There won’t be a problem as long as you only use /dev/sda5 - through /dev/sda8
or, rather, the space these partitions currently occupy
I’d make one 512 MB partition
or just re-use the current /dev/sda5 as EFI
and make one ~ 50 GB partition out of the rest of /dev/sda6 /dev/sda7 /dev/sda8
Very likely - probably here on the forum or on the Manjaro website.
There is no uninstall - not one that returns all the partitioning back to where you started from.
… you don’t know whether windows is still intact?
There is no reason that it would not be - none of it was touched.
Since GRUB broke, i lost the option to boot into windows. There was a "boot into windows " option when selecting to choose another boot option for the USB, but still hesitating to use it. At this point i don’t know what is safe to do and what would break things further.
Taking the helping hand the USB boot option offers you will not destroy anything.
It could fail.
But not change anything by trying to use it.
You’ll only know once you try.
…
So, i did end up trying to see if windows was okay. Selected “temporary startup devices” and choose “Windows bootloader”. There was some bitlocker screen and some “preparing bitlocker recuperation,”, i choose to “omit this drive” and later in the options presented selected shutdown.
Did the bitlocker thing screw things up further? I read that Windows can mess with Linux stuff, that was why i hesitated. I know that the two FAT32 partitions refer to two different bootladers, and bitlocker is supposed to protect/encrypt sda3 but that is my limit. How these things interact with each other i don’t know.
Can i try to reinstall Manjaro from a USB or must i boot into Windows to configure the partitions again?
Edit: Reading another guide seems bitlocker needs to be disabled to install/use Manjaro. I was stupid and enabled it after everything was working fine for some reason. Can anyone with dual-boot experience tell me how to boot into windows and disable it? is it okay to use the windows bootloader?
I guess that
/dev/sda5 and /dev/sda6 and /dev/sda7 and /dev/sda8
all belong to your now defunct Linux install
not quite sure about /dev/sda5 - it seems to be the EFI partition of that linux install
while /dev/sda1 is the EFI partition of the Windows installation.
You should know.
I’m not sure how to find that out - other than mounting both and looking at the contents.
Windows will probably tell you if you are about to remove one of the partitions that it needs - so doing the repartitioning/deleting of the Linux partitions from within Windows might not be a bad idea.
Of course you can do that from Linux, too - during the installation
or before starting the installer
by launching the partition manager and removing those partitions and creating a single one in it’s place.
I don’t know about that.
It can be disabled - essentially decrypting the now encrypted drive.
How to do that - I don’t know.
The info is likely on the net.
I do not know whether that is neccessary - I’d not think so.
I can’t.
But: last time it worked, no?
The windows bootloader can be made to boot Linux by chainloading (I guess that’s the term) to Grub, which in turn then boots Manjaro.
Have never done this - just read about it. No experience at all.
ps:
the title of the thread is now not fitting what you want help for anymore
the subject changed - perhaps you should rename it or create a new one so that knowledgeable people will notice and can help
Am i right in thinking that enabling secure boot would bypass bitlocker and boot straight into windows without interfering with any linux partitions? That way i could disable bitlocker and prepare everything to reinstall Manjaro.
I’ll read it, eventually.
But even if I had read it right now:
I really wouldn’t know - it would all be just opinion based solely upon what I just read.
I don’t have Windows.
I can’t test any of this.
I’ll refrain from providing advice regarding this
if you, as it looks like
want to rely on that advice.
… instead of perhaps being prepared to learn by trial and error
which is no problem other than perhaps a time problem - if you have backup images of your windows … you can start over anytime
It really isn’t a big problem to reinstall either Windows or Linux.
You might loose your personal data - and time.
There is a fix for the former - as for the latter: learning takes time
My opinion now:
BitLocker seems to rely on Secure Boot to be enabled.
To install Manjaro (or Arch)
this has to be disabled.
There are Linux Distributions (like Ubuntu) that work and can deal with Secure Boot.
Manjaro … can’t - not easily, not “out of the box”.
… you changed the title of the thread
perhaps it’ll help attracting other knowledgeable people after that many posts
perhaps it’s better to start over with a fresh one, containing all the relevant information
It is probably not a big deal to unite the space that these partitions use by deleting them and creating one bigger one instead in that space - and then re-install linux
But it’s just a fact that you need to be sure what and which those partitions are that you delete and replace.
Only you can know/decide that.
… doing the deleting from Windows will probably be good - because it might tell you if you are about to remove a crucial component …
I, too, am unable to install Manjaro from a USB on a dual-boot system. I’m now getting Grub Rescue and have two questions. This is also my first time posting in the forum, so would this be the right place to post my question or should I do a separate post?