
umount -lR /mnt
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NOW REBOOT AND REMOVE THE USB DRIVE WHEN SCREEN TURNS BLACK.

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