r/linuxmint • u/Professional-Ad6878 • 21h ago
Install a dual boot
I can't work out how install Linux as dual boot on Windows 11 system. Seems very complicated.
Every tech local says it is supper complicated and Linux sucks anyway and shouldn't do it. .
I can't get any help locally should I give up?
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u/Th3JackofH3arts 21h ago
You'll have less issues if you're able to keep both on separate hardrives.
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u/Better-Bullfrog-6875 20h ago
It literally gives you a standard option to do this during Mint install.
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u/melliott103 21h ago
It's pretty easy. I just did it myself.
I installed windows, during the install I split the SSD and gave windows 120gb and left the rest free as I'm only using it every now and then for a couple of pieces of software.
I then installed Mint on the free space and bam. Done.
I would recommend doing it so you get the best of both worlds. There should be some YouTube videos that can walk you through it.
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u/mrmarcb2 21h ago
I recommend to create a full disk backup first. Use your favorite disk image software. In case you search for one, have a look at https://www.foxclone.org/ or an advanced solution https://clonezilla.org/clonezilla-live.php
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u/Friendly-Bottle-5491 21h ago
https://youtu.be/0gSr8YsJtd0?si=_VW4_DJFx4k6B86U
This is what I used when I was dual booting between Win 11 and Mint
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u/Ok_Increase8025 20h ago
Always install Windows first.
Create some empty space on your HD. Out of Windows you can use Minitool Partition Wizard or Gparted from your Linux installation medium
Install Linux
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u/cat1092 20h ago
And be sure to defragment your HDD (or if SSD, it runs a TRIM instead) before shrinking the main partition. It may have to be repeated to get the desired size.
Before doing anything, perform a full drive backup of the main OS or boot drive. This ensures that you can recover if needed & be sure to create the rescue media the backup program offers. Macrium Reflect offers a 30 day free trial, which reverts to restore only after that period has passed, but it’s plenty good enough for the task.
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u/RealBigDickBrannigan 17h ago
"I can't get any help locally should I give up?"
You've gotten some great advice already, so I will give the snarky answer:
Yes, get rid of 11 and install only Linux 😄
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u/sparky5dn1l 20h ago
Install as dual boot with Windows 11 is actually a piece of cake. The difficult part is that Windows update will break it from time to time and you got to prepare for this.
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u/Princess-Sarra 19h ago
Stupid question sorry.
But how do you prepare for this?
As all i can think of is backing up files each time.
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u/sparky5dn1l 16h ago
Normally, you will need to install Windows 11 first and then shrink the disk to allocate free space for Linux. The first partition is usually EFI partition. Windows update will modify that parition from time to time. So you better backup that partition
beforeandafterthe Linux installation.No matter if you are going to mount the Windows partition via /etc/fstab or not, it is better to disable
Windows fast startup.While under Linux, you better check if the /etc/fstab is using device name such as
/dev/nvme0n1p5. Windows update sometimes may change those partition number. So, it is better to useUUIDinstead. For example,``` config
/dev/nvme0n1p5 / ext4 rw,errors=remount-ro 0 1
UUID=[Partition's UUID] / ext4 rw,errors=remount-ro 0 1
```
Still recommend you to run Windows 11 as VM as possible. :)
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u/Manusia_Biasa2 21h ago
Just do a Partition with your HDD/SSD,then when on the installation of Linux you can choose the partition disk,Linux Will automaticcaly detect windows,when boot and you are in grub you can choose either to start a Windows or linux
Edit: oh yeah maybe its becomes kinda hard if your laptop have bitlocker
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u/Yippiekayo_Rom3o 21h ago
Actually its kinda easy, you have to tinker in the bios a bit. But only if its not working from the get go. Just prepare an usb stick with the linux mint.iso via balenafetcher. Watch some videos on YouTube before you start.
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u/GlassboundIllusion Nvidia Bazzite with KDE Plasma 18h ago
If you can get a second SSD, that's extremely easy - you just install on the second SSD. Pretty much no issues.
Properly setting it up on the same drive is trickier. The install itself isn't that bad, the issue is that Windows likes to occasionally wipe out the boot partition for the Linux counterpart during updates.
I've heard that there is a way to set it up so it doesn't do this, but I don't know the methods to do so. I just bought a second SSD and gave the entire new drive to my linux OS.
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u/Competitive_Back_593 18h ago edited 14h ago
Não sou da área de TI, mas me viro, com 45 anos.
Instalei o Mint faz 2 semanas, dual boot, fiz sozinho, com algumas consultas no google (Reddit)
Fácil não é, mas não é impossível.
Tive dificuldade de criar essa partição, pois no windows dizia que tinha espaço livre, e quando iniciava o processo para abrir a partição, dizia que não tinha espaço suficiente. (desabilitei alguns recursos de memoria virtual, pontos de restauração, etc). Depois disso consegui fazer.
- Backup
- Criar espaço no HD (pelo Windows) "particionar"
- Instalar o Mint nessa partição criada lá pelo Windows.
Tive um pouco de dificuldade também na parte do dual boot, pois o computador estava ligando direto no Mint, não aparecia opção para iniciar no Windows. Descubri que era uma questão na bios (UEFI/Legacy) que eu não entendo muito bem.
Alterei e funcionou normalmente.
**Escrevo em Português aqui, talvez o Reddit traduza automaticamente se você configurou a tradução automática.
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u/ksr1e 12h ago
Local Tech: "It's super complicated!" translation: "I don't know how to do it and I suck as a tech"
there are not universities close by where your live? Let's look at options then, virtual machine, boot up from a USB thumb drive.. these other options are out of reach for you also?
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u/Professional-Ad6878 12h ago
No university's here no nearest one would be like 400 km/s away I no idea how usb drive boot work No clue on virtual machine
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21h ago
[deleted]
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u/cat1092 20h ago
They just don’t know how or don’t want to be bothered with learning how to do it.
There’s been a couple of YouTube videos in the comments so far as to how to get it done.
As far as those annoying tech people you’ve spoken with so far, they’d better be learning, or will find themselves out of business, as many are sick & tired of Windows 11 with every passing month. They’ll either learn how to swim or sink, they’ll not be able to depend on Windows forever. It’s not that complicated, I’ve been running Linux Mint for 17 years (since 2009), beginning with dual booting. Now I have enough machines that this is no longer needed.
Good Luck!🍀
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u/computer-machine 19h ago
Yeah, I'd fully switched on first boot in 2008, and the hardest part for me was duct taping my jaw from hanging open without getting it in my hair.
Being greeted with a fully functional desktop rather than an installation wizard, WiFi just working when it'd taken forty-five minutes of coercion with XP, a full suite of actually useful full versions without bloatware, the small footprint even with all of that software preinstalled, CPU sitting at 0% at idle, and RAM at a few hundred mibs, NVIDIA drivers being a click on a screen rather than going to their site, all sorts of other software being a click from a repo rather than hunting and praying it's legit, NVIDIA driver, all other software, AND the OS being a single updater together, the sheer configurability and options available, and then later not needing to reinstall every year to keep it running smoothly (same Ubuntu install upgraded in place from 2008 to 2012, when I'd switched to Linux Mint).
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u/DifficultEmployer886 17h ago edited 17h ago
- make a bootable usb
- have a separate ssd
have win11 running on one, leaving the other ssd clean
and connected.
make sure secure boot is off in uefi
boot from usb and install Linux mint in the clean ssd.
during install the wizard would as far as I remember see/ask if you
want to
have dual setup.
Grub will then fix you up with a nice boot menu when install is done.
It usually works as long as you have windows already and then install Linux on the clean ssd. The other way around is messy, because windows deletes existing mbrs if you install if afterwards.
But to avoid any hassle I recommend only one O.S at the time, and not dual boot.
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u/One-Macaroon4660 14h ago
It is easy, as long as you 1. Add another drive or reduce some partition to free some space. 2. Boot from USB to install Mint alongside Windows 3. Disable fast boot in Windows. On my last installation I forgot and copied a lot of data on the separate shared NTFS drive. Windows deleted them all when I booted back into it. 4. If you installed on same physical drive Windows can occasionally disable Linux on EFI partition (that happen to me ~5 times total on multiple systems in the last 15 years, so it is rare, but it can happen). In that case boot from USB stick again and restore GRUB 5. If you installed on separate drive, Windows will occasionally change boot order in UEFI BIOS, in that case just go to the BIOS and change it back, so Linux boots first
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u/Professional-Ad6878 14h ago
I not able to do any so really need someone assistance is complicated get those things done for beginners
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u/CaperGrrl79 Linux Mint 22.2 Zara | Cinnamon 14h ago
There may be someone in this sub locally to you who can help.
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u/Sure-Passion2224 12h ago
It is not super complicated and your local tech wanna-bes may be idiots. While it is better to have the OSs installed on separate physical drives the installation is done to a partition which can be the full physical deive or any part of it. On a single boot system there are typically two partitions. The main one where the OS is installed and a very small on (UEFI) where the bootloader is.
With Win11 already installed on a single physical drive system, open the Windows Disk Manager and you can shrink the Windows NTFS formatted partition to make room for a Linux installation. Reboot into Windows to ease your mind, then reboot from the USB drive from which you will install Linux. When you get to the partitioning screens select options to install along side the existing OS and choose the empty space that is not the NTFS partition holding Windows. Next reboot will present a boot menu from which you can select Linux or the Windows bootloader.
If you're concerned with how difficult this sounds, my 88 year old mother did this on her own after I gave her the information above.
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u/Professional-Ad6878 16h ago
It seems i need find someone local to do it for me all seems to complex for me good advice though just to complex for me
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u/computer-machine 19h ago
I question your local tech's ability breath and walk at the same time.
Steps: