Dual boot with Slackware 14.1/Windows7
 

Hello,

I will have to start to upgrade from Windows 7 to 10 on several machines. We use the traditional BIOS configuration with LILO
installed. Slackware is the primary OS being used but Windows is available and can be used by other people.

Are there any issues with doing the upgrade while Slackware is installed?

Thanks.

Regards,

Jeff

You most likely will have to re-install lilo to the mbr, after windows 10 is installed. Would suggest doing backups of important data on slackware partitions just in case window 10 decides to take over the whole drive.

Moderator Response
 

Moved: This thread is more suitable in <Slackware> and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.

I suggest changing your Slackware installs to use persistence device names. i.e UUID. Although I have never seem window take over amy whole drive, it does add partitions which then screws up the partition order. Any distro installed downstream of the the Window install that doesn't use persistence drive names my not boot correctly.

If Windows 7 is already installed, then the required partitions are already present. The upgrade will not change the partitions or label names.
The problem will be needing to restart into Windows several times as the upgrade occurs. I would suggest reordering in /etc/lilo.conf, making Windows the default OS in the boot loader, prior to and for the duration of the upgrade.
On a recent Windows 10 update, with Slackware as the primary OS in /etc/lilo.conf, I needed to manually reboot 3 times to Windows 10, before the update was complete.

Sincerely no offense, but I find it bordering on incomprehensible that any Slackware user would ever install Win10 on the same box as Slackware, if on any machine. How can any knowledgeable person accept such an invasive EULA? What can Win10 do that the far less invasive Win7 cannot? I'm actually curious, not flaming. Are people forced by their work?

At the moment I run Slackware64-current on most of my machines. However, I do maintain one Dell Lattitude that runs Win 10 Pro; it has a nice SSD and 16 GB RAM. It runs well enough. My 16 year old doesn't like Linux and prefers M$ Office 2019 to Libreoffice. My wife needs Windows to tunnel into her proprietary work network. Each to their own. It's more work to maintain Windows, but, I have a happy family.

In the U.S. ms-office/word has a stranglehold on the legal profession, yet many law firms use MAC hardware.
I proctor the Bar Exam twice a year and I'm always amazed when I look out over the room, with as many as 1,200 examinees,
and see a sea of Apple logos. I would guessimate it is easily well over 90% MAC vs. PC.

That's all that really matters. We don't take any of this with us after our last gasp of air. :)

Side note. If the system CPUs support virtualization extensions and there is at least 4 GB of RAM (preferably more), perhaps consider virtualizing Windows using raw disk access. Not a solution for all users but for some folks this eliminates dual booting.

At work, Windows 10 is the only available operating system. I run Windows 10 at home for compatibility. LibreOffice and MS Office have good compatibility, but the glitches are annoying. MS Excel in Office 365 recently introduced a new feature in comments that has caused issues for me. Other home users want to use Windows based software. Also. some software is only available for Windows. A recent example was an update of maps in a SatNav device. Last, but not least, Windows can be a useful trouble shooting tool for Linux. :)

Member Response
 

Hi,

Non taken, I need to have MS Widows for client support and Slackware is my main OS. Some user(s) may be in the same situation that work requires them access to alternate OS. I would place no restrictions nor admonish anyone that chooses to use that setup. Their EULA has always been a pain but that does not restrict others from using their product.

I tell everyone about Gnu/Linux and Slackware but it may not always be their choice.

Hope this helps.
Have fun & enjoy Slackware!
:hattip:

Thanks onebuck, hitest, cwizardone, upnort and allend but maybe I should have stressed the "What can Win10 do that the far less invasive Win7 cannot?" part. I build PCs so family members have their own boxen and can do whatever they please. Everyone prefers happy family :D I'm specifically wondering about why anyone would have Win10 vs/ Win 7 (or I suppose even 8) but especially on the same box as Slackware. I have been multibooting since the early 90s and still do from time to time but mostly to other Linux distros. I do have a Win 7 install (and even a few boxen with XP64) but all my Windows are dusty and laden with cobwebs ;). Wine handles all I need of Win software but I am aware that I have never been forced to comply with any work requirements that disallow Linux.

So I suppose my main question is won't Win 7 work for work? The family issue is all up to them from my POV.

It won't work for work or home. Windows 7 reaches end of life on January 14, 2020. So if you're running MS then you should probably start to transition to Windows 10. Just a suggestion.

From a work perspective, running Windows 10 where SMB1 is disabled by default, is a basic security precaution. Does anybody remember WannaCry?
I routinely use systems running Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows 10. I still have a soft spot for XP, Windows 7 is solid, but Windows 10 is better. The Windows 10 defaults initially frustrated me, as they did not suit my style of use (when I select part of a word, that is what I want, please MS, do not try to be helpful and automatically select the whole word) but they can be tweaked. I would be interested if anybody can point me to a Linux equivalent of the Windows 10 Screen Sketch tool, something that I now often use. I am also a fan of the Cortana search box, although the witch is struck deaf and mute on my setups. Yes, I worry about the Windows 10 telemetry issues (although I suspect that flagrant disregard for personal privacy is severely curtailed in the Windows 10 Enterprise edition at work), so I try to be circumspect. That is one of the reasons that Slackware has been my primary OS at home for many years.

There is a different look and feel between the Windows versions. It can be disconcerting to try and do the same task in different Window versions. If someone needs to get a task completed, then being able to follow the same procedure at one place to the next is a small but significant productivity gain.

A final note on Windows 10, there is now native support for familiar *nix tools such as SSH and bash shell with support for grep, sed and awk.

Oh - To answer this, yes (mostly). But times change and send of support dates are reached.

Is it at all possible to change that atrocious win10 user interface? It looks like it was designed by a bunch of kindergartners, with bad taste.
:(