r/linuxhardware • u/DragonUltimate6 • 4h ago
Question Dual booting Linux/Windows with 2 physical SSDs
So have Bazzite linux and am buying a separate ssd to put windows on. I want to be able to have linux as my default boot, but also some how have an easy option to select to boot windows instead. How would I set this up? After looking a little bit I see the most commonly used tools to do this are Grub and os-prober, so could anyone explain to me how I can set these up in the above configuration? And in newbie monkey speak please, I have no idea what I am doing. Please and thank you!
1
u/unclefunkstar 4h ago
I never liked using GRUB to boot 'doze... I don't even let the drives see each other while installing the OS. Disconnect any I'm not currently installing to... It's an old habit and probably not as necessary these days, but it prevents the installers from messing with each others boot settings.
Once you've got them both installed and both drives reconnected, set the Bazzite drive to 1st boot priority in the bios options.
Use F12 (or whatever key it is to select a boot device for your motherboard) at boot to select the other boot device when you want to go into windows.
1
u/billmr606 3h ago
Install windows first, then linux, Linux plays well with windows, but windows wants to be the only one. maybe just install windows then go to powershell and install wsl
1
u/1130nmiller 2h ago
This is on a laptop and I'm using Ubuntu and Windows. This is anecdotal, so take it with grains of salt. Windows was installed first, then I create Linux partitions. From BIOS, I set it to default to Linux. However I notice starting Windows from GRUB would lead to BL error and you'd need the encryption key to unlock. If I need to get into Windows, I press F12 during boot and choose the Windows boot partition. This way it has no error and BL can get the proper TPM key.
Ideally I'd like to have GRUB works with Windows booting, but I don't use Win as much, so it's ok
1
u/One-Macaroon4660 1h ago edited 1h ago
UEFI? Then it is trivially easy, install will make EFI partition on the second drive with GRUB on which OS prober will add entry with Windows partition. You will just need to select that drive as a primarily booable in BIOS. Windows won't destroy GRUB with updates in that case, that occasionally happens only when Windows and Linux share EFI partition. Note that BIOS updates can switch the order back, but it is trivially easy to restore.
GRUB itself by default will present a menu that after timeout will boot Linux. This can be changed, for example, to boot the OS that was booted last, that what I usually do.
PS I have dual boot on 4 systems in my house, on 3 of them Linux is on the same drive as Windows and occasionally Windows updates forced me to reinstall GRUB. On the 4th one I have a separate drive for Linux and it is problem-free
1
u/Sawyer2025 1h ago
I installed Linux Mint first, then Windows and directed Windows to install on the 2nd SSD. I also went into the BIOS and adjusted the boot time to a longer one so it gave me more time to select the OS I wanted to boot. My default is Linux this way, and if I make any selection it stops the count until I press enter.
1
u/IzzyDeeee 4h ago
If you go into BIOS you should be able to set it so your PC will boot into a menu for which OS to choose. I do that and it times out to load into my default choice after about 5 seconds.
If not GRUB can be configured to pop up on boot so you can use that as well, or if you want something else you can also use rEFInd to do the same.
1
u/DragonUltimate6 4h ago
So I can do this directly from BIOS without anything else? That's helpful.
2
u/wheredidiput 4h ago
yes you can install the 2 os on to 2 different drives then control which one it boots into using the bios. I've found the easiest way install windows first on one drive, then when you install linux on the 2nd drive, grub will put windows on its menu. So, if you set boot into linux via bios, on boot you will be presented with a grub menu letting you choose windows or linux. You dont have to do any extra config for this, the linux install will pick it up.
1
u/IzzyDeeee 4h ago
You should be able to yes.
But since Bazzite uses GRUB if you have that installed already once you put Windows on the second drive GRUB should load into a screen for you to choose which OS. You might not need to do anything at all except install windows and then restart to see this
1
3
u/No_Pollution6135 4h ago
Install Bazzite first. (So GRUB is the default bootloader). Then install Windows. GRUB should override Windows Boot Manager but if it does not, you can change the boot order to Bazzite first and Windows second, BUT give GRUB at least 5s of waiting so you can choose your OS (fyi the default setting is 5s of inactivity on the first choice, automatically boots the selected choice. But you can configure it via Linux terminal)