Dual boot question

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darkfoxx

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Jan 11, 2015
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I currently have a windows 8.1 OS installed on my PC, I was wondering (before I try) if I can put linux on my secondary hard drive without it interfering with my windows 8.1 on the first hard drive at all and if it will just allow me to select which OS I want at the start of the PC. Also when Windows 10 comes out will I be able to upgrade my windows 8.1 to win10 without any problems if I do that.
 
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Darkbreeze
Yes you can do that and no, when you install Windows 10 you'll want to redo both installations as windows boot loader likes to be finicky and not work or be quirky when installed after a Linux installation which is what you'd be doing if you installed Windows 10 after Linux is already in place.


A Windows OS should be installed first, because its bootloader is very particular and the installer tends to overwrite the entire hard drive, wiping out any data stored on it. If Windows isn't already installed, install it first. If you are able to partition the drive prior to installing Windows, leave space for Linux during the initial partitioning process. Then you won't have to resize your NTFS partition to make room for Linux later...
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Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

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Jun 24, 2014
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Yes you can do that and no, when you install Windows 10 you'll want to redo both installations as windows boot loader likes to be finicky and not work or be quirky when installed after a Linux installation which is what you'd be doing if you installed Windows 10 after Linux is already in place.


A Windows OS should be installed first, because its bootloader is very particular and the installer tends to overwrite the entire hard drive, wiping out any data stored on it. If Windows isn't already installed, install it first. If you are able to partition the drive prior to installing Windows, leave space for Linux during the initial partitioning process. Then you won't have to resize your NTFS partition to make room for Linux later, saving a bit of time.

When a Windows installation already occupies the entire hard drive, its partition needs to be shrunk, creating free space for the Linux partition. You can do this during the Linux installation procedure, or you can see How to Resize Windows Partitions for other options.

If you have resized a Windows 7 or Vista partition and cannot boot up Windows, you can use the instructions from WindowsRecovery to fix it.
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Dual booting explained:

http://www.howtogeek.com/187789/dual-booting-explained-how-you-can-have-multiple-operating-systems-on-your-computer/

 
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darkfoxx

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Thanks a lot, I have done it before but it was so long ago and I remembered that at some point I installed another OS and I ended up wiping the drive and redoing the whole thing because the boot got messed up but I had it working at some point with a "grub" boot menu or something.
 
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darkfoxx

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One more thing I will ask is what type of linux would you recomend if any. I like to use a ton of media mostly video editing, watching movies and gaming, so which linux would you suggest or should I just go ubuntu? I have around 500 steam games.
 
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