Author Topic: UEFI: Dual Boot - Windows 11 and ArcaOS 5.1  (Read 26806 times)

Martin Iturbide

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UEFI: Dual Boot - Windows 11 and ArcaOS 5.1
« on: September 07, 2023, 04:52:22 am »
Hello

Is it real? Was it that easy?

I just installed ArcaOS 5.1 on an UEFI HP Pavillion x360. It has Windows 11 and I wanted a dual boot machine.... and it worked.
It was too easy that I'm still rebooting from one OS to other to see when it will fail  ;D

1) On the UEFI first I disable "Secure Boot". When trying to boot Windows 11 the UEFI BIOS asked me to type a code that was showed on the screen (crazy UEFI stuff).
2) Booted Windows 11 and reduce the size of the Win11 partition to have some free space before it to install ArcaOS. I used Easus Partition Manager on Windows to reduce its size. (Check Dual_001.jpg for reference on how the partitions look like).
3) Booted the ArcaOS Flash drive.
4) Created the partition on the free space.
5) Finish the install
6) It shows a "AN Launcher" where I can select ArcaOS or Windows... (Dual_007.jpg) The only thing is that Windows shows like "old_x86".

I just want to know how to change the names of the options on the "AN Launcher", so I can rename one to "ArcaOS 5.1" and the "Windows 11" the other.
But I'm very happy on how easy it was.

Regards

« Last Edit: September 07, 2023, 05:01:15 am by Martin Iturbide »
Martin Iturbide
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Rich Walsh

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Re: UEFI: Dual Boot - Windows 11 and ArcaOS 5.1
« Reply #1 on: September 07, 2023, 06:14:38 am »
Is it real? Was it that easy?

Yes, this is exactly the way it's supposed to be: no drama.

Quote
6) It shows a "AN Launcher" where I can select ArcaOS or Windows... (Dual_007.jpg) The only thing is that Windows shows like "old_x86".

I just want to know how to change the names of the options on the "AN Launcher", so I can rename one to "ArcaOS 5.1" and the "Windows 11" the other.

Launcher's Help screen gives a brief how-to; here's a slightly more detailed explanation:
Use MiniLVM to assign a drive letter to your ESP (e.g. 'U:'), then navigate to U:\EFI\BOOT\LAUNCHER.CFG. Open it and edit the "[menu]' section. Each line is in the form "<menu text> = <program>.EFI [options]". Here's my menu:

[menu]
ArcaOS (N:) = \EFI\OS2\OS2LDR.EFI N:
ArcaOS (C:) = \EFI\OS2\OS2LDR.EFI C:
ArcaOS (*) = \EFI\OS2\OS2LDR.EFI
Win11 = \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi
Kubuntu22 = \EFI\ubuntu\shimx64.efi
Shell = \EFI\Boot\shell.efi
Help = ??


Roderick Klein

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Re: UEFI: Dual Boot - Windows 11 and ArcaOS 5.1
« Reply #2 on: September 07, 2023, 09:17:57 am »
That is what makes GPT disc layout a lot easier compared to MBR disc layout. MBR setup, especially with more then one operating booting from a disc an be problematic to say the least.
If you have a setup that currently works, keep it. New to setup that support UEFI boot, dump MBR.
GPT discs, because of the filter driver, is slower then MBR setup disc. But on an SSD or NVMe disc in daily usage you will not really notice the performance the GPT filter driver introduces.

Roderick
« Last Edit: September 07, 2023, 10:58:06 am by Roderick Klein »

Martin Iturbide

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Re: UEFI: Dual Boot - Windows 11 and ArcaOS 5.1
« Reply #3 on: September 07, 2023, 09:13:47 pm »
Is it real? Was it that easy?

Yes, this is exactly the way it's supposed to be: no drama.

Quote
6) It shows a "AN Launcher" where I can select ArcaOS or Windows... (Dual_007.jpg) The only thing is that Windows shows like "old_x86".

I just want to know how to change the names of the options on the "AN Launcher", so I can rename one to "ArcaOS 5.1" and the "Windows 11" the other.

Launcher's Help screen gives a brief how-to; here's a slightly more detailed explanation:
Use MiniLVM to assign a drive letter to your ESP (e.g. 'U:'), then navigate to U:\EFI\BOOT\LAUNCHER.CFG. Open it and edit the "[menu]' section. Each line is in the form "<menu text> = <program>.EFI [options]". Here's my menu:

[menu]
ArcaOS (N:) = \EFI\OS2\OS2LDR.EFI N:
ArcaOS (C:) = \EFI\OS2\OS2LDR.EFI C:
ArcaOS (*) = \EFI\OS2\OS2LDR.EFI
Win11 = \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi
Kubuntu22 = \EFI\ubuntu\shimx64.efi
Shell = \EFI\Boot\shell.efi
Help = ??

Thanks Rich for the detailed explanation, I was not able to get that I needed to assign letter to the EFI partition with the little help on the AN Loader.

Which is the difference in functionality between this two?
- ArcaOS (C:) = \EFI\OS2\OS2LDR.EFI C:
- ArcaOS (*) = \EFI\OS2\OS2LDR.EFI

Can I delete the second one? or does it offer something different without the C: ?

Regards
Martin Iturbide
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Rich Walsh

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Re: UEFI: Dual Boot - Windows 11 and ArcaOS 5.1
« Reply #4 on: September 08, 2023, 01:10:28 am »
Which is the difference in functionality between this two?
- ArcaOS (C:) = \EFI\OS2\OS2LDR.EFI C:
- ArcaOS (*) = \EFI\OS2\OS2LDR.EFI

Can I delete the second one? or does it offer something different without the C: ?

If you specify a drive letter, OS2LDR will boot that drive. If you don't, OS2LDR will display a list of OS/2 partitions that may be bootable so you can choose one.

Here's something people may find interesting: if the list includes an existing BIOS-based installation, try selecting it. Ignore what you see (or rather, what you don't see) on the screen and give it a few moments. You may be pleasantly surprised. (If things seem to stop, try pressing Enter.)

Pete

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Re: UEFI: Dual Boot - Windows 11 and ArcaOS 5.1
« Reply #5 on: October 26, 2023, 03:35:43 am »
Hi All

I have ArcaOS5.1.0 installed on an NVMe drive along with Windows11, both systems boot and run fine.

I also have an SSD with Windows11 (activated) on attached to SATA1 that I am thinking of putting back into the system box and sacking the NVMe Windows11 (not activated) installation.

How do I setup AN Launcher on the NVMe drive to boot the Windows11 install on SATA1?
Do I simply copy the SATA1 \EFI\Boot\bootx64.efi to NVMe \EFI\Boot\winx64.efi or id there some other tweak needed?


Regards

Pete

Rich Walsh

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Re: UEFI: Dual Boot - Windows 11 and ArcaOS 5.1
« Reply #6 on: October 26, 2023, 05:45:38 am »
How do I setup AN Launcher on the NVMe drive to boot the Windows11 install on SATA1?
Do I simply copy the SATA1 \EFI\Boot\bootx64.efi to NVMe \EFI\Boot\winx64.efi or id there some other tweak needed?

My best _guess_ (since I haven't tested this) is don't do anything except attach the SATA drive. Most definitely, do not go moving .EFI files around.

Remember that you are not booting Windows per se, you are booting the Windows Boot Manager and _it_ is booting Win. Either it will discover the new copy on its own or you'll have to add it (however that's done). This is little different than booting one or more versions of Linux via 'grub'.

Pete

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Re: UEFI: Dual Boot - Windows 11 and ArcaOS 5.1
« Reply #7 on: October 27, 2023, 05:20:08 pm »
Hi Rich

No definitely no moving .efi files around - copy is slightly different to move :-)

Attaching the SATA disk does not get an automatic entry in AN Launcher or either Windows Boot Managers.

The SATA installation of Windows can be booted from the BIOS.

I guess I need to ask AN how to get the SATA Windows installation to boot from AN Launcher if I decide to use the SATA disk. At the moment I am a little undecided as having the SATA disk attached roughly doubles the time it takes to boot ArcaOS - from around 15 secs to about 30 secs, no stopwatch available.


Regards

Pete





Rich Walsh

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Re: UEFI: Dual Boot - Windows 11 and ArcaOS 5.1
« Reply #8 on: October 28, 2023, 04:25:31 am »
Attaching the SATA disk does not get an automatic entry in AN Launcher or either Windows Boot Managers.

AN Launcher is very low-function - by design - so there was never the slightest possibility that it would add an entry on its own. I had hoped for more from Win's Boot Manager but no such luck - it's far worse. You''ll have to used 'bcdedit' when booted to a Windows command line to add an entry.

Quote
I guess I need to ask AN how to get the SATA Windows installation to boot from AN Launcher if I decide to use the SATA disk.

Good luck on that...  In my earlier posting I left out all the ugly details in an attempt to keep it simple. Since that didn't work out, here's an introduction to harsh reality:

AN Launcher is incapable of running an .EFI file located on another disk because it doesn't know how to parse a UEFI disk identifier. If you look at 'launcher.cfg', you'll see that all paths start at the root directory of the _current_ disk. For example:
  Win11 = \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi

If you wanted it to reference another disk, it would have to look something like this:
  Win11 = HD(2,GPT,9f11367c-448a-4272-92b8-af7e9c01973c,800,82000)\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi
Even if AN Launcher could parse this, you'd have a lot of fun trying to construct it.

In any case, industry-standard practice is to have only one EFI System Partition (ESP) and to rely on each bootloader to know how to navigate multiple disks on its own terms - and all of them do. As such, there's no reason to have multiple bootloaders for a single OS. (FYI: while OS/2's boot manager and osloader are separate binaries, grub and WinBM act as both boot manager and osloader.)

Compunding the problem further: UEFI has a builtin boot manager (that's what you're looking at when you go into the firmware). If you believe the specs, you should be able to add entries that point at any disk, and the firmware should boot them in the specified order (i.e. if the first entry fails to boot, it moves on to the next one). Sadly, that isn't the way many manufacturers have implemented it. If you're booting from Disk 1, Lenovo, Dell, and others will try all of the entries that reference Disk 1 before they ever try Disk 2. Consequently, putting an entry for Disk 2 at the top of the list has no effect because the firmware will (likely) find something bootable on Disk 1. This is the underlying reason for that "industry-standard practice" of having a single ESP which is always on the first disk: to workaround non-compliant firmware.

If you decide you still want to use the SATA drive, I'd suggest you use Bing to search for "add OS to Windows Boot Manager" for instructions on how to use 'bcdedit.exe' (there are also some 3rd-party BCD editors available to ease the pain).

Jochen Schäfer

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Re: UEFI: Dual Boot - Windows 11 and ArcaOS 5.1
« Reply #9 on: October 28, 2023, 01:18:07 pm »
In my experience, rEFInd works really good with ArcaOS.

Neil Waldhauer

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Re: UEFI: Dual Boot - Windows 11 and ArcaOS 5.1
« Reply #10 on: October 29, 2023, 04:13:45 am »
In my experience, rEFInd works really good with ArcaOS.

Is there an install program for rEFInd that works on ArcaOS?
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Rich Walsh

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Re: UEFI: Dual Boot - Windows 11 and ArcaOS 5.1
« Reply #11 on: October 29, 2023, 05:25:25 am »
In my experience, rEFInd works really good with ArcaOS.

reFind is very nice - I used it before AN Launcher was written. IIRC it has an option to scan all disks for bootable partitions and may workaround the problem.

Here's another workaround that I think is far easier: just switch the boot order in the firmware so that the SATA drive boots first, then add AN Launcher to that disk's ESP.

* open MiniLVM and assign each of your two ESPs a drive letter (say, U: and V:)
* on the menu, select System->Boot Menu->Update/Install
* select the ESP partition on the SATA drive
* save your changes then boot into the firmware/BIOS
* change the boot order for hard drives so the SATA drive is first
* when you exit the firmware, it should boot AN Launcher on the SATA drive

If the Launcher menu doesn't have an entry for Win11, boot into AOS. Open Drive U: or V: (whichever is on the SATA), then open \EFI\BOOT\LAUNCHER.CFG. In the [menu] section, add "Win11 = \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi". Save, then reboot and see if the copy of Win on the SATA boots.
« Last Edit: October 29, 2023, 05:27:00 am by Rich Walsh »

Jochen Schäfer

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Re: UEFI: Dual Boot - Windows 11 and ArcaOS 5.1
« Reply #12 on: October 29, 2023, 10:05:29 am »
In my experience, rEFInd works really good with ArcaOS.

Is there an install program for rEFInd that works on ArcaOS?
Not to my knowledge, but alle the install scripts do is mount the ESP volume and copy the necessary files to it.
On the rEFInd site is a page with instructions for manual installation.
Also, Rich has instructions how to do it in ArcaOS, posted above
« Last Edit: October 29, 2023, 10:08:06 am by Jochen Schäfer »

Dave Yeo

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Re: UEFI: Dual Boot - Windows 11 and ArcaOS 5.1
« Reply #13 on: October 29, 2023, 10:08:57 am »
In my experience, rEFInd works really good with ArcaOS.

Is there an install program for rEFInd that works on ArcaOS?

http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/installing.html

Linux can install the deb too

Neil Waldhauer

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Re: UEFI: Dual Boot - Windows 11 and ArcaOS 5.1
« Reply #14 on: October 29, 2023, 02:22:36 pm »
It sounds like you really need a Debian type of Linux to install rEFInd. Also the Windows or Mac preboot environment may be able to do that. It's not really clear how to reach those preboot environments, though. We would need some kind of utility for NVRAM I think to set the rest up.

The instructions are not very friendly, just use some utility program, but not describing where the utilities came from or what they do.

How about in the trivial case, where ANLauncher is already working. How do you rename all of the rEFInd parts to work with an ArcaOS installation?
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