Can you dual-boot arch linux with Windows ?

AstarothMastemaRavenclaw

Here is my current dilemna; I have Windows still on my netbook for the only reason that I use it for gaming .

Other than that I have Linux Mint dual-booted with it .

Now my question is, can I just instruct arch to install into the already existing linux partition, formatting it and making it it's home, or do I have to delete it, thus rendering my computer inoperable until I successfully dualboot arch with it ? :blink:

Or should I take a different approach altogether, and triple boot my netbook with arch, mint, and windows, and then from there delete the mint partition and allocate the free space accordingly using easeus partition master (another reason I still have windows) ?

Please help .

PS. I think the Linux forum should include an "Other" section in "Distributions" . >.>

mfillpot

You can install any Linux based distro into an existing linux based partition, however if you are referring to the root partition then you will want to use a freshly formatted or blank partition to guarantee that it does not have conflicts with any existing files.

In my system I have several blank ext4 formatted partitions that I use at various points to physically install various distros for testing, I have not experienced any issues with the use of partitions, the only issue I can see is that the newly installed distro may try to overwrite the bootlaoder, but that is not a partition issue.

chekkizhar

A simple solution, I prefer for those, not ready to play with bootloader stuff is, Install Windows first, then install any flavor of Linux, it will automatically do everything with out making you to worry about preserving Windows.[of-course you should NOT choose "use entire partition during installation"]

If you install windows, that will overwrite in first sector of hard drive and recovering involves different steps, based on linux flavor.

So, Install Windows then Install your fav linux. You will automatically get a dual boot. That is the beauty of LINUX