"Install Alongside" question

UncleSpellbinder · November 15, 2025, 9:35pm

Less of an EOS question, more of a general systemd question, I guess.

I’d like to install CachyOS alongside EOS. In all my years with Linux and distro-hopping, I’ve never done 2 Linux distros side-by-side. The last time I dual-booted anything was with Windows 8.1 and Debian years ago. And that was the GRUB way.

EOS is already on my SSD in its default configuration… systemd. So, if I install CachyOS “alongside” EOS, and stay with systemd, upon reboot, I should see a choice for both OS’s? Or is there something I need to do beforehand?

Sorry for the noob-like question.

dalto · November 15, 2025, 9:39pm

Yes, as long as Cachy and EOS share the same EFI partition and both are using systemd-boot, everything will work automatically.

drunkenvicar · November 15, 2025, 10:37pm

WIN/Linux a failure always. Linux/Linux always good. Here’s how I do it

in live iso use gparted to shrink Endeavour filesystem. your call. -200GB? can you spare it?
stay in gparted and format the new cachy partion GPT (unless Cachy has different demands?
if using Cachy ISO for all this work, then close gparted and install Cachy into that partion. Let Cachy installer do the rest.
I always use two different sysd bootloaders (I’ve never had any distro share a boot but that’s just me) and F12 when booting so I can pick what…but I don’t know what makes any install go to Cachy or Endeavour first. so happy with F12 boots.

4.5: always works for me. PS I never mess around with no grub if I have an sysd bootloader with the original distro.

two cents

cactux · November 15, 2025, 10:43pm

GPT is not a format (like ext4, btrfs etc.) and not at partition level.

GPT is a partiton table at disk level.

Making the disk GPT (creating a new partition table) would effectively wipe the whole disk.

UncleSpellbinder · November 15, 2025, 10:47pm

Here’s what I get after install of CachyOS. Default systemd insall from start to finish. Shrunk partition by half and installed.

Have I borked something?

drunkenvicar · November 15, 2025, 10:50pm

I said the partition. and anyway you are right it would all be gpt to begin with. I mean EXT4. My bad.

Thanks for catching that,

PS—to Uncle I like to do as much for the bootloader as I can before I use one. I never make them do all the work. I like to prep it before install.

drunkenvicar · November 15, 2025, 10:52pm

is that pic the boot screen or the F12 screen?

UncleSpellbinder · November 15, 2025, 10:59pm

Just the typical screen I always get to choose what to boot. Usually shows my EOS kernels.

UncleSpellbinder · November 15, 2025, 11:00pm

ricklinux · November 15, 2025, 11:09pm

Did you check your boot options? There may be other boot option maybe eos that will have cachyos in the menu.

cactux · November 15, 2025, 11:12pm

Is that from the live usb or from Cachy?

Can you boot your Cachy? If you can, post:

sudo parted -l

lsblk -f

efibootmgr 

cat /etc/fstab

UncleSpellbinder · November 15, 2025, 11:13pm

from within Cachy

UncleSpellbinder · November 15, 2025, 11:19pm

Yes, I can boot Cachy just fine. There seems to be no way to get to EOS.

❯ sudo parted -l
Model: SABRENT  (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 512GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End    Size   File system  Name  Flags
 1      1049kB  512GB  512GB  ext4


Model: Samsung SSD 960 EVO 500GB (nvme)
Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size    File system     Name         Flags
 1      2097kB  2150MB  2147MB  fat32           EFI          boot, esp
 2      2150MB  463GB   461GB   ext4            endeavouros
 3      463GB   500GB   36.9GB  linux-swap(v1)               swap


Model: CT1000P310SSD8 (nvme)
Disk /dev/nvme1n1: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size   File system  Name  Flags
 1      1049kB  580GB   580GB  ext4
 2      580GB   1000GB  420GB  btrfs        root


Model: Unknown (unknown)
Disk /dev/zram0: 33.6GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 4096B/4096B
Partition Table: loop
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start  End     Size    File system     Flags
 1      0.00B  33.6GB  33.6GB  linux-swap(v1)
❯

❯ lsblk -f
NAME        FSTYPE FSVER LABEL       UUID                                 FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
sda                                                                                      
└─sda1      ext4   1.0   Vault 2     d781f3bd-16b3-4b58-bd1b-c7be1fdbf6f7                
sr0                                                                                      
zram0       swap   1     zram0       f75b67d4-ac8a-4209-8b51-cb20337bcdca                [SWAP]
nvme0n1                                                                                  
├─nvme0n1p1 vfat   FAT32             E16D-5EFD                             330.2M    84% /boot
├─nvme0n1p2 ext4   1.0   endeavouros 57be57a1-f032-4a31-ac54-de7e5f7b4d62                
└─nvme0n1p3 swap   1     swap        464cfb54-6435-4585-a6bf-e985c406f6d6                
nvme1n1                                                                                  
├─nvme1n1p1 ext4   1.0   Vault       137cfa00-202a-44f6-92c3-8760bef40323                
└─nvme1n1p2 btrfs                    83ff6666-4c45-4c25-b23a-037c57cecb10  372.7G     4% /var/log
                                                                                         /var/tmp
                                                                                         /var/cache
                                                                                         /home
                                                                                         /root
                                                                                         /srv
                                                                                         /

~

❯ cat /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a device; this may
# be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices that works even if
# disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system>             <mount point>  <type>  <options>  <dump>  <pass>
UUID=83ff6666-4c45-4c25-b23a-037c57cecb10 /              btrfs   subvol=/@,defaults,noatime,compress=zstd,space_cache=v2,commit=120 0 0
UUID=83ff6666-4c45-4c25-b23a-037c57cecb10 /home          btrfs   subvol=/@home,defaults,noatime,compress=zstd,space_cache=v2,commit=120 0 0
UUID=83ff6666-4c45-4c25-b23a-037c57cecb10 /root          btrfs   subvol=/@root,defaults,noatime,compress=zstd,space_cache=v2,commit=120 0 0
UUID=83ff6666-4c45-4c25-b23a-037c57cecb10 /srv           btrfs   subvol=/@srv,defaults,noatime,compress=zstd,space_cache=v2,commit=120 0 0
UUID=83ff6666-4c45-4c25-b23a-037c57cecb10 /var/cache     btrfs   subvol=/@cache,defaults,noatime,compress=zstd,space_cache=v2,commit=120 0 0
UUID=83ff6666-4c45-4c25-b23a-037c57cecb10 /var/tmp       btrfs   subvol=/@tmp,defaults,noatime,compress=zstd,space_cache=v2,commit=120 0 0
UUID=83ff6666-4c45-4c25-b23a-037c57cecb10 /var/log       btrfs   subvol=/@log,defaults,noatime,compress=zstd,space_cache=v2,commit=120 0 0
UUID=E16D-5EFD                            /boot          vfat    defaults,umask=0077 0 2
tmpfs                                     /tmp           tmpfs   defaults,noatime,mode=1777 0 0

~
❯

 ❯ efibootmgr
BootCurrent: 0006
Timeout: 1 seconds
BootOrder: 0005,0006,0007,000B,000A
Boot0005* Linux Boot Manager    HD(1,GPT,0126c0d9-6b98-4089-a481-b341966ac38c,0x1000,0x400000)/\EFI\SYSTEMD\SYSTEMD-BOOTX64.EFI
Boot0006* UEFI OS       HD(1,GPT,0126c0d9-6b98-4089-a481-b341966ac38c,0x1000,0x400000)/\EFI\BOOT\BOOTX64.EFI0000424f
Boot0007* Hard Drive    BBS(HD,,0x0)/VenHw(5ce8128b-2cec-40f0-8372-80640e3dc858,0200)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
Boot000A* USB CD        BBS(CDROM,,0x0)/VenHw(5ce8128b-2cec-40f0-8372-80640e3dc858,0a00)0000474f00004e4fcd00000001000000810048004c002d00440054002d0053005400440056004400520041004d00200047005000360035004e00420036003000200052004600300031000000050109000300000000010416008b12e85cec2cf040837280640e3dc8580a007fff040002010c00d041030a00000000010106000014030506000a007fff040001043e00ef47642dc93ba041ac194d51d01b4ce64d00300035004f00430047003800340039003000310020002000200020002000200020002000200000007fff04000000424f
Boot000B* USB HDD       BBS(HD,,0x0)/VenHw(5ce8128b-2cec-40f0-8372-80640e3dc858,0900)0000474f00004e4f9b000000010000007900530041004200520045004e0054000000050109000200000000010416008b12e85cec2cf040837280640e3dc85809007fff040002010c00d041030a0000000001010600041c0101060000000305060001007fff040001043000ef47642dc93ba041ac194d51d01b4ce6440042003900380037003600350034003300320031003400450000007fff04000000424f

~
❯

drunkenvicar · November 15, 2025, 11:20pm

as i said I don’t know which bootloader picks which OS to default to first. That’s why 2 bootloaders for me and boot F12 if you can live with F12.

But you got one bootloader in pic so I’m going stand back having never shared a bootloader before so out of my depth.

good luck this will be something simple

dalto · November 15, 2025, 11:21pm

Did cachyos format your ESP or erase the existing entries?

Create an arch-chroot for EOS and run reinstall-kernels

Yeah, with systemd-boot it is pointless to have 2 bootloaders. It is just extra complexity for no real value.

cactux · November 15, 2025, 11:25pm

Exactly! I was thinking that as well!

@UncleSpellbinder

What is the output of: ls -al /boot ?

cactux · November 15, 2025, 11:30pm

@dalto

This shows 84% of the ESP being used. OP seems to have installed 2 kernels judging by the boot screen screenshot. Is that normal if they have formatted the partition? I mean the used space?

drunkenvicar · November 15, 2025, 11:31pm

always worked for me, that’s why my superstition. I look at in terms of GBs spent

dalto · November 15, 2025, 11:32pm

No, but it seems pretty unlikely that they have if 84% of 2GiB is used.

cactux · November 15, 2025, 11:35pm

Could it be that EOS’ loader entries have gone missing somehow? Just trying to wrap my head around the issue.