EASY Dual Boot Omarchy alongside Windows 11 without partition hell

In this video, I walk through an experimental way to dual boot Omarchy OS and Windows 11 on a single drive, using Ventoy, free disk space, and Omarchy’s encrypted installer — without wiping your existing Windows installation.

the script is now public and you can find it here

https://www.no-signal.uk

This is not a beginner-friendly, polished installer.
It’s a practical, hands-on demonstration of what can be done, how it behaves in the real world, and what you should absolutely be careful about before trying it yourself.

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🔹 What This Video Shows

I start by finishing a clean Windows 11 setup, then reboot into Ventoy to begin the Omarchy side of the install.

The script gives you clear options:
• Install Omarchy alongside Windows
• Clean up a failed Omarchy install
• Perform a standard Omarchy install

The installer:
• Detects the existing Windows installation
• Preserves the Windows partition
• Uses free space only
• Creates:
• A new EFI partition
• An encrypted Linux partition
• Uses one password consistently throughout encryption and setup

From there, the standard Omarchy installer runs on top of a base Arch install.

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🔹 Encryption & First Boot Notes

A key point shown in the video:
• The encrypted partition must be created before the Omarchy installer runs
• On first boot, don’t change anything
• Go straight to System → Restart
• This triggers the initial snapshot and backup
• After that, Omarchy behaves normally

If you skip this step, things won’t initialise correctly.

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🔹 Boot Menu Behaviour

Boot behaviour depends on your system firmware:
• Some systems show:
• Windows Boot Manager
• Omarchy directly
• Others require selecting the Linux EFI entry manually

Windows will usually remain the default boot option unless you change BIOS settings. That’s expected.

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🔹 Important Warnings

⚠️ This setup is experimental
⚠️ Shrinking existing Windows partitions is not recommended
⚠️ Disable BitLocker before attempting this
⚠️ Always back up your data

The safest approach is:
• Fresh Windows install
• Leave free space
• Then install Omarchy into that space

If you have two drives, even better — disconnect the Windows drive entirely during install to eliminate risk.

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🔹 Why Ventoy

Ventoy makes this process much easier:
• One USB stick
• Multiple ISOs
• No constant re-burning
• Ideal for testing and recovery

I briefly mention that running Ventoy’s GUI tools on Omarchy isn’t great — it works far better from Windows.

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🔹 Who This Is For

This video is for people who:
• Want to try Omarchy but can’t fully leave Windows
• Only have one SSD
• Don’t want to become a full-time partition expert
• Are happy experimenting carefully

This gives you options that didn’t really exist before without a lot of manual work.

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💬 Final Thoughts

This isn’t about replacing Windows.

It’s about giving you a safe way to experiment:
• Omarchy for Linux workflows
• Windows when you absolutely need it
• One machine
• One drive
• Clear boundaries between the two

Use it carefully, expect rough edges, and don’t try it on a system you can’t afford to rebuild.

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