This One Step Could SAVE Your Private Data From Windows (Dual Boot)

[@RG_spc]

I installed Linux Mint as dual boot, then "sitting on" Linux, copied my personal data from Windows file systems into Linux file system, removed the Windows partition, and used the freed up space to expand my Linux filesystem space. Essentially, I wiped out Windows from my laptop. 1 year, and loving it every minute.

[@TheSlimbee]

Ty I think you just encouraged me to do likewise

[@CowboyTrucking61]

What kind of laptop you have. Some of them won't let you install Linux.

[@TheSlimbee]

@@CowboyTrucking61 you may need to change boot options in the bios

[@CowboyTrucking61]

I don't have one yet, that's why I was asking which one they used.

[@RG_spc]

@Cowboy-Trucking61 Sorry, just noticed your comment. My laptop is Asus Zenbook UX430, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD, purchased in 2017. I had to get into BIOS boot sequence to initially boot from a USB stick (into which I had "pre-installed" Linux Mint using "Etcher" software)

[@xellaz]

A much safer way to do this instead of dual booting is getting another mini-pc and dedicate it to using Linux only. Familiar yourself with it and slowly transition most of your daily tasks using it. On the other hand, only try using your Windows pc with stuff that can only be done using Windows that you don't mind being spied on. I also suggest you debloat Windows and remove all the telemetries and put it behind a firewall and block all non-essential connections.

[@arniespace]

I used to dual boot a lot, but I find it much easier to just have separate machines for each OS. I don't currently have a powerful computer for each though, someday that will happen. My Linux machines are older computers that would otherwise not be very useful. I had to build a whole new computer if I wanted to use Win11, because my motherboard did not have the TPM chip. Linux runs great on older hardware and I can do 90% of everything I need on these machines. I use my Linux machines for all of my online activities plus any office related tasks like spread sheets etc. I use Softmaker Office which can read and write MSoffice files, so I don't have a compatibility problem. I have versions for both OS's, but I rarely use Windows for any office related stuff. When I purchase Windows software online I use Linux to make the transaction and download the files. As for files, I never put anything important on either Windoze or Linux, and it's been that way for many years. This way I can wipe my drive at a moments notice. I have a server/NAS for all of my files running Truenas, and I can access all of these files from any computer in my house. For password manager I use Bitwarden on both OS's and it's been great for that.

[@dollarscholar2956]

Useful, informative, timely and VERY important. Thank you so much for putting together such a helpful guide!

[@heiko272]

Thank you for confirming I'm on the right path. I set up Linux on a 2nd drive 3 years ago. Encrypted too to make absolutely sure Windows cannot see it at all when it is running. I run Windows mainly for SolidWorks. I have run Windows10 in VirtualBox in Linux, but it is clunky. Good thing with that one is I keep it completely offline by disabling network access to the VM.

[@milk-it]

Great tips and information. I've never trusted Windows for booting. I've been dual booting with Grub and Linux on a physically separate drive as my primary boot-loader for Linux, and selecting Windows when absolutely needed for nearly 20 years. Rob: I installed the Linux drivers for my NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000 on Debian 12 and I can successfully use DaVinci Resolve with all that NVIDIA hardware GPU acceleration goodness. It's awesome.

[@50-50_Grind]

What timing! I had planned this task for the summer holiday. Tomorrow I'll add a separate SSD (I'm on a desktop), then go wild in Linux Mint and make it my daily driver.

[@notjustforhackers4252]

Never mount hard drives to your user folder in Linux. Use the correct location /mnt and create a soft link from /mnt to your user folder. Auto mounting drives to a user folder can create boot issues and even lock you out of your account. Keep in mind a hibernating NTFS drive will not mount in Linux causing your system not to boot. Don't say you haven't been warned.

[@robbraxmantech]

Will research this.

[@boirfanman]

@@robbraxmantech Linux will mount to a good spot by default if you use the file manager, which us new users will use. You do need to turn off Fast Boot in Windows for dual-booting, though, I heard. I'd say Linux Mint is the best for us NVidia users (or MX Linux; anything with a GUI for installing graphics drivers), then some other stuff from there can be sorted out. I had to add a line into the GRUB bootloader file but it's fine from there.

[@spirit_wolf123]

​@@robbraxmantechdual boot will not save you from embedded AI or client-side scanning.... You can use open interpreter on Windows to observe how easy it is to see all Linux files....

[@JB-mm5ff]

Dual boot nix on an external SD (not talking live usb boot -- do an actual install)

[@BobFromPineCreek]

Yeah and don't mount them directly to / either. That's the dumbest crap I've seen where I work. If you have multiple mounts create sub dirs in the /mnt folder.

[@kjetiltrondsen8242]

One tip when dualbooting is to turn off fast boot in Windows. When fast boot is enabled Windows will not unmount NTFC when you turn off the computer, and if you turn it on and select Linux the NTFC partition will not be accessible. If you reboot from Windows to Linux, then Windows will always unmount.

[@robbraxmantech]

I added the "Fast Startup" in the description. This was an issue I had after making the video so thank you

[@QuantumKurator]

I prefer two separate physical disks for Linux and Windows, and use Bios to select the one I want to boot into

[@Chris47368]

​​​​​@@QuantumKurator Not sure if this has already been mentioned(did not watch the full video) But, rather than going into the BIOS each time - it is much easier to set up the grub boot menu from within Linux(using grub customizer). Each time you start your computer you will be presented with a menu where you can boot into whatever partition you like! You can even change the grub menu font colours and choose an image for the background of your grub menu through grub customizer! It really is an awesome and easy to use tool! I have a jellyfish background for my menu, lol.

[@easymoney480]

@@QuantumKuratoragreed, for me booting Linux and windows from the same drive was a headache

[@robotron1236]

Or just don't use windows. Why go through all of that trouble when Linux is so unbelievably simple and infinitely customizable to any use case?

[@hermanfelderhof5305]

I agree 100%. Dual boot if you have to, but switching over to linux is the ultimate solution.

[@drakeeblis1788]

Rob your videos are awesome! Please do something regarding what occurred on Friday ‼️‼️

[@l0I0I0I0]

Perfect! I'm in the middle of installing dual boot. Issue was Ubuntu did NOT recognize my raid, but instead saw both disk and not the raid (hardware through ASUS motherboard raid). Work around was to use a USB for Ubuntu, however its really slow. Lastly, I'm going to reload windows on a partition on one drive, using the rest for ntfs storage partition, and use the other drive for ubuntu. Dual boot. Lots of work and time here. Thanks for talking me into using Ibuntu! 😅

[@nacionaldelacapital]

Your comment also on time. I have a laptop with limited hard drive space. So I was wondering If I could dual boot using an external hard drive to do it. And keep my Linux profiles on the external hard drive.

[@l0I0I0I0]

@@nacionaldelacapital Make sure you format the linux part ext4. You can also load linux on a thumb drive and use the partician app in linus to format a drive ext4.

[@jamescarrico1233]

I don't know why people over complicate this. I use two different ssds Linux on one and windows on the other . I leave each ssd unmounted from the other operating system. When I want to switch go to bios boot bypass and manually boot the OS you want. No partitions to mess with or any of that. Never have the OS's messing with each other's files etc. And if I get really really paranoid, I could unplug the windows ssd , can't do that with partitions. It's about as separate as you can get without just having 2 machines.

[@RevWillBreeze]

I learned this from you, BROWSER ISOLATION & MACHINE ISOLATION. I run a Chromebox for Google, a mini for WINDOWS, another mini with ZORIN. 3 Monitors, 1 keyboard, 1 mouse

[@robbraxmantech]

fancy!

[@TimLaytonDarkroomDiary]

I haven't owned or used a Windows system in over 20+ years. I don't know what people think they need on Windows that they cant get on other operating systems, so I would like to understand this better.

[@stvboxtvbox3024]

cadd for linux is ng

[@peterschmidt9942]

Mp3tag, plus some audio equipment software has no alternative on Linux

[@steveh8658]

@@peterschmidt9942 Puddletag on linux is a good replacement for mp3tag. I don't buy equipment that needs windows/mac only installs. Sux if you're already invested though.

[@craigsparks1442]

The answer is always MS365, like that's the glory of Microsoft, it's absolute shit... Anyone needing MS office with outlook is really misinfomed

[@melange78]

Upgrade your current computers as much as you can while you have one that doesn't have NPUs. You can always use them for Linux later when Windows 10 isn't updated anymore.

[@magister.mortran]

Updating Windows is the biggest mistake you can make. We should all be happy, when Windows 10 doesn't get screwed up with new updates. The first thing you should do after buying a Windows PC is disabling updates.

[@AF_1892]

That is a good idea.

[@makinbac0n]

​@@magister.mortranyou cant. Starting with 10 you can no longer disable updates. Unless you know something i dont.

[@JB-mm5ff]

@@magister.mortran First thing to do is reformat the drive, install win10, disable updates while offline, then dualboot your nix install.

[@JB-mm5ff]

@@makinbac0n Windows Update Blocker -- Wub, Wub_x64.exe. Also, you may be very interested in Wise Uninstaller -- it's free and kills the unkillable apps that come with windows and its updates, including edge.

[@michlsei]

Thanks for the tip. Saves me a bit of money, my alternative until now, was a 2nd PC (older HW, so without AI chip).

[@robbraxmantech]

I want the AI chip so I can do local AI using Linux.

[@SirSilversilk]

@@robbraxmantech Rob would you consider doing a video on using local Al using Linux?

[@davidswanson9269]

I've been lurking your channel for a long time Rob. I am in the same situation as you but I use two different computers 😂. Now for casual Windows usage, I will run Windows as a guest VM on a Linux host using KVM / virt-manager as type 1 hypervisors offer more performance for the VMs. Davinci Resolve can be a problem to run if you don't use Rocky Linux or CENT OS. I suppose if you are super gifted, some could use Proxmox and spin up a Windows VM and configure Proxmox to passthrough on its own NVIDIA card and configure Proxmox to use another video card for all things Linux VMs. That way, Windows runs in its own jail where it belongs. A Proxmox hypervisor solution would require 2 video cards for this specific scenario utilizing a VM solution with maximum performance within on metal install performance of 10 percent.

[@Chris47368]

I personally love using a QEMU GPU pass through virtual machine on my Linux mint set-up to run windows applications. You need a second GPU as you have to isolate a GPU from your linux system to pass to the VM(so it cannot be used by the host Linux OS) and that is indeed a very fiddly/technical process...but once you get it to work - it works fantastically even for stuff like gaming and other intensive processes! If set up correctly - your VM essentially has near bare metal performance! I do also have a dual boot option(Linux or Windows 10) via the grub menu - which i set up using grub customizer tool, this tool is amazing!

[@effsixteenblock50]

So - instead of a VM that shares CPU cycles with the host, you are dedicating a GPU to be used as a CPU for the VM? Have I got this right?

[@Chris47368]

@@effsixteenblock50 The VM still shares CPU cycles with the host system. However - the VM gets a physical GPU dedicated to it, the host Linux system does not get to use this GPU at all. Graphic performance wise for the VM, it's as if you are not running a VM at all. Ofc because CPU cycles are still shared with the Linux host system, the VM will always be slightly slower in that regard - but the cpu speed difference is negligible given how light weight linux is!

[@Chris47368]

@@effsixteenblock50 I would also suggest that you look up what vfio passthrough does, someone else would probably explain it much better than me - lol

[@effsixteenblock50]

@@Chris47368 Got it - thanks!

[@timetriad6199]

I think it makes more sense to run Windows as a Client OS (VM) within Linux (Host OS).

[@tendosingh5682]

That doesnt stop spying.

[@timetriad6199]

@@tendosingh5682 how does “dual booting” stop spying?

[@jamesb5737]

​@tendosingh5682 it doesn't but reduces what they spy. The 1 app I use for windows only doesn't matter. Especially when using Linux encrypted drives at boot. Even if they can mount the Linux partition, it's encrypted.

[@joeschmoe7324]

Windows in vm is sandbox but gaming requires access to hardware for performance. That's why I game in linux

[@gillomcswan8717]

First Godzilla and now Windows. Scary stuff

[@hybridinfodesk409]

I DID IT! THANKS FOR REMINDING ME I COULD DO IT. I have 3 operating systems operating on one device. It was fun. If I had a 1T hard drive I would go for the 4th one just for the challenge. I can switch up depending upon what my mood is for the day. Yes, I'm getting work done too. Each OS is a different thought process. lol

[@dchubworldsharenetwork]

Dual Boot - I've been using this for decades... 👍 On the first partition, I have important softwares, games, etc. access to the internal is enabled, but that's all. Many software, especially online games, require internet access. I know internet access isn't good if you want security/privacy, but as long as you don't open websites, email (url links), etc, your computer is "safe." Of course, this is not the same security/privacy as an offline computer, we all know that. 🙂 On the other partition, I have it for surfing the Internet, testing softwares, etc. If something happens, I format the disk and reinstall windows...

[@cx3268]

Using 2 separate systems 1, Windows that is a lesser powered machine (small boxes are not expensive), ONLY running limited apps that demand windows or google account. 2, More powerful Linux machine. Using USB switchbox to share keyboard & mouse.

[@magister.mortran]

This is exactly what you don't want. The only reason to use Windows is computer games and you need a powerful machine for that. What you do on Linux usually doesn't require so much processing power. Therefore install Windows on the high-powered PC and Linux on the cheap one.

[@JB-mm5ff]

That's a great setup (the switchbox, that is), and make both dualbootable with external SDs. PS: If you can get an old USB 2.0 switchbox, it will switch 10 times faster for mice and keyboards than a USB 3.0 switchbox. However, if you intend to share an external storage HD, then you can use the 3.0 (or get both a 2.0 for the key/mouse and one for the drives). Assume any drive that touches a live windows OS is being archived, structure, crcs, and all.

[@rawspeed1678]

I agree with the 2 machine theory, I use that myself (actually more but you get the point). HOW you utilise which machine is dependant on your needs rather than Windows requiring the most or least powerful. I have a Windows machine for high end gaming (and testing a Linux version to be able to remove myself from Windows for gaming) and use Linux for most other things. I also have a powerful Windows machine (separate) for engineering work that has no connection to gaming and generally is not internet connected (Pre Windows 10 and licensing is a once off rather than a session based). Info sharing is done manually for the rare files that need external comms. In each of these K&M are independant and only share the Monitors which happens via the monitors automatically. Very simple and safe for me (not everyone has this level of luxury).

[@CraigLong]

Use a KVM switch and two computers. The KVM switches the USBs for the mouse and keyboard and the HDMI for the monitor. Peripherals are plugged into the KVM switch. Just be sure to eject those peripherals that should be ejected before switching computers.

[@countermeasuresecurityengi9719]

@@JB-mm5fftried Barrier?

[@peterschmidt9942]

I totally agree dual booting is probably the easiest solution if you want to use Linux primarily but still need to use Windows on occasions. That's exactly what I do - I split one SSD into 3 - One section for Windows (about 100GB), one section for Linux (also about 100GB) and the rest for personal files formatted in NTFS. That way it's easy to access both regardless of whether you're using Windows or Linux. However i think you needlessly made it complicated for the user. Generally, you don't really need to swap drives into different slots to copy over the system files from Windows. There's also other programs you can use besides Clonezilla to do the task also. You also don't need to repartition your main drive in Windows - most Linux install programs can do this task when installing Linux. And great if you do have an extra slot - a lot of laptops only have one NVME slot so you'll need a USB to SATA/NVME adapter to clone that drive. Nice that you pointed out the differences in clock synchronisation. And BTW - You can check and repair NTFS partitions on Linux in your distros partition manager. However you generally have to unmount that partition first.

[@PaganWizard]

When Windows 98 was made available, I was dual booting with Windows 95 and Windows 98. When Windows 10 came along, I added it to that PC, and was triple booting. I had no real need to do this, I just did it because I could. I should also add that I have ZERO intention of buying or using Windows 11, for the reasons that you mentioned in this video. I will be dual booting Win10 Pro, and LMDE6 Cinnamon, at least until Dollar Bill Gates wants to charge us to be able to update Win10.

[@r.g.c.3897]

The easiest way to "dual boot" is simply to install a second drive rather than splitting an existing one. Just about all computers made in the last decade have a boot menu you can access at boot. Install a new drive and unplug your existing win drive and install Linux on the new drive. The bootloader will be on the new drive and the Win drive will remain untouched. reattach your Win drive and at boot time tap the boot menu key (F5 on mine but varies by manufacturer) and choose which drive you wish to boot from. This is also much safer as each has their own boot sector on their own drive so no risk of ending up with an unbootable computer.

[@James-l5s7k]

I'm altering my setup now, testing debian running VMware and my licensed windows ISO.

[@landtuna3469]

I set up two separate PC's; one Linux and one Windows. I keep them totally separate. I also discovered that by keeping the Windows machine on Windows 7 I don't have to worry about the Microsoft spyware. The only drawback so far is that a couple of Windows apps no longer work with Win7. I keep a repository of those so always have a fallback but where possible I try to find a Linux compatible substitute. So far, so good.

[@Desire_of_Ages]

Thanks for sharing 👍

[@RAZR_Channel]

I thought about dual boot … and then I also thought about how much we cannot trust windows. So while windows officially says it cannot read ext formats… I would not be at all surprised if they actually do. If we look at it from the Microsoft prospective they go after anything they possibly can and that would be any attached devices especially hard drives. so whenever windows is booted it can covertly Read/Write Linux hard drives with no overt/evident signs/indications. Just another windows spyware running in the background. Further more... I would not be at all surprised if they can even bypass the BIOS Settings... so the only Absolute way I see is to physically disconnect drives you don't want windows to ever see. But that's a big hassle and would wear out connectors causing port problems.

[@dansw0rkshop]

7:02 You don't need to split the drive. If it's a desktop, just install a second hard drive. I've proved again and again how this is cheaper than wrangling out the issues with partitioning a drive for dual booting. (This might not work on what passes for a laptop these days, maybe only high end gamer laptops have sockets for multiple drives.)

[@robbraxmantech]

Just giving the solution that maximizes the disk space. Otherwise you're stuck with whatever the boot drive is (usually small)

[@lussor1]

How you isolate the drive from other?

[@cloudwatcher2509]

Thanks for all you do

[@markod7662]

This information on how to make boot partition is very necessary. I will opt for sata ssd drives which can be easily unplugged when not in use.

[@mkaberli614]

Open your arms an embrace Big Brother. He love you long time.

[@escherichiacoli7069]

"he love you long time BABY...... long long time" ;)

[@Gabe-n4v]

No wonder i have hemorrhoids!

[@toerag481]

Thanks Rob, for great factual useful info as usual and I am in process of learning to stitch to Linux but want Win minus all the spyware already on there capturing all my data as was going to do VM on Windows (but now different view now) TY.

[@linsqopiring6816]

Hi Rob. This is an incredibly important video, perhaps the most important of all considering the state of windows with AI these days and it looks to only get worse. I hope it's not too late for a question but I was wondering, do we know for sure that windows perhaps for security or spying reasons might not decide to add some component to its kernel so it can view EXT4 files?

[@eddieteabagify]

This is the first video of Rob's where I actually had the skills before the instructions! woo hoo!

[@Aldermann]

More about dual-booting I've tried to dual boot win10 and linux mint (I think) using two (2) separate m2-drives. Now and then the os clock in windows screwed up, and the wrong date was set automatically. This caused an error in several programs I've paid for, making my activation codes disappear. A s a true friend of order, I've saved all my activation data, so re-activating my software was not an issue, though very annoying. I did not find a way to solve this problem, so I switched permanently to Linux. I still have to use windows , to be able to support my wife ... Yours Truly Tom Hagen, Stockholm, Sweden

[@pigletshut]

You now have two options for accessing Windows drives with Linux. There is ntfs-3g, and since kernel version 5.15 a new ntfs3 driver. Both gives full read-write access. There is a piece of (Chinese) software called Ventoy that, once installed on a large enough USB drive, allows you to literally copy any ISOs on it, and be able to choose which one to boot. Despite its origins, it is open source and does good work.

[@makemeprominent]

Cant thank you enough for doing all the research for all of us. 🙏🏻

[@ludwigvan8600]

I used to make use of ntlite to make a custom version of windows 10 pro, but I found the windows X Lite project (slimmed versions of Windows 10 and 11). I love this version and is very small for Windows 60 processes at startup, updates are paused until December 3000. Yesterday I installed Windows 11 Micro which has 40 processes at start up. I don't know which process is responsible for key logging, but I haven't found it so far.

[@brafya]

considering today's event, this video came out at a prophetic time

[@PaulMaynard-v5h]

When I did not know what I was doing, I simply installed Ubuntu/Linux onto an old Windows PC. It worked better than expected as Ubuntu uses less system resources than Windows! Now that I know what I am doing (more or less), I still use separate machines for Windows and Ubuntu. For me, dual-boot is not worth the trouble. Furthermore, if you have Windows and Linux machines side-by-side, you can wean yourself of Windows for all but 'Windows essential' aps.

[@ralphtaylor5328]

Way back one of my colleagues used a drive caddy system. Here he could use the same motherboard etc. but could run different OS without issues of dual booting. In the past dual booting crashed and I could not get into either OS. Having the luxury of more than one machine I can use the Windows only where needed. I you only have one machine then caddies provide 100% isolation

[@BSelf-q5y]

I was able to turn off the "Recommendations" off that you featured in your video. The control is found in Settings > Personalization, and then look at the third and fourth items. One says, "Show recently opened items in Start, Jump Lists, and File Explorer" Turn "Off." The next one says, "Show recommendations for tips, shortcuts, new apps and more." I turned this "Off" as well. After rebooting, the list of "Recommendations" is empty, and it has a system link to this control to turn it back on. I've also turned off Copilot via adding new keys to various folders, and confirmed it does not launch when pressing the Windows + J shortcut. However, we should "trust but verify." Are there any ways of monitoring suspicious processes that may still run unbeknownst to the user? How could these also be blocked or turned off?

[@effoffutube]

The time is now to dump windows, mac and google. I'll be reaching out to all my favorite app makers that aren't available on Linux yet, and running a quarantined box for games. Need a good option for a phone still.

[@robbraxmantech]

De-Googled phone

[@peterjansen4826]

Instead of dualbooting you could also consider setting up PCIe-passthrough. In brief, the requirements for this are that you have two GPU's (1 discrete graphics card and integrated graphics including what is on Zen4 and Zen5) and that your motherboard has a proper IOMMU-layout, this should always be the case if you use a regular motherboard (so either selfbuilt or from a "boutique-builder" als Americans name it and not some OEM-variant. Setting up PCIe-passthrough of the graphics card is not too complicated, you just set up a VM with virt-manager and you install Looking Glass on the host and in the Windows-VM, that way you can quickly switch between Linux and Windows when the VM is running. You get exactly the same performance on the VM that way assuming that the software in the VM does not need all the CPU-cores (but all minus 1). The only limitation is that you still can't play some games with the VM because some of those games will detect that you run Windows in a VM, you can hide it (make the VM 'lie' to Windows) to some extend but there are ways to figure it out (like having 5 or 7 CPU-cores being suspectable).

[@magister.mortran]

The best option for partitioning your drive is divide it in the Linux partitions, the Windows partition and a shared exFAT partition, which both operating systems have access to. This way you can exchange data easily without the read-only limitations when accessing the partition of the other operating system.

[@robbraxmantech]

Linux can read NTFS

[@magister.mortran]

@@robbraxmantech I know, but write operations can cause problems. exFAT however can be read and written by both operating systems smoothly. There are also drivers that allow Windows to read Ext4 partitions. However I wouldn't recommend to do either in your daily work. Use NTFS for Windows and Ext4 or any other Linux file system for Linux and don't access it with the other OS. You can easily corrupt the whole OS. If you have to access data from both, Linux and Windows, place the files on an exFAT partition.

[@environmentaldataexchange3906]

...I just run two machines...not the most convenient, but it works.

[@josefmazzeo6628]

Hi Rob thanks for a very good tutorial on dual boot setup. I never thought about the differences with the RTC/UTC issue. One question - what about using Linux as the main host in dual boot, with Oracle Virtual Box running a Windows guest OS. If you allocate enough resources to the VM you should be able to run any Windows app including Premiere. No?

[@robbraxmantech]

You need max performance on either system when you are using it. Dual boot assures you of problem free operation.

[@JimDumser]

Linux hypervisors can passthrough raw storage devices and other hardware (GPUs, etc.) to pretty much eliminate the overhead. Only CPU and RAM need to be shared between the host and the guest, and you can minimize the use of both while the Windows VM is running.

[@KHROME246]

Ventoy would have saved a few steps, since it supports Secure Boot.

[@seejayfrujay]

Dual booting since 2015, originally Mint and Win 10. Clonezilla is a great and necessary tool. The big rule that still holds true 9 years later is install WIndows first, then Linux. Windows installers are notorious for bodging the whole thing. Never saw Linux screw this up. Twice in 9 years, a Windows update screwed up the boot partition. Windows tools to fix this are a complete mess and never do the job. A single command in Linux fixes it.

[@macnottsuk]

Got the easiest way but does mean spending a bit of cash. Get a 132gb SSD and a USB caddy/case with an on off switch. Use Rufus to burn the Linux ISO to the SSD with a persistent partition (this will preserve you data.) in the bios set the USB as the first Boot. Running Windows, Caddy off, windows runs and cant see Linux. Caddy on, boot up and you have Linux. easy-peasy. being using this method for over 12 months with no issues.

[@Milosz_Ostrow]

I've been doing essentially the same thing with hard drives in desktop computers for over 25 years. Attach all the hard drive data cables to the motherboard headers and use a toggle switch to turn the power on and off to individual drives, then boot the system. Isolation between operating system instances is absolute, guaranteed.

[@nerdvision3587]

I ended up doing pretty much the same kind of thing for other reasons, but yeah, the OS isolation is great. In my case, I just made a regular SSD into an external drive using a USB-connected case. I then don't need any switches. If I am going to boot into Windows, then I just unplug the SSD containing Linux after picking out and starting the Windows bootloader rather than the Linux bootloader during startup. Windows then will not screw with anything on the Linux SSD even if Microsoft sneaks in the ability to interface with EXT4. I would not put it past Microsoft to attempt to sabotage Linux in dual-boot setups in an attempt to make Linux look like a bad alternative, so I am keeping Linux physically out of reach of Windows.

[@bobw1111]

Here's a better idea than double booting that keep MS out of it! I recently bought this WI-6 Pro Mini PC, Intel 12th N100(3.4GHz) Mini Desktop Computer for $158. It works GREAT!. I actually set it up as dual boot for Windows and Mint, however after seeing the problem MS just caused, I had a better idea. Buy a mini pc (its 4 inches x 4 inches x 1 inch) and a monitor keyboard switch like the KVM switch on Amazon. There are multiple choices, but they run as low as $22. Then instead of dual booting, you just hit a button to switch between Windows and Linux.

[@devincurrie4145]

Rob, I'm curious to understand why DaVinci Resolve is crashing on your Linux machine. Maybe try changing your GPU from NVIDIA to AMD to see if that helps? Another possible issue is that maybe DaVinci Resolve is not well supported on Linux so maybe try reaching out to the software company for recommendation on which Linux distro to use without experiencing these crashes?

[@supertrooper6011]

I've not had great experiences sharing ntfs. It sounds more complicated (perhaps is slightly to set up) but I've had a better experience running the btrfs driversfor windows and sharing a btrfs volume(s) with linux ... you can even add veracrypt encryption and it seems to work great... only some restrictions around raid setups.

[@MC_DesmondSparrs]

I HIGHLY recommend anyone needing to dual boot to get a disk bay of some sort. I have an IcyBox one but anything that lets u easily swap one drive for another and this resolves one common complaint ive hard and maybe ive experienced one, i think windows likes wiping the boot partition stuff for Linux with its own. I just plop one sata SSD for another. But Ive become a 100% Linux user since maybe 4+ years ago at least. I prefer compartmentalizing instead of having one drive with all OS's. which for me is just Linux now.

[@ettoreatalan8303]

This can also be achieved with two fast USB SSDs. The internal hard disk is only used for file sharing.

[@EarthPeople01]

​@ettoreatalan8303 hot swappable drive provides more protection from hidden code IMO.

[@toothytube]

The easy way to dual-boot Ubuntu Linux is to physically install a secondary drive of the size and type that best suits your individual needs and then format it. After that, just plug in your thumb-drive with the Ubuntu image, power up your PC and follow the prompts. PS: It should probably be mentioned that some "far too many" WiFi adapters simply don't work with Linux, which sucks.

[@peterrutkowski2742]

I am running Windows 10 and Linux Kubuntu on same 1TB drive divided in half. Works OK only when I want to boot into Linux have to hit the F9 key for boot manager. Otherwise, I am happy with this dual boot. Both OS are Domain dependent and I can log in with my Ad ID to both. For normal home use no AD is needed. Kubuntu seems to be very close to Windows UI, plus it has several tones of customization of the UI.

[@joeschmoe7324]

I recommend creating a separate partition for /home. If the system is damaged you can reinstall formating root without destroying your /home just create users EXACTLY the same order you did the first install to preserve user ID to the user home folder.

[@robbraxmantech]

That's a great idea. I mounted all my other drives in Documents and that's where I keep the bulk of stuff but your idea is even more robust.

[@joeschmoe7324]

@@robbraxmantech it also keep disk security files intact. in windows it would be moving you user symlinks to d:

[@chesterbailey2572]

My main computer is a laptop, I have Linux on the internal ssd and I have Windows 10 installed with Rufus with the Windows To Go option on an external ssd. When I need Win10, I boot from that external ssd, which is rarely.

[@XxXG-cd3dh]

Nice

[@JB-mm5ff]

Tried this myself -- WtG was extremely slow for me, but I wasn't using a SSD

[@r00tyschannel52]

You can use btrfs, there is an open source driver for btrfs on windows. I use this for a shared drive between OS's. I've not had a problem so far (over a year)

[@artifactis]

When I had to give my banking details before installation I decided to drop windows for good.

[@rawspeed1678]

While Dual boot is OK for those that cannot have separate systems, I very much recommend separate systems/drives for one main simple reason.... You can transpose a Linux drive into virtually any system and it will work. That is just a dream for a Windows drive. If very desperate for 2 systems but can only afford 1, then switching drives might be a better option if using Windows becomes more infrequent (I know it depends on accessibility to those drives and much harder on a laptop). That makes sure Windows can NEVER see the other drive.

[@christopherguy1217]

It would be easier to put Linux on the second drive. Boot from your USB Linux install disk and just select the second drive as the target. No need to clone Windows. Windows can see your Ext4 drive from WSL, it just needs to be mounted. Currently you need to run the commands manually but in the future who knows. I suggest protecting the Linux drive by encrypting it with Luks.

[@rayzer1981]

i use linux as my main os on a separate machine to my windows one, but i also have linux installed to an external usb drive with its own bootloader. once its plugged in and i reboot my machine is set to boot that first, makes a nice backup in case my main installs breaks or fails to run.

[@allenmcclure6017]

you can use Ventoy to Boot ISO files so you can just drop the file on the drive..... You will not have to disable secure boot with this but when making the drive you will need to select secure boot support in the menu of Ventoy. Also Most Linux ver have a Live CD so you can test before you install. Also you will need windows installed before installing linux and Linux installer will automatically make a duel boot.

[@MarkOfBitcoin]

You should give Linux Mint a try. Still based on Ubuntu so still has the Nvidia drivers, but very nice interface that is very close to the Windows UI.

[@louisfifteen]

I dual boot Win11 Pro and Ubuntu 24.04 on two different ssd's. I can play almost all my games on Ubuntu except Forza Horizon 5. All other modern games run smoothly. Just hoping that Ubuntu will soon have the latest Nvidia driver. It is currently running 535 and the 555 is the newest. A question: Is it not possible to edit videos in linux using KdenLive or Openshot? Thank you for this very important video.

[@Rood67]

*Install on separate drives* Windows updates may, and most times will, jack up the Linux boot if the are both using the same UEFI boot partition. If on separate drives, each will have their own and should never overwrite each other. And turn off bit locker drive encryption before messing with you drives. Unless you have recent and tested good backups. *This one is not a polite suggestion, it is a dire warning*

[@DavidM2002]

Rob, on my Synology router, it is very easy to create filters to block whichever IP addresses you wish. For example, I have created a profile for my home's TV's and a filter to stop them from communicating with Samsung. Would something like this not help to cut down on the communicating with Microsoft ? I realize that some comm's with MS are necessary . Differentiating the good from the bad would likely be the problem. Thanks Rob. And, happy sailing.

[@effsixteenblock50]

The problem is that if you try black-holing a Microsoft domain / subdomain, somtimes (especially with some telemetry), the offending app will suddenly change the DNS request to a Akamai CDN domain with a long numerical subdomain that is built dynamically on the fly with a different numerical subdomain each time, making your job a never-ending game of whack-a-mole. These URLs resolve to the same domain you were trying to block / black-hole. It's much better to surgically remove the exe` / service doing the telemetry. Look up how you can control the `TrustedInstaller` account - very powerful and requires great care to not ruin your system.

[@hybridinfodesk409]

You can severely cripple the telemetry and AI spyware on Win. A software company sent me a beta chat GPT toe test drive. Loaded it on two computers. Asked one way too many wrong questions it cut me off. So, told me AI is a censoring device and when you are doing anything unwanted or disliked that AI microchip soldered on your motherboard. Will shut you down. The other one I got to write a script to disable Win telemetrey and another script to check on the fly if it is disabled. There are several utilities out there that do different things but can stop the nonsense if you combine them in the right way. I'm using a four fold method. Five when you count the dual boot. I use Win for designing so I couldn't partition but so much of my hard drive. I only got 512GB at the time. I haven't opened my case so don't know if I have a second bay for another drive or what. It's ok I got Windows under my control. Just sharing and love your channel.

[@mattkoopmans6783]

Just run Linux - I moved all my personal and business workflows to Linux six years ago without any major issue or disruption - and if you are using Adobe (which does not have any Linux support) then you might as well stay on Windows, given their terms and conditions.

[@DreadFox_official]

7:05 ,This is way if you fully format a drive to ext4, and then try to install windows, Windows installer will not be able to see the drive. You will need to have the storage drivers for your motherboard on a second drive in order to install windows OS onto a ext4 formatted drive.

[@robcarley7506]

What about using Ubuntu Studio Linux ? Also you seem more than capable of modding your own iso Rob, so at least for your self, what's stopping you modding your own iso of Windows 11. Appreciate the video however for those lower down on the tech savvy ladder so to speak so I don't in any way mean to circumvent or counter anything you said. For your personal use however, I thought I would offer those suggestions.

[@millardjones2136]

Thanks for this video.. I'm thinking I will give it a try. The main program I use is a money program called Quicken so I'll need to make sure that it will be able to run on Linux.. Any thoughts on that specific program? Thanks in advance..

[@daviddunmore8415]

We dumped Windows over a decade ago, now we're on Debian 12, and Bodhi for the older laptop that didn't plat well with Debian. And stock Androin for the phones using a Google account just for the phone.

[@johnanthonycolley3803]

Dual Boot. You could of course do what I did .. Fit a second drive and install Linux to it .. No need to go through the risky process of moving data and " Spitting a drive " Having windows installed first is the easiest option, as windows is antisocial and wants to live alone on your PC, We're as Linux being far more social is happy to coexist and will install a loader/menu giving you the option to boot ether it, or the Windows..😊 Better still, Linux can see Windows drives and it's easy to access there content ( Whereas windows continues to do it's solitary thing, as usually just wants to wipe your Linux drives ) If you like ( with a little experience) you can even change the order of the boot menu Linux installed ( see Linux forums) so that starting windows is the 1st ( default) option.. Linux forums are a great help ( Linux users actually enjoy helping each other, they being equally as sociable as the operating system ) Enjoy 🤗 Ps: as a new Linux user, ( being unfamiliar with the way Linux identifies harddrives ) As Linux indentifies harddrives & partitions with different names ( example /dev/sda ) I strongly suggest while installing Linux that you unplug all your existing drives, except the drive you have added for Linux. Reconnecting them only after Linux has been installed.. It's very simple to modify the bootloader Linux installs to recognise and include an option to start Windows ( See Linux forums ) We're as yet again, windows will just see you additional drive as corrupted storage space .. PPS; for anyone migrating from Windows, I highly recommend Linux ( Ubuntu) with " Mint " desktop 😊

[@SireSquish]

I like someordinarygamers' idea of using linux as a hypervisor, rather than dual booting per se.

[@toikinwong2855]

Python is same as in Ubuntu OS. When you install apps with the same logic. By the way Ubuntu look like USA-Billgate-UnitedNasion-Tesla-USA, Android look like An-Dr-Old-ID. Google look like...

[@radornkeldam]

You can actually make windows use UTC, which is what I use now, as I think a version of universal time makes much more sense than local time for computers connected to the global internet. For example, when you get a ZIP archive with timestamps from some unknown timezone, yet those same files are copied to your local filesystem as local time... that makes no sense whatsoever. Computers should keep some agreed upon form of universal time and get that translated to local time when needed. Otherwise it's a mess. It's amazing that UEFI doesn't seem to have this into account, but, then again, it's a microsoft sponsored standard and they still have windows keep local time. I'm also now considering linux-type fs drivers for windows and format secondary drives in ext4 or something, instead of relying on NTFS for intercompatibility. Haven't tried yet, though.

[@robbraxmantech]

As long as they match...

[@radornkeldam]

@@robbraxmantech Sorry, I don't understand. As long as what match?

[@FINNIUSORION]

I avoid duel booting by having multiple computers. Otherwise just have separate physical drives you can change between for your os's. It's hard to take a pre-built driver seriously.

[@Meenaia]

Holy heck! What's with all the bimbot commenters on here? As far as dual booting goes, I can't imagine life without it. I have Ubuntu/Windows on both my PC and laptop. I really wanted to try running Winblows in a VM but if I heard you correctly, this is not safe?

[@johnarnold893]

What he said was running Linux in a VM still allows windows to see what's going on in the VM. Run Windows in a VM with Linux as the main OS. Windows in a VM is totally sandboxed.

[@Meenaia]

@@johnarnold893 Ok, thank you! I thought that's what he said but then my overthinking butt thought "why would a Windows user run Linux in a VM if they were worried about safety?" Then I was thinking I was missing something. Thank you for your confirmation and clarification!

[@selfcontrol9982]

Thanks 😊

[@MarketMessage]

And once more comfortable with linux and using windows less its pretty easy to spin up a windows VM running on linux and really control things

[@kristinastevens509]

He has reasoning for not rec your suggestion - for your very purposes of using Windows, think video editing, gaming, would be throttled or restricted if used in a VM

[@Notofsoundmind]

I've ditched Windows permanently. I have had enough of Microsoft's shenanigans.

[@robbraxmantech]

Great that you can do that.

[@lussor1]

The scanning only comes from the antivirus

[@michaeljavert4635]

I don't have any of that on my Windows. And if you go to control panel, you can actually remove One Drive, completely, without any restrictions or tricks. I don't get any recommendations, and my PC, as new as it is, doesn't support recall, and there are ways to turn it off. WinAero Tweaker has something and GRC (Gibson Research Corporation) is also working on something that will be ready to disable all that. He's privacy focused too.

[@vincentpanepinto5220]

Don't use ext4 because windows can see ext4. Use a btrfs encrypted partition which is more secure and can be restored from snapshots plus it will encrypt access to your ntfs partition. I have a laptop with 4GB RAM & 64GB eMMC. I run Ghost Spectre Windows 11 Superlite 24H2.U2.X64 on a 28GB ntfs partition and Garuda Sway which is Arch Linux on a 32.1GB. Windows 11 ghost spectre won't install on a 28GB partition with its new installer; you have to use the old installer. Garuda Sway won't install on a partition that is less than 30GB. This configuration runs fast in old slow computers. Maybe we should start a thread of the optimal windows/linux configuration for privacy and getting the maximum out of your computer?

[@D.von.N]

Who said you have to have Windose sitting inside your machine? I have LMDE on the single nvme and occasionally launch Windose from a USB. So far the only difference I found out is I cannot hibernate it on USB. Today I am going to replace a hdd in another machine with sata ssd with cloned LMDE and try Windose on additional lvme drive, with dual boot system from Linux that controls the whole thing, Windose only playing the second parte, again. If it won't work, Windose will go on the USB again. Kingston has some super fast usbs, you almost don't notice the difference in speed. You just need a special software first to make the Windose run from the external usb like if it was inside the machine. Simply cloning it on the USB might not work. My original nvme with installed Windose from factory, put into an encosure, didn't.

[@Dawisco]

OneDrive is program. Uninstall OneDrive (the program) and WIndows can't upload to the cloud and in fact can't even turn on. It's simply not there. On your local machine the file path may say 'C:...... /OneDrive/.... ' but that's a local folder, not a cloud connection

[@ettoreatalan8303]

A dual boot of Windows and Linux is the result of a failed complete migration to Linux.

[@robbraxmantech]

Correct. Someday we will resolve that failure. For me it is 1 app

[@ettoreatalan8303]

@@robbraxmantech The year of the Linux desktop has been announced annually for over 20 years.

[@user-lm3ll1jp7f]

Thank you for the video.... I do not know if I missed it.... BUT, why not run Linux and then Windows in a VM on the Linux host?

[@itskyb]

I thought about this as well and it will probably be something I will need to seriously consider after Win 10 is no longer supported. I basically need Windows for Office and occasional gaming. I already have a Windows VM for work-related stuff (email, Teams, etc.).

[@user-lm3ll1jp7f]

@@itskyb I think you can create a vm with virtual TPM and then install Win11

[@Johnslist]

OneDrive is just evil. I only use Windows for Turbotax and ran it in VM running Win 7, but then they forced you to go to 10. This year I was setting up a new PC and tried out Win11 to keep ahead of the upgrade game - wtf? OneDrive was automatic and was copying my files (no tax yet though) to the cloud. My tax info is local by design, so I quickly killed that idea.

[@dutArkham]

I see how this could be advantageous but what do you think about booting from an external hard drive Or for PC booting from a docking station. I've also seen tutorials for installing windows without copilot and other software, there is however a lot of speculation that everything will be installed forcibly with an update.

[@robbraxmantech]

If you have a desktop these are good options. I'm using a laptop so I can't really justify dongling some external drive when I can just load from NVME. You cannot stop the spyware on Windows so give up on that

[@robbraxmantech]

On a PC, these are good alternatives. But this example is more for the complex case of a laptop

[@CommentingOnTheFreakshow]

Gohost Spectre Compact OS (a stripped down version of Windows 10 and 11) seems like a good option here! What do you know about it? You can turn off all Windows updates if you want. Also, VMWare does support installation on Linux. So you could run Windows in your VMWare virtual machine with Linux as your main OS. Then you can run your Windows Apps in the VM in seemless mode so it looks like your Windows apps are running on top of your Linux desktop.

[@whatwhat9519]

At least gamers has the steam deck (and such devices) that runs (Linux) So hopefully Linux would become better for gamers

[@Mikeydude001]

Am I missing something? At 5:03 it sounded like he was talking about running Windows with Linux as a virtual machine. Would running Linux with Windows as a virtual machine have the same problems? It seems like Windows as a virtual machine could be wiped out and restarted only when needed. But I am not well versed about this subject.

[@unknownknown2776]

When will you start to offer Linex--based laptops?

[@marks5695]

Just installed for the very first time Linux (went with mint). Going with dual boot dual drive. Starting to move more of what I do bit by bit to Linux. Here is the big middle finger to Windows Malware.