Moving current system onto a new motherboard and setting up Windows dual-boot at the same time

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I currently have Windows installed on my HDD, and KDE Manjaro installed on the SATA SSD. I’m going to upgrade every component of my PC, excluding the storage. I also want to reinstall Windows on a fresh M.2 and keep the files on the other M.2 I have for my Steam library. My main concern is the motherboard.

I want to preserve the Manjaro installation, but don’t care about the Windows one (that HDD drive needs to go too). I have tried to research how would one go about reinstalling Windows on a separate drive while preserving the current Linux installation, and found this.

So, in my head, the algorithm for my upgrade should go like this:

  1. Assemble new components
  2. Connect the fresh M.2 for Windows installation
  3. Install Windows
  4. Connect the SATA SSD with Manjaro on it and the Steam library M.2
  5. Boot into Live USB recovery mode
  6. Somehow restore the boot entry for Manjaro
  7. Boot into Manjaro and run update-grub so that it is aware of the Windows install and I can choose what system to boot into on startup.

I would appreciate any help at all. Have I got the steps right? I don’t exactly understand what should I do at step 6. Great thanks for any kind of input.

2

I would suggest (as a safety precaution) removing the Manjaro SSD before installing Windows to the fresh SSD.

  1. Install and configure Windows – disable Fast Startup if enabled by default (powercfg /h off and reboot) – and remove the Windows SSD when complete.

  2. Re-attach the Manjaro SSD, and boot into the KDE session normally. You can also take this opportunity to re-partition the former Windows HDD using gparted if installed:

sudo pacman -S gparted`
  • You shouldn’t need to use the USB recovery route if Manjaro is still bootable via Grub. If for some reason Grub isn’t installed, then naturally, use the USB method. For reference you can reinstall Grub usually with:
sudo grub install
  1. Edit the Grub configuration file:
sudo nano /boot/grub/grub.cfg
  • OS Prober is now disabled by default – this is the mechanism which detects other bootable systems – Uncomment the following line in grub.cfg to re-enable the automatic detection:
#GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false
  1. Shutdown Manjaro. Re-connect the SSD drives in this order: (1) Manjaro, (2) Windows. Some people may argue that Windows should be first in line – this is a fallacy, and has been for a few years. If Windows isn’t detected at first boot, then run update-grub and reboot.

Well, that’s it, in a nutshell. I hope it helps to some extent.

Cheers.

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3

Thank you very much! So, basically, if everything will go smooth, I just need to^

  1. Plug first SSD and install Windows + disable fast boot, then unplug
  2. Plug second SSD (with Manjaro already installed) and enable OS prober
  3. Plug first SSD again (with Windows installed) and optionally update-grub

And if it doesn’t go smooth I boot with Live USB and install GRUB?
I am mostly worried about not being able to boot into an existing system (Manjaro) with a new board. And, basically, the most thing I am scared of is what do I need to do if I have to use the Live USB recovery. Do I have to use efibootmgr -v ahead of time? How do I then use the output? Lots of questions coming from my lack of knowledge

4

Linux tends to be resilient enough to cope with different hardware; albeit sometimes with a few issues to correct.

However, the best way is to install fresh copy.

If this is an option for you (if you already saved anything you want to keep), then just boot from the CD/USB Installer instead, and replace your existing installation of Manjaro. This is likely best for you, given your current level of knowledge. Cheers.

1 Like
5

always check first update UEFi motherboard
and recheck options in UEFI

UEFI, create a profile and save for Windows and another for linux

recheck all option in your UEFI ( for linux)

SecureBoot off
Fast Boot off
No CSM
No Legacy
all disks on AHCI

you can check in terminal , before chroot

inxi  -Fxza
test -d /sys/firmware/efi && echo efi || echo bios
sudo efibootmgr -v
sudo parted -l 
sudo blkid -fs

on chroot , you should see /boot/efi mount message
cat /etc/fstab ( check UUID are ok with commands before )

not forget that point
if you change cpu , change microcode
if you change video card , you need to change drivers videos cards