Hello there, I used to have zorin 12 and then dropped computers for a while till two years ago. i always thought, heard and saw that windows removes the Grub.
Always?
I've 3 partitions, the third installed is zorin core, other two windows. Zorin recognices partition available and showed the option install along windows which I must say is so satisfying to see, then happened the thing, i had to reinstall win11 and format partition etc, and it just stays in the same partition over and over doing rufus and choosing manually the same partition, not image restore. And grub no matter what remains, so I install and uninstall windows and nothing happens to grub, why?.
Being this the case, what about all the other cases where one has to restore grub from say a live terminal.
Among all the distros Ive installed dont remember one showing the option install alongside windows, so simple. Is it a tweak or something? Or modern grubs are just like that?
The improvement from where i remember is superb. Cheers from Argentina.
The problem of this all is Windows itself.
An MBR-update of Microsoft does not care if there is code inside that is called Grub, and will overwrite without any hesitation.
Real professionals however wanting a Linux (most common Ubuntu) and a Windows on their system, use most often the WSL of Windows running a Linux inside the Windows and leave weak spots such as Grub aside.
W11 will easy offer to install Ubuntu inside Windows via the Marketplace (click, click, click .... done). So booting up a Windows will always offer you what you want to boot away from the MBR that is under strickt Microsoft's controls.
Dual-boots sound very romantic ... but it is an old way of doing 'a best of both worlds' at this moment of speaking. Getting a good way around the WSL of Windows is something that you could add to your C.V. in the search of a new job e.g. (on all kinds of levels). I doubt if Zorin OS is the real Linux for such a WSL-scenario or even as dual boot: Zorin is running behind the development and development goes at a real fast phase. Gnome 43 is capable of a lot of things more than 3.38- version, what Zorin is stuck on.
Would you consider to learn the WSL from Windows I would say go at least on the latest LTS of Ubuntu and make an account for getting, for free -- 5computers max, the ESL-program that runs an updated Ubuntu Pro up to 10 years, what is as well the life-cycle of your Windows-version.
Is it just for having fun with Windows (games etc) and fun of Zorin OS I would say boot it out of the BIOS what OS you want, but leave Windows as stand-alone as much as you can. Grub can be restored out of a Live-session requiring Boot Repair app for restoring Grub should there be a problem. But again ... not recommended in a D B with Windows 11 or 10.
Being 23 years away from Windows ... I really doubt if a dual boot is more suffering than it is 'fun' for maintaining both OS-es. Any Windows update can ruin the party lol .
It should be noted that WSL is a command line environment. I have dual booted since Win 7 and currently do so with Zorin 16 and Win 11 on different drives. I have never experienced a boot loader overwrite, but some would consider that rare. While many dual boot instructions offer a general procedure each computer brand requires a slightly different approach.
ok that makes more sense. Nevertheless Winged1, I keeping my partitions.
Can you recommend the most simple and lite virtual machine you know?
Maybe that is usefull although having access to the C: of another partition is so simple that sometimes wander if virtual machine is what i need. however Im searching for recomendations.
Thank you for your reply.
Hi joshua WSL you mean something like a virtual machine?
I am looking for recomentations on virtual machines. Do you know of some free simple and lite ones?
Thank you for your reply.
Nevertheless windows is still making some things better for me than linux. And honestly I do not have time to learn more. Zorin looks just great for me and is the distro I remember having used the most. I run fedora on my laptop and works very nicely.
Cheers from argentina.
Thank you
If on separate drives place GRUB where Zorin is, and if MBR is deployed on Windows use EasyBCD from Neosmart and add Zorin to that (use the free one - EasyBCD - NeoSmart Technologies). In respect of WSL the first iteration, unsurprisingly, had security issues. For me during lockdown it was Devuan 3 with Virt Manager running Windows 8.1 purely for access to a shared mailbox in Outlook and Windows version of Braille Transcription software that would not run on Devuan that had run on Feren OS. If having to use Windows and GNU/Linux on one drive then it would be having Windows as a VM not the other way around. And I woouldn't touch Windows 11 with a barge pole!
I used EasyBCD with my legacy bios machines and it worked like a charm, but haven't tried recently. I don't know if it plays nice with UEFI or secure boot.
I don't have enough experience with virtual machines to recommend one. I use Virtual Box on the Linux side to try different distributions and testing, but don't allow access to other drives .
I proposed Virt Manager as the display is far superior than Virtual Box and also less troublesome with USB 3.0 which I never got to work with VB. You do have to add the hardware on the Details pane of Virt Manager but also if using dual monitors, no need to press Right Ctrl to unhook the mouse cursor - you can just glide across from VM screen to hardmetal desktop with ease. Also VB .vhd files can be imported to Virt Manager without any issues - this is what I did when migrating from FerenOS to Devuan 3 during lockdown.
First and foremost you SHOULD use GPT partition...MBR is a relic and you should use EFI mode in BIOS not CSM mode.
Create a disk with a GPT partition, one EFI partition (vfat) and divide the rest as you want.
2 Gb at most are largely enough for a the boot partition mounted in Linux as /boot.
You can install Linux first and Windows after if you want.
Windows 10 and 11 will gracefully uses the same EFI partition for booting as Linux system.
Mine on M2 SSD
/dev/nvme0n1p1 on /boot/efi type vfat (rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro)
If you do a list of the /boot partition (vfat) you will find
/boot/efi
/boot/grub
You can perfectly install windows in a separate disk and it will use any efi partition defined before as a boot partition(do not be afraid nothing will be removed). Windows will add information under his own directory at /boot/EFI
Do not install virtual machine...very bad advice...WSL is NOT a graphical environment. I am using Windows 10 for special units or devices without Linux drivers and nothing else. (Yes I am rebooting..), and very rarely.
The Windows Subsystem for Linux lets developers run a GNU/Linux environment -- including most command-line tools, utilities, and applications -- directly on Windows, unmodified, without the overhead of a traditional virtual machine or dual boot setup.
People telling you to use MBR are mostly ignorant.
Virtual machines are for people testing kernel software or gaming or for software not supported with Linux. Be careful for drivers...scanners, printers, and so on..They can works with real machine and being useless on a virtual one