Dual booting with Windows 11 using systemd-boot

General system Newbie
1

Okay so im really excited to switch to endeavour os but i have a few questions regarding the installation of endeavour os which will be a dual boot setup with windows 11 using systemd-boot.

Here is the layout so i can explain what im trying to do when it comes to partitioning:

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image1919×1079 62 KB

As you can see, Disk 0 is my HDD and i have 100 gb unallocated for the home partition.
Disk 1 is my SSD which has 50 gb unallocated for the root partition and the esp or boot or efi partition( whichever term is correct for systemd-boot )

THIS PARAGRAPH IS ONLY FOR THOSE WHO WANNA KNOW WHY I AM NOT USING GRUB. FEEL FREE TO SKIP IT

Before you ask me why am i just not going with grub when it comes to dual booting? It is because i have been facing a really weird and rare issue with grub. Long story short, i have to restart my system multiple times before grub can actually boot an os from the menu. I just get errors like command failed and you need to load the kernel first. And trust me, i have literally tried everything and it just doesn’t work, i have tried this in every distro and it is the same issue so im pretty sure it’s just an issue with grub and not with the os itself.

Alrighty… So back to the questions.

So, do i need a seperate new partition for systemd-boot? Some say i should use the default 100 MB partition because one drive = one esp/efi or whatever. If i do need one, what should be the size of the partition and how do i actually go about setting it up in the installer of endeavour os.

Also, how do i go about setting up the home partition in the installer?

And, is (50gb - the size of efi partition) okay for the root partition since windows isn’t letting me create more space even though i have like 88 gb more free space available.

Also, can a windows update destroy the seperate efi partition because having a seperate efi partition is not recommended?

And lastly, are there any issues in systemd-boot related to TPM or Intel PTT because the grub issue ( refer to the paragraph above which you might have skipped ) is related to tpm. I know this because i have seen forums of people referring to the exact same grub issue and they all are referring to either Intel PTT or TPM 2.0. The links to those forums are attached below:

Also lastly, i want to mention that i don’t want to configure systemd-boot to recognise windows since i’ll just prefer using the bios boot menu to boot into windows because my work is mostly on linux and i boot into windows like once every 2-3 months or so.

Note: For those who don’t wanna go through the entire forums this is what the guy apparently said about the problem:

I’ve done a bit more testing:

  • I’ve been able to reproduce this more reliably. It seems that if I poweroff then poweron immediately (shutdown and hit power button as soon as power goes off) then it happens more reliably.
  • I reverted to bios defaults “from bios” and then disabled secure boot as my bios settings to test.
  • I have installed ubuntu 18.04 on two of these laptops which doesn’t seem to have the problem so far, and I’ve been trying. grub 2.02-2ubuntu8.15
  • I have shrunken the ext4 / partition down to 19.53GB and repeated the issue.
  • I have entered the grub prompt and most commands give me “error: Command failed.” message, but not all. ‘true’ fails, ‘false’ doesn’t, ‘ls’ works, ‘cat’ doesn’t…
  • I grepped through the source code for grub 2.04 and found references in tpm.c (2.04-1ubuntu26 is the problem version installed), when i did the same for 2.02 there is no tpm.c.

So I’m thinking it’s my tpm acting up on some power cycles. I think my best option is to file a bug report at ubuntu then deploy these laptops with 18.04 for now.

2

i have two efi partitions and i never faced any problems with it. i chose inside bios which one efi has to be used. generally systemd-boot is for normal work. why? i have disabled tpm and secure boot. but windows sometimes refuse to update without secure boot and tpm and when is booted from systemd. then i just enable them and switch to windows efi. after update i reverse any changes in bios. as for size for systemd-boot efi - 1GB i sufficient. even 500MB should be ok. my eos takes ~300MB.

as for 50GB for root. should be perfectly fine for begining.

as for mounting /home. during installation should be option to manually specify mount point for /home. i am not sure if it must be pre-formatted or installer will take care of it.

1 Like
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everyone’s been suggesting me to disable tpm but i just don’t wanna disable my laptop’s security features like that. I read some articles which say that if i disable tpm, i might get logged out of windows forever, e.t.c. People say that disabling tpm just brings more problems than it fixes.

Also, do you have those efi partitions in the same drive or in seperate drives? Do you also use the BIOS Boot menu to load windows boot manager( for windows ) and systemd-boot( for endeavour os )?

4

I never read that anywhere, but really, to be logged out of windows forever would be a blessing.

EDIT: Welcome to the forums. :wave:

2 Likes
5

That would for sure be a blessing
Also, thanks for the warm welcome. I am hoping to be a part of this wonderful community

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Update: i just posted a question here related to intel ptt issues, let’s see what the “windows experts” say

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_11-other_settings/can-i-disable-intel-ptt-in-bios-without-affecting/95c4c7db-bc88-4179-8bcc-f1fd4146f009

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i also disabled encryption on windows bc i was sick of constantly entering security key to unlock windows. maybe i had been doing something wrong but i couldnt permanently get rid of this. is started happeing after that fix which affected grub also. its up to you how you will handle security of windows but i use it only for few games and my laptop manufacuter specific app. everything else from basic browsing up to security related task i am doing on linux with some encrypted partitions.

ah and both efi are on same drive. of course. but i dont thiink so it can be any trouble to have on separate. that depends from your bios. but remember that systemd-boot cant boot from efi from diffrent drive. for linux there is a workaround to make /boot partion on disk where you have root. but i dont know if it will find windows boot.

1 Like
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Did you disable basically everything? As of now, i don’t have bitlocker for drive encryption but i do have Windows Hello configured for login using fingerprint and PIN at login screen( I don’t know if it’s a part of Windows Hello )

I feel like if i disable TPM, or intel ptt in my case, windows hello might not work and log me out or something?

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yes. tpm, secure boot and bitlcker. but pin upon login i need still enter.

1 Like
10

Alright
I will just for now wait for a reply from the Microsoft’s community to see if I can disable TPM without any issues for my windows installation. My plan is that if it’s okay to disable it, I’ll try installing endeavour os with grub or else, I’ll just use systemd-boot

11

Microsoft finally replied oof
They told me that I’ll just simply need to reconfigure windows hello when I disable Intel PTT but I can still login with the password/pin I have set up.

So I’ll just try using grub and see if the issue disappears or else… systemd-boot ftw

Here’s the Microsoft forum btw

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/can-i-disable-intel-ptt-in-bios-without-affecting/95c4c7db-bc88-4179-8bcc-f1fd4146f009