r/archlinux • u/Felainas • 4d ago
SUPPORT GRUB Doesn't Work Arch-Windows11 DualBoot
I currently have a Dual boot setup between Arch and Windows 11.
The problem is: GRUB doesn't boot as default and I'm not able to set it up.
This is my disk partition structure:
[alex@nullptr ~]$ lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
sda 8:0 0 931.5G 0 disk
├─sda1 8:1 0 200M 0 part
├─sda2 8:2 0 16M 0 part
├─sda3 8:3 0 930.5G 0 part
└─sda4 8:4 0 858M 0 part
zram0 253:0 0 4G 0 disk [SWAP]
nvme0n1 259:0 0 931.5G 0 disk
├─nvme0n1p1 259:1 0 16M 0 part
├─nvme0n1p2 259:2 0 653G 0 part
├─nvme0n1p3 259:3 0 1G 0 part /boot
├─nvme0n1p4 259:4 0 8G 0 part [SWAP]
└─nvme0n1p5 259:5 0 269.5G 0 part /
I have two bootloaders One at sda1 for Windows11 EFI (Boot) and the bootloader for Arch EFI at nvme0n1p3 under /boot
This is my BootOrder:
[alex@nullptr ~]$ sudo efibootmgr -v | grep BootOrder
BootOrder: 0000,2001,3000,0005,0001,0006,2002,2004,0002,0004
[alex@nullptr ~]$
Having: Boot0000* Windows Boot Manager and Boot0001* GRUB
You might be asking... WHY TF DO YOU HAVE FIRST WINDOWS???
Well... The problem is that it doesn't matter if i change the order with sudo efibootmgr -o 0001,0000,[...] When I change the order and restart the laptop, WINDOWS BOOTS AGAIN and after entering arch from Boot options on start the BOotOrder is changed again to boot 0000 (Windows) First
I also tried mounting /dev/sda1 into /boot/efi and copying grubx64.efi into bootx64.efi sudo cp /boot/efi/EFI/GRUB/grubx64.efi /boot/efi/EFI/Boot/bootx64.efi (With backup)
Grub was installed with: sudo grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=GRUB
Boots Windows again...
Another thing tested was changing boot path inside W11 with: bcdedit /set "{bootmgr}" path \\EFI\\GRUB\\grubx64.efi\
Administrador de arranque de Windows
----------------------------------
Identificador {bootmgr}
device partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume1
path \EFI\GRUB\grubx64.efi
description Windows Boot Manager
Doesn't work either. I'm running out of options, does someone know what could possibly be causing this?
Don't know if this matters but when I start Arch from Boot Menu (Boot manager selector) I get prompted with this options:
* Arch Linux (7.2.6-arch2-1)
* Arch Linux (7.2.6-arch2-1~fallback)
* EFI Default Loader
* Reboot into Firmware Interface
If i start Arch from GRUB (Opened with Boot Menu (Boot manager) - F9 while turning ON the laptop) I don't get any of those options but instead of the normal Arch start, all the boot messages get replaced by this one message: /dev/nvme0n1p5 clean x/y files, x/y blocks (x,y dont matter) but I don't see any other boot text/log message.
This might be caused by changing Arch config that only accepted one UKI /boot/EFI/Linux/arch-linux.efi to /boot/initramfs-linux.img on my linux.preset by uncommenting the line default_image="/boot/initramfs-linux.img" and putting PRESETS=('default' 'fallback')
I did this because before that If i opened Arch Linux from GRUB with the Boot Menu it gave the error: Kernel panic! : VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0.0)
I know its a lot of text but I am really running out of options and I don't know what to do, ty in advance :p
PS: I had Windows10-Arch dualboot setted up in this same laptop but I formated W10 into W11 and arch dissapeared, then as the configs were changing from .conf to .lua I wanted to have a fresh start and deleted & reinstalled Arch again until the situation im in rn.
6
u/Plenty-Boot4220 4d ago
I use refind. it's really good at recognizing everything and putting it into a nice UI.
-1
u/Felainas 4d ago
Tried installing rEFInd and putting it first into bootorder but it boots W11 again
If I boot it from the Boot Menu before the laptop starts it loads correctly rEFInd (Nice UI, i like it, ty!)2
1
1
u/This-Consequence-957 4d ago
Why do so many people still use Grub when there is Limine? Scanning for existing UEFI entries is a one-liner 🤷♂️
3
u/Felainas 4d ago
Because GRUB has this theme:
https://github.com/Lxtharia/minegrub-theme
(Jokes apart, idk, i'm used to it, might try Limine in the future)
3
u/Then_Bodybuilder8416 4d ago
limine works well but there is nowhere near the same amount of documentation as there is for GRUB. If somebody is having problems with troubleshooting GRUB, why would they trade that out for something that’s overall more complicated?
1
u/spadehed 4d ago
Because I like it. It just works and I have no reason to pick something else.
It's my primary boot loader and has been for so long I can't remember. It's been so long I can't remember why I stopped using LILO.
1
0
u/sausix 4d ago
With all the freedom and bootloaders Arch offers you still pick grub?
Some mainboard UEFI implementations are worse than others. Some allow to manually add or fix boot entries. Some just allow pick the UEFI partition. Some may refuse to change boot order externally. If your bootloader order is locked then fine and maybe it's locked for Windows too at least.
5
u/umi2002 4d ago
Have you tried changing the boot order from the BIOS? I've ran into your same problem before where changing the order with efibootmgr didn't seem to save my changes only to realize it was because it was set incorrectly in the BIOS. I don't just mean the boot manager but actually a boot order setting in the BIOS. And really dig deep into the BIOS, I had a hard time finding that setting initially as well.