this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2025
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Some people recommend having Linux and Windows on entirely separate drives since Windows doesn't always like to play nicely with Linux. The only issue I've ever had with them on the same drive was the time Windows ate my bootloader when upgrading from Vista to 7. Another thing is that you should install Windows first because it will eat the bootloader (as previously mentioned) if Linux is installed first. I also recommend keeping a flash drive with System Rescue CD installed handy in case you have to repair the bootloader.
Edit: Typo
So if they are on different disks, does that keep windows from eating the linux bootloader? Also, do you use something other than UEFI to manage which OS boots? Seems like a lot of people just use UEFI if things are on different disks.
If you install the Linux bootloader on the other drive with Linux, Windows basically just doesn't know or care that the it exists to bother writing over it. You can use UEFI to choose what to boot, but GRUB works fine with entries across different drives.
That said, it's not actually that hard to fix with a live USB if Windows does decide to eat GRUB on the same drive. I've been taking my chances on laptops particularly for years. So far, the only real problem I've run into was doing something stupid while dead tired and managing to nuke the Windows bootloader all on my own--somewhat ironically, while I was setting up another Linux distro to boot off a new drive! Which was also totally fixable, but a bigger pain than reinstalling GRUB would have been. (Especially with not being nearly as comfortable dealing with Windows stuff.)