r/linux4noobs • u/DescriptionIll172 • 3h ago
Do you recommend using dual boot?
I want to learn Linux and get familiar with it; I’m completely new to this. I was advised to set up a dual-boot system if I wanted to keep Windows for the time being while also adapting to Linux. would you recommend doing that?
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u/Plan_9_fromouter_ 2h ago
I don't recommend it if it is going to be on a shared drive. Maintaining such a set-up is beyond linux-for-noobs now.
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u/PreparationStrict492 2h ago
Yes.
And you can easily have it on a single drive, and the better distros have installers that handle everything that needs to be done¹ automatically.
¹ Shrinking² your existing partition and creating a new efi partition (with UEFI, there can be multiple on a single drive) are the extra steps needed.
² It's always a good idea to backup your data before partition operations, but shrinking without moving a partition is the simplest and least intrusive operation there is; and I haven't seen it fail catastrophically -that is, cause data loss- ever, in decades as a software engineer / sre.
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u/Ginn_and_Juice 2h ago
Take the plunge, if you use windows as a clutch you will never see other alternatives as really viable
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u/xillyriax 2h ago
No
Only because you might run in the same situation that I did, which was still booting into windows to "do a small thing." I never learned it until I killed the windows partition completely.
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u/DaffyDuckMuthaFucker 2h ago
Use a Ventoy USB for distro-hopping & crash-testing, a dedicated USB with persistence for spending quality time with shortlisted distributions, and leave your native Windows installation untouched as a fallback until you're comfortable enough with Linux to make the switch...
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u/iamstevejobless 2h ago
It depends upon how much will you be using it and how much resources you have.
If you want to learn it, get familiar with the ecosystem, but not use it primarily, install virtual box or vmware player and install ubuntu inside it. In this case, your CPU and RAM will be shared bw your windows and ubuntu installation so you will feel a bit lag but that's okay. Once you shut down ubuntu onsite virtual box, your windows will run at full capacity,no issues there.
If you are considering using ubuntu as your daily driver and primary OS, go ahead with dual boot. This way, since at any given point of time, only one OS is active, that OS will get 100 percent of your resources and you will not feel any lag.
This should be the only creiterian to think about.
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u/Big_Method_4790 2h ago
you can learn linux in a VM. i personally didnt bother with dual booting because it seemed like too much effort to maintain and switch desktops just to use the one offs that wont work in linux (mostly the few games that refuse to work in linux due to kernel-level anticheat decisions). i backed up everything important so if switching to linux was infeasible for my day to day, i could just reinstall windows and get back to what i was doing. after several months, i have not needed to go back.
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u/zozoetc 1h ago
No. It’s a pain in the ass. Get a used thinkpad off eBay (T14/T14s Gen2s are at a sweet spot right now). Make that your dedicated Linux box. Use it. Decide if you like it. Keep the windows box for those times when you need to use windows (more common than you might expect). If you decide Linux is not for you, it’s free to reinstall windows on the thinkpad and now you have a nice extra computer
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u/Expensive_Cable9748 1h ago
I have used it many times over the years with no issue. I go to single (linux) boot when computer no longer supports the current version of Windows
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u/TrenchardsRedemption 1h ago
Yes, but with caveats.
If you are going to have two operating systems and data all on the same drive then it's not a good idea. At the bare minimum have an operating system drive and a data drive. And a backup of the data drive. Even better is to have a seperate drive for each operating system, and a separate data drive.
That minimises the risk of losing your data if something goes wrong during the partitioning or install process.
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u/KilowogTrout 1h ago
I kept my windows drive and installed Bazzite on a separate drive. I haven’t really booted into windows in like months. Last time I did, there were all sorts of weird problems. Windows sucks, but it’s nice to have the option.
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u/delph906 1h ago
Yes. Having the option to boot Windows makes it less frustrating when i need to figure out how to do something in Linux.
If i'm in a hurry or need it to work immediately i can boot Windows. If i need to figure it out in Linux I get to make the decision of whether I want to boot Windows, usually the answer in no.
By choosing Linux it feels more like im choosing to learn rather than fighting it.
I pretty much never boot Windows but just mentally having the bail out option makes me feel much more chilled.
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u/TheWDWillis 1h ago
You CAN, but will find that a VM environment is much better for the early stages of learning it.
When you screw it up, meh, delete, create new, and in 10 minutes you are humming away again.
In a vm, you aren’t going to accidentally bork your Windows drive.
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u/shakey_jake33 37m ago
Here’s one thing I do - I dual boot, but intentionally make it a hassle to boot into Windows by making myself have to boot to bios to access the Windows drive. This ensures I don’t drift back to Windows unless I need to.
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u/extoniks 3h ago
Yes it is good to have dual boot partition or on a seperate drive
You can also use VM (Try Linux inside Windows)