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I currently have a laptop running Windows with two drives, the Windows 11 drive and a clean drive. I would like to dual boot my laptop with these two drives, one for Windows and the other one for Ubuntu. If possible I would like to keep my Windows drive untouched and unmodified for this. My problem is I don't know how to do this.

I have some idea since I have dual booted operating systems before but with just one drive. I found this question which helped, however it is almost 10 years old and with how fast things move in this space I thought it would be worth asking again plus I still have some questions.

I started to attempt to do this, however I got stuck when I got to the Installation type menu. I was expecting just a few partitions, but I was greeted with many.

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(That's not even all of them.) I don't know what many of them are, but weeding though them I found what I believe to be my 500GB second clean disk so I selected it and changed the bootloader installation to it. Have I done this correctly? Is it safe for me to go ahead and install Ubuntu like this or do I need to change something? With these two selected it will leave my 1TB windows SSD alone, right?

karel
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Robdog37
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    Unplug your Windows drive. Install Ubuntu on the other drive in the same BIOS/UEFI mode Windows uses. Plug in Windows drive. Set Ubuntu drive as the first HDD in BIOS. Boot Ubuntu and in Terminal run sudo update-grub , this should add Windows to Ubuntu's boot menu. When booting you will be given a choice to boot Ubuntu or Windows. – C.S.Cameron Jan 26 '23 at 09:57
  • If you cannot or don’t want to unplug your ssd it is possible to do this. I’d recommend making a backup of your Windows disk first using Macrium Reflect free. Then you run the installer and choose manual partitioning, making sure you target the HDD for all partitions and for grub. The disadvantage of this is that Ubuntu will be slower than it would be if it were installed on the SSD. Why not make the backup, install Ubuntu on the SSD and revert it if you are unhappy. The only downside is that Windows will have less SSD space but you can give it HDD space. – PonJar Jan 26 '23 at 11:09
  • See this bug on two drive or external drive installs. Several work arounds: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/1396379 Your selection with UEFI install will not be used. Probably easiest work around for newer users. Remove esp flag from Windows before install to second or external drive - Tim Richardson https://askubuntu.com/questions/16988/how-do-i-install-ubuntu-to-a-usb-key-without-using-startup-disk-creator – oldfred Jan 26 '23 at 13:51
  • @C.S.Cameron Thank you for this it helped a ton. Just so I make sure I'm understanding correctly I will remove my Windows SSD and then install Ubuntu but select Erase disk and install Ubuntu. After that I will put my windows drive back boot into Ubuntu and run sudo update-grub to get the Grub menu. Did I under stand this correctly? I'm still not entirely sure what installing on the same Bios/UFEI mode Windows uses means but I gave you every thing I understand. So is this correct? (Thank you for helping I really appreciate it.) – Robdog37 Jan 26 '23 at 15:00
  • The BIOS/UEFI mode is a setting in the BIOS/UEFI firmware. You get to it by pressing a particular key right at the start of the boot process. Check your motherboard manual to find the right one. Once you have replaced your SSD you may need to go into the firmware interface to set it to boot the HDD in order to get grub come up. – PonJar Jan 26 '23 at 19:48
  • @C.S.Cameron I installed Ubuntu and was successful in doing so both systems are completely independent so thank you. However when I ran sudo update-grub I did not get my duel boot options. Would you happen to have a fix for this. If its to compacted I'm honestly fine with just going to my BIOS and changing to boot when ever I have to use one or the other but anyway thank you! My computer now works the way I wanted it to. – Robdog37 Jan 27 '23 at 01:56
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    @Robdog37: If Windows is installed to boot in Legacy, (BIOS), mode, Ubuntu must be installed to boot in Legacy mode. If Windows is installed to boot in UEFI mode, Ubuntu must be installed to boot in UEFI mode, if you want GRUB to boot both. Your computer should work fine as a dual boot now, but you need to select the disk you want each boot, (ie using F2, F8, F9, F10, or F12), rather than just picking it from the GRUB menu. – C.S.Cameron Jan 27 '23 at 02:20
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    @C.S.Cameron I ended up figuring it out and now everything works. Thank you so much for your help. Sorry for taking up so much of your time. Your awesome! Thank you keep it up. – Robdog37 Jan 27 '23 at 04:18
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    @Robdog37: My pleasure. – C.S.Cameron Jan 27 '23 at 04:57

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