Just because you can do it doesn't mean you should: Install Linux on NTFS – on the same partition as Windows
- Reference: 1637587763
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/11/22/install_linux_on_ntfs/
- Source link:
But wait, there's more. Since a Linux installation doesn't use any of the same file or folder names in the root directory, you can even install them into the [4]same partition.
So far, the primary application of this horrifying hack is probably the entertainment to be obtained from reading the stricken comments on Github. However, the fœtid fertile imaginations of some of the commenters raised some valid reasons why. For example, if you have a company policy that forbids you from repartitioning your machine, you could obey the letter if not the spirit of the law and dual-boot this way.
[5]
Others commented that there is prior art for this, including [6]UMSDOS , which was used in the early days of Linux to install it directly onto a FAT partition. There was also Wubi, which was just about recent enough to be [7]mentioned in The Reg : it let you install Ubuntu into a single file located in a Windows partition, again to avoid the scary, and possibly risky, process of repartitioning your disk.
[8]
[9]
Seriously, though, the tech raises some useful applications. For example, it might become possible to boot a WSL2 distro on bare metal – or run a real, standalone distro inside WSL2 without repartitioning. It might be prudent to hide the Windows folders from it using [10]gobohide or something, however.
The new tech also improves something that's already possible. In olden times, it was standard practice to keep your /home directory tree in a separate, dedicated partition. Now you can format that partition with NTFS and it will be readable and writable from Windows too, without any extra software.
[11]
If you multiboot multiple Linux distros, you could already share a single /home partition between different distros. This saves disk space and simplifies your partition scheme. So long as you use different account names in each distro, they just ignore each other.
The snag is if you use the same login name: files end up getting shared between distros. This can be bad if, for instance, you dual-boot two different versions of the same distro – perfectly reasonable if you want to test-run a new version, or keep your old version around as a fallback measure.
If a newer version of some program updates its file formats, suddenly the old version won't be able to read its config or maybe open its data files at all.
[12]How Windows NTFS finally made it into Linux
[13]Linux kernel 5.15 released with new NTFS driver plus an LTS sticker slapped on it
[14]Ubuntu does bird beta
So what some of us do is keep the main data folders somewhere else, and symlink them into our home directory. Have a shared data partition with folders called Documents , Pictures and so on, then delete the empty originals in your home directory and replace them with symbolic links to "real" data folders elsewhere. Then all your config files stay in /home/$USERNAME where they belong, and your working files are elsewhere.
The galaxy-brain wrinkle is this: if you have to regularly switch between Windows and Linux, you can do this using your Windows data folders. Mount your NTFS data partition somewhere handy (such as /windows ) via /etc/fstab , symlink Windows' /Users/$USERNAME/Documents to Linux' /home/$USERNAME/Documents etc, and the job's a good 'un.
[15]
All your files are available in both OSes, without syncing or transferring or anything. Conveniently (for English speakers, anyway), Windows and Linux use the same folder names, so the symlinks inherit the fancy icons and remain your default file locations.
Until now, with NTFS3G via FUSE, disk performance wasn't great and recycle-bin functionality didn't work, but these aren't issues any more and everything will Just Work™, perfectly and seamlessly, forever. In theory. Some exclusions may apply. [16]E&OE . ®
Get our [17]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/13/how_ntfs_finally_made_it/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/01/linux_515_kernel_lts/
[3] https://www.reddit.com/r/archlinux/comments/qwsftq/arch_linux_on_ntfs3/
[4] https://gist.github.com/motorailgun/cc2c573f253d0893f429a165b5f851ee
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YZvMxyT8vfam3KFim3aEgwAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[6] https://tldp.org/HOWTO/UMSDOS-HOWTO.html
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2008/03/21/ubuntu_beta_hardy_heron/
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YZvMxyT8vfam3KFim3aEgwAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YZvMxyT8vfam3KFim3aEgwAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://gobolinux.org/doc/articles/gobohide.html
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YZvMxyT8vfam3KFim3aEgwAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/13/how_ntfs_finally_made_it/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/01/linux_515_kernel_lts/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2008/03/21/ubuntu_beta_hardy_heron/
[15] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YZvMxyT8vfam3KFim3aEgwAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[16] https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/e-oe
[17] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Windows malware won't run in Linux unless you have Wine installed, your distro is configured to run .exe files, and then you launch such files intentionally.
Linux has its share of security issues (e.g. users using `sudo` recklessly, running random scripts from the net, a `sudo` prompt not properly isolated from other applications and being wide open for keyboard snooping, etc) but exe files from Windows partitions don't pose such a big threat.
Boot from VHDX
You may be able to add boot from VHDX to the list of ways to multiple boot without the need to partition... Works with Windows VHDX files - not sure about Linux though...
I suspect if you are forbidden from formatting your work PC's disk, they probably won't give you the privileges to change the boot loader either.
Absolutely fair. But if someone wants to put a different OS on their work computer against company policy, they are probably looking for ways to work around the letter of the law. ;-)
Maybe this feature will encourage development of a 21st century version of LOADLIN:
http://ftp.debian.org/debian/tools/loadlin.txt
Given the consequences of COVID on WfH and computer security, I think that looking for ways to work around the law is going to take some time.
Just today I was logged into my work environment at one of my clients and I noticed an icon on the desktop that really, really was of no use to me. I dragged it to the trash can only to be greeted with a message to the effect that I needed admin permission to do that.
Admin access.
To delete an icon from my desktop.
For that level of paranoia, there is no workaround.
> Admin access.
> To delete an icon from my desktop.
I know, it's crap isn't it? One work-around is to change its visibility to hidden, which you usually have permission to do even when you can't delete it.
What have you been drinking?
Now you can format that partition with NTFS and it will be readable and writable from Windows too, without any extra software.
Right ...
Just what we were needing.
... if you have to regularly switch between Windows and Linux, you can do this using your Windows data folders.
Regularly?
What in [ your preferred deity here ]'s name for?
OK, I get it.
But that's what a virtual machine with a shared folder is for.
Absolutely no need for all this crap.
All your files are available in both OSes, without syncing or transferring or anything.
Ahh ...
Yes, absolutely wonderful developement! 8^|*
Incredible.
The things we get to read at ElReg these days.
O.
Re: What have you been drinking?
Don't knock it 'til you've tried it.
I don't do it on all my machines but it's been very handy on some of them.
I've worked for clients that insisted on me using Windows, or where I needed to boot Windows for compatibility with a company printer, or an external monitor, or where I needed a Windows-only app (such as a more recent version of MS Office, or Google Drive).
It's easy, quick, simple, and it works at full native speed unlike faffing around with VMs.
Re: What have you been drinking?
"All your files are available in both OSes, without syncing or transferring or anything."
Hold on, isn't that what I've already been doing for the last ten years or so? Write code, compile it in Windows, test it, switch to Linux, compile *exactly* *the* *same* *files*, test it. Update files, switch back to Windows, compile *those* *exact* *same* *files*....
Consider my flabber
Ghasted.
And my gob smacked.
Re: Consider my flabber
Don't worry. Any dual install this way will come with a [1]LART included and applied to the installer in an appropriate way.
[1] http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/L/LART.html
Head hurts.
I use WSL2 with Kali rolling distro (yes, I'm a criminal or terrorist or something - better than using PowerShell) but this is utter voodoo to me. I sort of get the pros, but the cons sound like an utter clusterfuck.
Can you hear the Malware snooping for NTFS/Linux installs already on your network? Can you!
Yes, I keep an NTFS partition lying around but that's only because I haven't got round to buying the next data dump hard drive to replace it since ditching Windows.