Triple boot trying to add Manjaro

Support
1

I have a system that I am trying to add Manjaro to.
It has Windows and Arch on it.
It has 3 hard drives.
The drive that Arch is on is the one that I am trying to get Manjaro to work with.
Before I attempted to install Manjaro on it Arch is in control of the GRUB boot menu.
I want Manjaro install to take over the boot process. I want it to be the boot menu.
I got it to install to the drive but when I reboot to Windows I lose the Manjaro boot menu and the Arch Grub takes over and Manjaro is not even in the menu.
To get back into Manjaro I have to boot to the usb live Manjaro drive and then select the EFI menu and select the Manjaro entry.
When I try to reinstall GRUB or update GRUb it doesn’t change anything and after I reboot I am back at the Arch GRUB. I can’t get Manjaro to stick.
I will list some file contents . Let me know if you need more info.

 inxi -Faaz                                                                                                           ✔ 
System:
  Kernel: 6.12.48-1-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 15.2.1
    clocksource: tsc avail: hpet,acpi_pm
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-6.12-x86_64
    root=UUID=3f2ed55f-c63c-46bf-9d47-348f761c12ed rw rootflags=subvol=@
    quiet splash apparmor=1 security=apparmor udev.log_priority=3
  Desktop: Xfce v: 4.20.1 tk: Gtk v: 3.24.48 wm: xfwm4 v: 4.20.0
    with: xfce4-panel tools: xfce4-screensaver vt: 7 dm: LightDM v: 1.32.0
    Distro: Manjaro base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: Dell product: XPS 8500 v: N/A
    serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 3 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Dell model: 0YJPT1 v: A00 serial: <superuser required>
    uuid: <superuser required> UEFI: Dell v: A14 date: 06/25/2018
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core i7-3770 bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Ivy Bridge
    gen: core 3 level: v2 built: 2012-15 process: Intel 22nm family: 6
    model-id: 0x3A (58) stepping: 9 microcode: 0x21
  Topology: cpus: 1x dies: 1 clusters: 4 cores: 4 threads: 8 tpc: 2
    smt: enabled cache: L1: 256 KiB desc: d-4x32 KiB; i-4x32 KiB L2: 1024 KiB
    desc: 4x256 KiB L3: 8 MiB desc: 1x8 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1600 min/max: 1600/3900 scaling: driver: intel_cpufreq
    governor: schedutil cores: 1: 1600 2: 1600 3: 1600 4: 1600 5: 1600 6: 1600
    7: 1600 8: 1600 bogomips: 54345
  Flags-basic: avx ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: indirect_target_selection status: Not affected
  Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: Split huge pages
  Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT
    vulnerable
  Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable
  Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI
  Type: mmio_stale_data status: Unknown: No mitigations
  Type: reg_file_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: retbleed status: Not affected
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via
    prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer
    sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines; IBPB: conditional; IBRS_FW;
    STIBP: conditional; RSB filling; PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected; BHI: Not
    affected
  Type: srbds status: Vulnerable: No microcode
  Type: tsa status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
  Type: vmscape mitigation: IBPB before exit to userspace
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel IvyBridge GT2 [HD Graphics 4000] vendor: Dell driver: i915
    v: kernel arch: Gen-7 process: Intel 22nm built: 2012-13 ports:
    active: HDMI-A-1 empty: DP-1,VGA-1 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:0162
    class-ID: 0300
  Display: x11 server: X.org v: 1.21.1.18 compositor: xfwm4 v: 4.20.0
    driver: X: loaded: modesetting alternate: fbdev,vesa dri: crocus gpu: i915
    display-ID: :0.0 note: <missing: xdpyinfo/xrandr>
  Monitor-1: HDMI-A-1 model: Acer G215HV serial: <filter> built: 2011
    res: 1920x1080 dpi: 102 gamma: 1.2 size: 477x268mm (18.78x10.55")
    diag: 547mm (21.5") ratio: 16:9 modes: max: 1920x1080 min: 720x400
  API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: intel crocus platforms: device: 0 drv: crocus
    device: 1 drv: swrast gbm: drv: crocus surfaceless: drv: crocus x11:
    drv: crocus inactive: wayland
  API: OpenGL v: 4.5 compat-v: 4.2 vendor: intel mesa v: 25.2.3-arch1.2
    glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 4000 (IVB
    GT2) device-ID: 8086:0162 memory: 1.46 GiB unified: yes
  Info: Tools: api: eglinfo,glxinfo de: xfce4-display-settings x11: xprop
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 7 Series/C216 Family High Definition Audio vendor: Dell
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:1e20
    class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.12.48-1-MANJARO status: kernel-api with: aoss
    type: oss-emulator tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: JACK v: 1.9.22 status: off tools: N/A
  Server-2: PipeWire v: 1.4.8 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
    tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Qualcomm Atheros AR9485 Wireless Network Adapter vendor: Dell
    driver: ath9k v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1
    bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 168c:0032 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp1s0 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
    vendor: Dell driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1
    port: e000 bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp2s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  Info: services: NetworkManager, systemd-timesyncd, wpa_supplicant
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Qualcomm Atheros Bluetooth USB Host Controller driver: btusb
    v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 4-1.5:6
    chip-ID: 0cf3:e004 class-ID: e001 serial: <filter>
  Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: up address: see --recommends
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 3.17 TiB used: 5.35 GiB (0.2%)
  SMART Message: Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Kingston model: SKC300S37A480G
    size: 447.13 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
    tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: BBF0 scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Seagate model: ST2000DM001-9YN164
    size: 1.82 TiB block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s
    tech: HDD rpm: 7200 serial: <filter> fw-rev: DC4A scheme: GPT
  ID-3: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 vendor: Western Digital
    model: WD10EACS-00ZJB0 size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B
    logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s tech: N/A serial: <filter> fw-rev: 1B01
    scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 223.32 GiB size: 223.32 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 5.01 GiB (2.2%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda4 maj-min: 8:4
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 500 MiB size: 499 MiB (99.80%)
    used: 345.7 MiB (69.3%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
  ID-3: /home raw-size: 223.32 GiB size: 223.32 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 5.01 GiB (2.2%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda4 maj-min: 8:4
  ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 223.32 GiB size: 223.32 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 5.01 GiB (2.2%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda4 maj-min: 8:4
Swap:
  Alert: No swap data was found.
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 26.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (rpm): cpu: 876 mobo: 915
Info:
  Memory: total: 12 GiB available: 11.57 GiB used: 2.01 GiB (17.4%)
  Processes: 271 Power: uptime: 1h 14m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
    avail: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot,
    suspend, test_resume image: 4.61 GiB services: upowerd,xfce4-power-manager
    Init: systemd v: 257 default: graphical tool: systemctl
  Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 1094 libs: 346 tools: pamac pm: flatpak pkgs: 0
    Compilers: N/A Shell: Zsh v: 5.9 running-in: xfce4-terminal inxi: 3.3.39
    ~                                                                                                                       ✔ 
[Manjaro Manjaro]# efibootmgr -v
BootCurrent: 000E
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 000E,0003,0000,0001,0002,0004,0006,0007
Boot0000*  USB DISK 3.0 PMAP	BBS(18,,0x0)
      dp: 05 01 09 00 12 00 00 00 00 / 7f ff 04 00
Boot0001* P0: KINGSTON SKC300S37A480G   	BBS(17,,0x0)
      dp: 05 01 09 00 11 00 00 00 00 / 7f ff 04 00
Boot0002* P5: HL-DT-ST DVD+/-RW GH82N   	BBS(19,,0x0)
      dp: 05 01 09 00 13 00 00 00 00 / 7f ff 04 00
Boot0003* Windows Boot Manager	HD(2,GPT,1ef27453-4f7d-4454-915d-c23c5fcb3874,0x5800,0xfa000)/\EFI\grub\grubx64.efi57494e444f5753000100000088000000780000004200430044004f0042004a004500430054003d007b00390064006500610038003600320063002d0035006300640064002d0034006500370030002d0061006300630031002d006600330032006200330034003400640034003700390035007d00000000000100000010000000040000007fff0400
      dp: 04 01 2a 00 02 00 00 00 00 58 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 a0 0f 00 00 00 00 00 53 74 f2 1e 7d 4f 54 44 91 5d c2 3c 5f cb 38 74 02 02 / 04 04 30 00 5c 00 45 00 46 00 49 00 5c 00 67 00 72 00 75 00 62 00 5c 00 67 00 72 00 75 00 62 00 78 00 36 00 34 00 2e 00 65 00 66 00 69 00 00 00 / 7f ff 04 00
    data: 57 49 4e 44 4f 57 53 00 01 00 00 00 88 00 00 00 78 00 00 00 42 00 43 00 44 00 4f 00 42 00 4a 00 45 00 43 00 54 00 3d 00 7b 00 39 00 64 00 65 00 61 00 38 00 36 00 32 00 63 00 2d 00 35 00 63 00 64 00 64 00 2d 00 34 00 65 00 37 00 30 00 2d 00 61 00 63 00 63 00 31 00 2d 00 66 00 33 00 32 00 62 00 33 00 34 00 34 00 64 00 34 00 37 00 39 00 35 00 7d 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 10 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 7f ff 04 00
Boot0004* Realtek PXE B02 D00	BBS(20,,0x0)
      dp: 05 01 09 00 14 00 00 00 00 / 7f ff 04 00
Boot0006  UEFI: IP4 Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller	PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1c,0x3)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/MAC(d4bed9a29b98,0)/IPv4(0.0.0.0,0,DHCP,0.0.0.0,0.0.0.0,0.0.0.0)AMBO
      dp: 02 01 0c 00 d0 41 03 0a 00 00 00 00 / 01 01 06 00 03 1c / 01 01 06 00 00 00 / 03 0b 25 00 d4 be d9 a2 9b 98 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 / 03 0c 1b 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 / 7f ff 04 00
    data: 41 4d 42 4f
Boot0007  UEFI: IP6 Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller	PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1c,0x3)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/MAC(d4bed9a29b98,0)/IPv6([::],0,Static,[::],[::],64)AMBO
      dp: 02 01 0c 00 d0 41 03 0a 00 00 00 00 / 01 01 06 00 03 1c / 01 01 06 00 00 00 / 03 0b 25 00 d4 be d9 a2 9b 98 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 / 03 0d 3c 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 40 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 / 7f ff 04 00
    data: 41 4d 42 4f
Boot000E* UEFI:  USB DISK 3.0 PMAP	PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1d,0x0)/USB(1,0)/USB(2,0)/HD(1,MBR,0x809c9bf5,0x95b9d4,0x2000)AMBO
      dp: 02 01 0c 00 d0 41 03 0a 00 00 00 00 / 01 01 06 00 00 1d / 03 05 06 00 01 00 / 03 05 06 00 02 00 / 04 01 2a 00 01 00 00 00 d4 b9 95 00 00 00 00 00 00 20 00 00 00 00 00 00 f5 9b 9c 80 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 01 / 7f ff 04 00
    data: 41 4d 42 4f
[Manjaro Manjaro]# 
[Manjaro Manjaro]# lsblk
NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
sda      8:0    0 447.1G  0 disk 
├─sda1   8:1    0    10M  0 part 
├─sda2   8:2    0   500M  0 part /boot/efi
├─sda3   8:3    0 223.3G  0 part 
└─sda4   8:4    0 223.3G  0 part /var/log
                                 /home
                                 /var/cache
                                 /
sdb      8:16   0   1.8T  0 disk 
├─sdb1   8:17   0    16M  0 part 
├─sdb2   8:18   0   1.8T  0 part 
└─sdb3   8:19   0   734M  0 part 
sdc      8:32   0 931.5G  0 disk 
└─sdc1   8:33   0 931.5G  0 part 
sdd      8:48   1     0B  0 disk 
sde      8:64   1     0B  0 disk 
sdf      8:80   1     0B  0 disk 
sdg      8:96   1     0B  0 disk 
sr0     11:0    1  1024M  0 rom
2

Manjaro grub differs from the arch one so it might not work very good if you mix them.

I would go with 3rd party boot loader like refind or stick to using the uefi boot menu.

3

UEFI is a loader itself.

Using your system’s firmware boot override will allow you to select between the operating systems.

1 Like
4

A more manageable solution to multi-booting with several Linux flavours in the mix, is to use the refind boot manager as your initial boot loader, which in turn will effectively chainload every UEFI boot loader GRUB in your system, including that of Windows or BSD.

This allows one to leave each GRUB untouched and managed by it’s respective OS – this means less maintenance (no juggling settings just to enable a successful boot) – plus, the added convenience of being able to bypass any installed GRUB and boot the respective kernel stub directly.

1 Like
5

Thanks I didn’t know that about GRUB. I will install refind and let you know how that works out.

Edit 1:

Installed refind

I read in the refind doc that after install all I had to do is reboot the computer after install and it would launch at boot.

Well that didn’t happen. When the computer rebooted I was at the Arch GRUB menu and no Manjaro in the list to boot to.

So I installed refind while I was in Arch.

Found out I needed to run the command “refind-install”. I did that rebooted and refind menu was there. All OS’s were there. Proceeded to boot into each OS and reboot.

Here is where the problem showed up again.

Manjaro worked fine . Arch worked fine.

When I booted into Windows and rebooted I was at the Arch GRUB again. Not refind.

Ran the refind-install again rebooted and refind was back.

I went into Manjaro and ran the refind-install to see if that would work but no luck.

Everytime I go into Windows and reboot I lose the refind menu.

Windows is doing something weird on this system.

Can you guys help with this. I don’t know what to do.

I know what you are going to say. Get rid of Windows. But I am not ready to do that yet.

I have Windows Arch and Manjaro working on another computer and this does not happen there.

I don’t even need refind on that system.

Thanks for your help.

6

It usually does. It’s best to boot directly to BIOS and make sure refind is first in boot order.

Ideally, you would have fixed your current issue before expecting refind to magically work. :wink:

Have you configured any GRUB to default to Arch?

Can you confirm that you have three disks?

Are you by chance referring to partitions as “hard drives” and in reality only have one disk? I have to ask.

Are all three OS booting as UEFI?
We can quickly test to make sure:

Is it practical to reinstall any (or all) of these OS?
If so, which one(s)??

7

I will try to answer the questions above.:

My original post asked the question on how to fix it and the answer I received was to use refind.

I don’t think I did but I will check the Arch GRUB for such a setting.

I did in the post above with the lsblk command.

[ -d /sys/firmware/efi ] && echo UEFI || echo BIOS               ✔ 
UEFI

I will post the results of the Windows test after I reboot.

Edit 2:

Ok in Arch GRUB it says:

GRUB_DEFAULT = 0

I believe that just means it will start the first program in the list by default.

Here is the result of the bcdedit in Windows.

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {current}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \WINDOWS\system32\winload.efi

So I guess this is the problem I have.

Is there a way to solve this without having to reinstall Windows?

I guess I could do a search on this issue.

8

Refind was a suggestion to better manage multi-booting, generally, not to solve your immediate problem.

My two paragraphs were clearly insufficient as an instruction, but should have at least prompted further questions from you.

I’m guessing that Arch is on the first disk, and first in boot order (after refind). I think GRUB_DEFAULT = 0 (as you say) might load the first OS listed (in this case Arch).

Setting each GRUB to default to the last booted or specifically to its associated OS should sort that. At the same time you can change whether or not the GRUB menu should show and the timeout, to whatever suits you.

Indeed, that seems to be the culprit.

Yes. However, this is beyond the scope of help via the Manjaro forum. You will have to perform some research yourself.

I don’t think you mentioned which Windows edition you are using, but you might try creating an account on either Windows 10 Forums or Windows 11 Forum - both could likely help with that (neither are affiliated with M$).

Internet search also revealed Change BIOS from Legacy to UEFI without Reinstalling Windows – Note: this is not a recommendation, it just happened to be in the search results.
I’d suggest either of the previously linked forums before anything else.

Regards.

Quick tip: before attempting any procedure on Windows it might be wise to first (temporarily) disconnect the other two disks so that Windows doesn’t inadvertantly use or “take over” the wrong $ESP. You’ll want Windows and it’s $ESP on the same disk to keep some separation from Linux.

9 
Boot0003* Windows Boot Manager	HD(2,GPT,1ef27453-4f7d-4454-915d-c23c5fcb3874,0x5800,0xfa000)/\EFI\grub\grubx64.efi

This is extremely weird and would explain why windows tries to repair its boot every time.
The question is, how the hell did it happen and i have no explanation.
Another question is, why are there no other efi entries in the menu. Seems like every os competes for that entry, instead of creating a new one.

Maybe it is a firmware bug…or no space in nvram?
Maybe it is worth trying to create another esp partition on one of the other disks (fat, flags boot and esp), and copy a refind.efi as $esp/boot/bootx64.efi. (writing out of memory, check the paths once again yourself).
And then select this disk in the uefi boot order. This will bypass the need to bother with efi variables at all since this will be the fallback entry for the disk.

10

@Teo Your solution may work however it looks like it could cause me other issues if not peformed correctly.

However I found my solution that I can work with. In the refind instructions I found the following command line that I used and now I can go into windows and when I reboot refind comes up.

I’m sure there is still an issue with how this system is configured but this will work for me for now.

Here is the command that did it for me. I ran this while I was in windows.

Type bcdedit /set "{bootmgr}" path \EFI\refind\refind_x64.efi to set rEFInd as the default EFI boot program.

Thanks everyone for their help.

Hope this post can help someone else that might have this issue.

3 Likes
11

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