Dual boot with EOS installed on micro SD Card with partition

#1

Is it possible to dual boot with windows with EOS installed on external MicroSD Card? The card will have two partitions, one for EOS and another for exchanging files between EOS and Windows? Which installer should I use and what is the precedure?
Many thanks!

#2

It is possible, but its an advanced option and is not available from the installer in any way. In a Nutshell:

  • Install Windows on the first SSD
  • Install Endless OS on the second SSD
  • Install the rEFInd Bootloader to the first UEFI Partition and create the necessary configuration file to set up the two Boot entries for Windows on the first SSD and Endless OS on the second SSD.
  • Set rEFInd as the first Boot entry (with efibootmgr)

In your case there’s an additional pit: The installer does not allow to install to removable media. To circumvent this, you need to install VirtualBox on Windows after the first step and make the MicroSD card available as a Raw-Disk to the VM - install EOS inside the VM now (VirtualBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk). This replaces the entire second step.

For further reference:
https://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/

#3

Hi egrath
Thanks a lot for your extended explanation.
Windows is already installed in my main drive and I don’t really want to re-install.
I took out an ssd from another computer with EOS installed. I plugged it into the USB port with a USB cas and it worked fine, the system boot into EOS because I have chosen to but from USB in bios.
I was wondering if the same could be done from microsd, because I don’t want to carry an external ssd drive but I am a bit worried that during the installation on micro sd(if it can be done) the windows system would be corrupted. Here is a screenshot of my setup, I would like to install EOS on D

Capture
Capture1213×342 57 KB

Many thanks for your help.

Blockquote

#4

First of all, install rEFInd according to the instructions provided on the developers homepage. If that worked out, we will do the next steps.

You know that the installation of rEFInd has worked when theres a Bootmanager sitting around before booting Windows :slight_smile:

#5

Does this mean that I need to install rEFInd on C?

#6

Not directly on C. Your current Windows partition has as least three partitions:

  1. EFI System Partition
  2. Microsoft Reserved
  3. Data Partition (this is your C:)

You need to install to the EFI Partition which can be mounted on a administrative prompt with mountvol X: /s (will be mounted to Drive X:). Then you need to run the command given in the developers guide (bootrec …) to update the boot environment to point to the newly installed Boot manager.

#7

Can I install rEFInd on a partition on disk 2 (the sd card) without messing up disk 0 (where windows resides) ?

#8

No, the UEFI Binaries need to be installed in the UEFI System Partition, which is normally located on the first internal Disk.

#9

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