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Need a linux distro to dual-boot windows 11 with (if possible)

NRDSTRM
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4 minutes ago, NRDSTRM said:

if it's even possible to dualboot with win11

It is.

 

4 minutes ago, NRDSTRM said:

I don't exactly know which distros support SB

There are 3 big ones I know of that have it setup by default: Ubuntu, Fedora Workstation, and OpenSUSE. Ubuntu is probably the best for a starter distro, and if you have some experience with using Linux, Fedora and OpenSUSE are both amazing distros, with OpenSUSE usually being a lot easier to get Nvidia drivers working in my experience. None of them are particularly lightweight, but they all run on moderately old hardware (circa 2010) pretty easily so it's not a huge deal. Ubuntu is probably the slowest to get updates, OpenSUSE Tumbleweed is the fastest since it's rolling release, and Fedora Workstation is a close second while being a static release.

Posted

So, I currenly run Win11 Pro on my main workstation, but over-time, I'd like to switch to linux. For the transition period, I'd like to dual-boot. I don't exactly know which distros support SB, and if it's even possible to dualboot with win11. I'd apreciate some assistance. I'm open to any distro as long as it's free and open, but prefer lighter and cleaner ones, with quick updates. 

Thanks in advance!

 

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4 minutes ago, NRDSTRM said:

if it's even possible to dualboot with win11

It is.

 

4 minutes ago, NRDSTRM said:

I don't exactly know which distros support SB

There are 3 big ones I know of that have it setup by default: Ubuntu, Fedora Workstation, and OpenSUSE. Ubuntu is probably the best for a starter distro, and if you have some experience with using Linux, Fedora and OpenSUSE are both amazing distros, with OpenSUSE usually being a lot easier to get Nvidia drivers working in my experience. None of them are particularly lightweight, but they all run on moderately old hardware (circa 2010) pretty easily so it's not a huge deal. Ubuntu is probably the slowest to get updates, OpenSUSE Tumbleweed is the fastest since it's rolling release, and Fedora Workstation is a close second while being a static release.

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3 minutes ago, NRDSTRM said:

So, I currenly run Win11 Pro on my main workstation, but over-time, I'd like to switch to linux. For the transition period, I'd like to dual-boot. I don't exactly know which distros support SB, and if it's even possible to dualboot with win11. I'd apreciate some assistance. I'm open to any distro as long as it's free and open, but prefer lighter and cleaner ones, with quick updates. 

Thanks in advance!

 

By default, the various official Ubuntu and Ubuntu flavours(which are various different desktops some of which are lighter than the normal desktop and might look closer to how you like your computer's desktop to look) all support Secure boot as well as Fedora, and it's various desktops. Lastly without heavy modification OpenSUSE also supports Secure Boot as Ronothan said. In theory you can get secure boot set up on other distributions including ones that have very fast updates, but that requires more work, and probably it would be better if you waited till later to do that.

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1 hour ago, RONOTHAN## said:

It is.

 

There are 3 big ones I know of that have it setup by default: Ubuntu, Fedora Workstation, and OpenSUSE. Ubuntu is probably the best for a starter distro, and if you have some experience with using Linux, Fedora and OpenSUSE are both amazing distros, with OpenSUSE usually being a lot easier to get Nvidia drivers working in my experience. None of them are particularly lightweight, but they all run on moderately old hardware (circa 2010) pretty easily so it's not a huge deal. Ubuntu is probably the slowest to get updates, OpenSUSE Tumbleweed is the fastest since it's rolling release, and Fedora Workstation is a close second while being a static release.

One more thing. Is the installation possible with SB on, or do I have to disable it for that?

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3 minutes ago, NRDSTRM said:

One more thing. Is the installation possible with SB on, or do I have to disable it for that?

With all the distros I listed, you can leave it on to install, same with TPM.

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The distros listed all have paid the fee for them to work with Microsoft's TPM module.

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  • 2 weeks later...
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If you will only use Linux sparingly, you could consider using Ventoy which is a bootable USB solution.... however... there is a plugin for Ventoy that will boot an ISO from a local disk, and then you can also use the persistence plugin, so it essentially gives you dual booting without actually installing or modifying any boot entries. 🙂

 

Recently they added a virtual disk plugin so you can actually have an installed distro on a separate partition/drive, but again, without modifying any boot entries. You'd boot to flash drive, then the flash drive would boot back to your local disk. 🙂

 

Supports secure boot if needed.

 

Ventoy

Ventoy Virtual Disk Plugin

Ventoy Persistence Plugin

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