I'm new to Linux and tried installing it on my stock Lenovo ThinkPad T460, which has an Intel i5-6300U, 8 GB of DDR3 RAM, and a 127 GB SSD running Windows 11 Pro. The laptop gets unusually hot even while idle, so I hoped Linux might help. I also wanted Linux mainly for gaming and Windows for school and work.
Fedora installed and boots successfully, but I can no longer get back into Windows. During setup, I changed the available partition size to about 85 GB, so I'm worried I may have altered the Windows partitions or bootloader. How can I check whether Windows is still intact and restore the Windows boot option? Also, would upgrading the hardware or using a lighter Linux desktop make sense for this laptop?
4 Answers
If dual boot feels too risky right now, run Fedora from the USB as a live system or test it in a virtual machine. A live USB lets you experiment without touching the internal SSD, although it will be slower and isn’t ideal for gaming.
A 127 GB drive is very cramped for two operating systems, especially if you want games. Windows, Fedora, updates, and personal files will quickly consume the available space. Ideally, back up your files and use a larger SSD. If you reinstall, shrink the existing Windows C: partition from Windows and install Linux only in the unallocated space. Leave the EFI, Microsoft reserved, recovery, and other Windows partitions alone.
Before making further partition changes, back up important Windows data. If Windows is missing from the boot menu but the partition still exists, boot-repair steps may be enough; if the partition was overwritten, recovery may require reinstalling Windows or restoring a backup.
You probably don’t need a hardware upgrade just to run Linux. The T460 is old but should handle a lightweight desktop such as Xfce, LXQt, MATE, or Cinnamon reasonably well. The heat problem may be unrelated to the operating system, though—check for dust, a blocked fan, dried thermal paste, or a process using the CPU constantly. Also, the i5-6300U is not officially supported by Windows 11, so that installation may have been made using an unsupported workaround.
First check the firmware boot menu rather than reinstalling anything. On a ThinkPad, use the boot-menu key during startup and look for “Windows Boot Manager” as well as Fedora. If Windows Boot Manager is present, select it directly. In Fedora, you can also check whether the Windows entry appears in the GRUB menu. Make sure both operating systems are installed in the same mode, preferably UEFI; mixing legacy and UEFI boot modes can make one installation disappear.
Do not resize or delete anything else until you confirm the Windows partition is still there. If the Windows partition is intact but its boot files need repair, a Windows installation or recovery USB can usually repair the bootloader.
Set Windows Boot Manager first in the UEFI boot order if Windows is your main system. Fedora can still be selected from the one-time boot menu, and you shouldn’t need to repeatedly enter the firmware settings.