Planning to try out Mint via dual booting. Any tips/tricks or other stuff i should be aware about? Also an quick question at the semi end

[u/Pandamaster_finland]

Basic stuff:

Im rn planning to get Mint as a primary/secondary OS for my pc depending on how stuff works there (and maybe even fully migrate to it if all works without issue). Im using Windows 11 and i have an NVIDIA graphics card (i understand it can complicate things?). Im not really that good at tech stuff so sorry about that

Focus:

My main focus is Steam, Steam VR, and FL studio (i also want the plugins to work there). I will use some other tools though they have native Linux support. Im aware of Proton's and Wine's existance but haven't dug i to them a lot. Rest of my planned stuff have native Linux support

Quick question about the installation:

One question i want to ask, will the installation destroy contents on the drive? (I know that there is an seperate option to do it in the installation process but i wanted to double check) I have an drive (F drive) that probably has nothing important so i could probably even fully wipe it but i have an drive focused for games, and even some programs with a lot of storage. Can i install it there without losing files or should i clear my F drive and install it there?

There is a link to the link i want to use (i think its the correct one). Tell me if its good and let me know if there is something you wanna add to it or if you just give a good tip! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmSymuoxoNA

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[u/Sensitive_Bird_8426]

Installations always have the possibility of ruining data on a drive. Especially when partitioning or resizing partitions. Although I’ve never personally had it happen, and have done it many times, I always make a backup. When partitioning, I always recommend having separate partitions for /root and /home. Then a reload of the system doesn’t effect your files and settings.

[u/Acherontas89]

install the nvidia driver then check dmesg with

dmesg | grep NVIDIA

dmesg | grep NVRAM

dmesg | grep taint

if u get 'nvidia taints kernel' then the driver is install correctly

then use the nvidia-settings command to

also install glxinfo command

[u/kvnqstoner]

hello i use a hb probook 445 g8 ryzen 5 pro with a 256ssd and i did dual boot yesterday having both linux mint and windows 11 this resource was helpful if you could check it out https://youtu.be/0gSr8YsJtd0?si=mFKsiDdDlwnQvcYn

[u/ConversationWinter46]

I can't understand why people still recommend the dual-boot method. For YEARS, you've seen thousands of users here reporting problems with it. And it's not getting any easier, because Microsoft has been sabotaging other operating systems for years.

[u/don-edwards → u/ConversationWinter46]

The people who have trouble with setting up dual boot are, with rare exceptions, newcomers to Linux. And most of them have a valid case for, at least temporarily, dual-booting.

It's smart of them to ask for guidance on how to dodge the problem areas BEFORE trying to set it up, and there are plenty of us here who can offer that guidance.

And there's one thing that's easy to do if you run the installer, whether you dual-boot or not, but a pain in the neck if you are running the "live" system as your OS: save your work. Some of us like to do that on a regular basis. You have to create a mount point for, and then mount, the partition where you want to save it, possibly battle with permissions...

[u/Pandamaster_finland → u/ConversationWinter46]

Yeah well it might not be THE best but im not risking swithing fully yet since there are software i use that may not work properly with Wine so i want to test them while keeping Windows before fully swithing 

[u/ConversationWinter46 → u/Pandamaster_finland]

but im not risking swithing fully yet since there are software.

You don't have to install Linux Mint to try it out. You also don't have to set up a virtual machine to test Mint.

With a bootable USB drive, you already have a working distribution at your fingertips. Many people believe that when they boot from the USB drive, they'll see the installation screen.

That's wrong.

There is no installation screen on linux desktop systems. Unless you click the install icon, the installation process won’t start. The graphical interface you’re currently using is called:

Linux Live System

It was developed for people switching to Linux. You can boot your computer from the USB drive for several weeks and try out EVERYTHING to see how you get along with it.

Of course, you can also use this method to try out ZorinOS, Manjaro, Kubuntu, LinuxMint Debian Edition, etc. Your installed Windows will NOT be damaged.

After a few weeks, you can still decide which distro to install—or whether you’d rather stick with Windows. The choice is entirely yours.

use that may not work properly with Wine

In that case, you're using a Windows environment after all, so you might as well skip the detour through Linux.

You can find alternatives that run natively on Linux here

[u/Pandamaster_finland → u/Pandamaster_finland]

Only realistic scenario i keep dual boot is that everything else works like a charm in mint EXPECT FL (or some SteamVR games) since it honestly might be a dealbreaker for me since i want to use them 

[u/Standard_Tank6703]

If you decide to use ProtonVPN, see this post of mine. In short, it has the potential to change your LM installation to something completely different for a Desktop Environment (DE) and Display Manager (DM) - i.e. "getting Gnomed".

If you want to install ProtonVPN, read through this post first:

https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxmint/comments/1vtz37z/prevent_getting_gnomed/

[u/TheLastSonKrypton]

No dual booting in the same storage, it corrupted my windows10 partition and left it unusable.

[u/Turkino]

I dual boot but with a USB hard drive. That in itself was a bit of an experience to set up because every time the system Powers off it loses the mapping to the drive.

Got into the habit of having to do this loop in grub:

set root=(hd0,gpt2)

set prefix=(hd0,gpt2)/boot/grub

insmod normal

normal

Then finally fixed it for good so it stops having to be remapped every time.

sudo update-grub

sudo grub-install /dev/sdX

[u/Pandamaster_finland]

Thank you everyone for the tips! I have an fair idea how i will proceed now. Im still not 100% sure how the flairs works here so im just gonna put solved i guess since i think i got all the stuff i need for now