Can boot time be improved in dual boot?  [Solved]

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danielson

Can boot time be improved in dual boot?

#1 Post by danielson »

It takes so much longer to get to that "window" to choose between MX or Windows than when only Windows 10 is installed.

Is there a way to cut down on the time it takes to get to that "pre" OS choice?

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LU344928
Posts: 331
Joined: Wed Nov 14, 2018 11:40 pm

Re: Can boot time be improved in dual boot?  [Solved]

#2 Post by LU344928 »

danielson wrote: Tue Aug 24, 2021 8:13 pm It takes so much longer to get to that "window" to choose between MX or Windows than when only Windows 10 is installed.

Is there a way to cut down on the time it takes to get to that "pre" OS choice?
How much longer does it take? Can only be a matter of seconds, no?
Machine: Type: Laptop System: Acer product: Aspire AL14-31P
Distro: MX-23.6_KDE_x64 Libretto

danielson

Re: Can boot time be improved in dual boot?

#3 Post by danielson »

Well, actually, you might want to add 20 seconds.

All and all, including booting into OS, would consider it anywhere in between 1:30 min. to 2 min.

Huckleberry Finn

Re: Can boot time be improved in dual boot?

#4 Post by Huckleberry Finn »

danielson wrote: Tue Aug 24, 2021 8:13 pmthat "window" to choose between MX or Windows
"Grub" if I'm not wrong ?

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dreamer
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Re: Can boot time be improved in dual boot?

#5 Post by dreamer »

danielson wrote: Tue Aug 24, 2021 8:13 pm It takes so much longer to get to that "window" to choose between MX or Windows than when only Windows 10 is installed.
This indicates you are using Windows Loader as boot loader. Windows Loader (Windows 8 and later) dislikes dual booters (including dual booting different Windows OSes). Windows Loader has become "useless" for dual booting because it forces a reboot before booting into "alternative OS".
danielson wrote: Tue Aug 24, 2021 8:13 pm Is there a way to cut down on the time it takes to get to that "pre" OS choice?
Yes, there is. It is called GRUB. You should make sure to install GRUB and make it your default boot loader. This normally happens automatically on a BIOS/MBR installation. With UEFI things can be a little trickier, because the spec seems to allow for different implementations.

I tend to avoid UEFI, but I recently read something dolphin_oracle wrote that sounded like a "safe and effective" way of dealing with UEFI. This assumes two EFI partitions or even better two physical drives if you can fit that into your machine. Use one EFI partition for Windows to load Windows Loader when booting into Windows. Use another EFI partition for Linux to load GRUB when booting into Linux.

Then from UEFI interface you should be able to select to boot from GRUB EFI partition by default. When you boot to GRUB you can select to boot Windows if you like, but you won't experience the delay from Windows Loader.
Note to self and others: SysVinit is a good option. However if you run into problems try with systemd first. This applies to AppImages, Flatpaks, GitHub packages and even some Debian packages.

danielson

Re: Can boot time be improved in dual boot?

#6 Post by danielson »

@dreamer - think you're onto something there!

Had read somewhere that creating EFI at installation and then removing it after reboot...

Anyhow, just installed KDE 21 b2 while leaving fast boot enabled and 40 sec. is about the time it takes from start to finish (clicking at proper times) on the ol' DELL laptop of mine.
Not that bad. Perhaps even at par with Windows 10 since the latter always takes a bit of time to get settled in.

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