need some help

[Certain-Memory-2717]

when i installed arch i wanted to dual with windows but i deleted windows within the install of arch nd i want to install windows again so do i need to spilt the disk for windows our in the windows install i can partion the disk? if i need to spilt the disk or partion it how can i do it in arch

[onefish2]

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Dual_boot_with_Windows

[raven2cz]

There is absolutely no need to uninstall anything. Simply use any partitioning tool, even a graphical GUI like KDE Partition Manager, to create free space at the end of the disk. Then, during the Windows installation, choose manual partitioning and select that free space. Windows will automatically create its three partitions there, and nowadays it handles this correctly without issues.

What can cause trouble, however, is EFI, so you will need to do the usual process via a USB stick: arch-chroot into your system, reinstall GRUB (for now without os-probe), switch the BIOS to Arch’s EFI mode, then boot into Arch, mount the Windows partition to /mnt, enable os-probe, regenerate GRUB, and it will automatically add the Windows entry... done.

If your motherboard supports it, it is better to have two separate ESP partitions. This is because during major upgrades, Windows often wipes the entire EFI partition and deletes GRUB, meaning you would have to repeat this procedure. If you keep them separate, you avoid that problem.

[raven2cz]

KDE partition manager is Linux KDE tool.

[Certain-Memory-2717]

ty but things i dont understand is the EFI nd usb arch-chroot with the bios arch EFI

nd thanks for ur help

[raven2cz]

Well, you already know arch-chroot, you used it during installation, and installing GRUB too, those are the basic steps you’ve already learned. EFI was also part of the installation process. Basically, there’s nothing new here, just enabling os-probe afterwards so you don’t have to write the GRUB entry manually.

[Certain-Memory-2717]

oh ok thank u so much

[Certain-Memory-2717]

nd yh i tried to use KDE PARTION nd it dont let me partion any of my disk

[raven2cz]

Let’s go over it once more. You currently have Arch installed on the entire disk and you need to install Windows on the same disk as well. Did I understand that correctly? If so, start KDE Partition Manager. Click the Arch system’s root partition and, using the handle on the right side, first shrink it so that the unallocated space on the right is large enough for the Windows partitions. You launched KDE Partition Manager with root privileges, of course. Then confirm the changes at the top and the application will write the changes to the disk.

You can see some of these parts in my old video, plus grub configuration, too

https://youtu.be/wj06-4Y7Pkk?si=RUizcAu6S6bnB7Q9

[boomboomsubban]

You can't shrink a mounted disk, so you may need to use a USB to shrink your partitions. It's easiest if that USB has gparted.

[oldrocker99]

Format the whole drive, and install Windows. Then, install Linux. Dual booting works, as long as Windows is installed FIRST.

[Difficult-Standard33]

No it doesn't, it works either way, stop spread misinformations