Check if dual booting suits your needs and system compatibility.
Check if dual booting suits your needs and system compatibility.
You’re starting with a Dell Precision 7760 running Linux and want to keep your Windows installation intact. Most dualbooting guides assume Windows first, but you prefer the opposite. As a beginner, you want to preserve Ubuntu’s setup while still having access to Windows when needed. One approach could be using an external USB drive for Windows, keeping the internal SSD for Linux. This avoids hardware changes and simplifies maintenance. Alternatively, you might consider dualbooting with a lightweight VM or Wine, but that could limit performance and stability. Evaluate reliability and ease based on your needs.
You can install Windows second, but after setup you won’t be able to boot into Ubuntu. This happens because Windows replaces the GRUB with its own bootloader. You’ll need an Ubuntu installation media to fix the GRUB bootloader so you can return to Ubuntu. GRUB will then boot either Ubuntu or Windows on startup. For details, see the guide here: https://askubuntu.com/questions/88384/ho...ng-windows
To protect your Ubuntu data (including drivers), create a backup of the internal hard drive on an external drive using a live Linux system. Choose Grub as the initial bootloader by searching for a BIOS option such as "boot from EFI file" and selecting Grub. If Grub boots successfully, you can upgrade it via Ubuntu with the command: $ sudo update-grub
Skip the Windows setup and go straight to Linux—this is now possible. Explore my topic!
In fact, I have already addressed and fixed the issue. Thank you.