Dual boot Windows 10 & Manjaro 20

[Jeffrey Lapinski]

Good day all,
Sadly I have had to start using Windows 10 for work purposes and I want to set up a laptop with separate SSD drives, one with Windows and one with Linux. How feasible is this and can anyone point to any tutorials that describe how to do this?

 

[NGIB]

If the drive is easy to swap, do it that way. It takes about 30 seconds and no tools to swap the drive in my HP Probook.

 

[Peer]

It depends on your model some laptops just have a little door at their bottom side which you can open and take out your drive. But others need to be opened completely to swap your drive. If you have a laptop with a DVD drive you can buy a hard drive carrier with fits into your dvd drive bay.

 

[Jeffrey Lapinski]

I am using a LG Gram 17 inch. I already upgraded one of the SSD drives to a 1 TB. The second drive bay is empty and what I'd like to do is install a 2nd SSD and make that drive just Windows. Essentially I wanted to keep my Linux separate from Windows but be able to use the same laptop. I am wondering if there are boot issues doing this?

 

[Peer]

No, there shouldn't be usues.

 

[Jeffrey Lapinski]

Thanks! I plan to by a new SSD in the next week or so and I'll report back if I run in to any problems.

 

[Jeffrey Lapinski]

I keep reading that windows should be installed first. I already have Manjaro set up on this system. Could I simply remove the SSD with Manjaro, install the SSD for windows, do the windows install then simply replace the SSD with Manjaro?

 

[wizardfromoz]

G'day Jeffrey

My suggestion would be to

1. Make a full on demand snapshot of the Manjaro, including Home (Settings - Users - include all files for Jeffrey and Root) and point Timeshift to a USB stick of a suitable size before taking the snapshot
2. Simply insert and install the new SSD alongside the current one
3. Tell the Windows 10 installer to install to the new. On completion, this will temporarily deny access to Manjaro, then
4. Access your Boot order from BIOS and launch Manjaro, and run sudo update-grub and reboot. This should give you back a Grub Menu with Manjaro on top and Windows Boot Manager in 2nd spot.

HTH

Chris

 

[Jeffrey Lapinski]

Hello Wiz!
Long time! Thanks for the advice, I will give that a whirl this week. What are your thoughts on installing windows to an external SSD and just plugging it in when needed and changing the boot order from the BIOS?

 

[Ravel12]

Hello Wiz!
Long time! Thanks for the advice, I will give that a whirl this week. What are your thoughts on installing windows to an external SSD and just plugging it in when needed and changing the boot order from the BIOS?

If you can use internal, use internal. External means you'll most likely forget to bring it along. If the system freezes, you'll also wonder if it's a connectivity issue or windows issue.

 

[Jeffrey Lapinski]

Internal is my preference. I just want to avoid boot issues. @wizardfromoz has never steered me wrong! As soon as I have 5 extra minutes I’m going to do what he suggested

 

[Jeffrey Lapinski]

Update @wizardfromoz I was able to get Windows 10 installed and update grub so I can choose either Manjaro or Windows at boot up! As always, thank you!!

How are things in Oz? Not getting much international news lately with the US coming apart at the seams!

 

[Ravel12]

Update @wizardfromoz I was able to get Windows 10 installed and update grub so I can choose either Manjaro or Windows at boot up! As always, thank you!!

How are things in Oz? Not getting much international news lately with the US coming apart at the seams!

Congrats! That's the first step. The second step is wondering why you left Windows 10 there since you almost never need to boot into it.

 

[wizardfromoz]

That's wonderful news, Jeff

Back from a week starved of internet and playing catch up, lol.

Cheers

Chris

 

[Jeffrey Lapinski]

That's wonderful news, Jeff

Back from a week starved of internet and playing catch up, lol.

Cheers

Chris

A week without the net?? How did we survive before?? Hey, how's the "plague" in Australia?