dual booting linux/windows

[TheBean]

is it possible to have windows and linux on the same drive but on separate partitions? I have a laptop with only 2 drives. One ssd with windows and the other is a hdd for my games. I want to use linux on my ssd so everything is fast. 

 

my laptop has no space for an extra drive. its 1 m.2 + 1hdd. 

[Slottr]

Yes, easily. There's thousands of guides on dual booting between them.

[TheBean]

1 hour ago, Slottr said:

Yes, easily. There's thousands of guides on dual booting between them.

just realized that I dont have a usb that I can use for this. is there a way to do it without that? I saw many articles about using unetbootin but all those videos are old and im not sure if I can still do that

[Sauron]

4 hours ago, Saksham said:

is it possible to have windows and linux on the same drive but on separate partitions?

Sure, just be aware that Windows Update sometimes overwrites the boot loader meaning you won't be able to access the Linux partition.

3 hours ago, Saksham said:

just realized that I dont have a usb that I can use for this.

Don't you have $5 to spare? You can technically do it from a virtual machine but it quickly becomes a complex affair.

[TheBean]

11 hours ago, Sauron said:

Sure, just be aware that Windows Update sometimes overwrites the boot loader meaning you won't be able to access the Linux partition.

 

is there a way to prevent that? if its going to overwrite the boot loader and I can lo longer use it, is there a way to get it back?

[Sauron]

41 minutes ago, Saksham said:

is there a way to prevent that?

As far as I know the only way to be sure is to put the bootloader on another drive... or prevent Windows from updating but I don't recommend that.

42 minutes ago, Saksham said:

if its going to overwrite the boot loader and I can lo longer use it, is there a way to get it back?

Yes. You can reinstall the bootloader manually using the installation drive but it's not exactly a beginner friendly task. The good news is that if you know how to do it the process is always going to be the same, it's just a bit annoying.

 

You need to chroot into your installation and reinstall grub. If you do that make sure you're targeting the drive itself and not a partition.

[TheBean]

@Sauron this will still happen if I instal linux on a separate drive than the windows installation right?

[Sauron]

17 minutes ago, Saksham said:

@Sauron this will still happen if I instal linux on a separate drive than the windows installation right?

Actually no, if you use a different drive then the bootloader will be on that drive and Windows won't overwrite it.

[inalone]

On 3/13/2020 at 10:57 PM, Sauron said:

Actually no, if you use a different drive then the bootloader will be on that drive and Windows won't overwrite it.

This is the way I used to like to dual boot - total separation between the two and then just switching between the 2 on boot. Although dual booting on the same drive is more than do-able, a Windows update can totally fuck everything up and I'd say it's generally not worth it unless you're someone like me who likes installing vanilla OSs at least once a month.