# Help with partitions for installing freebsd.



## unique name (Aug 16, 2021)

Right now I have unintentionally made a mess with my partitions.
Okay so this is my situation, currently I have arch linux, openbsd and win10 installed. I am using refind bootloader and I think I also have grub bootloader partition which I used previously. 
Now I want to get rid of grub bootloader, arch linux and openbsd, and want to use freebsd for everything, and win10 for gaming.
So how can I correctly identify the partition of grub, arch and openbsd so I can format them and use that space for freebsd. 
I don't want to mess up my current win10 setup as i have spent a lot of time setting up drivers, settings, etc.
All I want is to dual boot freebsd and win10.
Thank you!


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## astyle (Aug 16, 2021)

Based on your screenshot, it looks like win10 can 'see' all your other partitions. A good strategy for you would be to:

Boot into win10, and use Disk Manager to format disk0 to NTFS. And note the sizes, you'll need that info later! (Screenshot shows win10 is installed on disk1)
Boot your machine using the FreeBSD installer on a USB stick.
Pay attention to the installer. It will ask you whether you want to install to disk0 (466GB) or disk1 (894GB). Since win10 is installed on disk1, install FreeBSD to disk0.
You can generally leave GRUB alone. It should be able to find the FreeBSD bootloader on disk0.


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## unique name (Aug 16, 2021)

astyle said:


> Based on your screenshot, it looks like win10 can 'see' all your other partitions. A good strategy for you would be to:
> 
> Boot into win10, and use Disk Manager to format disk0 to NTFS. And note the sizes, you'll need that info later! (Screenshot shows win10 is installed on disk1)
> Boot your machine using the FreeBSD installer on a USB stick.
> ...


disk 0 is a hard drive only for media.
I want to install freebsd alongside win10 on my ssd. The problem is I don't know which partitions to format for my freebsd. I just want win10 and want to delete arch and openbsd for freebsd.


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## SirDice (Aug 16, 2021)

Don't create or format any partitions for FreeBSD, only remove the ones you know don't belong to Windows. The first three appear to be the important ones, for Windows at least. The Recovery Partition, EFI System Partition and the NTFS partition are all part of your Windows install.


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## astyle (Aug 16, 2021)

Windows is always installed to C: drive. So, going by your screenshot, Partitions 1, 2, 3 and 4 should be left alone. You can safely install FreeBSD into anything that is currently labeled 'Primary Partition'.  Just make a backup of your stuff first, before starting the installer.


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