Right now I have a dual boot setup with Windows 7 and Ubuntu 10.10, both 64 bit. I would like to try archlinux, but I'm afraid it will mess up my grub bootloader, so that I can't get into ubuntu or windows anymore.
If I install archlinux on a new partition, and then use the ubuntu-livecd, can I just run update-grub to fix everything? If not, what do I need to do to keep my current setup and add archlinux?
Thanks in advance!
UpdateIt worked out! Just install archlinux on a new partition, if it asks for a bootloader, skip it. Then the grub menu stays the same, so you can log into ubuntu and run update-grub.
21 Answer
You should be fine with installing GRUB to the MBR. Once you boot into ArchLinux, you can add entries to chainload the other OSs on your system (i.e., Ubuntu and Windows). Please note that if you do install the Arch GRUB to the MBR, then Arch will become your primary OS, which will in-turn be used to boot other OSs. Also, note that ArchLinux is a DIY-system. So, you will have to manually set-up chainloading using this guide.
You can easily change this by booting into Ubuntu (either the Ubuntu on your HDD or the same LiveCD with which you had installed Ubuntu in the first place) and installing the Ubuntu Grub to the MBR. In this second case, Ubuntu will be used to boot the other OSs. This setup (with the Ubuntu GRUB on the MBR) is the one which you already have. As a side note, if you are planning on using the Ubuntu GRUB finally, then, during your original Arch install, you should tell Arch to install its GRUB to the "/" or the "/boot" partition of Arch instead of the MBR.
If you every encounter any problems, the ArchWiki should be the first place to check for solutions to your problems.
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