Dual boot | Windows 8 on ssd and Linux Mint on hdd

Donovan

New Member
Messages
3
Hello,

Not sure if this should go Linux forums or here so I decided to try both :)


What I have here is a brand new machine with two empty hard disks, one ssd and another regular one.
Now, I would like to install windows 8 (+ most used programs) on the ssd and Mint (+ other linux stuff) on the regular disk.
This regular disk should also be divided, giving linux around 20gb (ext4) and leave the rest for windows (ReFS, ntfs or whatever it that windows 8 is using).
I would also prefer to have the system boot to Windows by default.


What would be the easiest way to accomplish this?




Thanks!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Linux Mint
I did something similar... well I had Win7 installed first then I installed Ubuntu Linux and it became the secondary OS.
Windows first then Linux .. that should get it done. HTH
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1 Pro 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom Built: Atomic City Computer
    CPU
    AMD A4-4000 3.0/3.2Ghz
    Motherboard
    MSI FM2-A55M-E33
    Memory
    8BG of Corsair DDR3 RAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    On Board
    Sound Card
    On Boardi
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Viewsonic 27" VA2703
    Screen Resolution
    1920 X 1080
    Hard Drives
    Seagate 500GB, Crucial 120Gb SSD
    Case
    Thermaltake
    Cooling
    N/A
    Keyboard
    Corsair Raptor K40
    Mouse
    Amazon Generic Optical
    Internet Speed
    56Mbps
    Browser
    Firefox, Chrome and Opera
    Antivirus
    Micro Soft Defender
    Other Info
    Getting this on May 1st:
    AMD A8-6600K
I did something similar... well I had Win7 installed first then I installed Ubuntu Linux and it became the secondary OS.
Windows first then Linux .. that should get it done. HTH

Allrighty, so Windows goes first. After I've installed it on SSD I quess I need to create two different partitions on the normal hd. What I do then is I boot the machine with live linux disk and install it to my newly created partition on my normal hd.

But then? How does my system find two different operating system when booting, now that they are on different disks? It most likely boots first to ssd and finds windows, but how about the linux on the other disk?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Linux Mint
I did something similar... well I had Win7 installed first then I installed Ubuntu Linux and it became the secondary OS.
Windows first then Linux .. that should get it done. HTH

Allrighty, so Windows goes first. After I've installed it on SSD I quess I need to create two different partitions on the normal hd. What I do then is I boot the machine with live linux disk and install it to my newly created partition on my normal hd.

But then? How does my system find two different operating system when booting, now that they are on different disks? It most likely boots first to ssd and finds windows, but how about the linux on the other disk?

From my experience when you install Linux you should get a boot selection menu that will come up when you start your PC. At least that's what occurred for me.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1 Pro 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom Built: Atomic City Computer
    CPU
    AMD A4-4000 3.0/3.2Ghz
    Motherboard
    MSI FM2-A55M-E33
    Memory
    8BG of Corsair DDR3 RAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    On Board
    Sound Card
    On Boardi
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Viewsonic 27" VA2703
    Screen Resolution
    1920 X 1080
    Hard Drives
    Seagate 500GB, Crucial 120Gb SSD
    Case
    Thermaltake
    Cooling
    N/A
    Keyboard
    Corsair Raptor K40
    Mouse
    Amazon Generic Optical
    Internet Speed
    56Mbps
    Browser
    Firefox, Chrome and Opera
    Antivirus
    Micro Soft Defender
    Other Info
    Getting this on May 1st:
    AMD A8-6600K
Install Windows first onto the SSD. Always, and I mean always install Windows first. Once that's done, when you install Linux onto the HDD, you're going to want to install the boot loader onto the HDD also (or else you're going to overwrite the Windows boot loader, which is going to be a PITA to correct) - you may want to make a small (512MB) boot partition on the HDD for this. Setting the HDD as the boot drive in your BIOS will be the easiest way to handle booting.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows Server 2012 Standard w/Hyper-V
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP ProBook 4430s
    CPU
    Intel Core i3-2310M
    Memory
    16GB DDR3
    Hard Drives
    80GB Intel 320 SSD
    500GB Samsung Momentus
Install Windows first onto the SSD. Always, and I mean always install Windows first. Once that's done, when you install Linux onto the HDD, you're going to want to install the boot loader onto the HDD also (or else you're going to overwrite the Windows boot loader, which is going to be a PITA to correct) - you may want to make a small (512MB) boot partition on the HDD for this. Setting the HDD as the boot drive in your BIOS will be the easiest way to handle booting.


Thanks, I still haven't actually installed anything, as I decided to wait for the official release... Two more weeks to wait.

Ok, everything clear so far. But about installing the boot loader to my hdd and setting the boot drive there - Does it automagically recognize I also have a windows installed on my ssd?
Does this affect on my booting speed anyhow, booting to hdd as compared to ssd?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Linux Mint
Linux seems to be able to pick up just about anything and offer it as a boot option

Install it second and you should be good.

Obviously, the o/s on the ssd should start up quicker.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    7/8/ubuntu/Linux Deepin
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
Hi Donovan,

If your new PC is still empty then why don't you download Windows 8 Release Preview and LinuxMint (DVD version) and install them. This will give you experience both of installing a dual boot system and of the OSs themselves. Assuming your SSD is large enough, why not install LM there as well – I have a 55GB SSD and have W7, W8, LM13 and all application software installed on it leaving all my data on the original HDD – to let both systems take advantage of the speed of the SSD.

Install W8 first choosing the Custom option so that you can leave space for LM, 20 GB is plenty, I usually find 10 GB is more than enough. Once W8 is installed boot from the LM DVD into the live system and then install it. The installer should detect W8 so choose the option 'install alongside W8'.
No need to worry about bootloader options or partitions, the LM installer will take care o fthat. When installed restart the system and you will be presented with the Grub2 boot menu, Mint will be the default, tab down to choose Windows. If you want to tidy up the boot menu and/or make Windows the default then try Daniel Richter's Grub Customizer:

HOWTO: Grub Customizer - Ubuntu Forums

Hope this is all of some help, any problems then post them on the relevant forum.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7/8
If the machine you have is new then check firmware settings before installing !

New machines have EFI firmware !
EFI booting is not the same as BIOS booting and you could run into problems.
EFI booting expects also GPT disk format in Windows.
Some Linux versions can boot the EFI way also from MBR disks (but GPT format is default).

Some machines with EFI firmware have also BIOS emulation so you can stick to
"good old" BIOS booting which is well known and booting problems have their solutions
in Windows and in Linux world.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    XP, Win7, Win8_Eval
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Notebook
    CPU
    Intel
1. Not all new machines have UEFI

2. If you boot from the UEFI file on any Windows install media, the installer will automatically set the disk to GPT.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows Server 2012 Standard w/Hyper-V
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP ProBook 4430s
    CPU
    Intel Core i3-2310M
    Memory
    16GB DDR3
    Hard Drives
    80GB Intel 320 SSD
    500GB Samsung Momentus
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