7 Risks of Dual Booting Windows and Linux Operating Systems

Dual Booting is the act of installing two operating systems on one computer. While installing Windows and Linux on your PC might increase your productivity and give you the experience to try out a new OS. But before installing it, you have to consider the risks you can get? The following are 7 Dual Boot Risks that you should pay attention to before installing a second operating system on your PC or laptop.

1. Data Overwriting

The first risk of dual booting is when you install the second operating system and then you enter the wrong storage partition and it overwrites your existing data, or even the main operating system. That would cause quite a big problem. For that be careful when installing. Make sure you install the new operating system onto the device in question, and the proper partition, without losing your data!

2. Productivity Can Take a Hit

Running multiple operating systems on a PC is the best way to maximize productivity. But sometimes it can be unimportant. If you really have a special need to use two operating systems at the same time, say, Windows 10 alongside Ubuntu, then it's great to have both installed.

But do you really need to do it? Making sure you have alternative apps on Linux if you have switched from Windows is important. Likewise, you should make sure the appropriate option is available if you go the other way. Dual boot is a must really to experience and enjoy the entire alternative operating system environment.

Moreover, you may not need to switch. Running Windows in a virtual machine on Linux is a great solution. Naturally, you can also install Linux in a virtual machine on Windows. That's why it's important to make sure you're using the best operating system for the task at hand.

3. Partition Locked

Maybe this is one of the biggest dual boot risks of dual booting is not being able to access your data. But this shouldn't be a problem if you've managed things effectively (perhaps you sync data via the cloud, or use a dedicated HDD for personal files), then you'll find your important personal files available through whatever operating system you have installed. install.

However, problems can occur. If you are using Windows and the system shuts down unexpectedly, the HDD or any special partition used for personal files will be locked. This means trying to access the drive from your Linux partition will fail. you will see a message like this:

Error mounting /dev/sda5 at /media/karma/data: Command-line `mount -t “ntfs” -o “uhelper=udisks2,nodev,nosuid,uid=1000,gid=1000,dmask=0077,fmask=0177 ” “/dev/sda5” “/media/karma/data”' exited with non-zero exit status 14: The disk contains an unclean file system (0, 0). Metadata kept in Windows cache, refused to mount. Failed to mount '/dev/sda5': Operation not permitted The NTFS partition is in an unsafe state. Please resume and shutdown Windows completely (no hibernation or fast restarting), or mount the volume read-only with the 'ro' mount option.

As the warning says, this is perhaps the most frustrating risk of dual booting. Luckily it can be fixed, but it may take a few minutes (depending on how quickly your Windows installation boots). One option is to follow the instructions in the error and boot the device as read only. Or you can simply reboot into Windows, and those files will be accessible again. Follow this with an ordered restart to boot back into Linux, and once again, the files are available for use.

4.Windows Update

Updating your OS is one of the most important steps you can take to ensure a strong and secure computer. Unfortunately, this can cause problems in a dual boot installation. Whereas a system update from your chosen Linux distribution should produce few (if any) problems, Windows Update can prove devastating. Even if it installs successfully, Windows Update can cause a Master Boot Record (MBR) rewrite, leaving you with a missing Linux partition.

But a failed update, or even a simple driver update, can cause problems on a dual boot PC. While Linux can fall victim to issues with standard Windows Updates, failure will more often than not leave you without a copy of Windows that failed to start up. In this situation, it's time to use the Windows 10 recovery tool. Although it is time consuming, if you really need to start Windows, this is how to get it working again. For best results, make sure your computer's boot order defaults to Windows, rather than your Linux OS.

5. Viruses Stay Lurking

Linux is famous for anti-virus. While Linux-based operating systems are quite robust, they remain largely unbothered by viruses and other malware thanks to their relatively small usage base. The many Linux operating systems collectively account for only a small fraction of the operating system market. Obviously, scammers target Windows computers because it is more efficient for them to get results. However, many websites are attacked or even taken offline due to viruses and malware, and most of the web servers run on Linux.

If you run a dual boot computer, the possibility of malware affecting the Linux environment increases. Because of this, it is wise to maintain an internet security suite while running Windows. And on your Linux operating system, it is recommended to install an anti-virus application.

6. Driver Bugs Can Be Exposed

From time to time, some hardware issues may occur while dual booting. These are usually linked to Windows device drivers, and are becoming increasingly rare. Perhaps the most common hardware issue when dual booting comes in the form of a built-in wireless network card. These assignable devices can eventually be disabled in Windows, and therefore cannot be initialized in Linux. This is because the wireless card is hardware, and can be controlled via the system BIOS. The solution to this problem is to research support for wireless cards before flashing your operating system. You should also ensure the latest drivers on both operating systems.

7. Dual Booting Can Affect Disk Swap Space

The last risk of dual booting, in most cases there shouldn't be too much impact on your hardware from dual booting. One issue you should be aware of is the impact on swap space. Both Linux and Windows use hard disk drive chunks to increase performance while the computer is running. However, by installing a second (or third) operating system on the drive, you reduce the amount of space available for it.

The solution here is obvious, don't install additional operating systems if there isn't enough space to do so. If you still want to install an additional operating system on your PC, then you can just buy a new HDD or SSD. Once installed, you will have room for more operating systems.

Conclusion

So those were the 7 dual boot risks that you might experience but that doesn't rule out the possibility that you won't be affected by all of these risks. However, at least one, maybe two, possibilities that could happen. But there's nothing here to stop you from dual booting. So making sure your system is set up properly is important, and can help reduce or even avoid these problems.