I have used Windows since 3.1, but within the last couple of years I have started using Linux on my older laptop and it has become my daily driver so to speak. The problem is, I do a lot of different freelance stuff from coding to graphic design and I can do most of it on my little Linux machine. It's the graphic design piece that Linux falls short and I need to continue to use Adobe products (Well... I guess it's Adobe that is falling short, not Linux).
GIMP, Krita, Inkscape and Scribus are adequate and work fine for basic everyday graphics work, and I am not really trying to start a debate, but what I am curious about are people who use a dual boot system and if it's worth it. I have a dedicated graphic design desktop setup using Windows and I have been considering adding Linux and making it a dual boot system, but I wonder if it is worth it. I considered converting it to Linux and using a VM for my Adobe products, but the graphics passthru seemed like more work than I wanted to deal with.
Having said that, for anything Windows, I would leave that as native and set up a second boot partition, using a Linux-oriented filesystem, dedicated for Linux (NOT Linux as a VM under Windows and never running on NTFS, horror of horrors).
I would NEVER recommend running Windows in a VM.
Operating Linux or Windows in a VM mode is strictly, in my opinion regarding performance, intended for servers where the compute capacity is huge.
Also, again my opinion, VM on a Desktop should be reserved strictly for a Development/Test environment where compile-ready code is shipped strictly for a "porting" Test/Tweak workflow. Of course, that all depends on the size of the project!
If you go the dual boot route do so on separate drives. Install them separately, in other words install Windows on one drive without the second drive installed. When completed remove the Windows drive and install the drive for Linux and install Linux. When completed, put the Windows drive in and through the Bios/Efi choose which drive to boot as default. If you want to boot to the other OS, use the hotkey of your motherboard (esc, F2 or whichever it is for your computer).
I give this advice from experience. Putting the 2 OS's on a single drive will sooner or later cause you unnecessary headaches.
I don't recommend dual booting. We just saw Windows bork all Linux on dual boots. Between Windows UEFI and Linux disabling OS-prober you are taking risks.
Right now couldn't be a better time to pick up a cheap used computer as literally millions of Win 10 computers will be discarded because they don't meet the hardware requirements of Win 11. Remember Windows is now a hardware company too.
Try Amazon refurbished computers, local computer stores, Craig's list or eBay. If you have friends or relatives getting rid of theirs offer to recycle it for them. Linux will run great on any Win 10 computer.. You should be able to find one for little to no cost.
I am running Ubuntu Mate on 14 year old first generation I5 processor with no problems. It takes a little longer to build the graphics when you open an application, but after that it is fine.
I have a 10th gen laptop right now running Ubuntu MATE and I love it. I don't need another PC, I just would like to enjoy linux on my main desktop and still have access to Adobe products... You know... have my cake and eat it too.
I think I will just leave well enough alone. My desktop has 4 different drives so if I do a dual boot, I may install Linux on one of the extra drives but we will see.
I would very much endorse @mdd12 recommendation of keeping the 2 OSs each on their own distinct drives, if you have those available. Yes, it does imply doing a BIOS/EFI selection of the "primary" drive, but at least you know that Windows will not be aware of, not mess with, the Linux disk or its contents.
Stephen, I'm a retired photographer with many dual boot computers. I basically do what mdd12 suggested. I don't remove the drive, but just pull it's sata cable off, and then use the motherboard bios to choose which OS to load. Install Windows first to drive 1, pull cable, install MATE to drive 2, then you can enter the bios whenever you want to switch. However, with all the drives connected, I usually boot into MATE (linux) and run in a terminal this command
sudo os-prober
then
sudo update-grub
After this - grub will give you a choice on every boot, and there is no need to go through the bios. Just arrow key down to the Windows 10 & hit enter. If you don't like Linux as the default - you can install grub customizer in linux to change the default to Windows.
If you follow your intended process, it is highly recommended that you pull the cable from the Linux disk, while doing the Windows install, to ensure Windows knows nothing about the Linux device/OS.
Then, with Windows drive attached or not, after installing your Linux on the second drive, you can opt to perform the os-prober and update-grub steps, but those two steps will simply reproduce what was done during Linux Distro Installation ... and make Linux fully aware of the Windows disk/partitions, in addition to its own.
If you set the BIOS primary to the Windows drive, there should never be a prompt for Linux, because the GRUB setup will be nowhere on that drive. It will go directly to Windows.
(Mostly when booting from installation media) Just make sure that when you run those commands, your BIOS is pointing to the Linux drive as the primary drive, not just running linux after having chosen Linux while the BIOS still has the Windows drive as the "primary" drive.
Otherwise, correct me if I am wrong, GRUB will put all required and related info on the Windows drive, which will create an issue when you try to boot Windows.
If you always set the BIOS primary to the Linux drive, and only opt for the Windows boot when needed, then you will be OK and not have any issues introduced by GRUB.
And yes, grub customizer will allow you to set the default boot selection (not change the primary drive, which should still remain as the Linux drive) as Windows.
This is all great stuff... so currently I already have Win 11 running on my desktop. I have a total of 4 drives, a couple ssds and a couple hdds. I can clear the space on one of the drives np, so based on what all of you have said, what I understand is I can install a distro on an empty drive, have the BIOS point to the linux drive for startup and then run GRUB to setup the options during startup.
My experience is to avoid GRUB at all costs. I set up the drives separately, and go into the Bios/efi and specify one or the other as the first drive to boot from. If I want to use the other OS, at boot time I hit esc (in the case of my system, it could be F2, F11 etc.). This gives me a system boot menu to choose which drive to boot. I don't want either system to know about the other.
I've had too many times when I want to make system changes and "boom" things don't work they way I expected because of GRUB and then I have to try to figure out what GRUB commands to issue, give up and do a reinstall. Too many headaches.
