How difficult is it to set up EOS with a dualboot alongside windows?

The last time I attempted a dualboot with linux and windows was in 2016, and it didn’t go well at all lol.
To my knowledge some distros during the installation now have the option to “install alongside windows”, and prsumably ensure a boot menu to launch either-or without the user having to do anything else.
Assuming that I install windows with half of the disk space unallocated, will I then be able to install Endevour in that free space and not expect issues with the boot?
I ask here because most articles I find online cover really basic stuff that I already know, yet at the same time I feel quite clueless about dual-booting. Please assume I know nothing.

Installing EnOS as a dual boot with Windows is simple. First of all is your current Windows installed in UEFI mode or is it MBR?

Edit: If your hardware is UEFI then you need to make sure secure boot is disabled, CSM mode is turned off and it is set to UEFI only (No legacy)

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I just set up a dual boot a few days back and it works like a charm “out-of-the-box”, as long as you have pre-partitioned you hard drive before starting the EOS install (i.e. as you said, leave half the disk space unallocated).

It should be as easy as selecting “install alongside” in the EOS-Calamares installer and then choosing the empty partition. As long as you use the newest ISO, GRUB should detect windows.

You will need to set up SWAP manually though, but the arch-wiki guide is pretty straight forward as long as you’re using ext4.

But as @ricklinux said, depending on how you Windows is installed/ BIOS specs, it might not work as smoothly as it did for me.

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Understood, I will go into the bios settings and ensure secure boot and CSM is off.

It is also necessary to disable Fast Startup.

This dual-boot article might help:
https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ho…-with-windows/

Yes as @morse said it is also advisable to turn off the Fast Startup feature in Windows.

Welcome to the forum @29999999999spongebob :partying_face: :balloon: :tada: :enos_flag:

check all option in your UEFI
create 2 profiles if possible
one windows with Secureboot
other with linux

check also Disks for AHCI , and no hibernation from windows

SecureBoot off
Fast Boot off
No CSM
No Legacy
all disks on AHCI
No optane/RST

you can check in terminal before installing

inxi -Fxza
test -d /sys/firmware/efi && echo efi || echo bios
sudo parted -l

you may need vmd package for nvme

If you find that Windows isn’t showing up as a boot option, then you’ll need to enable OS Prober in GRUB with this easy to follow guide: Grub dual booting

If you’ve never done it. Hard. If you’ve done it, it’s easier.

Once you know, you know.

It’s only hard the first time. :wink: As you can see there is a laundry list of things to check and or do. It gets easier the next time around.

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