I'm getting ready to install Windows 11 on a separate drive from my Linux system. I also plan to format that drive to NTFS from my Linux setup. Are there any important things I should know before going through with this? I'm currently using Fedora 42 with KDE.
2 Answers
It's best to format the drive using the Windows installer since the NTFS driver isn't officially supported on Linux. You might want to create a small partition on the target drive first, just to make sure you don’t accidentally format your Linux drive. Keep a Linux boot USB handy to repair GRUB afterward; this might save you a lot of trouble. Ideally, just disconnect the Linux drive before installing Windows to be safe!
When you say 'marking,' do you mean noting the exact size of the drive? Should I also remove my ext4 drive?
Make sure to disconnect your Linux drive before starting the Windows installation. The Windows installer scans all drives for an EFI partition and, even if they are on separate drives, it can wipe your EFI system partition. Trust me, you'll want to avoid that headache!
Yeah, I learned that the hard way too. Windows can be quite the greedy OS!
Would it also be a good idea to remove my ext4 drive during the install?
Definitely keep a recovery plan handy just in case things go south.