The Dreaded Dual Boot

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sethrewha

The Dreaded Dual Boot

Post by sethrewha »

I love my new Mint install! It's by far my favorite distro and I plan to call it home :) But my partner is unhappy that we can't play our favorite games together anymore so I agreed to attach a second hard drive and dual boot just for him. My problem is that I don't want to hook it up and install Windows (barf) on that and then not be able to boot into my Mint drive anymore. I've seen people post about installing on the same drive but different partitions but that doesn't apply to me. Is anyone knowledgable enough about this to help me out?
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Pierre
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Re: The Dreaded Dual Boot

Post by Pierre »

since you now have two HDDs installed,,
then disconnect the drive with the LinuxMint on it,, and then install the Windows System onto the first drive.
- then re-boot & check that the Windows System now works okay.

now, re-connect the second drive, that has the LinuxMint installed onto that,,
and set it to be the Default Boot Drive in the system BIOS,,
finally get the Linux Grub Boot Loader to Update with:

Code: Select all

sudo update-grub
then check that Both Operating Systems - are Listed in that Grub Boot Menu.
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sethrewha

Re: The Dreaded Dual Boot

Post by sethrewha »

So to be clear and make sure I don't mess up I will disconnect the Mint HD, connect the Windows HD and install that. Make sure Windows boots and works then shut down and connect both. Select the Mint HD as my startup device and update grub? Just wanna make sure I'll be able to boot into Mint :)
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Pierre
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Posts: 13192
Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2008 5:33 am
Location: Perth, AU.

Re: The Dreaded Dual Boot

Post by Pierre »

so, once the Windows system is working okay,,
then you should be able to re-connect that other drive, & select it as the Boot Drive:
- at this point you should now only be able to Boot the Linux system .. ..
then run sudo update-grub to restore the Windows system, again.

do experiment with your machine & check that you can actually select either drive - to boot from.
- before you do get too involved, with installing any Windows system.
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Please edit your original post title to include [SOLVED] - when your problem is solved!
and DO LOOK at those Unanswered Topics - - you may be able to answer some!.
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