Is it best to install win8 or mint first in a dual boot sys?

[nfenton]

What do you guys think? Or does it not matter.

I have two ssds one will have one OS each.

[passerby]

Better to not install Win 8 at all *cough*
Install Win 8 first, then mint; mint will pick up on the Win 8 installation and add it to your bootloader, but Windows might not do the same for mint.

[MtnDewManiac]

I am not positive, but I think that when you install a Microsoft OS, it "helpfully" wipes out any other OS that if finds on the hard drive. Or at least the MBR (so you would no longer see linux even if it was still there).

I have always been told to install Microsoft first, then fix your computer afterwards (lol).

BtW, I know that when Microsoft Windows 8 comes preinstalled on a computer, UEFI boot is enabled (I know, I had to deal with it recently when installing linux on an old friend's very first computer). Is that the case when a person installs that OS, as well, or only when the OEM does it?

-MDM

[cwsnyder]

The problem isn't UEFI, it is the Secure Boot portion. If you have UEFI in your computer firmware, it simply replaces BIOS firmware. Secure Boot, which is automatically enabled by Win8, says you can't change the operating system with un-signed software.

The best way to avoid problems would be to keep the <contaminated> Windows 8 drive not connected to the system when booting Linux.