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What is the most painless and minimal way to dual boot these days? (discuss.tchncs.de)
submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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I've been happily Windows-free for about 5 years, but lately I need some Win-only software including a few games that don't work at all on Linux. My main questions:

  • How to avoid Windows messing with my Linux install? Having a separate PC is not possible for me right now. I'm considering uninstalling grub and instead selecting the boot device I want from UEFI, idk if this is advisable though.

  • I'm also interested in how to get a Windows install that's as minimal as possible: I don't want to log in to a Microsoft account, I don't want telemetry etc, I only want whatever is strictly required to make my system functional. The one thing I do want is Windows Defender cause ain't no way I'm dealing with an antivirus.

  • Should I go for Win 11 or stick to 10?

Any tips or experiences are welcome!

Ps: I know this information is probably all out there, but I thought a post in this community about it would be useful for others as well.

UPDATE: I ended up going with a regular old dual boot using Windows 10 iot LTSC - there's a few games I wanted to run and a driver as well so I chose to install directly on hardware as opposed to a VM. I created the install media using Ventoy, and UNPLUGGED EVERY OTHER DRIVE during installation except the one Windows was supposed to come on. Afterwards I had to boot in with a live Linux USB (the nice thing about Ventoy is that you can write multiple ISOs to your USB so it came in handy) to manually install rEFInd onto the original EFI partition that my Linux install uses, then I just had to set up the correct boot order in UEFI and everything is working. I also had to fuck around on the boot partition and with efibootmgr to remove all traces of grub so things don't get tangled up which was a bit scary but things are working perfectly now.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Letting windows install on its own drive by removing the linux drive (otherwise it will select that drives efi partition), I use systemd boot and I just copied the EFI/Microsoft folder from the windows drive efi partition to the linux efi partition systemd-boot will auto detect it. As for minimal, just use windows 10 ltsc, or windows education and use a debloater tool that is trustworthy (I like winutill).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

I've got two separate drives. Linux Mint on an SSD and Windows 10 on an older, mechanical drive. Leave the Windows drive alone. Make the Linux drive the first drive in your BIOS boot order, with the option to boot to Windows as your second drive.

If your GRUB menu doesn't show the Windows drive yet, run "sudo update-grub" to detect it. When your reboot, the bootloader should show both options.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

As for the second question: Windows 11 IoT LTSC has yet to be mentioned here - the only things that can stop you from using it are legality and convenience.

I'm not sure if W10 has an IoT LTSC version, but W10 LTSC does exist.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Windows on external USB drive, disconnected after each use

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Get a second pc and a kvm switch

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

You can (at least the last time I ran an install) get both 10 and 11 installed without a Microsoft account, 11 just requires this process to do it. If you have an old ISO of 11 around it should allow a local account if you don't connect to the internet, but they apparently patched that out now.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Windows 11 iot enterprise + opensuse tumbleweed kde works flawlessly

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

I have Windows EFI and Linux EFI partitions on same srive. Secureboot is set to load Linux EFI Grub, a chainloader entry in Grub will handoff to Windows boot loader if I choose that. it has stayed intact for 7 years this way without windows knowing or touching the other EFI partition. But separate drives is probably even better

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I use a Windows VM (Tiny10 works ok here) in whatever lightweight linux OS I'm fucking with at the time. All my files and stuff are on a local server so I can swap distros easily if I want.

Usually it runs ok, can game, and I dont have to deal with restarting a bunch of stuff. I've been using CachyOS, not sure if I like it yet

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

For minimal Windows, there's Tiny11 (german).

My setup (partially in planning):

  • a small box/notebook for casual computing/gaming on desktop.
  • One beefy box hooked to the tv and controller for RPG & co.
  • Remote-desktop to the beefy box for modding & some games. Cable connected, wifi makes remotedesktop slow.

I'm playing with the idea to use Windows on the (not yet completed) beefy box, since some modding tools and multiplayer games don't work on linux.

This setup avoids hassles with dual boot/virtualization. And you don't have your beefy box running 24/7.

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