technology

If you dont know how to unfuck a bootloader after a windows update nukes grub then no dont do it. Also you cant share storage cos ntfs on linux is a fuck and windows will lock ntfs partitions on shutdown and gets weird if it doesn’t unlock it itself. Installing on separate drives isnt even relevant advice anymore since most computers moved from MBR to GPT ages ago unless your bios specifically has legacy mode support.

If nothing I said makes sense then the answer is a very firm no. You cant brick anything but if you dont know what youre doing run with the assumption you may have to wipe the drives so dont do it if you have stuff that isnt backed up or that you arent prepared to lose.

Anticheat is moving to demanding secureboot so dual booting wont even work as a solution and neither will a vm with hardware pass through

Use two separate drives to save yourself the headache of working with partitions. The only “headache” I experience is the pc clock will be wrong when I switch OS´s

I'm currently dualbooting. I'd definitely recommend putting windows and linux on separate drives if possible. The only issue i had was trying to play games that were on an ntfs drive, you'll want to install your games on a drive with a linux file system, there are workarounds but its so much easier just using ext4 or btrfs

As sythas points out it is much easier to have windows and linux on separate physical drives so that you can just use the bios boot order / selection avoiding MBR issues.

Also when you are on linux try to avoid mounting or interacting with the windows NTFS partition. Windows has a tendency to throw a tantrum if it thinks someone touched it's stuff. If windows hurts itself in it's confusion then ntfsfix on linux usually sorts it out.

If you don't absolutely need windows for a specific thing though then there isn't much point dual booting. Are you really going to keep routinely rebooting your PC for a couple of months? or whenever you need to do something will you take the path of least resistance which will always be windows if that's what you're already familiar with... best to use a live usb environment for an hour to test hardware compatibility and see if you like a distro's vibe then wipe windows and dive in whole heartedly.

I've had a windows bluescreen cause irretrievable data loss on a separate Linux drive formatted in BTRFS.

Windows updates can sometimes break the bootloader but no problems otherwise

The main downside is that dualboot doesn't reduce your computer annoyances in any way but adds additional computer annoyances. You still need to service your Windows installation but now you also need to service a whole other OS as well and the two fight occasionally.

If the purpose is to get a feel for the OS and check your compatibility with it, I'd recommend just running a VM with your distribution of choice on the Windows install

It should prove way less of a headache and youll get your feel of it anyway

There’s a lot of concern in the replies about the bootloader and an ntfs dmz.

It’s easy to recover from a messed up bootloader, the last step of your installer usb usually has an automated system for installing a bootloader, try that and see if it works and that’s your fix.

Ntfs is not a problem. It has not been a problem for decades. Make sure your windows has quick boot turned off (this is the setting that uses “hibernate” technology in place of an actual “boot” in order to come up faster. It sets a flag saying so in an ntfs partitions description that makes the iirc fuse driver freak the fuck out). This step is a precursor to being able to resize that partition, so it’s necessary if you don’t go the more complex two disks route. You can also stop using the ntfs driver in linux that has this problem.

I can't tell you much about dual boot or gaming but my Outrun 2006 c2c.exe runs flawlessly in Fedora on my 2013 15" MacBook. I find that crazy impressive.

Yeah, use different drives if at all possible. Windows tends to try to nuke the Linux bootloader if they're on the same drive.

I had the Problem, that some Windows updates broke the Linux partition, when they were on the same drive. Having a seperate drive solved that problem for me, but that was a few years ago, dont know it is now.

AFAIK it complicates the boot process slightly but doesn't affect performance

windows sometimes messes with your booting.

hey caj here with the most built on hope and dreams setup.

uhh the downsides? besides the months I spent figuring out how to make rEFInd ( a boot manager ) work with secure boot before it was fixed so it could use shim properly, it's fine, I just.. I was a bit.. maybe a bit dumb and had to spend several hours waiting for my partitions to resize (on my SSD) so my windows just has windows in it and my linux (endeavourOS) contains some stuff I can't put into my increasingly filled up hard drive which is almost always connected to it.

overall, I recommend getting separate drives, makes it easier and less anxiety to have to think of how much free space you'll give to each OS. I recommend rEFInd, but others are fine too I just don't know how they work. Just be careful and have like.. idk, a fully conscious mind when setting up (I didn't lol).

My only problem was caused by windows bullshit. I tried the Bf6 open beta and had to turn on secureboot. It fucked with my graphics card drivers and once I turned it off I had to switch the drivers around again to get good performance on Linux again.

Otherwise, most things Just Work between Steam and other launchers. I've noticed some things like worse performance on Nightreign and screen tearing in Silksong even though it has a native Linux version. But otherwise it has been all good.

Some thoughts from a long time Windows and Linux user:

• I have a dedicated Win10 box for gaming. No shame. I'm too lazy to migrate everything over right now. I use other Linux computers or duel boot to do important tasks, like shitposting on https://chapo.chat/. However the Win10 sunset is pushing the migration up my priority list.
• Duel booting works fine almost all the time. After you finish the install you won't have to think much about it. Mostly...
  • Others have said how Windows likes to mess with Duel Boot systems occasionally. In my experience this happens during Windows Updates, and usually it blows away the boot order. Often I can go into the BIOS and manually choose the Linux partition and fix the boot from there.
  • All that said, backups, backups, backups!
• Back up your Windows partition before setup just in case something goes awry.
• Try the LiveUSB environment out first to check compatibility, like WiFi drivers, and get a feel. Many linux distros, including Mint and Fedora, come with a LiveUSB by default.
  • Very often distros let you run the installer from inside the Live environment, giving you the benefit of a full desktop GUI, tools, and Internet access during the install. If you have WiFi issues, for example, it's much easier to fix them in the Live environment and let the Installer bootstrap from there.
  • I know Mint LiveUSB comes preinstalled with a bunch of useful programs out the gate. I just fired up the latest Mint liveusb, and the Backup tool lets you save both your Home directory and any software you installed through the Software Manager, which can give you a bit of permanence across restarts before you take the plunge.

Not really other than hard drive space lost. fwiw when I first installed Linux I did a dual boot setup but ended up never booting into Windows except to play games, but I just played non-Linux games very infrequently because it wasn't worth it to me to reboot my whole computer just to play a video game. And nowadays the vast majority of games run just fine on Linux, either due to native Linux support (you'd be surprised at how many popular games have native Linux versions) or through Proton (a compatibility layer made by Valve that allows you to run Windows executables on Linux).

I guess the main downside is, if that's you, and you later decide to make the whole drive Linux, I have in the past had problems with data corruption when I try to expand a partition after deleting another. It is a potential source of problems, as something could always go wrong with repartitioning, but I imagine the actual risk is still fairly low.

But if you're sticking with a dual boot setup then it shouldn't have any real "downsides". Windows will work as normal and Linux will work as normal.

The sad thing about dualbooting is as follows: Imagine the annoyance of dealing with one OS. Now you have two OSes, so you have double the amount of annoyance.

If it's just to get a feel for things and see if you can make the switch full time, then I reckon go for it. I wouldn't recommend it long term though.

Absolute worst case scenario you have to reinstall the OS, which isn't too bad as long as you have 2 hours to kill and a different working computer to use to flash a USB.

Wastes my hard disk space lol

One major downside is space, but if you have like 1 or more terabyte, you should be good. In the past, Windows updates have been known to eat the GRUB boot loader but I'm unsure of the current state of that issue.

I have done what you’re talking about doing for 25 years.

There is no need to use separate disks for each os. That’s just complicating things.

Before you start, make a backup, make sure bitlocker and quick startup are turned off in windows then go for it.

Afterwards, practice reinstalling grub (your linux bootloader) from a usb environment. That will be your lifeboat process if windows decides to replace your bootloader.