I recently added a second SSD to my PC and I'm planning to set up a dual boot system. I'm curious whether I need to install a separate bootloader on the second SSD, or is the one that was automatically set up with Windows sufficient? I'm going to install Arch Linux on the new SSD, so any advice would be appreciated!
2 Answers
It's actually best to install the bootloader on the second drive. A good practice is to disconnect your Windows drive during the installation process to avoid any mix-ups. I recommend using GRUB for this. Once you've installed it and reconnected the Windows drive, there might be a chance GRUB won't automatically detect Windows, so you'll likely need to set up OSprober. If you go with systemd-boot, rEFInd can help manage your boot options.
From what I've seen, Windows' bootloader doesn't support launching Linux installations, so you'll definitely need a Linux bootloader like GRUB or systemd-boot. This is how you can choose which OS to start when your computer boots up.
So, I just need to install the bootloader directly on the second drive, right?