Noob: Can I install Linux on an empty nvme while in windows? Without needing a USB?
Basically. I have separate drive for my windowsOS/media etc. And one of my nvme drive now is completely empty.
Is there a way to install Linux onto that empty nvme with windows and then like turn the PC off remove my windows drive entirely, and then have it just boot with the linux drive without needing to do a whole bootable usb through the motherboard uefi?
I don't have USB drives and they cost too much for something i never use.
Like if there was a linux installer that Ibcan run while logged in to windows that would be amazing...
9 replies
I've never tried it, but you can use UNetbootin to do that.
Wow, I did not know about this, very cool!
I think you can also use Ventoy over the network (which I have never tried either).
Yes there are lots of methods to do this. Format the disk to something like ext4, untar a distro to it, then with wsl chroot into the disk, finish installing and configuring everything, then reboot to the new disk. You will need specific time to do an this, but should be fairly straight forward.
I essentially did exactly this for my current setup.
There are other ways to.
I make a partition on my main drive which I load any .iso on to it. Usually I keep a Linux Mint .iso there in case I need a basic set of tools outside of my main Operating System for when I mess up my main OS. I can load that .iso partition at boot through the BIOS menu.
I'm sure you can do the same with an NVME drive. You may need to check the BIOS boot order to make sure you start your preferred OS when booting your system.
I used to do this too, I confirm this works and is a good idea, it is convenient especially if you plan to distrohop a bit or know you will reset a couple times to experiment a bit
I installed from inside vmware before, with the linux drive mounted natively, then removed the windows drive.
This feels wrong but I don't know why. It just feels like it would break somewhere. I've never given a vm its own physical drive though.
You could use netboot.xyz: https://netboot.xyz/docs/booting/uefi
You might have a MicroSD or SD cars lying around which you can use as a USB stick with a $1 reader e.g. from Aliexpress.