I have 2 drives, my main one with Garuda Linux and i now want to install Windows on my second one.
The problem i have is when i try to install windows on it it says "Windows cannot be installed in GPT partition style"
How to solve that?
(I have data on that disk, so i created a partition in NTFS format.)
My Bios says it is in Legacy+Uefi mode.
This isn't really an appropriate question for this forum because it sounds like you need help installing Windows.
The short answer is you need to turn of legacy boot mode in your BIOS. Legacy boot helps enable booting into an OS that uses MBR instead of GPT. When you boot in legacy mode Windows thinks it should be looking for an MBR, it sees a GPT and it fails.
I'm not really sure how advanced you are as a Linux user.
Dual-booting with Windows is a complexity that I never recommend for any Linux Newbie to Intermediate user to do. Microsoft's entire empire is built upon on Windows being the only ruler of your PC.
Windows is developed as the sole OS for the PC platform, and it does not have friendly terms with Linux at all. This is clearly evident that it tries to overwrite the boot process with its own every update (every second Tuesday of the month).
You may continue installing Windows using the MBR format and dual-boot with Garuda Linux that way. However, that temporary truce will end the moment Windows update schedule for the month comes.
It is a perpetual cycle of fighting Windows to behave, and no user deserves that treatment.
I tried that but when i do that, i cant start Garuda Linux anymore. Cause when i activate Uefi, i cannot use anything besides my ventoy usb stick to boot from
Dual booting requires Windows to be installed first, then Linux second.
Windows does not respect Grub, and will overwrite it with its own loader.
Again, it is a complexity that even advanced Linux users are challenged with. If you are new with Linux, I recommend you just run Windows inside a virtual machine under Garuda Linux.
I tried that. But i cant seem to get single GPU passthrough to work, and i mainly want to use windows as dualboot cause i want to play anti cheat games, and i heard that even with a VM anti cheat doesnt like that
And you are here having to ask the community to help you with the complexity you entered into. Again, Garuda developers does not support dual-booting support forum threads. You are on your own, the community can throw you suggestions but YMMV. And in this case, you hit a brick wall.
In this case since they are using two separate disks, each disk will have to have its own EFI partition anyway. Normally I would say installing Windows first is a must, as you have said, but in this case it doesn’t matter.
Your Garuda might be a little messed up from getting installed in legacy mode. I guess I’m not completely sure how to undo the damage. You can try chrooting into it from the live session with your Ventoy stick and try to reinstall grub, like this: Grub fails after update - #3 by librewish
EDIT: Make sure you turn off legacy boot before you try that.
For what it's worth, the dual boot guide on this forum worked great for my dual hard drive dual boot setup. On top of that guide, you should probably remember to perform the UEFI changes recommended in the Garuda installation instructions.
Make sure you are mounting the correct partition. The EFI partition is not the partition your Garuda install is on. If you aren't sure, run lsblk -f. The EFI partition will be formatted as FAT32.
The most important piece to back up will be anything in your user folder. That will include any files you have saved in your documents or downloads folders, as well as most customized settings you have saved for KDE or your browser or whatever.
Your system files, it's up to you if you want to back it up or not but if you start fresh you will have to reinstall whatever packages you are using. Not a big deal, but something to keep in mind.
The Arch Wiki example for a full system backup is this command run as root:
If you read through the article it explains the logic behind excluding those specific folders from the back up, plus mentions a few others you may wish to exclude.
To restore, you reverse the source (*/path/to/backup* becomes the source) and destination (/ becomes the destination).
Now that I think of it, I would fully update before you take the backup, and then also update the fresh installation before restoring the backup.
Enough of a Windows primer. Not a Garuda problem. Topic closed.
EDIT: Thread reclassified at request of forum helper since it demonstrates the basic knowledge of MBR vs. GPT and the errors that may occur when not handled properly.
Topic is still closed as it has been adequately rehashed in past forum threads.
(and restore it afterwards)