Dual boot issue

I am glad to see that you are beginning to see my point. When we talk about dual-boot, there are only 3 operating systems which need be considered - Linux, FreeBSD and Windows. Only in the case you are setting up dual-boot Linux + Windows is GPT+UEFI acceptable. In all other combinations - meaning FreeBSD is one of the operating systems, you will quickly realize that every OS has to be/had to be/should be installed MBR+BIOS. FreeBSD itself has no problem with UEFI - single-boot FreeBSD works perfectly with GPT+UEFI . The real problem is dual-boot/multi-boot: Grub cannot boot FreeBSD in UEFI mode.

Yes, of course I can understand that FreeBSD case is special, but where I don’t agree is that you are advising a user with Windows-Linux dual boot that BIOS/MBR is prefered. Only that is my objection.

There is one more point I must humbly make in this context. Let’s say you are currently willing to limit the use of the term dual-boot to Linux and Windows. That is okay for the moment. But what happens, say 5 years from now, when you suddenly realize there is a problem which can be solved only by installing FreeBSD - for example, you need xascii (X chart of ASCII characters; only available in FreeBSD). At that time, you will suddenly further realize that all your operating systems 5 years back should have had been installed MBR+BIOS.

That’s what virtual machines are for! :smile:

And shouldn’t be possible that grub+FreeBSD (if I understand you correctly) problem is solved in 5 years?

Ah, right sir ! I totally forgot about virtual machines. Yes, I give in to and accept your use-case of dual-boot to mean Linux + Windows 10.

But still please remember: My own usage requirement of bare-metal FreeBSD (a very small installation that is needed once a year) happens for the reason I need to fsck my Linux’s / filesystem (ext4) in case of an improper system shutdown. I find it much easier to fsck Linux’s / from FreeBSD than any other way.

I just want to point out that I don’t consider dual-boot just Windows and Linux. It’s just that in the context of this thread and the problem user had, I think dual boot it’s that… because it’s what the OP uses.

I only think that your dual boot it’s just another case that is also totally valid.

Yes, for the OP, I think GPT+UEFI is the better solution.

I created a windows installation drive with WOEusb, and re-installed windows, recovered my files from onedrive, and nuked the manjaro drive. I will research how to successfully install linux on the second drive after I have figured out how to resolve the graphical artifacts my 3400g displays with linux. I feel like this problem nearly HAS to be a driver issue, but some guys here on this forum insist it is not a driver issue. Thanks for all the help, I will return to this thread tonight when i have time to go through the conversation.
peace

ok so how do i ensure that i am installing manjaro in a way that works with an existing windows 10 installation? are the options present in the manjaro installer?

Just follow this tutorial:

If you have Windows installed on nvme0n1 in BIOS mode, the best option is to install Manjaro to the other drive (sda) also in BIOS mode. But you have to install grub also to sda. After installation you have to change your BIOS default boot drive to the sda drive. If everything went fine, grub should have detected Windows and from grub menu you can boot Windows or Manjaro.

If something goes wrong with grub or Manjaro, you can just change back the BIOS default boot to the Windows drive.

how do i control the mode of my installation, and where grub saves? last time i just used the manjaro installer. what do i have to do to ensure that it installs in bios mode- are these options available in the installer?, im googling but not finding what im looking for

Disable UEFI

The partition instructions in the guide is for UEFI - do not follow the partition instructions if you intend to use BIOS mode.

You can still have GPT partition layout - just ensure you have a 32M unformatted partition - flagged as bios-boot. When Calamares ask for boot loader location - install boot loader to unformatted partition.

i have installed successfully. thanks, guys.