So, I had to reinstall windows as a dualboot, because I need some CAD tools for work. It was painful but it’s not thebaubject

I’m running nixos with systemd-boot and I installed windows on another drive. I started to research how to add the entry on the boot list so I don’t need to go in bios to switch the boot order each time I want to change OS.

Most of the information I find is about grub on nixos but I finally find information on how to add a manual entry. On the Arch wiki I find some information but now I have to blend all that to make it work on my laptop.

It’s late and I’m scared to mess up my boot partition so I go to sleep to work instructions on it the next day.

The next day I’m ready to do all that only to realized that there is already the entry for windows is already in the boot menu, it has been added automatically.

So I spent all this time to think about how I while have to adjust my system manually only to realize that nixos already did it automatically for me.

  • @Dr_Willis@sh.itjust.works
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    31 year ago

    two little tips:

    you can backup your EFI partitions, in case you mess them up. I find it a good idea to back them up in any case, I have had EFI partitions get Filesystem corruption.

    also the tool rEFInd can work as an alternative boot menu it has the ability to scan the entire system and show all found Bootable OS at boot time.

    So with rEFInd, you install it, set it as the default, and it should show windows automatically.

    it looks nicer than systemd-boot and grub as well. And it can even show bootable USB flash drives, and has a few other features.