[SOLVED] Dual boot with Windows 10

[stevedat]

Hi everyone,

First of all, a big thank to Linux Lite creator & its team members. 
I am running Linux Lite 2.6 on my Dell Inspiron N4050 and being happy with it.  ;D
However I need to use Windows for some stuff. I know that most of the stuff can find and work on Linux, but it's not all.
So I want to reinstall Windows on my machine.
The point is I decided to install Linux Lite 2.6 on my entire HDD (500GB). I separated my hard drive like that: /root (80GB), /home (400BG), and /swap (2GB) (there is only 3 partitions and amount numbers of GB on each partition is not accurate, just relevant numbers).
And now I am going to install Windows 10 and having a dual boot to pick up which OS to boot up when I want to run Linux Lite or Windows 10.  :
Can you guys guide me best ways to do it without losing any existing data at /home?
Re-seizing partitions by GParted takes long to complete - it was a painful experience. !_!
I think that I need a way fast & secured!  :-[

Thanks.
Dat
 

[torreydale]

Why not run Windows 10 in a virtual machine using VirtualBox?

[gold_finger]

Can you guys guide me best ways to do it without losing any existing data at /home?

There is no 100% guarantee when installing any operating system (Windows or Linux), so it's always advisable to make backup copies of important files before doing any new installation.  Please do that if you can.

Whenever partitions on the drive need to be manipulated/changed there is always a risk that something will go wrong.  When following correct procedures problems are rare, but there is always some risk involved.

In order to give you best advise on how to proceed, please boot into Linux Lite, open a terminal and post back here with the output from this command:

Code:

sudo parted --list

That will show exact partition structure on the disk right now and whether those partitions are "primary" or "logical", which is important to know before giving you instruction.

If you are only planning to use Windows for a few things (and don't plan to install a lot of programs to it), there is a good chance that you may not need to shrink your Linux home partition at all.  Your current LL root partition is 80GB, which is way more than necessary.  I believe a new install of Win 10 will take-up around 20GB +/- of space.  Your LL root probably uses only 6-10GB of space, so you can safely shrink the root partition to 20GB and still have plenty of space left over for expansion.  That will leave you with 60GB to put Windows on.  Windows will take-up about 20GB of that and you'll still have around 40GB left to install other programs, etc.

If you want to see exactly how much space is being used on your LL root partition right now, open a terminal, enter this command and look at what is says for the root partition:

Code:

df -h

Before doing anything, make sure you have a "live" Linux Lite dvd/usb.  If you still have the one you used to install LL, good.  If not, make a new one and test booting it to make sure it works properly.

You will need the LL dvd/usb to shrink the root and/or home partition.  (You can not do that while booted into the LL that you installed on the hard drive.  It must be done from a live dvd/usb.)

After you post back with terminal output requested above, I (or someone else) will get back to you with specific instructions on how to proceed.  Unless you already know how to fix boot issues yourself, don't attempt to shrink the root partition before one of us posts back with those instructions.  (Shrinking root could break booting of LL, so you'll need to know how to fix that using a live dvd/usb before you try doing it.)

[stevedat]

Why not run Windows 10 in a virtual machine using VirtualBox?

Actually my dell laptop just installed 2GB of Ram, impossible to run Windows 10 in VirtualBox ^ ^, and I got Windows XP in VirtualBox already, but it seems that there is something wrong with USB connection although I also installed needed extension pack but it's useless.

[stevedat]

Thank you.
I will try.
I didn't notice partitions are primary or logical and because it's quite strange to me ^^
When installing Linux Lite 2.6, I started from formatting the entire drive then separated /root, /home, and /swap  :'(

[gold_finger]

stevedat,

You're welcome, but I meant for you to post back the output of "sudo parted --list" before trying to proceed.  I wanted to see that output first for two reasons:

1. It would confirm whether the drive was using MBR (msdos) or GPT partitions.  Your install options will differ depending on which of those is being used.  If your computer originally came with Windows 10 on it, there is a good chance that the drive was formatted as GPT.  If that was the case, then unless you purposely converted the drive to MBR, LL is installed on that GPT disk in legacy mode.  That's no problem.  BUT, if that is the case Windows can not be installed in that same mode.  It will only install to a GPT disk in UEFI mode.  You'll need guidance to get around that problem.
   
2. If MBR partitions are being used and all three of your LL partitions are "primary", you may run into problems trying to install Windows because it will want to make 2 partitions for itself.  There is a limit of 4 primary partitions on an MBR drive.  You'll need guidance to get around this problem too.  (If not all of your LL partitions are primary, then you won't have that problem.)
   

If you haven't already started, please post that output back here before you try anything.

[stevedat]

Hi,
Here is the output: (I think I forgot what i had done )
Model: ATA ST9500325AS (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number  Start  End    Size    Type      File system    Flags
1      1049kB  498GB  498GB  primary  ext4            boot
2      498GB  500GB  2049MB  extended
5      498GB  500GB  2049MB  logical  linux-swap(v1)

[Earthenware]

...but it seems that there is something wrong with USB connection although I also installed needed extension pack but it's useless.

I was also unable to access any USB devices from the guest. I upgraded VirtualBox from v4 to v5 and USB now works.

Having said that, it can be a bit picky about returning control of the USB device to the host after exiting the guest, but that doesn't happen often and it works fine in the guest, which I think you were referring to.

[gold_finger]

@ stevedat,

Ok, you've only got a large primary partition for Root (498GB) and a logical Swap partition (2GB) and the drive is using MBR partitions.  Windows should be able to install and make 2 partitions for itself.  You just need to shrink the LL root partition first to make room for it.  Best way to do that is to boot with the dvd/usb you made to install LL and use GParted from there.  (You can't use GParted from your installed LL because it won't let you shrink the root partition while you're using it.)

Boot from live LL dvd/usb and open GParted.

Right-click on the root partition (/dev/sda1),  choose resize and shrink it by however much you want to dedicate to Windows.

Yes, it will take a while.  Just be patient and let it go until it tells you it's done.

I think you can just leave the space unformatted and direct the Windows installer to use that, but I'm not sure.  Try that and if it doesn't show a way to direct install to that area, cancel and use GParted again to create one large NTFS partition in that space.  Then try running Windows installer again and direct it to the NTFS partition.

Like I said before, there's no guarantee that something won't go wrong -- so backup anything important first.

[stevedat]

Thank you.
I will try doing it then let you know whether it works or not.
Cheers.