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I have an SSD (240GB) with Kubuntu 20.04 installed as my main OS. Now I want to add another SSD (500GB) where I can install Windows for gaming.

My first thought is to disconnect the Linux SSD, add the new SSD and install Windows there. Then reconnect the Linux SSD. But I assume this will mess up booting...

Reinstalling Kubuntu and starting from scratch is not an option.

My questions is exactly the same as this one which is a bit dated and I'm unsure if the solution will still work.

Edit: Steps I have taken:

  • Took an USB drive > 4GB and formatted it to FAT32
  • Created a bootable Win7
    • Unetbootin didn't work (stuck in loop when booting)
    • WoeUSB didn't work (couldn't create bootable usb)
    • BalenaEtcher didn't work (told me the ISO image is not bootable)
    • Tried WoeUSB-ng from here and worked (although looked stuck for a few minutes)
  • Removed the Linux SSD & Added a new SSD for Win7
  • Entered BIOS and configured it to boot from USB drive
  • Booted into Windows installation
    • Keyboard and mouse didn't work, no matter what BIOS options I chose
  • Tried from scratch with a Win10 bootable drive
  • Managed to install Win10
  • Shut down the computer and added back the Linux SSD
  • Configured BIOS to boot from Linux SSD
  • Booted into Linux, mounted the Win10 SSD and updated Grub via sudo update-grub
  • Rebooted the computer to test Grub boot menu and it correctly showed Ubuntu and Windows

I tried to avoid using Windows 10, unfortunately it didn't work with Windows 7. Whenever I will boot into Win10 now I will make sure to disconnect all other drives beforehand, as I don't want Win10 to spy on me. I hope that Win10 will still boot if the Linux SSD is disconnected? This is an inconvenience but I guess it's the only option.

benediktus
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    The linked solution should still work. I was about to suggest the same - disconnect the disk with Linux, install Windows on another disk and update GRUB. To my knowledge, step 7 in the linked solution is unnecessary - GRUB installer should see Windows disk anyway and include the option to boot from Windows. – raj Jun 20 '22 at 09:50
  • @raj Thanks for the quick reply, I will try it ASAP and report back. Are there any particular boot menu settings I need to be aware of, like UEFI / legacy? I assume the Windows SSD will have to be set as secondary boot option after Linux? – benediktus Jun 20 '22 at 10:47
  • I guess you are already using UEFI mode. As far as I know, Windows requires it. As for boot order, grub-update will automatically set Windows as secondary option, while keeping Linux as default. That's exactly the same what happens when you install Linux along previously installed Windows. – raj Jun 20 '22 at 10:50
  • @raj Thanks, I have updated my question and also added a small bonus question. – benediktus Jun 20 '22 at 20:35
  • Windows cannot mount Linux drive, it won't recognize the Linux filesystem. So it is unlikely that Win10 will spy on your Linux drive, as it is unable to read the files on it. – raj Jun 20 '22 at 20:37
  • @raj Ok, good point, thanks! Though I have additional data-store drives that I mount on demand, some of them are formatted in NTFS / fuseblk. Perhaps I should try switch them to ext3 or ext4... – benediktus Jun 20 '22 at 20:44

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