Installing Manjaro and Dual Boot with Windows on PC

So, you’ve got a Windows laptop but feel the itch to explore the world of Linux? That was me with my trusty Dynabook R734/K, wondering if I could get the best of both worlds. Now, my journey took me to Manjaro Linux.

Kitutech — For introduction, Manjaro is a Linux distro, or OS, that is based on another Linux distro, Arch Linux. Arch Linux is know for it's bleeding edge features, always be the first to roll in new features as soon as it available. Well, the drawback, it may not so friendly for people who's not a Linux-savvy, and that's where Manjaro came from.

Manjaro is known to bring the best of latest features available on Linux while trying to keep new Linux users on their sanity, hehe. It's user friendliness makes Manjaro a suitable choice for new Linux users or even experienced one to get the latest features Linux has to offer while keeping our hands more clean from fixing possible bugs.

Steps installing Manjaro and dual booting with Windows on PC

Manjaro storage fresh install usage on my Dynabook R734/K laptop

Requirements:

Backups!
Bootable media creation tool, like Ventoy or Rufus. I personally prefer Ventoy.

My environment:

Manjaro version: 21.3.7 Xfce Minimal
Device: Toshiba Dynabook R734/K
Installed OS: Windows 11

Steps:

Prepare two new empty partitions. For example we can use Windows' Disk Management ("Shrink volume…"):
a: ≥ 32 GB partition for hosting the Linux Mint OS files.
b: (Optional) A partition with same or twice size of our PC's RAM for swap partition. This swap partition is recommended especially if we have small RAM, to help our PC's performance in multitasking.
Download the Manjaro Workstation iso at the official website: manjaro.org/products. Then, make the iso into a bootable media, for example here I am using Ventoy.
Disconnect any external storage drives. This is to prevent formatting/erasing wrong storage or partition when installing the Linux Mint OS files later.
Boot our PC to the created Manjaro bootable media. In short, go to our PC's BIOS settings, then select to boot from the bootable media. For Dynabook R734/K, you can see the example below (Click to expand).

Booting to a bootable media on Toshiba Dynabook R734/K laptop (example booting into Ventoy media)

Access the Boot Menu (BIOS menu) on Dynabook R734/K by restarting the laptop and repeatedly pressing F12 until the boot menu/BIOS menu appears.
If the Manjaro installation/bootable media (e.g., USB storage stick) is not plugged in, do so now to make it appears in the BIOS boot Menu.
In the Boot Menu, select the installation/bootable media (e.g. USB drive) to boot into it directly. Alternatively, adjust the boot order to prioritize the installation/bootable media for automatic booting. Follow these steps:
1. Choose Enter Setup from the Boot Menu main menu.
2. In the side menu, select Advanced, scroll down, and choose Change Boot Order.
3. Set the USB drive (or your relevant storage) where the Manjaro bootable media is located to the top of the Boot Priority Options and click OK.
4. Select Exit → Exit Saving Changes from the side menu.
In the Ventoy boot main menu, consider switching to GRUB2 Mode for increased compatibility in booting Linux images by pressing Ctrl+R. Then, browse and select the Manjaro iso and press Enter to initiate the Manjaro OS live media boot process.

It will take us to the Manjaro bootable media live desktop. Here we can try the Manjaro with the featured Xfce desktop without really installing it to out PC, although in a more limited functionalities.
When we're ready to install it, double click the "Install Manjaro…" shortcut on the desktop to launch the installer. We can connect to internet to update Manjaro simultaneously while installing if we want.
Select the language, then click "Next" on the bottom of the installer's window.
Configure our timezone and choose keyboard layout.
Now we are on the "Partitions" section. First, select the storage device on the top of the window where we will install Manjaro into. Typically, it is our PC's main HDD/SSD.
Next, since we have prepared the partition beforehand where we will install Manjaro, choose "Replace a partition" on the partition list.
On the "Current" line of the "Select a partition to install on" subsection, just click the partition we want to install, it will turned glowing. 😄 As you can see, here actually I am replacing the partition where I have Linux Mint OS installed.
Next below it, on the "EFI system partition" selection, typically it should be the first partition of our PC's main storage drive (/dev/sda1).
After everything is done, click "Next" on the bottom to proceed.
Configure our user's credentials like name, username and password, etc., and most importantly the "administrator account" password where we will use when "sudo-ing" in the terminal. 😄 Click "Next" to proceed.
Lastly, we can recheck everything in the "Summary" section. Click "Install" button on the bottom to start the installation of Manjaro OS to our PC and wait until the installation is done.
After the installation is done, restart our PC! The next time our PC booted, we should be welcomed with the Manjaro bootloader menu, allowing us to choose to boot to Manjaro or Windows (or other OS if we have it).