If I boot into Linux while Windows is in Hibernate, will it hurt anything?

If anyone is wondering, I can boot into Linux without a bootloader by hitting F12 during bootup.

Interesting question. It surely all depends on where Windows is keeping it hibernation information. If you are not overwriting this info you should be fine.

The only way that I can see that this could cause any problems is if you are sharing a swap partition between windows and linux.

Give it a try, tell us how it turns out.

Steve

I do this all the time, it's no worries.. this is why you install on different partitions

Ok, They are all on totally different partitions (on different hds for that matter). I tried it and it works fine! Thanks.

Hi all, I happened to read this post... Do not do that if -as you probably do- you share a document partition between the 2 OSs... win doesn't unmount the partitions, and writing one of those partitions with linux will mess up the filesystem... believe me... I learnt it on my own experience!

Now the question is: does anyone know a way to check with linux if the filesystem is still open under windows?
If this is possible, would be possible to make a small script to choose automatically whether to mount a filesystem with ro option or rw.

Bye,
Fabrizio

It is a joke!

If Windows is booted the it is not hibernating at all.

I believe the OP Windows and Linux are on separate disks and the F12 is just a switch to boot different booting devices.

Proof of the puddling is in the eating, right? Since Linux can mount every Windows partition (and write it too if ntfs-3g is loaded) so Windows cannot be hibernating if its filing system is being read or written. Remember the Linux can be a Slax which is shipped with ntfs-3g preloaded, automount every Windows partition and write on it no different to any Linux own partition in the desktop. This is because if you can write a Windows partition you can delete it. Can a Windows permit its own destruction while hibernating?, come on guys.

Using F12 is to avoid using the boot loader to do the switching. It is like taking a taxi and tell the driver where you want to go without knowing the way. Using a boot loader to boot different systems is like driving a 4x4 vehicle yourself. It can take you to terrains that a taxi driver will not dare to enter.

I' not sure I understand this post.

On my computer I can read windows partitions without booting windows. I can't boot windows as it doesn't exist on my machine.

I think the problem referred to by linux_wannabe above is the case where a machine is hibernated with an open file (say a word document that is being worked on). I can see how this could cause problems, as modifying this file under Linux and then waking windows again would lead to anomalies, depending upon exactly what information is written out by windows when hibernating.

Right smbell100, this is exactly what I meant... if you have any unsaved file it will cause problems, or any temporary file (like cache of some sw, etc)... linux+hibernated-windows created few problems to me in past, with "lost and found" directories and lost files!

As I mentioned above, If anyone knows how to perform a check "is the filesystem c: still open under windows (even if win is actually hibernated)?" that would be a great help, and a small script could mount c: under -for example- /win with read only or read write option.

Hope this clarified the problem related with this post!

I migrated to ubuntu, which does the check in some automated way by default, and it doesn't mount the FS unless it finds it's clean.

Basically this means if Windows is hiberanted, it will not grant you access to that partition.
Unfortunately it does not even grant readonly access, but checking the config files should be a piace of cake doing the needed modification.

As far as I am concerned, it's more than ok the way it is