Gerry Bahre
New Member
I placed the Open Suse disk and attempted to do a dual boot. But something failed and I now have only Linux. How can restore my Win10 with dual boot?
Linux Open SUSE on a Acer all in one desktop.
- Thread starter Gerry Bahre
- Start date
Hi Gerry, and a belated welcome to the forums! Sorry that you have not received any response as yet. I'm afraid that "something failed" doesn't really tell us enough, so please try to describe the problem more fully if you have not already resolved it by now. Did you get any errors while installing Linux? Do you see a Linux "boot menu" when starting up, or does it go straight to the Linux desktop? If you have a boot menu, Linux would start by default after about 10 seconds, but there should be an entry for Windows which you would need to select by using the arrow keys and hit Enter.
I'm not too familiar with openSUSE, but I can load it up on a DVD/USB if needed, or I can set it up as a dual boot with Windows on another computer if it will help to retrace your steps to determine the failure. If you are still stuck in openSUSE only, please look to see if there is an application named "Disks" (or something like that) that shows you how your hard drive is partitioned. Another tool, if you have it or will install it, is called Gparted that will show this information. A screen capture that shows your hard drive layout/partitions would be very helpful, but we can also get this information by issuing some commands in a terminal.
The worst case will be if you allowed openSUSE to install to the entire disk, as that would have totally erased your Windows system. If Windows has not been erased (but is not available on the Linux boot menu I mentioned above)... then it may also be possible to start Windows by using the BIOS boot menu. This is usually activated by hitting some F-key at boot up, like F-10, or F-12, or possibly the ESC key too... this BIOS boot menu may show an option to boot Windows but it may be called something else, not quite so clear.
Let us know some other particulars too... which version of openSUSE did you install? We got Acer all-in-one desktop from your title (thanks!) but also give the exact model number for that. This probably won't matter, but sometimes a particular brand/model can have unique issues.
Cheers
I'm not too familiar with openSUSE, but I can load it up on a DVD/USB if needed, or I can set it up as a dual boot with Windows on another computer if it will help to retrace your steps to determine the failure. If you are still stuck in openSUSE only, please look to see if there is an application named "Disks" (or something like that) that shows you how your hard drive is partitioned. Another tool, if you have it or will install it, is called Gparted that will show this information. A screen capture that shows your hard drive layout/partitions would be very helpful, but we can also get this information by issuing some commands in a terminal.
The worst case will be if you allowed openSUSE to install to the entire disk, as that would have totally erased your Windows system. If Windows has not been erased (but is not available on the Linux boot menu I mentioned above)... then it may also be possible to start Windows by using the BIOS boot menu. This is usually activated by hitting some F-key at boot up, like F-10, or F-12, or possibly the ESC key too... this BIOS boot menu may show an option to boot Windows but it may be called something else, not quite so clear.
Let us know some other particulars too... which version of openSUSE did you install? We got Acer all-in-one desktop from your title (thanks!) but also give the exact model number for that. This probably won't matter, but sometimes a particular brand/model can have unique issues.
Cheers
Bayou Bengal
Active Member
Virtually every Linux installation I have done is a dual boot with windows. It is best to always install windows first. Most people ask why. The short answer is Linux can see windows partitions, but windows can't see Linux partitions. Let me rephrase that slightly. Windows developers refuse to let windows display other OS partitions, but that's what you get with a closed ecosystem.
Simplest way to setup for a dual boot is install your windows OS first using advanced options on the install. Advanced Install is really a manual install for windows, and it allows you to setup partitions on your hard drive. If you are comfortable with installing windows like that go ahead and do it. If not, just do a normal install with windows, you can resize your disk later using windows Admin Tools. The downside of this type of windows install is, depending on your version, you may get multiple windows created partitions. The worst I have seen was 4 for Win 7.
What ever way you choose to install windows, just make sure the amount of space you have saved for Linux is unformatted and unallocated. After you are done with windows, boot from your live CD or thumb drive and install Linux by selecting the manual install. The Live CD/thumb drive will not call it a manual install, it will be an option like "Something Other" depending on your version. There is also a way to preserve and use both the Windows MBR and the Linux Grub menu, but that is a topic for another day.
Simplest way to setup for a dual boot is install your windows OS first using advanced options on the install. Advanced Install is really a manual install for windows, and it allows you to setup partitions on your hard drive. If you are comfortable with installing windows like that go ahead and do it. If not, just do a normal install with windows, you can resize your disk later using windows Admin Tools. The downside of this type of windows install is, depending on your version, you may get multiple windows created partitions. The worst I have seen was 4 for Win 7.
What ever way you choose to install windows, just make sure the amount of space you have saved for Linux is unformatted and unallocated. After you are done with windows, boot from your live CD or thumb drive and install Linux by selecting the manual install. The Live CD/thumb drive will not call it a manual install, it will be an option like "Something Other" depending on your version. There is also a way to preserve and use both the Windows MBR and the Linux Grub menu, but that is a topic for another day.
Nicely put, "BB" 
And
... can in itself present a problem if the User is on a computer with BIOS/MBR and restricted to four (4) Primary Partitions (not by us" ie Linux, but by MS-DOS). Not insurmountable, but careful planning is needed.
Cheers
Wiz
And
... can in itself present a problem if the User is on a computer with BIOS/MBR and restricted to four (4) Primary Partitions (not by us" ie Linux, but by MS-DOS). Not insurmountable, but careful planning is needed.
Cheers
Wiz
Some distros offer an "install alongside Windows" option that usually works quite well without the need to prepare a partition with unallocated space first. It provides a graphical "slider" that allows resizing the Windows partition to make room for Linux.
But, as with any install, you still must be careful to watch what you're doing, and things can still go wrong. It cannot be said enough times that if you have important data on the Windows partition, back it up to a safe storage before attempting to set up a dual boot configuration.
Cheers
But, as with any install, you still must be careful to watch what you're doing, and things can still go wrong. It cannot be said enough times that if you have important data on the Windows partition, back it up to a safe storage before attempting to set up a dual boot configuration.
Cheers
