Help - searching for private distro working in Dual Boot with Windows.

empleat

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Hello,
i am searching for linux distro. Which isn't Ubuntu. It should be possible to install on another disk, without having to disable all other disks in BIOS. It should be reasonably private. And shouldn't use tor! Relatively easy to install, nothing crazy like Arch Linux. I am tired, i already tried many and i don't have energy to search anymore... And least bugged please!

Thanks for help.
 


Perhaps elementary OS
"The fast, open, and privacy-respecting replacement for Windows and macOS"
Will this even work with Windows 10 dual boot??? Does this system put its bootloader on Windows efi partition? Don't say it doesn't unless you are 100% sure, other people told me same about debian and here we go...

I need something reasonably private, user friendly, not bugged! And what can put bootloader to separate disk, i don't want it to put it on my Windows 10 efi partition. But in most linuxes, there is no option during install to set this up...

I deleted successfully debian entry on Windows 10 efi partition. But i have no idea whether or not, this is possible for all distros. Some may not put it there only to 1 folder to be easily deleted...
 
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I'm glad you sorted out the other issue, at

https://linux.org/threads/help-uninstall-debian-windows-10-dual-boot.30507/

But in most linuxes, there is no option during install to set this up...

Yes there is, but you are not exploring the options provided. That includes Debian and Elementary, and nearly every other Linux Distro.

I have installed between 150 and 200 Distros, so I have an idea of what options are provided by the Installers.

There will be an option, when it asks you if you want to

  1. Erase disk and install Linux or
  2. Install Linux alongside Windows or other OS (could be Mac OSX or another Linux)
where you can choose to install using manual partitioning, or it might be described as "Other".

You choose that option if you want to set up a separate ESP (EFI System Partition).

Choose a size of 100 MB to 500 MB (300 is a safe bet) for the ESP and make sure it is formatted to FAT32 or VFAT, not to EXT4 or anything else Windows (eg not NTFS).

If there is an option to check /boot/efi check that.

Let us know if you need further help.

Cheers

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
 
The EFI reads all the available bootloaders from the primary partitions, and boots into the selected default, but all of them will always be available from the boot menu.

Chances are that no bootloader will be written to Windows 10 partition if your drive has a GPT table and if you go into full EFI mode (no legacy boot compatibility), setting the partitions @wizardfromoz told before. An entry is written to the EFI nvram for each of the available operating systems, pointing to the appropriate partition's bootloader, and those can be afterwards edited and even removed by tools like "efibootmgr".

Having said that, what you usually do when setting up Windows 10 and Linux in dual boot is to boot Windows from the Linux's Bootloader, through GRUB. That's been a bit troublesome for me if you enable BitLocker to encrypt Windows (no dramas, just inconvenience to unlock windows' system drive), so what I ended up doing and what's most effective for me is just to have each bootloader in their own world, switch off the GRUB's capability to autodetect Windows, and use the EFI's "boot priority order" and "boot menu" built-in capabilities.
 
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I hate to quote myself, but this is to stop editing the existing posts.

This behaviour I quote below is usually the default behaviour of the installers when setting up the EFI as GPT and pure EFI mode. The automatic partitioner should suggest that structure because it'd be the only that would work.
Chances are that no bootloader will be written to Windows 10 partition if your drive has a GPT table and if you go into full EFI mode (no legacy boot compatibility), setting the partitions @wizardfromoz told before. An entry is written to the EFI nvram for each of the available operating systems, pointing to the appropriate partition's bootloader, and those can be afterwards edited and even removed by tools like "efibootmgr".
And the GRUB behaviour is also the default consequence.
 
I'm glad you sorted out the other issue, at

https://linux.org/threads/help-uninstall-debian-windows-10-dual-boot.30507/



Yes there is, but you are not exploring the options provided. That includes Debian and Elementary, and nearly every other Linux Distro.

I have installed between 150 and 200 Distros, so I have an idea of what options are provided by the Installers.

There will be an option, when it asks you if you want to

  1. Erase disk and install Linux or
  2. Install Linux alongside Windows or other OS (could be Mac OSX or another Linux)
where you can choose to install using manual partitioning, or it might be described as "Other".

You choose that option if you want to set up a separate ESP (EFI System Partition).

Choose a size of 100 MB to 500 MB (300 is a safe bet) for the ESP and make sure it is formatted to FAT32 or VFAT, not to EXT4 or anything else Windows (eg not NTFS).

If there is an option to check /boot/efi check that.

Let us know if you need further help.

Cheers

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
Hmm there was no option to install it alongside Windows 10! Or at least not as pop out window. I chosen manual partitioning. And as i said, i literally created separate efi partition for Debian. Yet it put grub on Windows 10 EFI partition...

I hate to quote myself, but this is to stop editing the existing posts.
Thing is, i am already using under secure boot UEFI and i disabled csm. Tho i have no standard option in bios under boot: to choose uefi and legacy, uefi only etc. Yet it puts grub onto windows 10 efi partition. Even i created new efi partition during linux install! Thing is - it is really easy to delete folder called debian e.g. it creates on windows 10 efi partition - to delete linux bootloader... But i am not sure, if that is so easy in case of any distro. So i ask about this specifically in case of elementary os. Does elementary put just one folder there as well?
 
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Thing is i am already using under secure boot UEFI and i disabled csm. Tho i have no standard option in bios under boot: to choose uefi and legacy, uefi only etc.

Normally this is done under the CSM settings.
 
I hate to quote myself, but this is to stop editing the existing posts.
I have boot section, i can only turn off csm and that's it! In manual is: "Following may appear when you set launch CSM." But i have csm off and i need that off! I think legacy should be disabled, when you turn off csm, but not sure!

But if elementary OS put on windows efi partition one folder as debian, it would be easy to delete. I don't know that tho and i wasn't able to google it...

Someone suggested removing boot/esp flags from windows 10 efi partition! I am trying to install fedora now, thing is, it allows you to edit only one disk - disk you selected for installation. And i can't go back and change main disk...

So i realized i can use gparted on live version before install and it worked. Now there is no fedora folder on windows efi partition...
 
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That’s quite surprising to me. I have Debian and Windows 10, and installing Debian in its partitions (primary partitions) got grub in Debian’s. We’re your Debian partitions extended + logical?

Still, I use the EFI boot mode, and not grub, to switch OSs.
 

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