Windows crashes after running briefly in a dual-boot setup
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MellowPine42
I've been dual-booting Arch Linux and Windows for about a year. Windows used to work normally, but after spending most of the summer using only Linux, it now crashes roughly 20 minutes after I boot into Windows. The screen suddenly goes black and the computer attempts to restart, but afterward neither the Windows bootloader nor GRUB loads properly until I manually restart the PC. This happened three times in one day. Windows installed updates after the first crash, but the problem occurred again twice. I mainly need Windows for school software such as MATLAB, and I can't currently afford a separate drive for each operating system. What should I check before trying to reinstall Windows?
Answers
Since Windows had pending updates, finish installing everything and then check whether the crashes continue. However, updates alone may not explain a sudden black screen followed by bootloader problems. Check Event Viewer and Reliability Monitor after the next successful boot, and also look at temperatures, storage health, and memory stability.
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A separate drive for each operating system is usually simpler and reduces the chance of one installation affecting the other, but it isn’t required. If you reinstall Windows, back up your files first and install it with the existing Linux partitions clearly identified. Afterward, restore GRUB from a live Linux environment if Windows replaces the boot entry.
MellowPine42: I mainly need Windows for school applications such as MATLAB, and I can’t afford another drive right now. I’ll back everything up and try repairing or reinstalling Windows on the current setup first.
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The symptoms could be caused by more than the dual-boot configuration. A failing drive, overheating, unstable RAM, or a Windows filesystem problem can all cause a sudden shutdown and make the next boot confusing. From Linux, back up anything important and check the drive’s SMART data. In Windows, run the system file and disk checks once it stays up long enough.
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MellowPine42: It did install updates after the first crash, but the same failure happened two more times afterward, so I’m going to check the hardware and crash logs as well.