How to Install Omarchy OS Manually on a Separate Partition: Keep Dual Boot with GRUB
arch linux hyprland linux omarchy
Omarchy OS does elevate your Linux desktop experience to a new level, but the trade‑off is you have to give up your full storage drive to install Omarchy OS. Now, the question remains: can you install Omarchy OS manually on a partition? The answer is YES. But it's a lot more complicated than simply yes. Let's find out..
Welcome back to MusaBase! In the Omarchy OS Installation guide, we successfully installed Omarchy OS with its official ISO and booted into it. But the problem with the Omarchy OS auto‑installer is that we have to give it the full storage drive. It erases any pre‑existing data and partitions, then creates Omarchy's own needed filesystem. Plus, dual‑booting is somewhat difficult to achieve with the Limine bootloader that Omarchy picks. So, I decided to test installing Omarchy OS manually with GRUB as the bootloader and on a disk partition of my choice.
By the end of this guide, you will have a fully functional, manually installed Omarchy OS on your system, and it will even be capable of dual‑booting. We'll cover:
- Installing Omarchy OS on a pre-installed Arch Linux system with btrfs filesystem.
- Install all the necessary packages for Omarchy OS.
- Replacing the Limine bootloader with GRUB.
- Implementing Omarchy's official rollback feature with manual Omarchy OS installation.
- And finally, booting into the manually installed Omarchy OS on top of your Arch Linux system.
Why Is a Manual Installation of Omarchy OS Needed?
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, Omarchy requires the entire storage drive that I want to install it on. Second, with its default Limine bootloader, adding a Windows 11 entry has been a challenge for me, and after a Windows update (I don't know how), the bootloader broke. It wasn't showing my Windows entry at the OS selection screen. I know some people will say "skill issue," but given my tight schedule, I don't have time to fix it. So, since I installed Arch Linux with my own partition layout and GRUB, I wanted to do the same for Omarchy OS. This time with the same three partitions (/boot/efi, swap, and root) but using btrfs, because I had wanted to try that filesystem for a long time. And with GRUB it was just icing on the cake. Everything works just like it did on my Arch Linux setup, and I can dual‑boot like the old days. All in all, it was a mix of trying new things without losing my sanity.
Prerequisites
I'm not going to cover the Arch Linux installation in this guide, because this article focuses on how to manually install Omarchy OS on a separate partition. However, I've written a separate dedicated guide on How to Install Arch Linux with Btrfs. You can visit that guide and install Arch with a Btrfs partition layout. Though we don't officially need Btrfs for Omarchy OS, we can also install Omarchy OS on top of a normal Arch Linux system. But for rollback capabilities, it is recommended to have Btrfs on Arch Linux. Once your base Arch Linux system is ready, come back to this guide and continue.
⚡ TL;DR: Manual Installation of Omarchy OS on a Separate Partition with GRUB
A quick reference for installing Omarchy OS manually on an existing Arch Linux system, replacing the Limine bootloader with stubs, and booting into a fully functional Omarchy OS while keeping your partition layout and dual‑boot ability.
-
Update system and install prerequisites:
If a kernel update occurs, reboot before continuing.sudo pacman -Syu sudo pacman -S archlinux-keyring wget curl git -
Start the Omarchy installer (first attempt – will fail):
Answer Yes when asked about Btrfs subvolume and Limine bootloader. The installer will eventually fail withwget -qO- https://omarchy.org/install | bashlimine.conf: No such file or directory– this is expected. -
Stub the Limine bootloader files:
# Create stub for limine-update sudo tee /usr/local/bin/limine-update << "EOF" #!/bin/bash exit 0 EOF sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/limine-update # Create stub for limine-mkinitcpio sudo tee /usr/local/bin/limine-mkinitcpio << "EOF" #!/bin/bash exit 0 EOF sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/limine-mkinitcpio -
Verify the stubs:
Both should return OK.which limine-update && echo "limine-update: OK" which limine-mkinitcpio && echo "limine-mkinitcpio: OK" -
Re-run the Omarchy installer:
Select Yes again when asked for Limine. This time the installation will complete successfully (10‑15 minutes). Enter your user password when prompted.wget -qO- https://omarchy.org/install | bash -
Reboot and boot into Omarchy OS:
At the GRUB menu, choose your usual Arch Linux entry. After a few seconds you will be inside Omarchy OS.reboot -
Fix internet connectivity (if needed):
This resolves conflicts betweensudo systemctl enable --now systemd-resolved # OR sudo systemctl enable --now NetworkManagersystemd-resolved(used by Omarchy) andNetworkManager. - Optional – Add rollback feature: Follow the dedicated guide: How to Set Up Snapper and Grub-Btrfs on Arch Linux.
π‘ After installation, you can dual‑boot safely. To add Windows or other OS entries to GRUB, run sudo os-prober && sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg. Enjoy your manual Omarchy OS setup!
Step 1: Start Omarchy Installation Manually
In this step, we will start the Omarchy OS installation manually with a single command. It will clone the Omarchy GitHub repository and ask you to create a btrfs subvolume (if not done already) and install the Limine bootloader. But first, let's install some essential tools and update the Arch Linux system.
Run:
sudo pacman -Syu
sudo pacman -S archlinux-keyring wget curl gitInstall Omarchy OS Manually
Run:
wget -qO- https://omarchy.org/install | bash
#OR
curl -fsSL https://omarchy.org/install | bash
- This will start the initial setup of the Omarchy OS installation as it clones the official Omarchy repo from GitHub.
- If you haven't installed Arch Linux with the btrfs layout, the installer will ask you: Omarchy install requires: Btrfs subvolume and also Omarchy install requires: Limine bootloader, with options to choose Yes or No.
- Choose Yes and press Enter. Otherwise, the Omarchy installer does not handle the No choice and will abort the installation.
After these questions, Omarchy will begin downloading and installing all the packages required to offer a fully-fledged Hyprland desktop experience on top of Arch Linux.
- It took around 10-15 minutes on my system and internet connection. The duration may vary depending on your internet speed.
- The Omarchy installer will also ask for your user's password. Simply enter your password when prompted.
- When the Omarchy installer displays the following:
mkinitcpio hooks re-enabled
grep: /boot/limine.conf: No such file or directory
sudo: limine-update: command not found
grep: /boot/limine.conf: No such file or directory
Error: failed to add boot entries to /boot/limine.conf
This command halted with exit code 0:
Failed script: /home/username/.local/share/omarchy/install/login/limine-snapper.shHere, select Exit and press ENTER.
Since we are installing Omarchy OS manually with GRUB as the bootloader, this Limine.conf error occurred.
Let's fix this error in the next step, in which we will edit the Limine configuration files to stub the Limine bootloader and use GRUB as our default bootloader.
Step 2: Stub Limine Bootloader from Omarchy OS
In this step, we will edit limine-update, limine-mkinitcpio, and limine.conf files, and replace their existing code with our code so it always returns exit code: 0, which means this step is completed and we can move to the next one. We are simply tricking the Omarchy OS installer into thinking that all the boxes are checked and everything is good to go.
Stub Limine Bootloader
Run the following commands consecutively:
# limine-update
sudo tee /usr/local/bin/limine-update << "EOF"
#!/bin/bash
exit 0
EOF
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/limine-update
# limine-mkinitcpio
sudo tee /usr/local/bin/limine-mkinitcpio << "EOF"
#!/bin/bash
exit 0
EOF
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/limine-mkinitcpio
We can also verify if the modification was successful with these commands:
which limine-update && echo "limine-update: OK"
which limine-mkinitcpio && echo "limine-mkinitcpio: OK"
If for every command you get OK as the return, then the modification was successful and you can safely run the Omarchy install command again.
Re-Run Omarchy OS Install Command
Run:
wget -qO- https://omarchy.org/install | bash- This time, the Omarchy OS installer will ask for Limine bootloader installation again.
- Nothing to worry about here, just select Yes again and press ENTER. We have modified the file, so it is normal behavior for the installer to ask for the installation.
- Again, it will take 10-15 minutes. Just hold tight, enter your password if the installer asks, and your manual Omarchy OS installation will be completed.
- After the installation is complete, the installer will prompt you to reboot. Press Enter and reboot your PC.
Step 3: Boot into Manually Installed Omarchy OS
After rebooting you will see the usual GRUB screen with Arch Linux entry. Simply press ENTER and after a few seconds you will be in your manually installed Omarchy OS.
And you are in!
Troubleshoot: Internet Connectivity
If after booting into Omarchy OS, you experience the same issue as I did (internet not working), it is usually because Omarchy uses systemd-resolved. My issue was that I installed NetworkManager and I think during the installation of Omarchy OS on top of the installed Arch Linux, it caused a conflict. Here's how you can solve this issue if the same happened to you. Open terminal and run either of the following commands:
sudo systemctl enable --now systemd-resolved
# OR
sudo systemctl enable --now NetworkManagerImplementing Rollback Feature on Manually Installed Omarchy OS
It's really simple and easy, but covering the snapper and grub-btrfs installation and configuration in this guide would make this guide bloated. I have written a dedicated guide on How to Set Up Snapper and Grub-Btrfs on Arch Linux. You can follow that guide, which is highly related to manually installing Omarchy OS. And this way you can implement the rollback feature on your manually installed Omarchy OS.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions: Manual Installation of Omarchy OS on a Separate Partition
Why would I want to install Omarchy OS manually instead of using the official ISO?
The official Omarchy OS installer requires the entire storage drive and uses the Limine bootloader, which makes dual‑booting (especially with Windows) difficult and less reliable. Manual installation lets you keep your existing partition layout, choose GRUB as your bootloader, and dual‑boot safely without losing other operating systems.
Do I need a Btrfs filesystem to install Omarchy OS manually?
No, Btrfs is not strictly required for Omarchy OS itself. However, the Omarchy installer will ask you to create a Btrfs subvolume during the process. If you want the rollback feature (using Snapper and grub‑btrfs), then Btrfs is highly recommended. For basic installation, you can still proceed with a standard Arch Linux setup, but expect the installer to request Btrfs.
What should I do when the Omarchy installer fails with "limine.conf: No such file or directory"?
That error is expected because you are using GRUB instead of Limine. As explained in Step 2, you need to stub the Limine bootloader files (limine-update and limine-mkinitcpio) by replacing them with scripts that simply return exit 0. This tricks the installer into thinking the Limine setup succeeded, allowing the installation to continue.
Will stubbing Limine break anything on my system?
No. The stub scripts only prevent the Omarchy installer from aborting. Since you are manually using GRUB as your bootloader, the Limine tools are never actually needed. Your existing GRUB configuration remains untouched and will continue to work normally.
How long does the manual installation take?
On average, the entire process takes 20‑30 minutes depending on your internet speed and hardware. The Omarchy package download and installation phase alone takes about 10‑15 minutes. Adding the prerequisite Arch Linux installation (if you haven't done it yet) will take additional time.
Can I dual‑boot Windows with this manually installed Omarchy OS?
Yes, absolutely. Because you are using GRUB as your bootloader and keeping your existing partition layout, adding a Windows entry to GRUB is straightforward. Simply run sudo os-prober and sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg after installation, and Windows will appear in the boot menu.
What if I lose internet connection after booting into Omarchy OS?
Omarchy OS uses systemd-resolved by default. If you previously installed NetworkManager on your base Arch system, a conflict may occur. To fix it, open a terminal and run either sudo systemctl enable --now systemd-resolved or sudo systemctl enable --now NetworkManager. This is covered in the Troubleshoot: Internet Connectivity subsection of Step 3.
Is the rollback feature included automatically with this manual installation?
No, the rollback feature (using Snapper and grub‑btrfs) is not installed by default. However, you can easily add it by following my dedicated guide: How to Set Up Snapper and Grub-Btrfs on Arch Linux. That guide works perfectly on top of a manually installed Omarchy OS.
What are the minimum system requirements for this manual installation?
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: 30‑50 GB for a comfortable Omarchy OS installation.
Can I undo the Limine stubbing and switch back to Limine later?
Yes. Simply delete the stub files (/usr/local/bin/limine-update and /usr/local/bin/limine-mkinitcpio) and reinstall the original Limine packages. However, this is not recommended because Omarchy OS has been tested with GRUB in this guide, and switching bootloaders may cause boot issues.
π Omarchy OS Manual Installation Complete!
Omarchy OS is now fully installed on your separate partition and running with GRUB as your bootloader. Personally, I find this manual method gives you the best of both worlds: a pristine Omarchy experience without sacrificing your existing partition layout or dual‑boot setup. 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! π