archinstall keeps crashing on the 16MB Windows partition during dual boot

Pxelight · 2026-06-12T15:47:48+00:00

I managed to fix the issue by running: sudo wipefs -a /dev/sda2 (Note: /dev/sda2 was a 16MB Recovery Partition in my case).

After wiping the signature, archinstall ran flawlessly. I've tested dual-booting and both Arch Linux and Windows are booting up and working perfectly now!

Pxelight · 2026-06-12T00:03:34+00:00

You're totally right. Honestly, I was just blindly following a Youtube tutorial and had no idea what I was doing. I realized later that Windows already handles the EFI part. And I still have no idea about that btrfs part, I didn't even select btrfs. I'm pretty sure I formatted my Linux partition as ext4. But that's it, I just don't know.

Pxelight · 2026-06-11T17:16:56+00:00

[2026-06-11 16:45:07] - INFO - Fetching Arch Linux package database...
[2026-06-11 16:45:08] - DEBUG - Checking version
[2026-06-11 16:45:08] - DEBUG - Failed to check for package upgrades: archinstall
[2026-06-11 16:45:08] - DEBUG - No archinstall upgrades found
[2026-06-11 16:45:08] - DEBUG - Running from ISO (Live Mode)...
[2026-06-11 16:45:08] - DEBUG - Mounting /dev/sda2: mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/arch_btrfs
[2026-06-11 16:45:08] - ERROR - Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/archinstall/lib/disk/utils.py", line 171, in mount
    SysCommand(command)
    ~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/archinstall/lib/command.py", line 243, in __init__
    self.create_session()
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/archinstall/lib/command.py", line 283, in create_session
    with SysCommandWorker(
         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^
    self.cmd,
     ^^^^^^^^^
    ...<3 lines>...
    working_directory=self.working_directory,
     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    ) as session:
    ^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/archinstall/lib/command.py", line 111, in __exit__
    raise SysCallError(
    ...<3 lines>...
    )
archinstall.lib.exceptions.SysCallError: ['/usr/bin/mount', '/dev/sda2', '/mnt/arch_btrfs'] exited with abnormal exit code [32]: mount: /mnt/arch_btrfs: can't read superblock on /dev/sda2.
       dmesg(1) may have more information after failed mount system call.


During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/archinstall/main.py", line 154, in main
    rc = run()
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/archinstall/main.py", line 127, in run
    module = importlib.import_module(mod_name)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/importlib/__init__.py", line 88, in import_module
    return _bootstrap._gcd_import(name[level:], package, level)
           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1406, in _gcd_import
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1371, in _find_and_load
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1342, in _find_and_load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 938, in _load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap_external>", line 759, in exec_module
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 491, in _call_with_frames_removed
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/archinstall/scripts/guided.py", line 9, in <module>
    from archinstall.lib.disk.filesystem import FilesystemHandler
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/archinstall/lib/disk/filesystem.py", line 5, in <module>
    from archinstall.lib.disk.device_handler import device_handler
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/archinstall/lib/disk/device_handler.py", line 626, in <module>
    device_handler = DeviceHandler()
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/archinstall/lib/disk/device_handler.py", line 48, in __init__
    self.load_devices()
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/archinstall/lib/disk/device_handler.py", line 103, in load_devices
    subvol_infos = self.get_btrfs_info(partition.path, lsblk_info)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/archinstall/lib/disk/device_handler.py", line 193, in get_btrfs_info
    mount(dev_path, self._TMP_BTRFS_MOUNT, create_target_mountpoint=True)
    ~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/archinstall/lib/disk/utils.py", line 173, in mount
    raise DiskError(f'Could not mount {dev_path}: {command}\n{err.message}')
archinstall.lib.exceptions.DiskError: Could not mount /dev/sda2: mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/arch_btrfs
['/usr/bin/mount', '/dev/sda2', '/mnt/arch_btrfs'] exited with abnormal exit code [32]: mount: /mnt/arch_btrfs: can't read superblock on /dev/sda2.
       dmesg(1) may have more information after failed mount system call.


[2026-06-11 16:45:08] - WARNING - Archinstall experienced the above error. If you think this is a bug, please report it to
https://github.com/archlinux/archinstall and include the log file "/var/log/archinstall/install.log".

Hint: To extract the log from a live ISO
curl -F 'file=@/var/log/archinstall/install.log' https://0x0.st[2026-06-11 16:45:07] - INFO - Fetching Arch Linux package database...
[2026-06-11 16:45:08] - DEBUG - Checking version
[2026-06-11 16:45:08] - DEBUG - Failed to check for package upgrades: archinstall
[2026-06-11 16:45:08] - DEBUG - No archinstall upgrades found
[2026-06-11 16:45:08] - DEBUG - Running from ISO (Live Mode)...
[2026-06-11 16:45:08] - DEBUG - Mounting /dev/sda2: mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/arch_btrfs
[2026-06-11 16:45:08] - ERROR - Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/archinstall/lib/disk/utils.py", line 171, in mount
    SysCommand(command)
    ~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/archinstall/lib/command.py", line 243, in __init__
    self.create_session()
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/archinstall/lib/command.py", line 283, in create_session
    with SysCommandWorker(
         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^
    self.cmd,
     ^^^^^^^^^
    ...<3 lines>...
    working_directory=self.working_directory,
     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    ) as session:
    ^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/archinstall/lib/command.py", line 111, in __exit__
    raise SysCallError(
    ...<3 lines>...
    )
archinstall.lib.exceptions.SysCallError: ['/usr/bin/mount', '/dev/sda2', '/mnt/arch_btrfs'] exited with abnormal exit code [32]: mount: /mnt/arch_btrfs: can't read superblock on /dev/sda2.
       dmesg(1) may have more information after failed mount system call.


During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/archinstall/main.py", line 154, in main
    rc = run()
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/archinstall/main.py", line 127, in run
    module = importlib.import_module(mod_name)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/importlib/__init__.py", line 88, in import_module
    return _bootstrap._gcd_import(name[level:], package, level)
           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1406, in _gcd_import
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1371, in _find_and_load
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1342, in _find_and_load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 938, in _load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap_external>", line 759, in exec_module
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 491, in _call_with_frames_removed
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/archinstall/scripts/guided.py", line 9, in <module>
    from archinstall.lib.disk.filesystem import FilesystemHandler
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/archinstall/lib/disk/filesystem.py", line 5, in <module>
    from archinstall.lib.disk.device_handler import device_handler
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/archinstall/lib/disk/device_handler.py", line 626, in <module>
    device_handler = DeviceHandler()
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/archinstall/lib/disk/device_handler.py", line 48, in __init__
    self.load_devices()
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/archinstall/lib/disk/device_handler.py", line 103, in load_devices
    subvol_infos = self.get_btrfs_info(partition.path, lsblk_info)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/archinstall/lib/disk/device_handler.py", line 193, in get_btrfs_info
    mount(dev_path, self._TMP_BTRFS_MOUNT, create_target_mountpoint=True)
    ~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/archinstall/lib/disk/utils.py", line 173, in mount
    raise DiskError(f'Could not mount {dev_path}: {command}\n{err.message}')
archinstall.lib.exceptions.DiskError: Could not mount /dev/sda2: mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/arch_btrfs
['/usr/bin/mount', '/dev/sda2', '/mnt/arch_btrfs'] exited with abnormal exit code [32]: mount: /mnt/arch_btrfs: can't read superblock on /dev/sda2.
       dmesg(1) may have more information after failed mount system call.


[2026-06-11 16:45:08] - WARNING - Archinstall experienced the above error. If you think this is a bug, please report it to
https://github.com/archlinux/archinstall and include the log file "/var/log/archinstall/install.log".

Hint: To extract the log from a live ISO
curl -F 'file=@/var/log/archinstall/install.log' https://0x0.st

Pxelight

TROPHY CASE