Dual-boot Clear Linux* OS and Windows* 10 OS

This guide shows how to install Clear Linux* OS adjacent to an existing Windows* 10 OS. To add Clear Linux OS to an existing Windows installation, follow a method below.

Description

In this tutorial you’ll Install Clear Linux* OS from the live desktop as an additional partition. Alternatively, you may also Install Clear Linux* OS from the live server.

Method 1: Shrink Windows partition and install Clear Linux OS

For this method, we shrink the Windows 10 OS partition to make space for Clear Linux OS.

  1. Boot up the Windows 10 OS.

  2. Launch the Disk Management utility found under Create and format hard disk partitions.

  3. Right-click the primary Windows partition and select Shrink Volume….

    Disk Management > Shrink Volume

    Figure 1: Disk Management > Shrink Volume.

  4. Shrink the size of the partition by at least the following amount:

  5. We shrink C by about 21 GB, as shown in Figure 2.

    Shrink C

    Figure 2: Shrink C.

  6. Shutdown the Windows 10 OS.

  7. Follow the instructions to Install Clear Linux* OS from the live desktop.

  8. After booting from the Clear Linux OS image, select the icon to launch the installer.

  9. Click Select Installation Media.

  10. Select Safe Installation.

  11. Go through the remaining steps to install Clear Linux OS.

  12. Shut down your system and remove the USB.

  13. Reboot.

  14. During the BIOS POST stage, press F10, or the proper F-key for your system, to launch the Boot Menu.

    Boot menu

    Figure 3: Boot menu

  15. In the Boot Menu, use the arrow to select the OS bootloader as boot device (highlighted).

    Some BIOSes do not support listing multiple partitions. In this case, it will only show one bootable partition.

    Tip

    If you don’t want to use the BIOS boot menu each time to select an OS, follow Advanced: Use systemd-boot to boot Windows 10 OS and |CL|.

Method 2: Add another hard disk to your system where you install Clear Linux OS

  1. Shutdown your system.

  2. Open your system and attach another hard drive.

  3. Power up your system.

  4. Follow the instructions in Install Clear Linux* OS from the live desktop, and launch the Clear Linux OS installer.

  5. In the Required options tab, choose Select Installation Media.

  6. Within that menu, select Destructive Installation, and select the new hard drive from the device list.

    Note

    Make sure you don’t select the drive with your Windows 10 OS.

  7. Go through remaining steps to complete the installation.

  8. Reboot.

  9. During the BIOS POST stage, press F10, or the proper F-key for your system, to launch the Boot Menu.

    Boot menu

    Figure 4: Boot menu

  10. In the Boot Menu, use the arrow to select the Linux bootloader as boot device.

    Some BIOSes do not support listing multiple partitions. In this case, it will only show one bootable partition.

Tip

If you don’t want to use the BIOS boot menu each time to select an OS, follow the next section.

Advanced: Use systemd-boot to boot Windows 10 OS and Clear Linux OS

If you prefer not to use your BIOS to load the Boot Menu and select an OS to boot, you can make systemd-boot the default bootloader and add Windows 10 OS to the boot list. This option is also a workaround for BIOSes that don’t support booting more than one partition.

  1. Boot up the Clear Linux OS installer.

  2. Open a Terminal window and enter:

    lsblk

  3. Example output:

    clrlinux@clr-live~ $ lsblk
NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
loop0    7:0    0   2.3G  1 loop
sda      8:0    0 335.4G  0 disk
├─sda1   8:1    0   450M  0 part
├─sda2   8:2    0   100M  0 part
├─sda3   8:3    0    16M  0 part
├─sda4   8:4    0   286G  0 part
├─sda5   8:5    0   143M  0 part
├─sda6   8:6    0   244M  0 part
└─sda7   8:7    0  48.5G  0 part
sdb      8:16   1     7G  0 disk
├─sdb1   8:17   1   2.5G  0 part
└─sdb2   8:18   1   100M  0 part

  4. The example output shows:

    • /dev/sda2 is the EFI system partition created by Windows
    • /dev/sda4 is the primary Windows partition
    • /dev/sda5 is the EFI system partition created by Clear Linux
    • /dev/sda7 is the Clear Linux root partition

  5. Create mount points.

    sudo mkdir /mnt/windows-efi

sudo mkdir /mnt/clearlinux

  6. Mount the EFI system partition for Windows 10 OS.

    sudo mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/windows-efi

  7. Mount the Clear Linux OS root partition and its EFI system partition.

    sudo mount /dev/sda7 /mnt/clearlinux

sudo mount /dev/sda5 /mnt/clearlinux/boot

  8. Copy Windows 10 OS bootloader, and other data needed to boot it, to the Clear Linux OS EFI system partition.

    sudo cp -r /mnt/windows-efi/EFI/Microsoft/ /mnt/clearlinux/boot/EFI/

  9. Make systemd-boot the default bootloader and add Windows 10 OS Boot Manager.

    sudo bootctl install --esp-path=/mnt/clearlinux/boot

  10. Add a timeout value to the systemd-boot. This allows enough time for you to select your preferred OS from the menu.

    sudo clr-boot-manager set-timeout 20 --path=/mnt/clearlinux

sudo clr-boot-manager update --path=/mnt/clearlinux

  11. Umount all partitions.

    sudo umount /mnt/windows-efi /mnt/clearlinux/boot /mnt/clearlinux

  12. Reboot

    sudo reboot

  13. Remove the Clear Linux OS installer USB thumb drive.

  14. You should be presented with the systemd-boot menu, as shown below.

    systemd-boot menu

    Figure 5: systemd-boot menu