Omarchy OS does elevate your Linux desktop experience to a new level, but its installer wants things its own way. Omarchy 4 (Quattro) can finally install next to Windows, but only into unallocated space on the disk you pick, which means shrinking Windows first. So, can you still install Omarchy on a partition you set up yourself? The answer is YES, with a short detour through Omarchy 3.8.4. Let's find out..
Welcome back to MusaBase! In the Omarchy OS Installation guide, we installed Omarchy OS with its official ISO and booted into it. Before Omarchy 4.0, that installer took over the entire drive. Omarchy 4.0 added a free-space install for dual booting, but it only shows up when the selected disk already has unallocated space, so the official route is to shrink your Windows partition and let Omarchy fill the gap. I already have my own layout: Arch Linux on a 500 GB partition of my 3 TB HDD, next to Windows. I wanted Omarchy on that partition, not on space carved out of Windows.
By the end of this guide, you will have Omarchy 4 running on a partition of your choice, booting from Limine, with Windows in the same boot menu. We'll cover:
- Installing Omarchy 3.8.4 on an existing Arch Linux system with Btrfs, using my omarchy-legacy repo.
- Booting into Omarchy 3.8.4 and checking the install.
- Preparing Snapper for the upgrade.
- Upgrading to Omarchy 4 (Quattro) with the official upgrade script.
- Booting Omarchy 4 from Limine and adding a Windows entry.
⚡ TL;DR: Install Omarchy 4 on a Separate Partition
A quick reference for installing Omarchy 3.8.4 on your existing Arch Linux partition, upgrading it to Omarchy 4 (Quattro), and booting Omarchy and Windows from the Limine menu, without shrinking Windows.
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Start from Arch Linux with Btrfs on your chosen partition, booting with GRUB. Log in on tty1 as your regular user and check for a snapshots subvolume:
Note whether it prints a line. You need this in step 4.findmnt /.snapshots -
Install Omarchy 3.8.4 from the legacy repo:
Choose Yes at the Limine warning. On an error, choose Retry installation instead of re-running curl. At the end, choose Reboot Now.cd ~ curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/musabase/omarchy-legacy/legacy-3.8.4/boot.sh | bash -
Boot the Arch entry in GRUB and confirm the install came from the legacy branch:
git -C ~/.local/share/omarchy log --oneline -1 -
Back up, then fix Snapper (only if
findmnt /.snapshotsprinted a line):sudo pacman -S --needed snapper sudo umount /.snapshots sudo rmdir /.snapshots sudo snapper -c root create-config / sudo btrfs subvolume delete /.snapshots sudo mkdir /.snapshots sudo mount -a sudo chmod 750 /.snapshots sudo snapper list-configs -
Upgrade to Omarchy 4 (Quattro):
Don't reboot if it says Upgrade incomplete - do NOT reboot or warns aboutcd ~ curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/omacom/omarchy/quattro/bin/omarchy-upgrade-to-quattro -o upgrade-to-quattro bash upgrade-to-quattroroot=. Otherwise, choose Yes to reboot. -
Boot Omarchy from Limine and add Windows: Run
sudo limine-scan, type the index of Windows Boot Manager and press Enter.
💡 After the upgrade, Limine is your bootloader. Don't run grub-mkconfig or the old GRUB and os-prober steps from the earlier version of this guide.
Why Install Omarchy on a Separate Partition Manually?
Since my shift from Windows 11 to Arch Linux last year, it has been quite a learning curve understanding the Linux ecosystem. And because I was new to Linux, especially using Arch of all distros, I broke my system way too many times. So I just created a separate 500 GB partition on my 3TB HDD and started dual‑booting my system. If some applications or games took too long to configure on Arch or just felt laggy, I would immediately boot into Windows and get things done there. So having a dual‑boot PC has been a necessity for me, simply because I want things to work. Sure, with some complex tweaks I can get my stuff working on Linux and sometimes even squeeze out more performance compared to Windows, but dual‑booting has been my way to handle things.
What does it have to do with Omarchy OS?
First things first, before Omarchy 4.0 the installer needed the entire storage drive, and Omarchy 4.0's free-space install only works with unallocated space on the selected disk, so I would have to shrink Windows to make room. Second, I've had trouble with Limine before. Adding a Windows 11 entry was a challenge for me, and after a Windows update (I don't know how) the Windows entry disappeared from the boot menu. That's why the first version of this guide kept GRUB. The Omarchy 4 upgrade installs Limine, so this time I'm going with it and adding the Windows entry myself. The base is the same as my Arch Linux with Btrfs setup: three partitions (/boot, swap and root) with btrfs on root, on a partition I chose. Windows stays exactly where it is, and I can dual-boot like the old days.
Prerequisites
I'm not going to cover the Arch Linux installation in this guide, because this article focuses on getting Omarchy onto your own partition. I've written a separate guide on How to Install Arch Linux with Btrfs. Install Arch with that layout, then come back here. Before you start, make sure you have:
- Arch Linux on Btrfs, on the partition you want Omarchy on, booting with GRUB. Btrfs is required: a traditional Arch install with ext4 partitions won't work for this method, because the Omarchy 4 upgrade sets up Snapper snapshots, which need Btrfs.
- A regular user with sudo rights. Run everything as that user from tty1, not as root.
- A working internet connection.
- A backup of anything important. The Quattro upgrade is one-way: its own script warns that you cannot downgrade from Quattro.
Then run this once and note the result:
findmnt /.snapshotsIf it prints a line, you already have a .snapshots subvolume (for example, from my Snapper guide), and you'll need the Snapper fix in Step 3. If it prints nothing, you can skip that fix.
Step 1: Install Omarchy 3.8.4 from the Legacy Repo
Omarchy's own manual install command is gone, and Omarchy 4 has no manual installer at all. So we start from Omarchy 3.8.4, the last version with the command-line installer, and upgrade it to Omarchy 4 later. The installer comes from my omarchy-legacy repo, which is Omarchy's 3.8.4 installer with fixes that keep it working after upstream changes.
Its boot.sh is 48 lines long. It points pacman at Omarchy's stable mirror (this replaces your /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist), installs git, clones the legacy-3.8.4 branch into ~/.local/share/omarchy, and starts the installer. Read it before you pipe it into bash.
Install Omarchy 3.8.4
- On tty1, log in as your regular user and run:
cd ~ curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/musabase/omarchy-legacy/legacy-3.8.4/boot.sh | bash
- Enter your sudo password when asked.
- The installer warns Omarchy install requires: Limine bootloader and asks Proceed anyway on your own accord and without assistance?. Choose Yes and press Enter. Your system keeps booting with GRUB for now. Limine arrives with the Omarchy 4 upgrade.
- Omarchy then downloads and installs its packages. This takes about 10 to 20 minutes, depending on your internet speed.
- If it stops on an error, choose Retry installation. Don't run the curl command again: boot.sh deletes
~/.local/share/omarchyand clones it from scratch. If retrying doesn't get past the error, leave a comment with a screenshot. - At the end, choose Reboot Now.
Step 2: Boot into Omarchy 3.8.4
After the reboot, you will see the usual GRUB screen. Pick the Arch Linux entry and press ENTER. After a few seconds you will be in the Omarchy 3.8.4 desktop. Open a terminal with Super + Enter and confirm the install came from the legacy branch:
git -C ~/.local/share/omarchy log --oneline -1It should print a commit ending in Keep the 3.8.4 installer working after upstream changes.
And you are in!
Troubleshoot: Internet Connectivity
If you have no internet after booting into Omarchy 3.8.4, it's usually a conflict between systemd-resolved, which Omarchy uses, and a NetworkManager you installed on your base Arch system. You need a working connection for the upgrade, so fix it first. Open a terminal and run either of the following commands:
sudo systemctl enable --now systemd-resolved
# OR
sudo systemctl enable --now NetworkManagerStep 3: Prepare for the Quattro Upgrade
Back up anything important before this step. The upgrade to Omarchy 4 is a one-way street, and its own script warns that you cannot downgrade from Quattro.
Fix Snapper (Only If You Have a .snapshots Subvolume)
Only do this if findmnt /.snapshots printed a line in the Prerequisites. The upgrade creates a Snapper config, and that fails if a .snapshots subvolume already exists. This is the standard Arch Wiki workaround: let Snapper create its config, then swap your original subvolume back in.
sudo pacman -S --needed snapper
sudo umount /.snapshots
sudo rmdir /.snapshots
sudo snapper -c root create-config /
sudo btrfs subvolume delete /.snapshots
sudo mkdir /.snapshots
sudo mount -a
sudo chmod 750 /.snapshots
sudo snapper list-configs
The last command should list a root config. If findmnt /.snapshots printed nothing, skip this step. The upgrade creates the config on its own.
Step 4: Upgrade to Omarchy 4 (Quattro)
Now we run Omarchy's official upgrade script. It installs Omarchy 4, Limine and Snapper, and swaps iwd for NetworkManager. In the Omarchy terminal, run:
cd ~
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/omacom/omarchy/quattro/bin/omarchy-upgrade-to-quattro -o upgrade-to-quattro
bash upgrade-to-quattro
- At Continue with upgrade?, choose Yes.
- It runs for a while. Your desktop may flicker or change partway through. That's normal.
- Don't reboot if you see either of these:
- Upgrade incomplete - do NOT reboot. Fix the error shown above it and run
bash upgrade-to-quattroagain. The script says re-running is safe and resumes the remaining steps. - A warning that
root=is missing, or Skipping reboot. The kernel command line is incomplete, and rebooting would drop you to an emergency shell.
- Upgrade incomplete - do NOT reboot. Fix the error shown above it and run
- If it finishes cleanly, answer Yes to Reboot to complete Quattro upgrade now?
Step 5: Boot from Limine and Add Windows
After the reboot, the Limine menu appears instead of GRUB, with your Omarchy entries and possibly an entry for GRUB. Pick the Omarchy entry and you're in Omarchy 4.
Add Windows to the Limine Menu
You don't need os-prober or ntfs-3g for this. os-prober is for GRUB, and ntfs-3g only lets you read Windows files from Omarchy. Neither affects booting. First, check that Windows was installed in UEFI mode:
lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,FSTYPE,PARTTYPENAMEOn the Windows disk, look for a small vfat partition with the type EFI System. If it's missing, Windows was installed in legacy BIOS mode, and Limine can't start it.
Now add Windows with limine-scan, the tool Omarchy's own dual boot manual uses:
sudo limine-scan- It lists the boot entries it found, each with an index number.
- Type the index of Windows Boot Manager and press Enter. For me it is 3.
- Reboot. Windows now shows up in the Limine menu next to Omarchy.
Proof: Omarchy 4 on Its Own Disk, Windows Untouched
Omarchy's official free-space install puts Omarchy on the same disk as Windows, in space you shrink out of it. With this method, Windows keeps its disk to itself. Here's my test setup in GParted after the upgrade to Omarchy 4.
Two Separate Disks
GParted's disk list shows two disks: /dev/sda for Omarchy 4 and /dev/sdb for Windows.
The Omarchy 4 Disk
Omarchy 4 has /dev/sda to itself, with the same three partitions I created for Arch Linux: a FAT32 EFI partition mounted at /boot, where Limine lives, a swap partition, and a Btrfs root labeled ArchRoot that holds / and /home.
The Windows Disk
Windows keeps /dev/sdb exactly as its installer left it: its own EFI System partition, the Microsoft reserved partition, the NTFS Windows partition and the small recovery partition. No Linux partitions were added, nothing was shrunk, and nothing was moved.
Rollback with Snapper on Omarchy 4
The first version of this guide sent you to a separate Snapper and grub-btrfs setup, because the manual install had no rollback. The Quattro upgrade now installs Snapper and configures its snapshot retention itself, so you don't need that guide for this setup. If you stay on plain Arch Linux with GRUB, How to Set Up Snapper and Grub-Btrfs on Arch Linux still applies.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions: Omarchy 4 on a Separate Partition
Can I still install Omarchy on a separate partition with Omarchy 4?
Yes. Install Arch Linux with Btrfs on the partition you want, install Omarchy 3.8.4 on it from my omarchy-legacy repo, then upgrade to Omarchy 4 with the official upgrade script. Windows doesn't need to be shrunk. The official alternative is the ISO's free-space install, which only appears when the selected disk already has unallocated space.
Why install Omarchy 3.8.4 first instead of Omarchy 4 directly?
Omarchy 4 is installed from its ISO and has no manual install command. The old omarchy.org/install command now returns a 404. Omarchy 3.8.4 still has the command-line installer, and Omarchy provides an official upgrade path from 3.x to 4.
Does this method touch my Windows disk?
No. Omarchy lives on its own disk with its own EFI partition, and Limine is installed there. The Windows disk keeps its own partitions, and Windows is added to the Limine menu with sudo limine-scan without changing anything on it.
What is the omarchy-legacy repo?
It's my copy of Omarchy's 3.8.4 installer on the legacy-3.8.4 branch, with fixes that keep it working after upstream changes. Its boot.sh points pacman at Omarchy's stable mirror, which replaces your mirrorlist, installs git, clones the branch into ~/.local/share/omarchy and runs the installer. It's 48 lines, so read it before you run it.
Do I need a Btrfs filesystem?
Yes. A traditional Arch install with ext4 partitions won't work for this method, because the Omarchy 4 upgrade sets up Snapper snapshots, which need Btrfs. Install Arch with the Btrfs layout from my Arch Linux with Btrfs guide.
Which bootloader do I end up with?
Limine. The Quattro upgrade installs it, and after the reboot the Limine menu replaces GRUB. GRUB may still show up as an entry in the Limine menu. Don't run grub-mkconfig after the upgrade.
How do I add Windows to the Limine boot menu?
On Omarchy 4, run sudo limine-scan in a terminal. It lists the boot entries it finds with index numbers. Type the index of Windows Boot Manager and press Enter, and Windows appears in the Limine menu on the next boot.
Why does Windows ask for a BitLocker recovery key after I set up Limine?
If Windows 10 or 11 turned on device encryption, starting it from a different boot manager can trigger a recovery-key prompt. Enter the key from your Microsoft account. It usually happens once.
My PC boots straight into Windows after a Windows update. What happened?
A Windows update can move Windows Boot Manager back to the first place in your firmware's boot order. Open your firmware's boot menu or settings and put Limine first again.
What should I do if the installer stops on an error?
Choose Retry installation. Don't run the curl command again, because boot.sh deletes ~/.local/share/omarchy and clones it from scratch. If retrying doesn't help, leave a comment with a screenshot.
What if the upgrade says "Upgrade incomplete - do NOT reboot"?
Don't reboot. Fix the error shown above that message and run bash upgrade-to-quattro again. The script says re-running is safe and resumes the remaining steps. The same goes for a warning that root= is missing: rebooting before it's fixed would drop you to an emergency shell.
Can I go back to Omarchy 3 after upgrading?
No. The upgrade script warns that upgrading to Quattro is a one-way street and that you cannot downgrade. Back up before Step 3.
Why doesn't Super+Space work on Omarchy 3.8.4?
The Walker launcher's Elephant backend is gone, so the launcher may not fully work on 3.8.4. It's expected at that stage and doesn't affect the upgrade.
How much disk space should I give Omarchy on a partition?
Plan for at least 40 GB, and 50 GB or more is comfortable. On my test install, Omarchy 4 already uses about 25 GB of a 30 GB Btrfs root, which leaves very little room. Give it more if you plan to install games, virtual machines, or large projects. I used a 500 GB partition on my 3 TB HDD.
How long does the whole process take?
The Omarchy 3.8.4 install takes about 10 to 20 minutes. The Quattro upgrade adds more time on top, depending on your connection. Installing Arch Linux first, if you haven't yet, takes extra time.
What if I lose internet after booting into Omarchy 3.8.4?
Run either sudo systemctl enable --now systemd-resolved or sudo systemctl enable --now NetworkManager, as covered in Step 2. Fix it before the upgrade, because the upgrade downloads packages.
What are the minimum system requirements?
Since Omarchy OS is based on Arch Linux and runs Hyprland, you need at least 4 GB RAM (8 GB recommended), a 64-bit processor, and a GPU with decent Vulkan support (Intel integrated graphics, AMD Radeon, or NVIDIA with proprietary drivers). Storage space depends on your partition: at least 40 GB, and 50 GB or more is comfortable.
🚀 Omarchy 4 Is Running on Your Own Partition!
Omarchy 4 is now running on the partition you chose, booting from Limine with Windows right next to it. Personally, I find this method gives you the best of both worlds: the current Omarchy without shrinking Windows or giving up your own partition layout. For more technical details, release notes, or to report issues, be sure to visit the official Omarchy GitHub repository. For keybindings, check out the Omarchy Hotkeys page. A huge thanks to DHH and all the contributors for creating and maintaining this incredible project.
If this manual installation transformed your Linux experience, stay tuned to MusaBase for more advanced customization tutorials.
101 out, I’ll see you in the next one! 🚀