How to Install Linux Distro on External HDD without the GRUB Boot Menu?

[Rachid90]

Greetings, fellow Linux enthusiasts!

I am in the process of installing a Linux distro on my external hard drive. I have already installed it and set up the partitions for boot, swap, and root in a virtual machine. Now, my goal is to boot directly into the Linux distro installed on my external HDD without encountering the GRUB boot menu. I want to manually select the external HDD as the boot device in the BIOS (I have UEFI).

Can anyone confirm if the GRUB menu will still appear upon installing the Linux distro on my external HDD, or if there is a way to bypass it? Your insights and advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Brickwizard]

Welcome to the forums
I have many external drives which I use for testing new Linux builds [when I have time] all are connected using a USB connector,
how my set-up works , on the machine I use for testing, I have made sure the boot order in the BIOS/UEFI is set to first boot from USB then hard-drive 1, 2 3 etc [depending on how many on board hard-drives are on board, install chosen Linux to the external drive then edit the grub menu to time out 0 [it is usually 5 to 10 depending on distribution] by doing this the external drive will boot in without the grub appearing, should you need to get into it for repair or editing purposes after installation you can still open it as you power up by pressing Esc.

Note how to edit grub time out may vary depending on distribution
if you are only installing one distribution to the USB drive you do not need to partition first, the inbuilt installer can do that for you

 

[Rachid90]

I mean, will it overwrite my main bootloader (Windows)?

 

[Brickwizard]

I haven't used windows in over 20 yrs, how W10/11 will act I will leave for one of our members with up-to-date Windows to answer

 

[Rachid90]

Ok, thanks.

 

[forester]

One does not have to install any bootloader (LILO, GRUB2, whatever).
However, to leave the windows boot loader untouched is something I would not attempt and expect to boot my Linux distro.

There IS a software boot loader called easybcd that may still be free, by neosmart. I cannot recommend it and not be accused of spamming, so I will NOT.

It's the first thing that comes to MY mind when I see such a question.

Best wishes!

 

[Deleted member 108694]

I would just install Linux to your external drive as you would install it to your internal drive - that way the grub is on your external drive and does not affect your Windowz boot - all you have to do then is at startup either tap the F12 key or F9 if you have an HP this will bring up the one time boot menu then select the external drive and it will boot - it is no different then installing from a thumb drive to thumb drive - you don't have to create any partitions on your external drive let the installer do that if it is Calamares or Ubiquity - if it is Refracta Installer then you will have to create them

 

[Rachid90]

I would just install Linux to your external drive as you would install it to your internal drive - that way the grub is on your external drive and does not affect your Windowz boot - all you have to do then is at startup either tap the F12 key or F9 if you have an HP this will bring up the one time boot menu then select the external drive and it will boot - it is no different then installing from a thumb drive to thumb drive - you don't have to create any partitions on your external drive let the installer do that if it is Calamares or Ubiquity - if it is Refracta Installer then you will have to create them

I've read many online articles and watched many YouTube videos, and they all say that at some point you get an unexpected behavior even if you choose the bootloader to be on the external disk.

 

[Deleted member 108694]

've read many online articles and watched many YouTube videos, and they all say that at some point you get an unexpected behavior even if you choose the bootloader to be on the external disk.

I have never had an issue

 

[Rachid90]

I have never had an issue

Did you try to install many distros?
BTW, it appears that Ubuntu has this bug where it installs the bootloader next to Windows.

 

[Deleted member 108694]

Did you try to install many distros?

Yes - here is a great guide - https://askubuntu.com/questions/121...ll-of-ubuntu-20-04-to-usb-device-step-by-step - this uses the Ubiquity installer, Calamares will be a bit different - and Refracta installer different still - personally I like the Refracta Installer you can chroot at the end of the process and install the grub wherever you want - of which I usually install the Grub on the same drive as the OS

 

[Rachid90]

Can we install it on a VM and then clone the VDI file to a USB and boot it (natively)? Will it work?