Dual Boot Question

D

Desenski

Guest
Hello,
In my computer I have a 250GB SSD, a 120GB SSD, and a 2TB HDD. My goal right now is to put a fresh install of Windows 8.1 on the 250GB SSD, and put Linux on the 120GB SSD, and have both use the 2TB for storage (doesn't matter if they both use different partitions). But I'm not sure how I would get the computer to ask which OS to boot into on start up seeing as they are on different drives. Im pretty sure I would get GRUB on the SSD with Windows and boot into that drive, which it will then ask if I want Windows or Linux. I'm not sure how to setup GRUB like this though. Any help or suggestions would be awesome!
 


Hello,
In my computer I have a 250GB SSD, a 120GB SSD, and a 2TB HDD. My goal right now is to put a fresh install of Windows 8.1 on the 250GB SSD, and put Linux on the 120GB SSD, and have both use the 2TB for storage (doesn't matter if they both use different partitions). But I'm not sure how I would get the computer to ask which OS to boot into on start up seeing as they are on different drives. Im pretty sure I would get GRUB on the SSD with Windows and boot into that drive, which it will then ask if I want Windows or Linux. I'm not sure how to setup GRUB like this though. Any help or suggestions would be awesome!
Which Linux distribution are you wanting to install? (Linux isn't a full operating system by itself). If you don't know what this means, try Linux Mint. I will assume you are (and I'd suggest) installing Linux Mint in this example.
  1. Have every drive connected but the drive on which you want to install a Linux distro, and then install/configure Windows.
  2. Disconnect the Windows drive, connect the smaller SSD, but leave your 2TB HDD attached
  3. install a Linux Distro making sure to install it on the attached SSD. A wise option would be to create a separate /home partition (where much of the user data is stored) on the 2 TB hard drive.
As far as the 2 TB hard drive, I would create 2 partitions for each operating system. The first for windows (ntfs formatted), and the second for Linux (ext4 formatted).

For the bootloader (GRUB2):
  1. Plug back in the Windows SSD, and boot Linux, and then either run (as root):
Code:
# update-grub
or
Code:
# grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
if the last one doesn't work, try:
Code:
# grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Reboot the system, making sure to set the Linux SSD as the default boot medium.

If all goes well, you should now see a choice of which OS you'd like to boot upon rebooting.

Hope this helps.
 

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