Always install Windows first then Linux in dualboot, otherwise microsoft messes with your boot area. Have a separate boot partition for Linux and some distros have foreign OS probe and will auto setup your grub menu to chainload to windows. This stops Windiws messing with your Linux boot partition since it has no clue it exists
this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2023
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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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Windows and Linux keeps track of time differently. One stores the time in your current time zone. The other stores the GMT time and adds an offset. I forget which one does what but it results in your time being wrong each time you switch from Linux to Windows or vice versa. You can search for how to fix it, its not very hard, or you can just ignore it and reset your clock each time you switch OS.
I don't think that's the case anymore.
I just checked, the time in the UEFI BIOS is in UTC, yet both Linux and Windows 10 display the local time correctly as an offset to UTC. I didn't have to do anything special for that.
Edit:
So I looked a bit deeper into it, and this is apparently controlled by a registry key called RealTimeIsUniversal in [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation]. You can paste the text below in a .reg file and then import it to set the parameter:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation]
"RealTimeIsUniversal"=dword:00000001
I confirmed that this setting exists on my system, but I have no memory of ever manually setting this parameter. It's documented in the Arch wiki though, so it's possible that I did set it and forgot about it.
In any case, if you do a fresh Windows install and your time differs between Linux and Windows , this is what you should check.
It is with Windows 10 and Mint. I booted into Mint a few days ago, and when I switched back to Windows, the time was wrong.
Apparently it's easy to fix, but I keep forgetting while I'm in Mint >.<
You can also fix it by running the following command on your Linux machine:
timedatectl set-local-rtc 1 --adjust-system-clock
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If your laptop has room for a second drive, it's easiest to put Linux on its own drive.
Unfortunately there's just the one slot. I'm going to keep that in mind for future purchases
So then if the drive is big enough, use the shitty windows partition manager and shrink the windows partition, leaving as much space as you want for Linux.
Also you can try Linux on a Live ISO or even install it on a USB stick, but with UEFI thats a pain.
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I would now say never on the same disk. A shame because many laptops only have one slot. But Windows 11 may do anything and you never know what happens after a "Windows update"
Twice after a windows update I lost my bootloader menu and my laptop would boot straight into Windows. After the second time I just removed Windows. Some investigation revealed that "Windows does not support dual booting" which I believe translates to "we will ocationally cause issues that a beginner would struggle to fix in the hopes of them staying on Windows." Just a theory. Separate drives for sure if you can. No idea if they still do this as it's been years since I dual booted
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I've seen people talk about Windows messing up the Linux install. Have there been cases where the windows install itself was messed up after an update (or is it straight up "you never know" and anything can happen)
I only have one slot, and I'd prefer to not have to carry around a USB or external drive if I can avoid it. I'm ok with having to redo the Linux install/setup, and it might be nice practice anyway. But I definitely need to have windows running and stable for schoolwork.
When I was using windows 10 + linux mint for over the 2 years I never got a boot problem from windows update. You just need a separate EFI partition for linux boot loader.
My Partitions: Windows boot C: D: Windows recovery or some other crap Linux EFI for grub / (Root directory) Swap
I don't bother with separate /home because I never know how much I will fill up my disk
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Boot with a live USB image first. Check and see if everything is working. Don't be married to the first Linux distro you try.
That's fair, I'll take some time to explore them :)
On the other hand, try not to get into distro hopping hell
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Just incase you're unaware, if you're looking to learn Linux but keep the windows until you're familiar enough with Linux, there is a way to install Linux in windows as a container, it's called WSL 2.0
Might be easier for you to learn with, and if you brick it then you can just wipe the container and start again, takes minutes to do
I don't recommend wsl because it bodges the worst part of windows (windows terminal) onto linux. Also, it's much nicer to learn in a vm where you are learning actual linux, instead of MS' interpretation of linux.
It's like playing with clay in a bag, versus playing with clay with your bare hands.
First the powershell is a very good terminal and some even consider it better than bash. And if you're talking about the actual terminal emulator it also became really good with the new windows terminal(which is also open source) it bas many good features and customization options. Also wsl2 IS a VM running on hyper-v. It simply uses a custom kernel optimised for it and the cherry on top of the sunday : you can run gui apps natively (windows 11) with WSLg which uses wayland/xwayland
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This is probably better than dual booting. You're learning the command line, which is the happiness foundation needed to enjoy linux.*
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WSL 2.0
I appreciate this, I've had WSL for a little while now. It did take some getting used to and I think I'm ready to give it a try for real now
Windows likes to fuck with your Linux boot loader after every feature update!
I haven’t had this happen in years, maybe it’s my config? I’m using GPT on a UEFI system (in UEFI mode), with systemd-boot.
I do remember having tons of issues back when I was using grub on an MBR system using legacy bios emulation.
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Install windows 1st, Linux 2nd. Generally speaking Linux installers won't mess up a windows install, however most of the time the windows installer WILL mess up a Linux install.
Don't think of Linux the same way as windows, think of it as desktop android. Do not download applications from the browser, unless they're not available literally anywhere else, use the app center instead. Use a popular distro (Ubuntu/Ubuntu variant, fedora, etc...).
Use Wayland.
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The video missed one small, but very important thing: You need to disable fast boot in windows before mounting your windows partition in linux, otherwise it will get corrupted.
The reason for that is that windows doesn't actually shut down if you tell it to by default and it leaves the drive in a dirty state. Windows itself can pick that back up and boot off of it, but linux won't detect it. If you leave fast boot on, windows will run chkdsk on the next boot after using linux.
I found that out the hard way and got to not use my computer while it ran chkdsk on my 4TB HDD. It took 15 hours.
This is the best advice!
I did this, and now I would say 'is it really worth it?'
After a while of dual booting I realised I was never using Windows, I was only using it originally for playing Oblivion.
It's probably good experience though, and you will learn a bit about GRUB.
I would argue instead, identify which applications you need Windows for, and then determine what is required to run those on Linux or find alternatives. And then just make the switch.
Linux is kinda simple. Everything is a file.
I went about it the other way around. I switched to linux because I was tired of windows and found alternatives to the software I was used to along the way.
The simplest and the most windows like in looks distro would be Linux mint, it's probably better than trying Ubuntu or other distros for your first experience with Linux.
If you want a challenge then go for it but just letting you know it's better start off with a few wins under your belt then getting freaked out by complex systems like fedora made for advanced users.
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Some day you may find your machine booting into linux without displaying a grub menu. You were promised a menu giving you boot options. Where is it? The problem may be your grub timeout is 0. Set the timeout in /etc/default/grub and then run update-grub. See section 6.1 of the info grub manual.
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Have a think about how you want to arrange your data. While you can access windows partitions and files under Linux (and vise versa), it's better not to be constantly be mounting your windows C drive from another OS. Plus, if you're mid-update, or had to restart suddenly, windows will happily mark your drive as read-only.
I use 4 partitions for a dual boot. Sizes are based on a 1TB drive.
- Windows C (100GB or so, OS drive). Only mounted by Linux if I have a big problem.
- Windows D (NTFS formatted, my main storage partition. Mounted all the time by Linux. 700GB or so)
- Linux root (50GB or so, EX4 formatted)
- Linux storage (remaining space, EX4 formatted used for big programs, games, home folder)
This way, Windows OS is separate, main storage is accessible to both without tripping over permissions, linux root drive is separate from storage so reinstalling isn't so painful if something goes very wrong.
This is probably some of the best advice here. Keep the drives (if possible, if not partitions) each OS is on separate from the other. Have a 3rd drive (or partition) as the bulk of your storage that both can see and use.
I'd also suggest reversing your plan of mainly using windows and hopping to linix when you want to and make it Linux default and windows when you have to. You'll learn more immersing yourself in Linux that way, and you'll find whatever issues or software that force you back to windows (if any). The other way around you'll feel that Linux doesn't do anything you need it to and likely spend very little time in it at all. Habits are hard to change.
That you eventually delete the Windows partition.
Turn off secure boot and just check if anyone has ever run your device with linux before. And kde plasma is a de not a distro.
You can leave on secure boot nowadays if you install and configure the sbctl package. It can use the Windows secure boot method, and you'll have a successful dual boot deployment.
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Whatever you do, don't cross the streams!
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/watch?v=VaIgbTOvAd0
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.
Backup all your personal data on windows prior to attempting anything. On a separate disk and cloud if possible. For cloud backups, just pick the important stuff. No need to backup steam libraries since steam servers are the backup in this case.
Like others have said, if you can use a separate disk, do that. If you can't do that and you just want to try out Linux, use a USB live disk to test hardware compatibility and the user experience, or if you have an old laptop or desktop that isn't being used, load Linux on that first.
Pick a popular distro for better community support. If you have a recently released laptop (less than a year old) might want to pick a distro with newer kernel for better hardware support. My personal recommendations are Pop!_OS, Fedora (both gnome and KDE versions). Both work well on newer hardware. Others you might want to try are Linux Mint and Ubuntu.
After getting Linux installed, try and keep your home partition backed up, especially if Windows is on the same disk.
Try and use Flatpak for all your apps, flathub is the web "store" for Flatpak apps.
Be open to trying the Linux alternative to apps since the windows version might not be available.
This is a new OS so expecting things to work a certain way isn't realistic.
Most of the time a GUI is available for what you need to do, but learning the terminal is super helpful and a lot of people prefer it once they make the switch.
When searching online, try to include your distro and its version. It will help narrow down results.
If you're gaming, check ProtonDB for game compatibility, and be willing to tinker a bit.
If you do have Nvidia graphics, Pop!_OS and other distros that bake the drivers into the disk image or install process are better for beginners.
Opinion portion: Firefox is a better holistic choice over chromium based browsers (see Google's web environment integrity aka DRM for the web). KDE is a great desktop for people who like the Windows workflow, but I prefer Gnome. Nvidia graphics are much less problematic these days, but I still prefer amd and Intel hardware.
Life is hard; everyone is doing their best; be hard on problems and soft on people.
Good luck ;)
First, if you have only one HD, you'll have to shrink your windows partition. You'll have maybe 4 partitions already on your disk, a 100MB fat one for EFI, a 16MB one unformatted, a few GB recovery one, and a big one with windows on it, you may have more. Booting on a linux USB stick or with the gparted ISO, you'll need to shrink your windows partition and let whatever the size you want, say 100GB, for your future linux, free.
You need to disable secure boot in your bios.
When installing linux, it will ask you for custom partitioning (it's your first install, play with it, if you don't like your partitions, want or not a swap, etc, you'll redo it later!). Create a 20GB partition for / the root, create the remaining (e.g. 80GB) for your /home, these are the mount point that the installer ask in the custom partitioning screen. You will need to select the 100MB EFI partition as EFI/ESP mount point and keep it like this, no formatting for this one, just select it. Continue install, it will ask if you want to install GRUB, say yes, on ESP/EFI.
You may need to go in your BIOS and have to change the boot option to properly boot in EFI/GRUB. On my PC the BIOS boot option can bypass EFI and directly boot windows partition so I never had GRUB appearing.
Keep your Linux partition backed up! Windows update deleted my EXT4 partition and all Linux data on my laptop. (No, it wasn't a Grub problem, the partition was gone.) There are reports this Microsoft BS going back years.
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Install windows as usual. And then install your Linux distro. Quite alot of them give you the option to easily install alongside windows
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