Omarchy Setup Dual boot and Auto-login (manual installation)
Installing Arch Linux without LUKS for autologin, using Limine bootloader, Omarchy desktop, and preparing for VFIO passthrough and dual boot.
Overview
This guide walks through setting up Arch Linux manually with:
- No LUKS (to enable autologin)
limineas the bootloader- Larger
/bootpartition to accommodate multiple kernels - Dual boot with Windows 11
- Omarchy desktop environment (
curl -fsSL https://omarchy.org/install | bash) - VFIO passthrough using AMD iGPU + NVIDIA RTX 4090
- Snapshots via BTRFS (optional)
Disk Layout (Manual Partitioning)
Use lsblk -f or this enhanced command for details:
lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,FSTYPE,LABEL,MOUNTPOINT,UUID,MODEL,PARTUUID
sudo blkid
Example Layout
| Partition | Mount Point | Type | Size | Use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| /dev/nvme0n1p1 | /boot | fat32 | 2GiB | EFI, Limine & kernels |
| /dev/nvme0n1p2 | / | btrfs | rest | Root partition |
| compress=zstd |
Mounting Partitions
mount /dev/nvme0n1p2 /mnt
mkdir -p /mnt/boot
mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt/boot
| name | mountpoint |
|---|---|
| @ | / |
| @home | /home |
| @log | /var/log |
| @pkg | /var/cache/pacman/pkg |
Start archinstall
archinstall
Important Configs:
- Filesystem: btrfs or ext4
- Bootloader: None (we will use Limine)
- Profile: Minimal
- Hostname, root password, main user
- Enable: NetworkManager, PipeWire
- Disable: LUKS encryption
- Bootloader: Limine
- Optional Repositories: Multilib
Post-install
Install additional software:
sudo pacman -S base-devel git curl wget nano htop openssh pipewire pipewire-alsa pipewire-pulse pipewire-jack wireplumber
/boot/limine.conf
TIMEOUT=10
DEFAULT_ENTRY=3
/Windows 11
protocol: efi
path: boot):/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
comment Boot into windows 11
/+Archito
comment: Omarchy
comment: machine-id=xxxx order priority=50
//Linux
comment: 6.17.3-arch2-1
protocol: efi_chainload
image_path: boot():/EFI/Linx/omarchy_linux.efiXXXX
//Snapshots...
EOF
useful link: https://github.com/basecamp/omarchy/discussions/1604
Copy Windows Bootloader
Mount your Windows EFI partition:
##identify the right drive
lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,FSTYPE,LABEL,MOUNTPOINT,UUID,MODEL,PARTUUID
##create and mount
mkdir -p /mnt/windows_efi
sudo mount /dev/nvme2n1p1 /mnt/windows_efi
Copy contents:
sudo cp -r /mnt/windows_efi/EFI/Microsoft /boot/EFI/
Enable TTY Autologin ( also available on GUI w christitus tool)
mkdir -p /etc/systemd/system/getty@tty1.service.d/
cat <<EOF | sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/getty@tty1.service.d/override.conf
[Service]
ExecStart=
ExecStart=-/usr/bin/agetty --autologin yourusername --noclear %I $TERM
EOF
Optional: Chris Titus Arch Install Script
Chris Titus Tech provides a powerful CLI tool to speed up system setup:
sudo curl -fssl christitus.com/linux | sh
Install Omarchy
curl -fsSL https://omarchy.org/install | bash
⚠️ Requires:
flatpak,git,wget,curl,base-devel,sudo,zsh,starship,xdg-user-dirs,hyprland, etc.
Final Checks
Reboot:
reboot
Limine will now show dual boot options for Arch and Windows.
Notes
- If you use btrfs, consider setting up Snapper or Timeshift
liminedoesn’t need ESP mounted at/boot/efi, it uses/boot- This setup is ideal for VFIO: host uses AMD iGPU, guest uses NVIDIA passthrough