I am planning to use an external USB SSD to which I intend to install Mint. My assumption is that, as long as I have that SSD plugged in when I boot my machine (a Lenovo T5i Desktop), I'll be presented with the Grub menu which would permit booting from either Mint or my Lenovo's internal drive (which has Windows 10 on it). So that's my first question: Is this assumption correct?
Second question is this: If I disconnect the USB SSD (when powered off, of course) and then boot, will I still see some sort of Grub menu or will the machine simply boot directly into Windows? (I am hoping for the latter.)
I would like not to alter my Lenovo's system in a manner that requires "fixing" should I decide that I no longer require Mint on it. Advice gratefully accepted.
Thanks,
Barry
Boot from USB SSD, then boot from internal SSD [solved]
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rumplestiltskin
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Boot from USB SSD, then boot from internal SSD [solved]
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
Re: Boot from USB SSD, then boot from internal SSD
1st, your machine will boot from the "SSD plugged in"
2. when the "SSD with Linux" is
That is exactly how one of my machines is set up. Err I should say was setup, as I pulled the windows drive.
IF you make it higher in boot priority in BIOS than the win10 drive.2. when the "SSD with Linux" is
NOT plugged in, yes, you should boot straight to windows. No grub.That is exactly how one of my machines is set up. Err I should say was setup, as I pulled the windows drive.
Mint 20.0, and 21.0 MATE on Thinkpads, 3 X T420, T450, T470, and X200
Re: Boot from USB SSD, then boot from internal SSD
Are you booting legacy or UEFI mode?
With a default install, mint will probably put grub (the linux bootloader) on your win drive. If booting legacy it will overwrite the win bootloader - not what you want. If booting UEFI, it will install grub 'alongside' the win bootloader and you will only be able to boot the usb drive from that PC. Generally you would want grub installed on your usb drive so that you can independently boot it.
It is straightforward to install grub to the usb drive when booting legacy. It is a bit more involved when booting UEFI due to a bug in the installer.
You can check how win boots here:
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/851 ... -bios.html
When dual booting with win10 it is generally advisable to disable secure boot in BIOS and turn fast start off in win10. You can install mint with secure boot enabled, but some third party drivers, e.g. nvidia, will not load. With fast start enabled, your win partitions, e.g. C:, will be read-only to linux and you might have issues with some devices, e.g. wifi. With fast start win never really shuts down, so your win filesystems are left locked and linux may find some devices are 'in use'.
With a default install, mint will probably put grub (the linux bootloader) on your win drive. If booting legacy it will overwrite the win bootloader - not what you want. If booting UEFI, it will install grub 'alongside' the win bootloader and you will only be able to boot the usb drive from that PC. Generally you would want grub installed on your usb drive so that you can independently boot it.
It is straightforward to install grub to the usb drive when booting legacy. It is a bit more involved when booting UEFI due to a bug in the installer.
You can check how win boots here:
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/851 ... -bios.html
When dual booting with win10 it is generally advisable to disable secure boot in BIOS and turn fast start off in win10. You can install mint with secure boot enabled, but some third party drivers, e.g. nvidia, will not load. With fast start enabled, your win partitions, e.g. C:, will be read-only to linux and you might have issues with some devices, e.g. wifi. With fast start win never really shuts down, so your win filesystems are left locked and linux may find some devices are 'in use'.
Thinkcentre M720Q - LM21.3 cinnamon, 4 x T430 - LM21.3 cinnamon, Homebrew desktop i5-8400+GTX1080 Cinnamon 19.0
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rumplestiltskin
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- Joined: Fri Feb 16, 2018 7:34 pm
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Re: Boot from USB SSD, then boot from internal SSD
I decided to go with VirtualBox as it would keep everything completely contained and would permit de-installation without worrying about Linux borking my Windows machine.
I do remember dual-booting Win/Linux and OSX/Linux on partitioned drives (some years ago) and, when I cleaned out Linux and removed that partition, there was always some sort of boot issue that had to be fixed in some manner. A VM will resolve that.
Let's call this solved. Thanks!
I do remember dual-booting Win/Linux and OSX/Linux on partitioned drives (some years ago) and, when I cleaned out Linux and removed that partition, there was always some sort of boot issue that had to be fixed in some manner. A VM will resolve that.
Let's call this solved. Thanks!