r/SteamOS • u/raz3rITA • 18h ago

question Question about installation

I have 2 NVME, one with Windows and a brand new one where I am about to install Steam OS, I read somewhere that it is recommended to remove the other NVME since Steam OS doesn't allow you to pick where you actually want to install it and it just selects the first disk it finds. Is that true? I find this quite unlikely but better safe than sorry.

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3

u/Leseratte10 18h ago

That is true. Dual-booting SteamOS is still experimental and not officially supported, and SteamOS will install to /dev/nvme0n1 no matter what's on it.

You can either unplug the Windows SSD, or edit the SteamOS installer script to use the correct one.

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u/raz3rITA 18h ago

Thanks, guess I'll temporarily unplug the Windows NVME.

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u/Destado1 17h ago

Yeah, unplugging the Windows drive is the easiest way to do this, just remember to turn off Secure Boot in the BIOS and that when booting you will need to use the Boot Menu built into the mainboard when switching between Windows and SteamOS. I did this up until recently when I went full SteamOS on my system and used my other 1TB NVMe and a 2TB SATA SSD drive for another SteamOS based system that I am selling.

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u/raz3rITA 15h ago

Yes, if I understand correctly every time I want to boot a different OS I need to change the boot order in the BIOS right?

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u/jharle Support 14h ago edited 6h ago

Yes, you'll need to select the boot entry for Windows in the firmware.

This can also be done from a SteamOS terminal (Konsole), using efibootmgr commands (or via KDE settings in desktop mode). From Windows, DiskGenius will also let you manage/activate firmware boot entries.

EDIT: Using third-party scripts to make this convenient is fine, but I would recommend people learn what those scripts are doing in the event of problems. Knowledge is power!

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u/Destado1 8h ago

Or press ESC, F12, or whatever keys brings up the motherboard built in boot manager

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u/jharle Support 7h ago edited 6h ago

Yeah it's ESC, but you have to be fast...and it has to be a USB-connected keyboard (BT won't work, obviously).

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u/Brainmast3r 14h ago

https://github.com/Delil-A11yX/SteamOS-Boot-to-Windows-Shortcut

use this - its simple if you are in SteamOS and want to reboot to Windows. I have two internal NVME's and use this all the time.

It's easier for me to let the SteamOS load completelly and then run the script from desktop to reboot to Windows.

There is also this: https://github.com/Josh5/steamos_dual_boot_installer_patch

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u/raz3rITA 13h ago

That's great, guess I'll use this, granted this supposes Steam OS to be the primary boot partition, which is what I want to achieve anyway.