I've spent the last six hours trying to set up a dual boot system. My partner plays games that aren't compatible with Linux, so I need to get this working. I've successfully installed Windows on a 256GB drive, but I'm struggling to install Linux on a separate 500GB drive. I'm also using a 2TB drive for shared storage. I attempted to install both Debian and Ubuntu, but the GRUB bootloader won't recognize either operating system. I made sure I'm booting from a UEFI installer and that Windows is using UEFI too. Even when I ignore the GRUB warnings about Windows not being detected, the installation completes but only Windows shows up when I restart. Are there any guides out there to help? I'm pretty exhausted at this point, and it's almost 5 AM. Also, I had to use an external SSD instead of a USB stick for the installer; not sure if that matters.
5 Answers
Try entering your motherboard's boot menu (usually by pressing F11 or F12 while booting) to see if you can choose the boot drive for Linux directly. This might help bypass some of the GRUB issues altogether.
Make sure to disable both secure boot and fast boot in your BIOS settings. Then try to do a manual partition instead of using the automatic dual boot option when you install Linux. Keeping the partitions for Windows and Linux separate usually works better. If you need a visual guide, check out this YouTube link I found.
To start off, check out this guide on dual booting. It's really important to understand how GRUB works with os-prober, which helps detect other operating systems. If you're having issues with GRUB not recognizing Windows, try running `sudo update-grub` in the Linux terminal after your installation. This can help pick up other OSs if they're plugged in at boot time. If you run into errors with that command, you might want to look at some troubleshooting posts on forums.
Another suggestion is to verify that fast boot and secure boot are turned off before you start the installation. It can help a lot if the partitions are already set up before the installation starts. Sometimes Windows really wants to be the only OS, especially if you're using Windows 11. You'll thank yourself later if you take those steps.
For future reference, try to use more descriptive titles for your posts! This helps others understand your issues right away. Good luck with your dual boot setup!
Thanks for the tip! I’ll definitely check those settings out.