I followed this tutorial on YT after a failed Win11/Linux dual boot that crashed Win11 completely and only booted into Linux, and it worked perfectly.
Essentially, this guy’s strategy is to create a second EFI partition for the new Linux install, remove the boot flag from the original Windows EFI long enough to go through the Linux install, then put the boot flag back where it was and update GRUB accordingly, allowing GRUB to find and note any other operating systems on the disk. After that both Windows and Linux stay in their own walled spaces and Windows never gets to overwrite the Linux EFI, which is the source of all the misery.
There’s more to the detail, of course, but that’s the gist of it. I have dual-booted Linux with this method solely on single partitioned disks, and never on different disks, so I couldn’t tell you whether a separate disk is a guarantee of anything or not, but after I started deliberately creating separate EFI partitions for dual-boot situations I’ve never had a problem.
This video is specifically for Zorin but I’ve used the same strategy successfully on other distros. He has also done specific dual-boot walkthrough videos for a number of other dual-boot installs and troubleshooting as well, so check the channel if you want to find other distros. I did not see Bazzite specifically, but I saw plenty of Fedora. (No affiliation with this channel, I’ve just used a number of his videos and appreciate the specific care and accuracy he gives his tutorials.) Hope this helps.
HereIAm@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
You’re generally safe if you 1) install them on two different disks and 2) if you’re installing windows later, unplug any drives you don’t want to use with windows. Microsoft likes to poke all drives it can see during installation even if you don’t touch them.
Gerudo@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
So pretty safe if Windows is a priority install, and Linux is on a 2nd drive. Easy enough, thanks!
HereIAm@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Definitely. If you have a second one it’s very safe to try out a full Linux install.
TheBlackLounge@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
Disks or partitions?
HereIAm@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Two separate disks. The issue is that windows likes to overwrite or otherwise mess with the boot loader if it’s not the default windows one.