Dual boot MX Linux Xfce & MX Linux KDE

[nick43]

Hi,
I have MX Linux Xfce 23.1 installed on my laptop, and now I want to dual-boot it with MX Linux KDE.

I am worried that when I do the MX Linux KDE install and select /boot/efi folder on my /dev/sda1 partition that it will override the original Xfce boot information. Since that is the same exact location for the Xfce boot information.

Does anyone have experience dual booting MX Linux Xfce & MX Linux KDE?


Thanks,
Nick

[FullScale4Me]

It works fine. This response was typed from a PC with that exact configuration.

Three of my PCs are set that way. The daily driver is Xfce default and 2nd running MX KDE is default.

[dolphin_oracle]

yes it will be overwritten, but all releases will show up in grub menu.

you could make a second ESP partition to store it there, or if you want to rely on only one grub menu and want the Xfce one to be default, install grub to the pbr of your target root partition instead of to the ESP, then run "sudo update-grub" on the Xfce system.

[nick43]

It works fine. This response was typed from a PC with that exact configuration.

Three of my PCs are set that way. The daily driver is Xfce default and 2nd running MX KDE is default.

Hi,
So the install puts multiple MX23 boot folders in the /boot/efi folder for Xfce and KDE? Just curious what folders are in the /boot/efi folder.

Thanks,
Nick

[FullScale4Me]

Hi,
So the install puts multiple MX23 boot folders in the /boot/efi folder for Xfce and KDE? Just curious what folders are in the /boot/efi folder.

Thanks,
Nick

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OptiPlex7050:/boot
$ ls
config-6.4.0-1mx-ahs-amd64          memtest86+x64.bin
config-6.5.0-5mx-ahs-amd64          memtest86+x64.efi
config-6.6.12-1-liquorix-amd64      System.map-6.4.0-1mx-ahs-amd64
config-6.6.9-amd64                  System.map-6.5.0-5mx-ahs-amd64
config-6.7.4-1-liquorix-amd64       System.map-6.6.12-1-liquorix-amd64
efi                                 System.map-6.6.9-amd64
grub                                System.map-6.7.4-1-liquorix-amd64
initrd.img-6.4.0-1mx-ahs-amd64      uefi-mt
initrd.img-6.5.0-5mx-ahs-amd64      vmlinuz-6.4.0-1mx-ahs-amd64
initrd.img-6.6.12-1-liquorix-amd64  vmlinuz-6.5.0-5mx-ahs-amd64
initrd.img-6.6.9-amd64              vmlinuz-6.6.12-1-liquorix-amd64
initrd.img-6.7.4-1-liquorix-amd64   vmlinuz-6.6.9-amd64
memtest86+ia32.bin                  vmlinuz-6.7.4-1-liquorix-amd64
memtest86+ia32.efi

OptiPlex7050:/boot/efi
$ ls
EFI

OptiPlex7050:/boot/efi/EFI
$ ls
BOOT  MX  MX23

OptiPlex7050:/boot/efi/EFI/MX
$ ls
grubx64.efi

OptiPlex7050:/boot/efi/EFI/MX23
$ ls
grubx64.efi

OptiPlex7050:/boot/efi/EFI/BOOT
$ ls
BOOTX64.EFI

/boot/efi - 1.29 Mb used of 55 Mb

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OptiPlex7050:/boot
$ ls -s -h
total 479M
260K config-6.4.0-1mx-ahs-amd64          144K memtest86+x64.bin
260K config-6.5.0-5mx-ahs-amd64          144K memtest86+x64.efi
264K config-6.6.12-1-liquorix-amd64      4.0K System.map-6.4.0-1mx-ahs-amd64
264K config-6.6.9-amd64                  4.0K System.map-6.5.0-5mx-ahs-amd64
268K config-6.7.4-1-liquorix-amd64       6.0M System.map-6.6.12-1-liquorix-amd64
 512 efi                                 4.0K System.map-6.6.9-amd64
4.0K grub                                6.1M System.map-6.7.4-1-liquorix-amd64
 81M initrd.img-6.4.0-1mx-ahs-amd64      4.0K uefi-mt
 82M initrd.img-6.5.0-5mx-ahs-amd64      8.7M vmlinuz-6.4.0-1mx-ahs-amd64
 87M initrd.img-6.6.12-1-liquorix-amd64  8.8M vmlinuz-6.5.0-5mx-ahs-amd64
 82M initrd.img-6.6.9-amd64              9.6M vmlinuz-6.6.12-1-liquorix-amd64
 87M initrd.img-6.7.4-1-liquorix-amd64   9.0M vmlinuz-6.6.9-amd64
136K memtest86+ia32.bin                   14M vmlinuz-6.7.4-1-liquorix-amd64
140K memtest86+ia32.efi

/boot total 479M

[nick43]

Great, thanks! It looks like the installer creates boot folder "MX23" for one install, and then boot folder "MX" for the other install.

[fehlix]

Great, thanks! It looks like the installer creates boot folder "MX23" for one install, and then boot folder "MX" for the other install.

The current "MX Installer" creates (or reuses) on the ESP
/EFI/MX
and the generated efi-loader as
/EFI/MX/grubx64.efi
and creates (or updates) the NVRAM entry within the UEFI firmware
with label "MX Linux".
That's probably different to the MX installer original available on the MX23.iso.

The easiest might be to keep existing efi-loader
and make the labels within NVRAM easier distinguishable:

* copy efi-loader directory
E.g open Thunar as root with the ESP mounted on /boot/efi
and copy /boot/efi/EFI/MX???
to a new folder like
/boot/efi/EFI/MX23-Xfce

* next open MX Boot Options
and create a new NVRAM entry with label "MX23-Xfce"
and select the copy under
/boot/efi/EFI/MX23-Xfce/grubx64.efi

After installing another MX Linux, like MX-23.2-KDE,
do the same so you have
/boot/efi/EFI/MX23-KDE/grubx64.efi
and NVRAM entry labeled as "MX23-KDE"
By this you can clearly see what you boot into when select UEFI-boot options list (e.g with Fn-key )
and keep existing.

Adding/using a separated ESP for the new install, would help with keeping existing,
but the NVRAM UEFI label, would be just "MX Linux", so would not help to distinguish
the entries.

Alternatively if you prefer the CLI:
run

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sudo grub-install --bootloader-id MX-23Xfce --force-extra-removable

and

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sudo grub-install --bootloader-id MX-23KDE --force-extra-removable

when booted into the MX Xfce or KDE installation, respectively.

HTH