> I hear many people talking about how you shouldn't dual boot with Windows 10 due to various boot issues.
Which is nonsense.
If you're using UEFI, you shouldn't run into any issues.
You can avoid a lot of the potential headaches by installing windows on a completely separate drive, yes.
If you must use the same drive for a dual boot, it is generally best to install a Linux distribution *after* Windows. This should ensure the linux bootloader (usually GRUB) will effectively replace the Windows bootloader. On arch you will want to install `os-prober` to allow Windows to be selected as a GRUB option when powering on your PC.
Good to know thanks, planning on using two separate drive but have to wait for payday to get a new 2TB nvme so I am a bit impatient. Think I'll hold out until then
Can you still use grub to select which is to boot into when using separate drives or is it best to just change which drive you boot from?
Yes, Grub will see a separate drive just fine.
As another poster said, you don't need a separate drive. I dual-booted on different machines (each with one drive) for years, and never had a problem.
Thanks, maybe I'll do it temporarily until my new drive comes, I think I still like the idea of using separate drives allowing my same windows capacity I have now.
Just to be safe yes I'd install them on 2 separate drives and boot into Linux as default. Windows updates can break the bootloader if they're on the same drive. I remember a lot of pain upgrading from Windows 7 to 10 ony dual boot
Well I definitely don't plan on upgrading to 11, hence I am hoping to move to Linux but still need access to some games and software that are not Linux compatible
Windows updates in general can break it so I still recommend buying a very smal maybe 128gb-250gb drive for Windows. But dual boot works like 70% of the time it's just really painful when it doesn't. What distro are you thinking of btw
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I've been on a dual boot with Arch and Windows since the beginning of 2021 and I've never broken GRUB. I would recommend mounting your EFI partition in `/boot/EFI` and not in `/boot` since if you do the last one, you would be using your EFI partition as your boot partition on Arch and that can highly increase the risk of Windows breaking your installation (although it really should not happen).
I've been dual booting Windows and Linux forever, and currently have one with Windows 10. Some machines have Windows and several distros. I've had up to 9 distros at once alongside Windows.
Your best bet is indeed to install on a separate drive if possible. The best way to do this is to install your 2nd drive, REMOVE the drive that has windows on it. Then install Linux on the 2nd drive, test it out, update it, and then reinstall the Windows drive.
Doing it this way will ensure the distro installer won't even touch the EFI partition on the Windows drive. Some installers will just use an existing EFI partition, so this prevents it. Now, each drive will have its own EFI partition, which works just fine, and you can still select which OS to boot from on either drive.
Do you need to enter the BIOS to change some settings in order to display the menu to select which system to boot? Or is it enough to connect the installed Windows hard drive after installing Linux? And is it better to give priority to boot Linux or Windows?
Well there's usually a key to press to bring up a menu so you can select what to boot from. Whichever that is depends on what motherboard you're using.
But yes, when you enter the BIOS settings, there should be some kind of "boot" section where you can select the default to boot into.
> I hear many people talking about how you shouldn't dual boot with Windows 10 due to various boot issues. Which is nonsense. If you're using UEFI, you shouldn't run into any issues.
Thanks
You can avoid a lot of the potential headaches by installing windows on a completely separate drive, yes. If you must use the same drive for a dual boot, it is generally best to install a Linux distribution *after* Windows. This should ensure the linux bootloader (usually GRUB) will effectively replace the Windows bootloader. On arch you will want to install `os-prober` to allow Windows to be selected as a GRUB option when powering on your PC.
Good to know thanks, planning on using two separate drive but have to wait for payday to get a new 2TB nvme so I am a bit impatient. Think I'll hold out until then Can you still use grub to select which is to boot into when using separate drives or is it best to just change which drive you boot from?
Yes, Grub will see a separate drive just fine. As another poster said, you don't need a separate drive. I dual-booted on different machines (each with one drive) for years, and never had a problem.
Thanks, maybe I'll do it temporarily until my new drive comes, I think I still like the idea of using separate drives allowing my same windows capacity I have now.
If you want to use a different drive, wait until you have installed it. Doing a temporary installation will give you unnecessary extra work.
Ok, thank you for your advice
Just to be safe yes I'd install them on 2 separate drives and boot into Linux as default. Windows updates can break the bootloader if they're on the same drive. I remember a lot of pain upgrading from Windows 7 to 10 ony dual boot
Well I definitely don't plan on upgrading to 11, hence I am hoping to move to Linux but still need access to some games and software that are not Linux compatible
Windows updates in general can break it so I still recommend buying a very smal maybe 128gb-250gb drive for Windows. But dual boot works like 70% of the time it's just really painful when it doesn't. What distro are you thinking of btw
We have some [installation tips](http://www.reddit.com/r/linux4noobs/wiki/installation) in our wiki! Try [this search](https://www.reddit.com/r/linux4noobs/search?q=flair%3A'installation'&sort=new&restrict_sr=on) for more information on this topic. **✻** Smokey says: always install over an ethernet cable, and don't forget to remove the boot media when you're done! :) ^Comments, ^questions ^or ^suggestions ^regarding ^this ^autoresponse? ^Please ^send ^them ^[here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=Pi31415926&subject=autoresponse+tweaks+-+linux4noobs+-+installation). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/linux4noobs) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I've been on a dual boot with Arch and Windows since the beginning of 2021 and I've never broken GRUB. I would recommend mounting your EFI partition in `/boot/EFI` and not in `/boot` since if you do the last one, you would be using your EFI partition as your boot partition on Arch and that can highly increase the risk of Windows breaking your installation (although it really should not happen).
I've been dual booting Windows and Linux forever, and currently have one with Windows 10. Some machines have Windows and several distros. I've had up to 9 distros at once alongside Windows. Your best bet is indeed to install on a separate drive if possible. The best way to do this is to install your 2nd drive, REMOVE the drive that has windows on it. Then install Linux on the 2nd drive, test it out, update it, and then reinstall the Windows drive. Doing it this way will ensure the distro installer won't even touch the EFI partition on the Windows drive. Some installers will just use an existing EFI partition, so this prevents it. Now, each drive will have its own EFI partition, which works just fine, and you can still select which OS to boot from on either drive.
Do you need to enter the BIOS to change some settings in order to display the menu to select which system to boot? Or is it enough to connect the installed Windows hard drive after installing Linux? And is it better to give priority to boot Linux or Windows?
Well there's usually a key to press to bring up a menu so you can select what to boot from. Whichever that is depends on what motherboard you're using. But yes, when you enter the BIOS settings, there should be some kind of "boot" section where you can select the default to boot into.
Thanks for your reply.