Seven ways to set up multi-booting with Windows 8 and Linux

Hi,

Seven ways to set up multi-booting with Windows 8 and Linux

Summary: More trial and error attempts to set up multi-boot on my new laptop. Here's what I've learned to date. By J.A. Watson for Jamie's Mostly Linux Stuff Posted: February 21, 2014 -- 11:34 GMT (03:34 PST) A good bit of the feedback on my most recent post about installing Fedora on my new laptop was along the lines of "instead of telling us what doesn't work, please give us some information about what options we have which do work". That's good advice, and I'm happy to follow it. If all we do is sit around and moan about dual-booting Linux on UEFI systems, it really is likely to discourage some people from trying it, and the simple truth is that there are options that will work, without a massive amount of effort. First, though, I will repeat something I have said many times before. Every UEFI firmware implementation is different - and not just a little bit different, either. Some work really well with Linux installations, dual-booting with no problem right from the start. Others are difficult, unpredictable and downright maddening in their inconsitency, and seem to go out of their way to prevent Linux booting. So if you want to dual-boot Linux and Windows, try to find a description written by someone with the same system you are using, or at least a system from the same manufacturer.

Some great information to help you multi-boot.

These days, virtual machines are IMHO by far the better solution to this issue. Install a VM, and an external hard-drive to act as the system volume for the guest machine. Don't let the host know that the guest drive is accessible, and vice-versa.

Hi,

Add note to OP: Be sure to read the comments section at the original link above for additional information.

I agree that VMs' are a great way to have multiple installs for operation, experimentation or testing. Yet there are times when I do want a real OS install without a virtual machine on a UEFI machine.