[arch-general] Installing Archlinux alongside Ubuntu on aWindows8 UEFI laptop

[Delcypher]

On 3 May 2014 05:53, Alan E. Davis <lngndvs at gmail.com> wrote:
> I am way past confused about these issues.

> I have installed Archlinux on a partition, with a home partition.  I just
> cannot boot into it.  I was able to boot into the USB flash drive.  I never
> saw any messages about UEFI or legacy.

The USB image supports legacy and UEFI boot.  I'm not 100% sure if
this is a reliable method but when I boot up via legacy the
/sys/firmware/efi folder does not exist but when I boot via UEFI the
folder does exist.
There is probably a way on your machine to disable legacy boot and
also select to boot from USB when legacy boot is disabled.

> I had already installed Ubuntu
> 2014.04, botched the partitioning, but it is possible to boot into it by

Given that you have already installed Ubuntu successfully you probably
have a working boot manager from that install. So why not just use
that to boot into Arch Linux? I think Ubuntu uses GRUB2 so you can
have Ubuntu regenerate the menu entries and hopefully it would detect
Arch Linux on its own. If not you'll have to look up how to add the
menu entries manually.

> It took me years to get used to GRUB2 having a complicated web of editable
> (thought almost unreadable, to me) files and scripts.  This goes waaaay
> betong that.

I wouldn't say it's more complicated. With UEFI you have many more
options (compared to legacy boot) for how you load your kernel. Just
pick one, read the wiki on the method of install and proceed with
caution.

I get the impression from following the thread that you aren't very
familiar with UEFI. Although you certainly don't need to know
everything about UEFI (I certainly do not, I just followed the wiki),
having a high level understanding of what it is and how to use it
(e.g. how to switch in/out of legacy boot) on your machine **before**
you start trying to install any Linux distribution would be wise.