[SOLVED] Help with dual booting Arch and Windows 11, keeping Windows separated from Arch

[uneven otter]

Hi! So as the title says I want to dual boot Windows 11 and Arch.

Arch will be my main system where I play games and other stuff, and Windows will be my homework dedicated partition.

Since I need to use Photoshop and other programs which I'm sure are virus free (but you never know) that only work on Windows, and my PC isn't powerful enough to run a VM, I want to dual boot both operating systems.

The thing is, I want to keep my Arch installation completely isolated from the Windows install and vice versa. I don't want any of them accessing the files from the other. The reasons are so it doesn't end up accidentally injecting/corrupting files and second, for security reasons since Windows won't be entirely risk free.

I've read that encrypting the drives can work to isolate them. I have W11 Pro and I could use the Bitlocker feature but I don't know if it'd be the best option since I have to log into Microsoft account, but also it'd mean that my drives would still recognize each other and a virus could damage them, even if they can't access the data.

Should I create a new partition and install Windows in there? Or should I buy a new SSD and do the same? And how can I keep them isolated from one another?

TLDR: How can I dual boot Windows 11 and Arch, keeping the files from each operating system isolated?

[proud anchor]

There's probably no need to encrypt them. Windows will sit on an NTFS filesystem which linux can read but it won't automatically try to mount it unless you tell it to. Even if you accidentally mount it, it won't do anything to it. Windows on the other hand will be unable to mount filesystems like ext4 that your linux system will probably live in.

If you're worried about a virus reading them, then encryption would stop that, but it wouldn't stop them from writing on them. The only way to stop that is to physically disconnect the device.

You can't really isolate a partition like that since you can't physically disconnect it, the operating system will be able to write to it

This really sounds like something that VMs would be good for but you did say the system isn't powerful enough

[uneven otter]

I understand, it makes sense, and well the only way I can use two separate drives is by buying another one for the spare M2 slot that my laptop has but that's about it, I'd have to remove them whenever I want to switch OS and that's too tiring

[uneven otter]

Yeah it's a pretty basic laptop, I wanted to ask though, encrypting both Arch and Windows would mean that both systems are unreadable between them right? So I assume that it would be sufficient

of course in case of a ransomware attack I'd end up with a bricked system but at the very least my files would be "safe" from someone stealing and reading then

[proud anchor]

proper encryption would make them useless for anyone reading them without the key, yes

[uneven otter]

I understand! I guess until I find a way to quickly disconnect the drives before using one OS encrypting will be my best bet

I really appreciate your help!! :)<3

[SOLVED] Help with dual booting Arch and Windows 11, keeping Windows separated from Arch

[glacial bone]

my option, having two drives one for arch (linux) and one for windows will be easier but doing partition would work too, but from the info i know, it can cause a chance to corrupt files and stuff

[uneven otter]

In that case I'd have to install Arch first to make the partitions more easily and leave like 200GB of unallocated space for Windows, but using a new drive is way easier as you say yes :)

[glacial bone]

i would not use bitlocker if you care about privacy since its owned by microsoft like you said and they at one of the worst companys for priacy lol

[glacial bone]

and just wondering what games you plan on using in linux

[uneven otter]

pretty basic stuff, Project Zomboid, Left 4 Dead 2, MW2 (2009), Omori, VR Chat, I mean pretty much any game that doesn't make my 256MB of VRAM potato explode

they all run just fine on Linux, but way worse on windows since... well windows

[uneven otter]

Would veracrypt be okay as an alternative? The good thing is that it's free and open source unlike the other but I'm not sure if it's as reliable as Bitlocker

I never had any issues with it but I'm not sure if privacy is a concern, unless they somehow have a backdoor for their encryption

[glacial bone]

well you never know how its coded, unless its open source ( which i dont know about for bitlocker)

[lone roost]

saw a video on how to do this lemme find it one sec i followed the tutorial and worked all g

[glacial bone]

that would be useful for andrew but i also recomand learning how to do it using the docs aswell its always useful to know the basics about how to install and set it up since some videos can make mistakes

@uneven otter why cant you just vm it?

seems way easier then dual booting

[lone roost]

nah ceebs my g lol

im new to arch as well i used this script like a couple days ago and im all g

wait i think thats the wrong vid lol

[glacial bone]

0-0

[lone roost]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np6k3Pilz-I this vid

its the same vid but its updated cause the archinstall script changed i think

[uneven otter]

the performance is really bad, maybe i didn't set it up correctly but dragging elements on the screen felt sluggish, clicking on things isn't instantaneous, the framerate looks choppy and since my laptop isn't good at all, every bit of performance lost hurts

also, i have 8GB of ram which is insufficient

[lone roost]

nah dont run a vm on laptop its shit

not worth it g just dual boot its pretty easy

like if u have an ssd it would be just as fast rebooting than like opening up a vm

[uneven otter]

thanks! i will watch it :D, maybe i won't use the archinstall script but i'll follow it :)

[pastel galleon]

harris.k received a thank you cookie!

[lone roost]

all g