-1

I have a laptop with 2 drives:

  • a 1TB HDD with 600GB occupied by /home and 400GB free

  • a 120GB SSD with other Ubuntu paths

I would like to install a Windows OS on the 400GB free space on the HDD. Is that possible?

Zanna
  • 70,465
Sergiu
  • 149
  • It's easier to first install Windows and then Ubuntu. –  Oct 15 '17 at 20:33
  • UEFI or BIOS system? Windows prefers first and be on first drive. But should work on any drive. If BIOS and HDD MBR, you need a primary NTFS partition with the boot flag. If drive is gpt Windows only installs in UEFI boot mode. – oldfred Oct 15 '17 at 20:47
  • @oldfred it's UEFI – Sergiu Oct 15 '17 at 20:51
  • title does not match the body: title is off topic. Oh and your setup is not efficient. You should install both Windows and Ubuntu on the ssd and use the hdd for your personal files: 1. speed of the ssd makes it boot quick and start software quick. 2. the hdd is slow and better for storage. – Rinzwind Oct 15 '17 at 21:03
  • @Rinzwind how does the title not match the body? And about installing Windows on the SSD, I will not do that because I will only be using Windows for some games and other software that I don't use often. I will only keep Ubuntu on the SSD because I am using it daily for development. – Sergiu Oct 15 '17 at 21:14
  • It's perfectly possible to install Windows into unused space on a drive after Linux, but there are two main hurdles. First, you need to be careful when installing not to overwrite your important partitions, because the installer won't flag them as being Linux partitions, and may imply they're just junk. And second, after installing Windows will have installed itself as the only operating system to boot into. You'll need to re-install Grub, probably from a Live CD, after. The instructions for this are different depending on whether EFI boot is used or you use traditional boot with an MBR. – thomasrutter Oct 15 '17 at 23:52
  • It looks like I was wrong, I am using a BIOS system. Isn't it just possible to format the HDD, install Windows and then recreate the /home partition? – Sergiu Oct 16 '17 at 10:05

1 Answers1

0

Don't install Windows, I mean, don't make a "double boot": install VirtualBox and create a VirtualMachine at HDD (.vdi) and install it there (your computer needs at least 2 core and 2 gigabyte RAM; 64 bits better). In fact I have not only Windows but anothers OS!

There are several tutorials about VirtualBox, use "DuckDuckGo" for search.

Jimmy Olano
  • 148
  • Yeah, I was thinking about this option, but with this method I will not be able to use all of my resources for gaming on Windows I guess. – Sergiu Oct 15 '17 at 21:24
  • You won't be able to game at all, except maybe for games that have no performance requirements eg Solitaire. – thomasrutter Oct 15 '17 at 23:49
  • ¿Games? Oh yeah, you must install the "Oracle VirtualBox Extension Pack" at your real machine host Ubuntu (WARNING this contains license for privative software, for that reason I did not mention before). Futhermore at guest machine Windows install "Oracle VirtualBox Guest Additions", reboot vitrual machine and run Solitarie game for test. Thanks and have a nice day! 8-) – Jimmy Olano Oct 17 '17 at 12:45