I’ve been meaning to switch to Linux, it at least dual boot for a couple years now but have a dumb roadblock that has gotten in the way.
I rebuilt my desktop a few years ago, adding a fast new SSD as well as pretty much all new guts (mb, processor, graphics) carrying over an ancient HDD that was home to my win 10 installation and a tiny 60gb ssd.
When I rebuilt, I figured I would migrate Windows from the old HDD to the shiny new SSD, but was never successful in doing that.
My next step was to install another copy of win10 onto the new SSD, thinking I could just drag and drop my various program folders from the old install into the new. Dumb, I know.
Long story short, I’m still booting off of the old HDD and have two copys of Windows that I have to choose from when booting (the one on the new SSD is empty and doesn’t see any of my old programs).
I’ve been avoiding it, but do I have to do a complete wipe at this point were I to attempt a dual Windows/Linux boot? I’d really rather not have to reinstall all of my junk on a fresh build.
I’ve run Linux before, so I’m not a complete noob, but it’s been a few years. I’d switch over completely if I wasn’t dependent on the Adobe CS (another problem I plan to fix in time, I know there are alternatives).
Sorry if this isn’t the right place to post this, but I was hoping a veteran in this community that may have solved a similar situation.
why not just wipe the ssd and put Linux on it? dual boot should work fine, and if you have problems with it you could post it here
I’d switch over completely if I wasn’t dependent on the Adobe CS (another problem I plan to fix in time, I know there are alternatives).
If you insist: WinBoat
is winboat and Winapps basically the same thing?
also that’s definitely not going to have adequate performance, you’d need something like looking glass and that requires a spare gpu or sriov/gvt-g. it’s probably easier to set up with a standalone vm
is winboat and Winapps basically the same thing?
I’m not very familiar with either of the two. But, at first glance, it does seem so. Thanks for mentioning WinApps!
also that’s definitely not going to have adequate performance, you’d need something like looking glass and that requires a spare gpu or sriov/gvt-g. it’s probably easier to set up with a standalone vm
Unfortunately, I don’t have any personal experience with either of the two. As such, I can’t comment on this. Though, you’re probably right for any gpu-intensive software.
deleted by creator
I’m quite impressed you’ve been running Windows 10 on a HDD. It was dog slow for me, especially starting up and how I started using Linux.
Thanks for all the great ideas everyone, it seems so much less overwhelming now.
I’ll pick up an external hd today and start trying things out.
Maybe add a SOLVED in the title.
Done!
You’ve survived and perhaps thrived booting off the HDD for a while, so I would wipe the SSD and install Linux there if you intend to switch over at some point. That’s what I did for my test bench, my last personal machine with Windows; Linux on an SSD and Windows on an old HDD, where the slow speeds don’t really bother my infrequent use.
Oh, I’ve done messes like this… I had a machine whose UEFI had like five things on it. This doesn’t solve it all, but I really like refind for taking care of whacky multi boot scenarios. Just install it and it scans all the drives in a system for OSes and gives you a menu on startup.
There are various VM solutions out there to handle running one-off windows programs, by the way. I have a copy of Win11 inside a Proxmox VM that runs those few times I need desktop Office for something specific. I’m sure others will come in with better solutions, but those are the ones I’ve used.