Dual Boot Linux Zorin And Windows

#linux #microsoft #programming #archlinux

Reader Context

This article is something like my daily info that I got from Gemini AI or Internet and try to implement it in real life. All the explanation below is like personal info for me, not for real explanation to make people understand.

If you find yourself a curious after reading my article and want deep detail about it, please comment below. I will answer and explain as much as possible 🤗

Background Story

3 Months ago I initiative to dual boot with windows and archlinux. I choose archlinux because most people on internet said that this is the minimalist Linux and the one of lightweight Linux.

"Yes. Minimalist and lightweight but came with setting manual price. At that time I don't understand that concept"

I downloaded ISO file, create bootable with Rufus on my USB stick.
Plug in go to BIOS, setup partition Manually
Installing Grub for dual boot, setup manually

"I Know takes an hours only for dealing with CLI command tasks like creating partitions and connecting to Wifi"

And then the result? FAILED!!

Windows boot configuration not found...
Grub configuration broken ( version incompatible if I not mistaken) ...

So much manual setup and somehow make me traumatized installing
Operating system via Terminal

Times goes on, I try to encourage myself installing Linux dual boot again but with less manual. One candidate shown on my mind is Ubuntu, but unfortunately Ubuntu is not the one of lightweight Linux gnome.

Many people suggested on Reddit to find Linux based on XFCE desktop environment

Note:
XFCE is Graphical User Interface for Linux. Basically User Interface which control file management, windows manager, setting manager etc.
XFCE count as the one of lightweight because able to run comfortably in with 500Mb to 1Gb of RAM
Another example of heavier than XFCE are

GNOME (GNU Network Object Model Environment) : Ubuntu, Fedora, zorin OS Core. Has minimum requirement 2Gb of RAM

KDE Plasma

After an hours of reset, I decided to install Zorin Lite

Some of you might be wondering

"why did you choose Zorin lite? Zorin lite will be sunset in a few years ahead"

Yes that is true, but I have a few consideration here :

I need to install lightweight Linux for my limited laptop spec
Zorin OS is very beginner friendly for person who first ever try Linux
Even on same laptop, there is windows 10 that already end support. But somehow with limited spec I can't upgrade to windows 10
Just do for fun and simple project

For this dual boot, Zorin OS managed it automatically without any single manual setup and works perfectly

Understanding How does Computer Process Before OS Booted

When first computer powered by electricity ( powered on ), on motherboard there is software build in called firmware

Firmware is basically build in motherboard's software to perform initial run for component like HDD, CPU, USB, RAM so user able to get into BIOS setting.

In my Dell latitude laptop, my fan's connector on motherboard somehow detected fan but does not send electricity. So I bypassed it into another connector that has 5V.
As the result, every time I turn on my laptop there is warning "Your fan is malfunction". This is where firmware do the Job

After firmware checking all the component, we go into bootable section. I have mentioned before about Grub boot-loader, basically every operating system has their own bootable.

On windows, we have windows boot manager

But if you have multiple operating system store on your hard drive, your PC must choose which OS will control my hardware. To perform these action, this is where we need boot-loader

With boot-loader if you have multiple Operating system, you can easily