[SOLVED] Migrate from dual boot with EFI from windows to single boot arch install

[split vine]

My school laptop died just a few hours ago, and I am looking for a little help with making my install work on an older thinkpad my dad had lying around as I can't get my own laptop fixed before my exams.

I have tried looking into how to make a new EFI partition on the drive where my linux installation is, but I am very afraid of actually executing any commands and ruining something as I really don't want to lose my files on the drive.

My system was a dual boot arch and windows 11 system, with two separate drives where I had GRUB installed on my windows boot partition.
Any help would be much appreciated

[delicate glade]

Are you putting the arch drive from the school laptop into the thinkpad? My first suggestion would be to backup what you need to keep.

Assuming you're putting the linux drive in the thinkpad, you will likely need to resize [one of, if not the only] partition(s) to create an efi partition which can cause loss of data even if you take all appropriate precautions. Then you could create an efi partition, copy your bootfiles from the old EFI to the new EFI, chroot, install a bootloader and profit

[split vine]

I have already inserted the drive into the thinkpad

What is the risk of losing files if i resize the home partition?

[delicate glade]

There is always a risk. If you're asking for the percentage, I don't know how to calculate probabilities on the fly.

[split vine]

I was just think high vs low

[delicate glade]

low but possible

[split vine]

I am willing to risk it as what i need the most is just a working computer rn

I realize that i dont remember if i made a seperate home partition or just a root partition

If that matters much

I would guess that i could find out with fdisk once i am connected to the system

Am currently driving out to get a usb stick for a linux install to use for partitioning the drive

[near parcel]

you can try chrooting into the system with a live usb and installing grub from there

[split vine]

Would you be willing to guide me on how to do it step by step?

[near parcel]

no, i can go through it no worries at all

[split vine]

After I have everything ready ofc

[split vine]

That means a lot

Thanks

[split vine]

I now have my arch install usb media ready

[split vine]

I'm assuming that I begin by booting into the usb medium

[near parcel]

yes

[split vine]

I just choose arch linux install option (the most upper option)

[near parcel]

yes

then when you boot you can check the partitions on your computer drive by running fdisk -l

[split vine]

I am now in root@archiso

I just fdisk from here

I seem to have the partitions Linux swap, and Linux filesystem

I can send a picture with my phone if that would help

Now I would assume that I have to resize the Linux filesystem partition to make room for the EFI partition?

[near parcel]

hm ok since you don't have an efi partition we can't just chroot into the system directly

we just need to make it ourselves

we are working on the nvme right? just to make absolute sure

[split vine]

yes

there is only the nvme and the usb in the laptop

[near parcel]

okay. run cfdisk /dev/nvme0n1

[split vine]

i removed the origional ssd as a precaution

Yes

sry was finding where the forwardspace key was on english locale (am scandinavian)

I see the menu and the resize option

Do I just hit enter on resize?

to be sure

[near parcel]

hold on 1 sec

okay so for safety's sake what we are going to do is resize swap

[split vine]

of course

thats fine

i made it way bigger than needed originally

[near parcel]

you can thank yourself for that. resizing the system partition could cause data loss if done improperly

[split vine]

Thank god I way overkilled out of caution

guess it helps to be paranoid sometimes

[near parcel]

anyway, since it's efi we only really need like 512mb ish

[split vine]

is it ok if i take more?

like 1g

[near parcel]

but for simplicity's sake do 1gb less than the size

yeah

[split vine]

i've heard that can be usefull later on

ok

I just hit enter with swap and resize highlighted right?

[near parcel]

yep

it will ask you for the new size and just do 1gb less

[split vine]

new size 39G

right?

[near parcel]

yup

[split vine]

1G free space now

i select new now?

[near parcel]

as expected. now you press enter with new selected

[split vine]

and enter again on 1G

[near parcel]

yes, no need to leave free unpartitioned space on the drive

[split vine]

write?

[near parcel]

it will make it and have linux filesystem as size

no

not yet

we wanna go to type

and change it to efi system, the very first one

[split vine]

EFI

now thats done

[near parcel]

after you do that it will show efi system on the left and we can then we can write

[split vine]

perfect

done writing it to the disk

[near parcel]

now we format the partition to exfat

[split vine]

still with cfdisk?

[near parcel]

nope

after you write it will go back to the terminal

which is what we want

can you run fdisk -l again

it will show the new efi partition under the other ones

[split vine]

yup

[near parcel]

we need to get the write path for it

is it /dev/nvme0n1p3?

[split vine]

exactly that

[near parcel]

okay so next command is: mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/nvme0n1p3

[split vine]

done

[near parcel]

good! now we can mount the drives and chroot to the system

mount /dev/nvme0n1p2 /mnt

mount /dev/nmve0n1p3 /mnt/boot

swapon /dev/nvme0n1p1

[split vine]

this and the next lines?

[near parcel]

yes all of them

[split vine]

swapon failed

invalid argument

[near parcel]

weird

maybe what we can do for safety's sake is remake the swap partition as well

[split vine]

maybe cause i've already used the system before and turned swap on?

[near parcel]

umount -R /mnt

[near parcel]

i think it might be because we resized it

i can't say for sure because i've never had swap

[split vine]

ok

[near parcel]

i have 32gb of ram so figured i wouldn't ever run out basically lol

[split vine]

i do this now

haha

[near parcel]

yes let's unmount and go back to cfdisk

[split vine]

makes sense

[split vine]

sure

[near parcel]

note that the command is umount not unmount

i sometimes get that one wrong myself

[split vine]

Done

now in cfdisk

[near parcel]

delete swap and then do new and make it the entire free space again

then change it's type to linux swap

[split vine]

ok

[near parcel]

after that you can write and try to mount the partitions again

[split vine]

does it have something to do with this?

[near parcel]

no, it's just another way to make it rather than using cfdisk

[split vine]

I see

[near parcel]

anyways, i don't know what the new paths will be so run fdisk -l again

[split vine]

its now back to linux swap

write and quit now?

[near parcel]

yeah

then you can run
mount /dev/whatevertheFILESYSTEMis /mnt
mount /dev/whateverEFIis /mnt/boot
swapon /dev/whateverSWAPis

[split vine]

failed again

same error

[near parcel]

my lack of experience with swap betrays me

one sec ill find out

[split vine]

should i just try for completions sake mkswap?

[near parcel]

you would need to delete the partition again on cfdisk i think

oh no you wont

sure go for it

mkswap /dev/whateverSWAPis

[split vine]

ok

swapon works now

[near parcel]

nice

did you also mount the other 2 partitions?

[split vine]

yes

can check again

[near parcel]

okay we can move on

[split vine]

swapon --show shows the swap

just fine

[near parcel]

nice

let's generate the new fstab for the repartitioned drive

genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab

[split vine]

just before that

where do I see the mount points?

lsblk

found it

it seems fine

[pulsar oasis]

Sorry to interrupt you, mkswap is always required before swapon, it’s like formatting a partition but telling Linux to use the space for swap

[split vine]

Nice to know

[near parcel]

indeed, now i know

[split vine]

help is always welcome

[near parcel]

thanks @pulsar oasis 🙂

[abstract crypt]

neveralegend received a thank you cookie!

[near parcel]

did you manage to generate the new fstab?

[split vine]

thanks @near parcel

[abstract crypt]

neveralegend received a thank you cookie!

[split vine]

thanks @near parcel

[abstract crypt]

You're thanking too much ó_ò

[split vine]

damn

[split vine]

yes

[near parcel]

okay now we can do: arch-chroot /mnt

[split vine]

done

It looks a bit different now

in /

[near parcel]

yeah, you are now in your arch linux system again

[split vine]

so can i just reboot?

[near parcel]

we just need to get grub working and you'll be set

nope not yet

[split vine]

like normal?

ok

[near parcel]

since you had grub before you probably already have grub and efibootmgr installed i think

[split vine]

hmm?

I thought it was installed into the windows boot manager?

how can I check to be sure?

[near parcel]

yes but for you to somehow install into the windows boot manager you would need the package installed in your linux system first

[split vine]

I guess just grub --version to be sure

[near parcel]

you can check with pacman -Q grub efibootmgr

[split vine]

yup

i have those

[near parcel]

okay so we should smooth sail from here

first is there a boot folder when you run ls

just to make sure

[split vine]

yes

[near parcel]

okay nice

try running
grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot --bootloader-id=GRUB

[split vine]

in one line?

[near parcel]

yep all of that in one line

[split vine]

finished with no errors

[near parcel]

great

last command now

grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

[split vine]

done it says

[near parcel]

now you can control d to get out of chroot

then just run reboot and you should be set

[split vine]

i've noticed that even thoughi chrooted into my system my locale didn't change

is that a problem?

[near parcel]

i don't think so

even though you chrooted i think that it sticks to what the live usb was set to

it means that the ttys in your system will probably be in the wrong locale though

[split vine]

i can only see UEFI Firmware Settings

that doesn't seem good

[near parcel]

wait so grub booted and it doesn't show arch?

[split vine]

exactly

[near parcel]

is there an additional thing that you can go into?

[split vine]

nope

[near parcel]

weird since we made the config with grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

well boot back into the live usb

[split vine]

ok

[near parcel]

once it's booted just mount again, with the same commands as before

this time what we will do is
cat /boot/grub/grub.cfg

[split vine]

these?

[near parcel]

first do the
mount /dev/blablabla /mnt
mount /dev/blablabla /mnt/boot and swapon /dev/blablalba

then arch-chroot /mnt

[split vine]

ok

[near parcel]

then cat /boot/grub/grub.cfg

[split vine]

thats a lot of words

do i just send a picture?

[near parcel]

yeah

[near parcel]

you were using the linux kernel right?

not sure why it mkconfig wouldn't just work

you can go into /home/user and see your files like normal right?

[split vine]

would think so

[split vine]

lemme check

yup

i see all my stuff

music maple2023 spotify

all the stuff that isn't pre-installed

[near parcel]

i mean you can try running it again and seeing if it changes anything

grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg by the way

[split vine]

yup

gonna do that

i the mean time i just found this issue that seems similar

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=279948

i dont think it worked

[near parcel]

it's not finding your kernel

[split vine]

only talks about UEFI again

[near parcel]

oh i know

run this mkinitcpio -P

then run grub-mkconfig again

[near parcel]

okay so let's reinstall the kernel

first we need to connect to the internet

use iwctl

[split vine]

Before that, what does this tell you?

[near parcel]

wait maybe we need to go out of chroot first

you've got two different swaps that are trying to mount

but that doesn't make a difference for us

the problem is that the some of the kernel files are not being found

i don't even think we need to get out of chroot actually

[split vine]

arent there also multiple roots?

[near parcel]

might be able to use what was in your previous system to connect to the internet

it's the same uid so it's just a redundancy

not multiple

[split vine]

also the /boot and /boot/EFI ?

[near parcel]

okay, if you are worried about that, you can rm /etc/fstab then genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab

that will fix the file

mkinitcpio wasn't able to build the kernel though, so that problem still remains

[split vine]

I mean if you say its fine ill trust you on that

[near parcel]

you can do it just to make sure it's ok

[split vine]

don't i have to leave chroot then?

[near parcel]

no no

i think we can maybe use whatever you had in your system to connect to wifi

i'll assume it was probably networkmanager

[split vine]

gimme a sec while i regen fstab

[near parcel]

go for it

[split vine]

/mnt/etc/fstab: no such file

[near parcel]

are you still in chroot?

[split vine]

yeah

i went out and back in

its done now

[near parcel]

okei, so kernel

[split vine]

ready

[near parcel]

i've never tried this in a live environment but i don't see why it wouldn't work

[split vine]

does it kill my home?

[near parcel]

try running nmtui

nope

it should come up with a thing that allows you to activate a wifi connection

[split vine]

could not contact networkmanager

[near parcel]

damn

try iwctl then

[split vine]

command not found

[near parcel]

okay, go out of chroot then iwctl

[split vine]

yessir

in

[near parcel]

first type device list

then you want to do
station (device) scan

where device will be what came out in your first command, something like wlan0

then finally station (device) connect (networkname)

[split vine]

should be done

nope

gimme a sec

[near parcel]

if you have symbols in your wifi password the wrong locale might be annoying

[split vine]

nope

just changed router recently

found it

works now

[near parcel]

nice control d to get out of iwd

then chroot back in

[split vine]

ping works

[near parcel]

then pacman -Sy linux linux-headers

[split vine]

sudo?

[near parcel]

you are logged into root

so shouldn't need it

[split vine]

ah

creating initcpio image

[near parcel]

nice

after that generating the grub config should do it

[split vine]

image gen succesful

[near parcel]

perfect

[split vine]

i am guessing grubcfg gets a second go?

[near parcel]

yep

[split vine]

nope

error mkdir /var/lock/dmraid

found linux image and initrd omage though

so thats something

[near parcel]

are you arch-chrooted or chrooted?

[split vine]

arch-chrooted i think

someone says to just reinstall grub for safety

[near parcel]

sure you can do that

same command as before

it will add another efi entry to bios though

[split vine]

huh

lets not then

[near parcel]

try running it again just to see if it was a one-off?

[split vine]

sure

[near parcel]

same error?

[split vine]

no error

[near parcel]

oh?

[split vine]

still only uefi

i can try to reboot to be sure though?

[near parcel]

didn't you say it detected linux image though?

[split vine]

it does

no

actually

just says it finds them

[near parcel]

maybe that's all it outputs to console? try rebooting let's check if it's there

[split vine]

guess ill just reboot and see

AYYYYY

were in

[near parcel]

did everything load right?

[split vine]

it just crashed?

[near parcel]

oh

[split vine]

i saw my firefox load my last tabs though

[near parcel]

wdym it just crashed though

[split vine]

it just immidiatly went black after firefox launched

i just rebooted it now it seems fine

[near parcel]

video drivers?

[split vine]

closed firefox before it loaded to be sure

[split vine]

dunno?

everythink looks visually fine?

[near parcel]

maybe a one-off again?

[split vine]

maybe

its an old pc

[near parcel]

anyways the system is now working so whatever comes next doesn't need the live usb to fix

and it means your files are safe and sound 🙂

[split vine]

thank you so much!

just to be safe

would yay be enough for the system to update drivers and stuff to this "new" pc?

[near parcel]

so linux has basic drivers for most of the stuff that you plug in directly on the kernel

video drivers is one exception that i know of

[split vine]

but thats only nvidia right?

[near parcel]

if this new pc is a different brand of graphics you will need new drivers

no

it's all video drivers

[split vine]

hmm

the last one also had intel graphics

wouldn't that be fine as is then?

[near parcel]

if it's the same brand it's ok

and intel only has one driver package anyway

so you should be fine

should be able to pacman -Syu and yay -Syu to update stuff when you need to

[split vine]

doesn't yay default to -Syu?

[near parcel]

oh yeah it does

i never knew that

[split vine]

thanks @near parcel

[abstract crypt]

luigiarc received a thank you cookie!

[near parcel]

anyway, i think we can probably mark this as solved

[split vine]

Yup

[near parcel]

... solved

[woeful zodiac]

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Thank you

[split vine]

Thank you so much btw

you saved my school life just now

[near parcel]

no worries i love to help

[split vine]

You are fucking awsome

have the greatest day!

the best support i've ever had