this post was submitted on 08 Mar 2026
106 points (68.4% liked)
Linux
64549 readers
186 users here now
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
Rules
- Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
- No misinformation
- No NSFW content
- No hate speech, bigotry, etc
Related Communities
Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0
founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
If you have space in your laptop for a second SSD you could dual boot. That would let you switch without worrying about losing your Windows setup.
And if you go the dual-boot route, make sure you have selarate drives for the OS's. Windows updates like to destroy the Linux bootloader when they're on the same drive
I unfortunately don't have the money for a second SSD at the moment. I considered partitioning my drive, but I only have 500GB and it feels like that would be a pretty big issue if I don't figure things out quickly enough.
I advise against dual booting from one drive anyhow. Not because it doesn't work just fine in concept, but because windows literally nukes the boot data randomly sometimes. It's fucking insane but it's a real thing that happens. Seems like something you can only call malware but instead we call it windows.
Yeah, don't partition your drive just to dual boot Linux. While Bazzite has an install option for only patching the bootloader when Windows breaks it, having to run it after most Windows updates is still not something you should sign up for
You don't need a second drive to dual boot. Although some atomic distros don't like to share.
I would really advise against dual booting Windows on a single drive.
I have to admit that the last time I did it was with windows ...vista?
Why isn't it advisable?
Windows loves to fuck up boot partitions.