JinKazaragi: I really don't want to sacrifice my W7+Linux, Could anyone tell me, if there is a fast and easy way to switch the booted drive without having to manually access the BIOS every time and without the risc of W10 overwriting the bootloader?
Do you have Windows and Linux installed on the same physical drive?
If so then there is no way you can save your GRUB bootloader from Microsoft predatory hands...
It will get overwritten regularly (because Microsoft) and you will have to regularly restore it.
The only way to be sure GRUB is not overwritten is to install Windows on one physical drive and then install Linux on a completely separate physical drive.
Just when you install those then make sure that during install you have ONLY the drive you are installing on connected and NOT the other drives as well.
Because if you install Windows on one drive and then WITHOUT physically disconnecting that drive install Linux on another drive then it is pretty likely GRUB (GRUB and the EFI partition with EFI boot file for Linux) would end up being dumped on that Windows drive.
It is perfectly doable to move that EFI partition with Linux EFI file to another drive later but for unexperienced Linux users it could be pretty hard...
So it's just better if you just install it with Windows drive disconnected...
BTW yes you can move your current install to another drive to separate it although it could be hard for unexpierienced users...
CymTyr: I'm sure there's a way to preserve the bootloader with 7 and 10, but I haven't looked it up because I have no major issues with 10, other than its automatic updates, which you can now disable as far as I know, in the latest build.
Unless they actually changed something then NO. You can't actually disable auto updates. That is NOT possible AT ALL in home version (and home version lacks some other pro things too).
It is only possible in pro version and still you cannot skip them forever...
You only can delay them until 2 major updates from that one you are trying to delay. Later it will just force install itself or at least that is the info I got from reading some documentation about it...
JinKazaragi: my main concern would be the operating system now, I really don't want to sacrifice my W7+Linux, Could anyone tell me, if there is a fast and easy way to switch the booted drive without having to manually access the BIOS every time and without the risc of W10 overwriting the bootloader?
ScarletEmerald: It depends on your motherboard, but generally you can choose the boot drive at boot time by pressing a key without entering the BIOS. So, you could pull your existing drives, install Win10 on a new drive, replace the old drives, then choose between them at boot time.
It is F8 for most motherboards but it differs between BIOS versions and boards...
ScarletEmerald: Also, the next time your Linux system updates its bootloader after Win10 is installed, the Linux bootloader should have an option for Win10 also. Then you can just leave the Linux drive as your boot drive, and use the Linux bootloader to choose the OS.
The problem here is that later Windows will replace the GRUB bootloader AGAIN...
GRUB auto detects Windows boot partitions and it was always like that without a problem generally.
ScarletEmerald: That being said... Win7 is soon to become unsupported, and once security updates stop, you'll really want to dump it. If you're about to get Win10 anyway, may be better to just drop Win7 now.
If somebody really cares about security then they really shouldn't use Windows.
And after Windows 7 gets unsupported A LOT of people will still use it.
timppu: Naturally that works only if the multiplayer game has e.g. microtransactions to make revenue. Without them, the multiplayer part would most probably be a money pit, causing just extra expenses to the publisher for keeping up the game servers etc.
The problem with free games with mitrotransactions is that they don't automatically make you receive money...
You ONLY receive money if somebody actually decides to buy something in it and THAT is completely dependent on if they want to.
Plus a lot of people have to buy stuff REGULARLY... Which means it only REALLY makes sense if the game is CONSTANTLY popular...
If the game is paid and has no microtransactions then it will give less profit over time but more profit initially.
It will give more stable smaller profit instead of totally risky and not guaranteed AT ALL POTENTIALLY higher profit OVER TIME...
Plus microtransactions are not allowed in some places.
Plus microtransactions are generally considered a bad thing...
JinKazaragi: You mean like a built in bootloader but for bootable drives? That'd be perfect if W10 doesn't overwrite it as well.
Bootloader cannot be overwritten when it is in certain places. Like if it is on another drive.
You should really just use another drive for the other system.
You can also in some boards store the bootloader in the BIOS but I don't think you have such model...
JinKazaragi: My parents have 3 laptops with W10 and regulary have trouble after updates (one not updating at all anymore), it seems to be a gamble and that's not something I want to happen at my PC.
Windows 10 update system is absolute TRASH so I am not suprised at all... And yeah Windows 10 is absolute TRASH in general...
GameRager: In case others didn't answer this yet: They are likely only OFFICIALLY supporting Win10 minimum, but older systems will probably work(*i'd wait and see first from other user's testing such, though).
skeletonbow: I'd say it's rather unlikely the game will work unofficially on older versions of Windows, because it will most likely use the DirectX 12 API which is only available for Windows 10. They would have to also support DirectX 11 in order for the game to run on older versions of Windows. And that's just the graphics API. If they are advertising it as Windows 10 only, they most likely wouldn't have wasted all the effort required to add in API support for older operating systems at all, meaning it wont be able to run at all on older operating systems.
Actually there are not so many games that use ONLY DX12... There are barely any really... And it's not about OFFICIAL support really...
Gamedevs don't officially support older systems BUT same gamedevs usually don't want to FORCE users to upgrade even if they don't support their old system OFFICIALLY...
If they would just use Vulkan then it would be the best option as it is better than DX12 and Vulkan works on pretty much anything (including consoles... Yes it works on consoles)...
trusteft: Where do you base off that they will only be officially supporting Win 10? (not sure what you mean by minimum in this case). Did you read something? Did someone from them say it? Do they use something that only works on Windows 10? I mean, OF COURSE it is going to support Windows 10...ffs!
skeletonbow: I base it off the fact that the game's store page explicitly states that the game's operating system requirement is Windows 10. Windows 10 comes with DirectX 12, which is what all modern games will use to get the best graphics performance and feature set (or alternatively Vulkan which provides the same). DirectX 12 is not available at all for older versions of Windows. In order for the game to run on older Windows then, they would also have to add DirectX 11 support to the engine, but why would they go to all of that extra effort to then publicly state the game system requirements are Windows 10? That would make no sense. I elaborated more about this in my previous comment above.
Honestly at this point I already think they made a mistake placing Windows 10 there...
It really is a placeholder (basically a copypaste...)... They copypasted standard placeholder on which you later expand and in which the default supported system is AT LEAST the CURRENT one.
That was mistake and they should have just said JUST Windows and NOT 10 because people already speculate A LOT.
I think A LOT more speculations will be later if they leave it like that...
skeletonbow: in the case of supporting Windows versions older than Windows 10 that requires either designing the game explicitly for older Windows and giving up on features of the newer OS, or it involves duplicating effort to support multiple APIs.
Why would they duplicate that effort and then turn around and mark the game as officially supporting Windows 10 only in the store?
faroot: If and only if they *need* Windows 10 features. They might not, for all I know.
skeletonbow: The only remote chance is if the new game engine uses Vulkan, but that seems highly unlikely to me,
faroot: Why is that unlikely? Vulkan has been the wave of the future for years now.
Yeah that's exactly like that...
There is not much stuff in Windows 10 that someone from gamedev would absolutely WANT TO use... Basically most people from gamedev don't use thos AT ALL...
I remember when Vulkan was publically announced. There were A LOT of people saying it has no future and such.
I KNEW it is gonna be great and I was right. Now it is used in A LOT of places and actually made Linux gaming more doable now...
Vulkan is a great thing (especially for Linux users) and it WILL be used by more people over time so it is actually possible this game will use it...
