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A linux gamer asks, "How do I install windows for just one game?" (piefed.blahaj.zone)
submitted 4 months ago by to c/linux_gaming@lemmy.world
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There is a game I am considering getting; it has been out for a few months now, and the devs are specifically blocking it from running under proton with a Kernel Level Anticheat which specifically blocks linux.

Folks on the discussion boards made the point tht it is technically possible to install windows for just one steam game, so I am looking for a guide on how to do that?

I've heard that if you don't activate windows, you can still use it, and if you get the LSTC (?) Version of windows, it is not so annoying.

Does anyone have a guide for how to install windows alongside linux for one game?

If we have a discussion in the comments about whether it is tactically appropriate to give money to a game corporation that requires windows, i guess we can, but i would rather learn how to install windows in the least annoying way possible.

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[–] -1 points 4 months ago (2 children)

There’s no such thing? You’ll have to install windows just like you installed Linux. I’m confused how you got Linux on your machine yet you’re asking this question-did someone else install it for you? If so, best to not mess around with repartitioning your drive. High likelihood of you screwing up your boot partition. Best to jam in another hard drive, unplug your Linux drive and go to town. Or heck, do what you want and learn :) breaking things is the best way to learn…

Just please back up all your files before you go crazy. You can’t permanently damage or break anything on your computer, but you CAN permanently delete files you cared about :)

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  • [–] [S] 3 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    To be honest, installing linux the firat time was a real disaster back in 2006. I had to learn how to use the virtual terminal, run some terminal commands, and handwrite an xorg config file just to get a gui.

    Since then installing linux has gotten pretty easy. I'm comfortable repartitioning, backing up data, etc., and a lot of those skills were developes by working through guides and learning as I went.

    I'm non knowlegeable or comfortable about

    • Sourcing and activating windows LTSC (will try massgrave)
    • EFI boot sector (will disconnect all other drives while installing windows)

    I also don't know what I don't know. But installing windows as a dual boot option has got to be common enough that a guide exists, right?

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago

    I’m not sure why my prior comment is getting downvoted, people are weird on the internet. I was confused because you need some level of expertise to install Linux or any operating system for that matter - ie it’s not something my grandma or my parents can do… your questions seem overly cautious (probably not a bad thing)

    I think you’re fine based on what you say you’re comfortable with. You totally can install windows right on your existing drive, but people have been having issues doing that (no fault of their own). First, you’d have to shrink your Linux partitions - this is a little tricker than just straight up nuking a drive and repartitioning. Many Linux installers can do this for you on a drive running windows, I don’t believe the windows installer can do it the other way around (at least not with a pretty gui that’s right in your face when installing windows). So you’d kind of be doing it backwards - usually you’d install windows and then let linux fix it all up nice nice. The other problem is that people don’t trust Microsoft software to do this these days. There’s been issues with windows taking over the boot partitions and making the Linux partition unbootable. This is why so many people recommend dual physical drives when dual booting - windows does its thing “over there” and Linux does its thing “over here”. Worst case it’s malicious, best case, the errors in the past have been Microsoft incompetence.

    First choice? Get the game working in Linux - but it sounds like that’s just not going to be an option and you’ve researched that.

    2nd choice: I’d use two drives, one with windows and one with Linux. Also the most expensive and if the only thing you do on the windows drive is play that one game - kind of a huge waste of a resource. But easiest least risky setup from both a “oops I screwed up the install” and a “windows is playing nice in the sandbox”

    3rd choice? Dual boot off a single hard drive. If I were doing it, I’d probably nuke the whole drive after a backup, and make all the final partitions. Then I’d install windows and make sure it landed where it was supposed to. Then I’d install Linux.

    Last choice? I’d try to resize the existing partitions and install Linux. I would definitely find a guide for that and follow it, (sorry I don’t know of one to recommend but I’m sure there’s plenty of good ones). My guess is you’ll end up back at 3rd choice ;)

    And I’ll reiterate my prior point - good time for a solid backup! :)

    Good luck! You’ll be fine :)

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