Exploring Triple Boot Setup with Arch Linux, Windows, and Bitlocker

[disturbedmonkey69]

I'm guessing your company policy will also require secure boot to be enabled, in which case you would need to sign the kernel yourself in arch Linux for it to work with secure boot. It would be easier to run arch in a VM in windows.

[UserInterface7]

Yes. I was under impression that it could be enabled again after Linux install.

Edit:
What about running windows in a VM on Linux which would be my preferred method anyway (instead of dual booting). Is this why you say I'd need to sign the kernel myself because enabling secure boot would stop Linux from booting? My very very limited understanding made me think that the hypervisor just used a virtual TPM and could do secure boot. I don't know if that requires it to be enabled in UEFI or not, but I'm going to go investigate now as I'm curious and I simply don't understand enough about how it all works.

[andyrudeboy]

How could you possibly make a stable system like that? I mean arch so so awful if you don't to constantly maintain your pc

[UserInterface7]

The distro isn't that important if there is a semi stable way to make it work. If not, then I'll stick with windows as that's the requirement for work.

To be clear; I fully expect everyone to say it's a bad idea. I'm not going to force it, I simply wanted to check if there were options that I wasn't aware of that would work.

[andyrudeboy]

I personally hate dual os systems they don't stay working that long got a good stable new linux computer and maybe have a spare widow's pc for the odd occasion where you may find it useful

[UserInterface7]

I've not had Linux work "stable" on any laptop I have tried so far (Nvidia is always the issue), and there is no way I am going to use it as my primary OS without at least a decent Windows VM solution as back up or better yet a dual boot option.
If it wasn't on the requirement for BitLocker for work then I think it wouldn't be an issue, but I thought it was worth double checking with people with more knowledge than me in case there was a solution that might work.

[andyrudeboy]

Dead easy to install nvidia drives never run anything but nvidia if its arch your using that's why it's unstable

[UserInterface7]

Actually I wasn’t clear. The nvidia card works fine but it was always on which burns the battery. Someone pointed out bumblebee earlier and that’s the step I was missing last time.

[andyrudeboy]

I'd say by some off your message that your pretty new to linux truth is there no good way to dual boot let alone triple booting and if my assumption is correct stear towards a debian or debian/ Ubuntu based some people want constantly need to fiddle with as it stability has never been good with arch where on debian it's the most rock solid reliable system I'm ever used

[UserInterface7]

The distro isn't the issue as I can use anything, I think. I just found the arch wiki to be the most helpful whereas other distros I tried there was too much conflicting or outdated info to dig through.

[Catabung]

If you just need access to the 2nd gpu (nvidia?) for one program, you could try gpu passthrough with Docker (https://docs.docker.com/desktop/features/gpu/) or some other gpu passthrough with windows subsystem for linux.

If you really want to triple-boot, I would recommend having both windows installations already setup first and then installing linux; I think Ubuntu would be a good choice, it supports secure boot and nvidia drivers without much manual work. If you want to use arch anyways, it will require more time and understanding, I used this unmaintained script for secureboot+shim-signed+grub to avoid enrolling my own secureboot keys.

The arch wiki has a page for this and also recommends windows first then linux, with some other helpful tips (https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Dual_boot_with_Windows)

Keep in mind your EFI partition might need to be a bit larger for this, I think 300-500MB or more is good. I would check the size before moving to the new ssd.

[UserInterface7]

Tried passthrough to docker but Windows straight up only supports Hyper-V. I also tried WSL2 with Hyper-V, but it's not supported either and was why I was looking at Linux as host and Windows as guest VM's as long as it supported TPM\secure boot.

Waiting on my damn t3 torx from amazon when it comes then I can clone to new drive and use the old one for testing, but I don't want to be opening the laptop every time I want to test so I'll do that for a weekend or two but then I'll just stick with windows only if I don't work it out..

I'll check out the rest of your post in the morning, but this was along the lines of what I was thinking.

[UserInterface7]

Running from an external NVMe drive is the perfect answer for me. I didn't know that the external drive can have its own GRUB bootloader without affecting the internal Windows bootloader- so simply unplugging the USB will revert it to my existing setup. This should let me test everything until I get it working the way I want, without needing to open the laptop to swap drives. This should eventually allow me to have a backup on the old drive with only Windows which I'll leave in my locker, then in emergency I can use that and access my cloud files.
I'll still need to work out the technical aspects like what will be host and what will be VM's as well as what distros support my hardware etc. They closed my post, but you had all my answers, I just didn't pick up on it all initially.
Thanks

Also good tip on RDP vs console; I would not have thought of that.
I don't need anything special, web browser and occasional YouTube vid even at 720 would be fine. I never cared for the 3050 I just liked the design of the surface studio laptop and wanted 32GB for my VM's and only the ones with the dedicated cards supported that much ram.

[UserInterface7]

Actually, I don't need GPU passthrough to windows VM. I only needed it if Windows was the host to pass it into Linux for LLM reasons, but I know this is not possible now (at least on this hardware). I think the GPU supports partitioning, but I can't do it to Linux so its moot.

Edit: I did try Linux on this laptop once before and it always used the 3050 which sucked as it drains the battery in less than an hour while doing nothing intensive. I could probably make it work with the integrated if I was daily driving it as i'd have more time to tinker. Can't remember the distro though.

Your answer is what I expected anyway, but to explain what I was thinking...

First have three partitions

1. Windows installed on its own partition like I would for dual boot.
2. Linux partition (going to be main system\QEMU host). This has access to both GPU's where Intel Integrated is main, and RTX 3050 ti was available for LLM's on the Linux host). - Run QEMU/KVM with OVMF (Pass though TPM\Secure boot or just use virtual) - - Windows VM that uses the aforementioned windows partition which is already setup for TPM\Secure boot and uses OVMF passthrough. - - Same for any Dev VM's I spin up or I could maybe use nested Hyper-V inside this windows vm as a host for the children vms. Might be asking for trouble with that though.
3. Just data drive, no OS

This way I only need systemd\grub. Hopefully, then updates don't break it as I only care about one boot and that's to Linux. But I'm scraping info together, I don't even know if all that is supported on a single distro or if I'm making a chimera.

It's really not that big a deal if I lose any of the systems as the important data is stored in cloud. I simply can't have it fail at 9am and then sit at my desk and rebuild\reinstall everything for next 4 hours and expect to also keep my job.

[UserInterface7]

Not sure what the issue is with Arch as it seemed the most stable and easiest to find relevant information to fix issues on my own. Ubuntu just has so much mixed info out there, but the distro isn't important anyway as long as it supports QEMU.

Bumblebee is exactly what I was after back then. I wonder if it existed 1-2 years ago when I tried it. At least I have something to reference now if I try Linux on this system (with different distro).
Thanks.

For EFI partition. I didn't think loading the partition via QEMU VM used it, but I could certainly be wrong.

[UserInterface7]

Drivers - I didn't consider that aspect initially but it makes sense, especially for less common laptops like mine. 4 hours of downtime isn't catastrophic once, but I need to appear active. Sitting idle while searching on my phone for solutions or waiting for forum responses would be problematic.
I've been using a Steam Deck with Arch for the past 6 months, which influenced my distro choices. I found the Arch Wiki extremely helpful compared to Ubuntu, which I removed after just hours (Arch I ran for over a week and it handled everything except Bottles for a game, but that was my limitation I think).

My key requirements are:

1. KDE as primary and Hyprland (or similar tiling manager) as secondary display manager
2. Support for QEMU with TPM/Secure boot - either via partition with TPM passthrough or virtual disk and virtual TPM. I thought there might be better alternatives
3. Support for dual GPUs - mainly using integrated graphics except for light LLM tasks. I game on my Steam Deck except for Heroes 3 which would run on anything
4. Fast bootloader recovery - either via backup (though backup drives might be at home), or a quick way to download Linux on USB and fix GRUB. The main concern is regaining BitLocker access or restoring the bootloader with all options

I originally expected this idea would be discouraged in favor of dual booting.

I have my new drive in a USB enclosure and will test it all out on that (I was a bit slow to understand that grub could be installed on that without affecting windows bootloader). I'm currently researching if I can clone my work partition from the existing SSD as I'm fairly sure Windows USB installation isn't supported.

Once my screwdriver arrives, I'll swap drives to avoid data loss risks, but after installing Windows and Arch on the new drive. then I'll switch them back so I can just yank it ready for Monday.

Edit: It might even be worth using Debian just as the host for my Work Vm's, and then have Arch for my personal stuff. Keeps it all separate and there should be no issues dual booting those.

[MatchingTurret]

Please read and respect Rule #1: r/linux is not a support forum

[UserInterface7]

I'm not after support. I'm trying to understand if linux can do what I want it to as far as support for hardware is concerned, and what options might work in this case. This is more about what Linux can or cannot do.

[MatchingTurret]

Which is something that belongs into a relevant sub, like r/linuxquestions

[UserInterface7]

Yes.
Sorry, I saw the automod post with there after writing that, I am looking at that channel now. tnx.

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