this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2025
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Linux

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I'm looking to install Linux on our home laptop and see if I can convince my wife to migrate off Windows. Since I'm not sure there won't be times we need or want to boot back into Windows, I want to set it up so we can dual boot. The laptop only has a spot for one drive however so I can't use two drives and chose them with the bios. I know in the past Windows has been problematic with dual boot setups on a single drive, corrupting the boot drive following updates and what-not. I'd really like to avoid that if possible.

Any suggestions on how best to go about it, or something I should at least avoid because it's known to be problematic?

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[–] pogodem0n@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago (3 children)

You don't need to have different drives to avoid Windows overriding your bootloader. Having a separate EFI partition for your Linux install should be enough.

[–] WolfLink@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Actually having different drives is insufficient to keep windows and linux, or multiple different linux install, from fighting over bootloaders lol.

[–] serendepity@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I have no problems with separate drives for my dual-boot setup. The easiest way to set it up is to install linux on one, remove it, install Windows on the other, plug in the linux disk back and then use the UEFI boot manager to switch between them. This way, each OS gets its own EFI partition that doesn’t mess with the other’s. You can also do this without removing the linux disk after installing. The only caveat is that you may need to manually restore the Windows EFI.

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