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Will installing windows on a separate drive break my current linux install?

So, i use linux, i don’t have any windows install on my disk, but someone wants me to install windows on their HDD, so, if i plug said HDD on one of my sata ports and try to install windows 10 on it, will it mess with my linux boot? if yes, is there a way to prevent that without physically disconnecting my main drive? (my main is an nvme ssd, that’s why I’d rather not remove it, already suffered enough trying to screw that in ther

Edit: Fortunally i got to convince the person to bring their whole PC, so now i won’t have to deal with this anymore! Thank you very much for all the answers everyone

cmeu ,

Have done this before, Windows being Windows it will replace grub with the windows boot loader. Use a live disk to reinstall grub and reset your boot options and you’re done.

SparrowRanjitScaur ,

When I used to dual boot I would just disconnect the Linux drive before installing windows. That way each disk had their own dedicated bootloader. Kind of annoying doing this just to install an OS, but the end result is good. Depending on your bios startup settings you can boot to grub, or boot directly to Windows.

moonpiedumplings ,

No. Windows will only replace the removable media path at EFIbootbootx64.efi, of the bootloader. If grub is stored somewhere else, windows won’t replace it.

wiki.debian.org/UEFI#Force_grub-efi_installation_…

However, not every motherboard is compliant with the UEFI spec, and supports booting from other EFI binaries than EFIbootbootx64.efi. My motherboard was one such board, where I had to force grub to install to the removable media path (which isn’t the default on debian, although it is the default on a lot of other distros).

@Quills , you should test if your motherboard properly implements the UEFI specification, by going into the UEFI menu, and selecting a different file to boot from, or changing defaults. If you look and there is no such option, or the option is ignored, then you know your motherboard isn’t properly implementing the UEFI spec.

You can test if your motherboard supports booting from a different file by downloading an abitrary efi file (like memtest), and then placing it in the EFI system partition, at somewhere other than the removable media path. If you can get the UEFI to boot from somewhere other than that, then the UEFI spec is properly implemented, and Windows updates won’t overwrite grub.

Of course, a simpler way to test is to simply install debian and see if it boots. If it does, then windows won’t overwrite grub. If not then it will. You can then install a different distro from there.

recursive_recursion ,
@recursive_recursion@programming.dev avatar

not sure if it’s relevant to your post but:

last time I tried dualbooting Windows and Arch something went wrong to the point that I had to reinstall arch and just run Windows in a VM (it definitely could’ve been a me problem/skill issue)

ever since then, I’ve been running a Windows VM with linux as my host and it’s been pretty smooth so far, the only issue is with Respondus/rootkit browser not working for obvious reasons (mandatory for my course :P)

epyon22 ,

Nothing terrible. Worst case it screws with your grub boot. While annoying you wont lose your data, of course as long as you install to the right drive. You’ll have to re install grub from a live Linux disk and you’ll be back in business.

Vilian ,

because linux devs made the OS to respect your choice if you want to dual-boot, and they ask/ don’t override stuff windows don’t, they just override and don’t care, or don’t test it

Quills OP ,
@Quills@sh.itjust.works avatar

Yeah, window’s awful

lurch ,

this question could indicate your backup strategy is incomplete.

Quills OP ,
@Quills@sh.itjust.works avatar

Well i guess, i don’t really have whole system backups, but not much important data to be lost either, i know backups are good, but i don’t want my storage to go all on that…

Plus a broken boot on linux doesn’t necessarily means all files were lost right? (Unless storage is encrypted, which mine isn’t, but that’s a different case)

lurch ,

Depending on how big and how full your HD is, you could just get a 1TB or 500GB USB stick and back up onto that.

Yeah, a broken boot doesn’t mean it’s lost, but you may need to boot into some Linux to fix it. Having an option like that would be part of a complete backup.

Quills OP ,
@Quills@sh.itjust.works avatar

Yeah, i usually have a bootable usb with some Linux distro laying around exactly for cases like that

Thanks for the advice there!

Imgonnatrythis ,

Bam! Ask a simple question on the internet and watch your flaws come to revelation!

ShunkW ,

Windows is notorious for fucking with GRUB and other bootloaders. You might be able to go into your BIOS and disable your main drive while doing the install to prevent any issues. But it’s been so long since I’ve tried to do that, maybe verify before taking my advice.

Quills OP ,
@Quills@sh.itjust.works avatar

Sadly only SATA ports can be disabled on my board, that doesn’t seem to be possible to do to the nvme port, but thanks there!

ShunkW ,

Ah bummer. Definitely be careful. Unfucking Windows bootloader bullshit can be tedious and annoying in my experience. And I haven’t messed with it since secure boot and stuff started which I’ve heard could be even worse.

Honestly why not just get their whole PC and install it for them instead of just getting the HDD?

Quills OP ,
@Quills@sh.itjust.works avatar

Yeaah.

Fortunally i got to convince the person to bring their whole PC, so now i won’t have to deal with this anymore! Thank you very much for the answers you and everyone here!

circuitfarmer ,
@circuitfarmer@lemmy.world avatar

I’d even suggest unplugging the Linux drive entirely. Let Windows install as if it is on the only drive. When complete, plug everything back in and set up your boot order accordingly. Manually add the Windows drive to your Linux bootloader.

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