I’ve unfortunately got some work related software which is requiring a Windows 10 install to work with it’s software and dongle which I just can’t get working via Wine.
I use Manjaro for absolutely everything else and am happy with my install so I want to go dual boot - especially as I probably only need this other software for 6-10 months.
Everything I’ve read says that I need to install Manjaro after Windows but I don’t want to nuke my Manjaro install. I’d rather just not do it to be honest.
Is there a way I can install W10 to a separate (empty) drive without totally messing up my Manjaro install? I’m not entirely confident with messing around with Grub and bootloaders so the simpler the better.
I think the issue you’re talking about is having both OS on same physical drive.
I don’t see (me, myself, personally with the knowledge I have) the issue with multiple drives.
I would guess, unplug you Manjaro drive (to be sure to not mess anything there), Install Windows on the secondary drive, shutdown computer when you have a working Windows.
Plug Manjaro drive back in, boot to BIOS, make sure Manjaro is the first disk in the Boot Order Priority, save your BIOS settings, and boot to Manjaro.
From Manjaro, run command update-grub as administrator, it will detect the Windows installation and add the Windows entry into Grub so you can boot to Windows from GRUB menu.
Assuming that you use an efi it is really easy… i have done it already. You just have to install win10 on a free space and the installer creates a new efi partition. Then you can switich between Manjaro and Windows in you UEFI. Normally you have to change the boot order, so that windows oder Manjaro boots first. This way it is completely seperated (at least the bootloader). So at the end you will need 2 efi partitions… one for windows and one for Manjaro. Windows can then be removed anytime…
That already the case as I explained, he has two bootloader, each on separate drive, just that having the Windows entry in GRUB is perfect to not having to mess with bios boot option to switch from one OS to another.
Adding Windows entry to GRUB doesn’t create any problem. Just want to clarify that. Disabling OS Prober is a bad idea in my opinion it will make things harder for the user, and for which benefit? I don’t see any.
It may happen (as it was in my case) UEFI will delete the Manajro entry when the disk is disconnected and a computer rebooted to install Windows. In that case it won’t be possible to boot into Manjaro. To fix that Avionyx’d need a Manjaro istallation usb, start his computer from it, choose “Show other uefi” (I don’t remember the exact name of the option), choose the Manjaro efi entry and boot into system on a drive. Then he’d need to enter in terminal: sudo efibootmgr -c -d /dev/sda -p # -l \\EFI\\manjaro\\grubx64.efi -L efi_entry_name (e.g. manjaro)
where sda is the Manjaro drive, # Manjaro efi partition number. update-grub after next boot into Manjaro.
Thanks for all the replies guys. @omano was entirely right. Unplugged the Manjaro drive and all the others just to be safe, put the new windows drive in and installed Windows.
Took forever and so many drivers to deal with but got there in the end. Manjaro drives back in and updated Grub. Job done and a really slick boot option.
Now my machine is soiled with Windows but at least I can get everything I need to done.
Really appreciate the help and reassurance, I was entirely dreading it!
I too kept a Windows 7 drive, to play a few Easy Anti Cheat games there is currently no other solution for on Linux… It’s not ideal but it is practical this way you have everything working all the time
