I'm looking to set up my system so that I can easily choose between Linux Mint and Windows at startup. Currently, I have Linux Mint as my main operating system, but I also have an external drive with Windows installed that is always plugged in. Instead of accessing the BIOS every time I want to switch boot drives, is there a user-friendly way (like a GUI) to select which OS to boot into on startup?
2 Answers
You can use rEFInd, which is a great boot manager that makes it easier to choose between different operating systems. It allows for a graphical interface and has a lot of customizable options available on GitHub. It’s pretty user-friendly!
You might want to go with GRUB, which is already installed if you're using Linux Mint. It should automatically detect the OS on your external drive. When you boot up, you'll get a menu where you can pick which system to load before it defaults to the main OS after a short countdown.
Yeah, I remember GRUB gives you a decent amount of time to select, usually about 10 seconds. If you press the key for it right after you power up, you might even get a quick menu without fully entering BIOS.