Gonna give Linux another try, any guidance is welcome!
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Hey guys, after 2 years since my last attempt (and recently trying fedora on my laptop) Im ready to try again to install it on my desktop. First time I installed Nobara and it nuked my windows boots partition which caused a lot of trouble and trauma (couldnt boot into windows no matter what). Basically I want to accomplish this:
1- I want to install Fedora on a separate drive and keep my windows drive completely intact (Need it for work).
2- Preferably I would like GRUB to ask which boot option I want to use if my linux drive is set to be my boot drive and to boot straight to windows if its my windows drive set to boot.
Can someone please guide me into installing it the safest way possible? -
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Hey guys, after 2 years since my last attempt (and recently trying fedora on my laptop) Im ready to try again to install it on my desktop. First time I installed Nobara and it nuked my windows boots partition which caused a lot of trouble and trauma (couldnt boot into windows no matter what). Basically I want to accomplish this:
1- I want to install Fedora on a separate drive and keep my windows drive completely intact (Need it for work).
2- Preferably I would like GRUB to ask which boot option I want to use if my linux drive is set to be my boot drive and to boot straight to windows if its my windows drive set to boot.
Can someone please guide me into installing it the safest way possible?Fedora will default to your empty drive, but just in case, but into the liveUSB, and identify your drive assignments and partitions so you are POSITIVE you're installing to the right drive. The installer will ask you multiple times where you want to install, so it shouldn't be a problem.
Grub will default to asking you what you want to boot. You can change the defaults after install if you'd like.
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Fedora will default to your empty drive, but just in case, but into the liveUSB, and identify your drive assignments and partitions so you are POSITIVE you're installing to the right drive. The installer will ask you multiple times where you want to install, so it shouldn't be a problem.
Grub will default to asking you what you want to boot. You can change the defaults after install if you'd like.
All my drives have different sizes so the chance is super low. My worries is because I picked the correct drive in nobara and it still nuked my windows boot partition (the rest of my windows drive was fine but couldnt boot into it), I was wondering if I need to somehow disable my windows drive to make sure nothing happens to it, but then Im worried GRUB wont see it
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All my drives have different sizes so the chance is super low. My worries is because I picked the correct drive in nobara and it still nuked my windows boot partition (the rest of my windows drive was fine but couldnt boot into it), I was wondering if I need to somehow disable my windows drive to make sure nothing happens to it, but then Im worried GRUB wont see it
I'd have to see the Nonara install to know, but I don't see how that would happen then or now. I've installed thousands of machines and never had it accidentally do anything like "miss" the correct target drive.
Either way, you shouldn't have an issue now.
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I'd have to see the Nonara install to know, but I don't see how that would happen then or now. I've installed thousands of machines and never had it accidentally do anything like "miss" the correct target drive.
Either way, you shouldn't have an issue now.
Technically it didnt miss, it installed in the correct drive but still destroyed my windows boot partition. I asked in the nobara disc and they said the program nobara uses to install is bad, so maybe that is why? So I can just install Fedora on my other drive without any worries? Nothing special to keep in mind? Should I use Fedora's tool to create the bootable drive?
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Technically it didnt miss, it installed in the correct drive but still destroyed my windows boot partition. I asked in the nobara disc and they said the program nobara uses to install is bad, so maybe that is why? So I can just install Fedora on my other drive without any worries? Nothing special to keep in mind? Should I use Fedora's tool to create the bootable drive?
Yep. Installing on two different drives, make sure you go into your BIOS settings and set the new drive as the first boot target to get you a Grub menu on boot though.
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Hey guys, after 2 years since my last attempt (and recently trying fedora on my laptop) Im ready to try again to install it on my desktop. First time I installed Nobara and it nuked my windows boots partition which caused a lot of trouble and trauma (couldnt boot into windows no matter what). Basically I want to accomplish this:
1- I want to install Fedora on a separate drive and keep my windows drive completely intact (Need it for work).
2- Preferably I would like GRUB to ask which boot option I want to use if my linux drive is set to be my boot drive and to boot straight to windows if its my windows drive set to boot.
Can someone please guide me into installing it the safest way possible?For anyone new to the Linux world, I can't recommend Learn Linux TV enough. He has a video walking through this exact process, here's an Invidious and YouTube link for it.
As far as dual booting goes, issues can arise after updates. I recall this happening a few months back due to a Windows update. So just be aware of this possibly happening down the road. I need Windows for work at times too, but I strictly use a VM. I've hated Microsoft since Windows 8, their amount of user tracking is bonkers and a big part of why I just use a VM. This is just food for thought though.
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Yep. Installing on two different drives, make sure you go into your BIOS settings and set the new drive as the first boot target to get you a Grub menu on boot though.
and if I set it back to windows it will boot straight into it with no issues right (no GRUB)?
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Hey guys, after 2 years since my last attempt (and recently trying fedora on my laptop) Im ready to try again to install it on my desktop. First time I installed Nobara and it nuked my windows boots partition which caused a lot of trouble and trauma (couldnt boot into windows no matter what). Basically I want to accomplish this:
1- I want to install Fedora on a separate drive and keep my windows drive completely intact (Need it for work).
2- Preferably I would like GRUB to ask which boot option I want to use if my linux drive is set to be my boot drive and to boot straight to windows if its my windows drive set to boot.
Can someone please guide me into installing it the safest way possible?If you mean different physical drives, I would suggest detatching the drive with the already installed system when installing the second one.
Also, Linux installers may behave differently from one another, so I would suggest testing on another machine if possible, or at least backing up what you cannot afford to lose in the current machine, shrinking the Windows partition with its native partition manager instead, and picking a system whose installer can spot the correct partitions, maybe e.g. Mint with its option to be installed alongside an already installed system, or Endeavour which, from what I remember, can detect empty partitions.
Also if during install, grub is not set up to have both Linux and Windows as start options, there is a grub manager on Linux too, so that can be salvaged.
And lastly, a word of warning, and reiterating a past point, testing something as big as a dual boot in a computer with sensitive and already existing data is playing with fire.
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If you mean different physical drives, I would suggest detatching the drive with the already installed system when installing the second one.
Also, Linux installers may behave differently from one another, so I would suggest testing on another machine if possible, or at least backing up what you cannot afford to lose in the current machine, shrinking the Windows partition with its native partition manager instead, and picking a system whose installer can spot the correct partitions, maybe e.g. Mint with its option to be installed alongside an already installed system, or Endeavour which, from what I remember, can detect empty partitions.
Also if during install, grub is not set up to have both Linux and Windows as start options, there is a grub manager on Linux too, so that can be salvaged.
And lastly, a word of warning, and reiterating a past point, testing something as big as a dual boot in a computer with sensitive and already existing data is playing with fire.
but if I can remove my windows drive then it would be 100% safe right? Its an NVME drive and I think I can disable it in my BIOS, removing it would be a massive pain
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but if I can remove my windows drive then it would be 100% safe right? Its an NVME drive and I think I can disable it in my BIOS, removing it would be a massive pain
Dunno what sort of setup you have, but what I would do, considering my setup and by being a tad on the neurotic side, is to unscrew and detatch any drives but the one to be flashed. This, I think, is the only way to be absolutely sure nothing goes in the wrong place.
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Dunno what sort of setup you have, but what I would do, considering my setup and by being a tad on the neurotic side, is to unscrew and detatch any drives but the one to be flashed. This, I think, is the only way to be absolutely sure nothing goes in the wrong place.
I would need to dismantle almost everything and would lose the heatsink past on my nvme too, I will just try disabling it since I dont really see how that would be different from removing, not like the fedora installer can mess with my bios settings no?
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Hey guys, after 2 years since my last attempt (and recently trying fedora on my laptop) Im ready to try again to install it on my desktop. First time I installed Nobara and it nuked my windows boots partition which caused a lot of trouble and trauma (couldnt boot into windows no matter what). Basically I want to accomplish this:
1- I want to install Fedora on a separate drive and keep my windows drive completely intact (Need it for work).
2- Preferably I would like GRUB to ask which boot option I want to use if my linux drive is set to be my boot drive and to boot straight to windows if its my windows drive set to boot.
Can someone please guide me into installing it the safest way possible?The best advice I can give you is to switch to Linux is don't right away. Switch the applications you use to open source or Linux compatible alternatives that also run on windows. Then after you get used to those on windows then make the switch.
I would also recommend not dual booting at first since it's too easy to jump ship at the slightest issue vs sticking with it to figure out the issue just like you would with a problem on windows. It's a real thing I have experienced it in reverse as a long time Linux user that tried Windows 11 i kept jumping back to Linux every time I ran into issues that caused frustration.
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Hey guys, after 2 years since my last attempt (and recently trying fedora on my laptop) Im ready to try again to install it on my desktop. First time I installed Nobara and it nuked my windows boots partition which caused a lot of trouble and trauma (couldnt boot into windows no matter what). Basically I want to accomplish this:
1- I want to install Fedora on a separate drive and keep my windows drive completely intact (Need it for work).
2- Preferably I would like GRUB to ask which boot option I want to use if my linux drive is set to be my boot drive and to boot straight to windows if its my windows drive set to boot.
Can someone please guide me into installing it the safest way possible? -
and if I set it back to windows it will boot straight into it with no issues right (no GRUB)?
Yep! Grub should show you the Fedora or Windows boot options though, so you shouldn't need to flop back and forth in the BIOS.
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Hey guys, after 2 years since my last attempt (and recently trying fedora on my laptop) Im ready to try again to install it on my desktop. First time I installed Nobara and it nuked my windows boots partition which caused a lot of trouble and trauma (couldnt boot into windows no matter what). Basically I want to accomplish this:
1- I want to install Fedora on a separate drive and keep my windows drive completely intact (Need it for work).
2- Preferably I would like GRUB to ask which boot option I want to use if my linux drive is set to be my boot drive and to boot straight to windows if its my windows drive set to boot.
Can someone please guide me into installing it the safest way possible?As a n00b I'd go Mint, unless you have hardware concerns in which case Fedora is the only option these days (Ubuntu is bad now). I have used Linux since 1996 and would not dualboot in 2025. Microsoft will fuck your shit. Just roll with two boxes.
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I would need to dismantle almost everything and would lose the heatsink past on my nvme too, I will just try disabling it since I dont really see how that would be different from removing, not like the fedora installer can mess with my bios settings no?
This should be sufficient. Go for it.
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I would need to dismantle almost everything and would lose the heatsink past on my nvme too, I will just try disabling it since I dont really see how that would be different from removing, not like the fedora installer can mess with my bios settings no?
Been some years since I last used Fedora, so not able to confirm nor deny anything. Sorry for not being able to help further. =/
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All my drives have different sizes so the chance is super low. My worries is because I picked the correct drive in nobara and it still nuked my windows boot partition (the rest of my windows drive was fine but couldnt boot into it), I was wondering if I need to somehow disable my windows drive to make sure nothing happens to it, but then Im worried GRUB wont see it
You wont get windows in Grub, but since you're using separate drives, you can boot each one by just setting the boot drive in BIOS.
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As a n00b I'd go Mint, unless you have hardware concerns in which case Fedora is the only option these days (Ubuntu is bad now). I have used Linux since 1996 and would not dualboot in 2025. Microsoft will fuck your shit. Just roll with two boxes.
But boxes famously don't roll!
