disabling grub for linux while dual boot with manjaro (arch based distro)

Question

i have use manjaro (arch based distro) for 1 years and i realy love to use this distro. but i have hobby to distro hop and use dual boot manjaro and other linux. manjaro use grub configuration that unfortunately not friendly enought to share with other linux. every time the second linux update its kernel, then manjaro grub overtaken with my second linux grub and i can't boot to my manjaro linux. and its very annoying to repair manjaro grub every month.

Can i just uninstall my second linux grub so everytime i update my second linux it'll not invade my manjaro grub?

Answer 1

When you install your second Linux operating system you do not have to install grub a second time. Simply, boot into Manjaro after installing your second OS and run update-grub, if necessary run os-prober.

If neither of those detect your second install then you will need to run the following:

mount /dev/sdXY /mnt # sdXY being your bootable partition of the second OS, e.g. sda3
update-grub # and if necessary, os-prober

This should create a grub entry for your second OS, and even works for Windows.

A simple set up would be something like this:

/dev/sda
 |-sda1 # First OS
 |-sda2 # Swap
 |-sda3 # Second OS

Here they share swap and everything is contained in 1 partition for each OS. Better yet would be to use lvm to create 2 separate encrypted containers, so they do not share swap, and have 2 different boot partitions. Even better is to set up dual boot with two different disks if your computer can support the space for two separate drives.

I referenced this blog post and I have successfully set up many different dual boots using the above methods.

Answer 2

Because we are talking Linux, there are of course many ways to tackle this. If you would like to stay with GRUB2, reference the above answer. However, for personal reference and for the sake of documenting alternatives, the following is also applicable:

Systemd Boot with Manjaro:

For the sake of space and not duplicating tutorials, I will just add a link to the documented process for achieving this setup in Manjaro (it is very detailed with plenty of examples): link

Another great resource is the almighty Arch Wiki: link

TL;DR

• Mount your current EFI partition to /boot
• Create a loader.conf file
• Create .conf files for each distro that you want included in your startup menu

Both of those resources should provide plenty of documentation on how to create the various .conf files, but just remember that you will need the UUID of the different disk drives: blkid /dev/sdXY

This will provide you with control over everything. It may not be as user friendly as GRUB2, but you will have a direct say in how your bootloader functions.