I'm trying out Linux Mint from a USB drive and I'm thinking about installing the full version on a spare HDD I have. My question is, once I install Linux Mint on the HDD, will I need to go into the boot menu every time to access Windows, or will it automatically recognize the Windows installation and allow me to choose between them? I'm pretty new to this!
3 Answers
When you install Linux Mint alongside Windows on a separate hard drive, you're setting up a dual-boot system. Mint should have instructions on their website for dual booting, which will help you out! If you meant something different, let me know. Just make sure both drives are connected while you install Mint.
I checked the dual boot guide but it’s a bit confusing. Should I enter any commands in the terminal before or after the installation?
Linux Mint uses the Grub bootloader, which gives you a menu to select your OS at startup. If you don't touch anything, it defaults to loading Linux after a few seconds. You can tweak some settings in the Grub config to remember your last choice, but it's not too hard and there's good documentation available. Just a heads-up, though: running Mint from an HDD is going to be slower than from an SSD, which may affect your experience.
Yeah, but just be aware that while the HDD is okay for now, testing out Linux properly would be much smoother with an SSD.
Got it, thanks! I've seen people just select "install alongside Windows" in the installer. Does that work well too?
The Grub bootloader usually gets set up during the Linux installation and should automatically add windows to its own boot menu. If you install Linux on your primary boot drive, Grub will likely show Windows as an option when you start your computer.
Yeah, I mean dual booting! I have a Windows SSD and a spare HDD from an old laptop, so that setup is good for me.