I have the following problem: I usually install two versions of the same Linux distribution on the same hard drive, in two different partitions, so that I can use KDE and GNOME as I like, since I like both graphical environments.
With EndeavourOS, which also uses systemd-boot, there is no problem in doing this since when the second version of Linux is installed, it respects the boot content already present in the EFI partition and creates new entries in the boot menu, so that, once installed, there is no problem in entering the version with KDE or GNOME or even another Linux distro that uses systemd-boot (for example, if CachyOS is already installed, you can install Endeavour afterwards which will respect the CachyOS boot entries. But the reverse is not possible, as I discuss below).
However, with CachyOS this does not work: when the second version is installed on another partition, it overwrites the previous content of the EFI partition and access to the first version of CachyOS installed on the other partition is completely lost. This has happened to me when trying to install another version of CachyOS, but it has also happened to me, for example, if I already had another Linux distro with systemd-boot installed, such as Endeavour, it wipes everything out and it is no longer possible to access it.
Please, is there a way to fix this in a future version so that CachyOS respects the previous boot content that is in the EFI partition and makes it easy to install two (or even more) versions of CachyOS on different partitions of the same hard drive in order to use multiple graphical environments? Or even be able to install other Linux distributions that use systemd-boot together with CachyOS, in the same way that EndeavourOS allows?
In this case I used the option to replace an existing partition with the CachyOS one, choosing btrfs as the file system, and then below I was shown a combo where I had to select the EFI partition that was going to be used to generate the necessary files for booting, so I chose the one that already existed for the other CachyOS installation that I first made with the KDE window environment.
By doing this, it deletes (or replaces) the boot files in the EFI partition of the first version of CachyOS installed and I can no longer boot it in any way.
I was looking for an solution since i ran into the same problem except on my main ssd i had cachyos KDE, and tried to install cachyos hyprland on a external drive only to find out after instalation that i cant log in into my main system. Hope we get an answer soon, i would really like to have both so i can test and learn hyprland aswell.
Oh I see now. Yeah, this is unfortunately a limitation. You need to create a new FAT32 partition because the bootloader will install to the same path as your existing one.
Because as far as I know, it is difficult to have both environments running in an operational manner on the same system, independently of the user.
Indeed, it must be a limitation of CachyOS that I hope will be resolved soon since, as I said before, EndeavourOS does allow it without problems (in fact, I have done a clean installation again: I installed CachyOS first because of the problem it has, and then EndeavourOS, and the latter has respected the EFI files and the boot menu entries that CachyOS created during its installation).
Sorry, I’m not a Linux expert and I haven’t tried it myself, but a couple of years ago I asked about this possibility on the Manjaro forum -when I was using it- and what they told me about how to do it wasn’t easy and they didn’t even guarantee that it wouldn’t cause problems later.
If you want, I can look for the message on the Manjaro forum.
One of the problems that I think I remember being told about is that they used certain common files that are not at the user folder level, but at the system level, so they would overwrite each other.
What I tried was to try to install two CachyOS distributions on the same hard drive, one with KDE and one with GNOME, and it was not possible, the boot menu entries are lost in the following way:
The entry with the CachyOS kernel is not duplicated, when you select it you enter the last CachyOS distro installed, so you lose access to the CachyOS kernel of the other previously installed distro.
If you had another CachyOS kernel installed (I mean not the one it uses by default), the entry still appears in the boot menu, but then when you click on it it cannot find the kernel and gives an error.
So I was not able to have two CachyOS distros installed on the same hard drive.
Also, as I mentioned before, the same thing happens if you had another distro installed before, like EndeavourOS, the boot menu entries are still preserved, but when you click on them it can’t find the kernel and that’s where it stays, it’s no longer possible to boot it.
