Hello EndeavourOS community! I’m new here.
I’ve been wanting to switch to Linux for a while, and EndeavourOS really caught my eye. I’d like to start using it with a dual boot alongside Windows 11 while I get used to it.
I have a rough idea of how I could do this, but I’d love to hear some tips or methods from you if it’s not too much trouble.
Btw, I don’t know if it’s helpful to know that my laptop has Intel+Nvidia.
Welcome to the community 
In my opinion, dual-booting is not quite as simple as it used to be. Now we have UEFI, Secure Boot, TPM etc. to name a few potential obstacles.
I usually suggest trying distros out in a virtual machine before considering whether to install to HDD or SSD.
Ideally, if you want to dual-boot you should consider a second drive, unplugging the Windows drive, and target the second one with your EOS install.
Please post the make/model and full specifications because the more information we have, the easier it will be to suggest what you should do next.
Either way, great choice wanting to try EOS and I wish you the best of luck.
I second the advice to install EndeavourOS in a virtual machine. Get familiar with it without risk. If you really want to install it, get a separate drive, better, yet, get a second computer. Dual booting is a waste of space at best and a potential headache at worst.
Best way for someone to try EOS while using Windows is to install EOS on a VM and then take it from there.
Second best it to install EOS and Windows on their own separate drives.
The third best is to partition the drive 50% for Windows and 50% for EOS.
Have two different EFI/ESP partitions, one for Windows and one for EOS.
In all cases have your drives formatted at GPT. Do not use Windows Storage pool or equivalent.
If you wanna share data between EOS and Windows then remember EOS can read NTFS, VFAT, FAT32 drives. Windows cannot read EXT4/ZFS and other linux partition. So make the choice wisely.
All sound and good advise above, however, you may want to have a look at the following link to get familiar with what is involved in case you will be choosing to go for a dualboot system on bare metal:
To get step by step install help, you can always have an AI (free LLM) guide you in your install.
I would advise against doing this. AI is known to be confidently wrong about things.
This is one of those situations where you have to ask not if I can but If I should. While very possible to dual boot and it should be fairly straight forward. The issue comes from Microsoft and Their desire to NOT respect YOUR system. They will update the boot loader which in return removes the Linux boot loader and you will have to reset your boot preferences all over again.
For Just Looking I would suggest a VM as many here have already. But when it comes time to use it as a daily and wanting it on bare metal IMHO there is only 2 choices.
I actually don’t recommend even just switching drives with Windows on the same machine as I don’t trust Microsoft or their A.I
Anyway that was my unasked for 2 cents.
last time i check this.. virtual machine require you to have Intel VT-x/AMD-V extension right? so not all processor have that.
Typically when I set up a dual boot i will just install windows first, then linux, then it just works 
90% of the time it’s as simple as that.
Yer not all machines can use a VM for example my current PC but if they can be used are quite handy. I used to use one on my old PC all the time for testing things out before I would apply them to my system.
I concur. Please do not do this. LLMs have been know to hallucinate. Best scenario Read the document and then proceed forward. Most of the well established Linux Distros have installers which do most of the heavy lifting.
Does Oracles Virtualbox, Microsoft Hyper-V and other VM solutions all require Intel VT-x/AMD-V extension?
Welcome to EndeavourOS.
I dual boot on many machines without issues. You should go for it.
To be totally honest, I almost never boot on zindoz, but it’s there if one ever “needs” it (like every 2 years 
)
Best case scenario would be to have each install on separate drives, but maybe you cannot with your laptop, so different partitions will do fine.
@cactux pointed you in the right direction, it’s all there.
Enjoy your journey !
Thanks!,
Well the thing is I only have one SSD in my laptop, I have an external one that’s only 128GB but I have to connect it using a USB to SATA adapter, so would it be worth having Windows on it and EOS on the laptop’s SSD?
Well, my laptop is an Acer Nitro V15 ANV15-51, i5-13420H and RTX 3050. I only have 8GB of RAM, i can’t afford to buy more right now haha
The problem is I only have one SSD and I can’t easily get another laptop right now. I tried it in a virtual machine and I liked it. As I said, I’d like to have it in dual boot if possible. I just reinstalled Windows and left it with only 100GB; I’m saving the rest to install EOS later. Is it really that problematic to dual boot with Windows and EOS :b?
Wow, thanks for the information! Yes, I had read somewhere that EOS can read those formats. I just need to transfer documents, so I don’t think it’ll be much of a problem, right?
Well, I’ve already tested it in a virtual machine, and I’d like to install it directly on my laptop. I recently reinstalled Windows to LTSC, to be specific, and during the installation I only allocated 100GB, leaving the rest for installing EOS later.
Thanks for the resource, i appreciated it!
I already tried EOS in a VM and I liked it, so you don’t recommend having it in a dual boot?
I don’t know if it’s related, but I just installed Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC, which, from what I’ve read, doesn’t have any of the AI features that Windows has been implementing in versions like Home or 24H2, which is why I installed it.
The truth is, I’d like to have both on two different drives, but my laptop only has one. However, I do have an SSD that I have to connect with a USB to SATA adapter. Will Windows work well there?
Yes you’re right, from what I saw, to use a VM, your PC must have VT-X/AMD-V technology, and my laptop has that technology, so I was able to test EOS in a VM :b