Choosing OS on startup from multiple drives

hhill19

Honorable
Apr 5, 2015
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I have Windows 7 installed on my SSD, and just today I installed Linux (specifically Manjaro) on my HDD, mainly so I can experiment with it. If both were installed on my SSD, which I would have preferred, but which isn't an option, I should be able to select which one I want to boot on startup. However, since each OS is on a different drive, I don't have this option. Currently, if I want to boot the other OS, I have to go into my BIOS and change the drive boot order.
Obviously, I don't want to have to keep doing that. How can I set up my PC so that I can simply select which OS to boot on startup, despite each OS being on a different drive?
Please try to explain thoroughly, as I'm not experienced with this sort of thing.
 
Solution
Hey there, hhill19.

Basically, I really don't think that you can do that. There are a lot of different bootloaders for dual boot configurations, but when it comes to booting from different drives, I don't think that there's another option besides choosing which drive to boot from when you start your computer (at least not to my knowledge). However, some BIOS/UEFI versions have a "shortcut" for their boot menu (e.g. F8 or F12) and if you keep pressing it repeatedly when the logo of the motherboard appears, the menu should pop-up and you can simply select the drive you wish to boot from and press "enter", without having to go to your BIOS/UEFI and changing the boot order settings each time. So that's the only option I can think of, if...
Hey there, hhill19.

Basically, I really don't think that you can do that. There are a lot of different bootloaders for dual boot configurations, but when it comes to booting from different drives, I don't think that there's another option besides choosing which drive to boot from when you start your computer (at least not to my knowledge). However, some BIOS/UEFI versions have a "shortcut" for their boot menu (e.g. F8 or F12) and if you keep pressing it repeatedly when the logo of the motherboard appears, the menu should pop-up and you can simply select the drive you wish to boot from and press "enter", without having to go to your BIOS/UEFI and changing the boot order settings each time. So that's the only option I can think of, if your BIOS/UEFI has such a shortcut.

Hope that helps.
Boogieman_WD
 
Solution