I have been working on getting Qubes running for about 5 months now, to no avail. I have tried a few different versions including the latest release.
I rebuilt my system last summer. I have the following hardware:
ASUS Z890-A motherboard
Intel Core Ultra 7 265K processor
GeForce RTX 2070 Super
96 GB Corsair Vengence DDR5 @ 5600
A pair of 2TB NVMe drives
There are no PS2 ports on the motherboard.
I have Windows 10 installed on the second drive and I have tried to install Qubes on the primary drive to have a dual boot setup. Unfortunately I run some software that requires Windows so I do need it running. Once I can get Ques running and have a VM with Windows I many not need the dual boot, but for now I do. I am pretty sure that the software I need to run will be fine in a Qubes VM. the only thing that might force a dual boot would be something like MS Flight Simulator, but if I can get windows running in a VM I would test that also.
I have managed to get to the initial setup screen a few times. Once past that sometimes the system has locked up and twice in a lot of attempts I have got to the main screen, but there was never anything installed… all the menus were empty.
Before I give up I thought I would see if there are any options that I have missed. I have reinstalled Windows several times because after I put on Qubes I could not access the windows installation, even through the bios boot menu. It has been a little frustrating for sure.
Do you have onboard graphics on your mainboard? Then you can hide the NVIDIA GPU. Those are making a lot of trouble. I’ve been through this and it took me some attempts until everything is fine.
If you need Windows then: A) my condolences. and B) you can create windows virtual machines within QubesOS, hopefully eliminating the need for dual-boot.
You may need to play around in BIOS. I also have a need of Windows due to specific programs which are Windows only and unfortunately I don’t see it in near future I could avoid it. I would be nervous though to have Windows ability to see my other drive with Qubes on it. So no double booting with Windows for me.
I have however Windows 10 VM in my system for programs that don’t require much resources. For more resource hungry software, I have standalone computer which I remotely turn on and off from my Qubes and simply using it with VNC. I have separate VM in my Qubes for this and it just sits in my list as regular VM, while in backend there is desktop computer sitting in the closet. Interesting part is any Windows I use both VM and desktop computer with windows on it don’t have access to the outside world. I don’t trust the Windows nor the software I have to use. This worked out best of all options.
I used to know a person who would leave the side of their tower open.
To switch between Linux and Windows.
Do a power down.
Move the cable from one hard drive to another.
I think that might not be so good for the hardware. It was not designed for that kind of moving plugs.
but that does not change BIOS/EFI settings that might be needed.
I will delve into the BIOS again this weekend and see if I can hide the GPU. There is onboard graphics but I can only put 1 of the 4 monitors I use onboard.
I did try to DM you in this system but could not figure it out. Must be too subtle for me.
I have not tried to install without the graphics card plugged in. It is a serious pain in the neck to take it in and out, but what I might have to try. But, I will still need to get in installed and working if I can get Qubes to install with the onboard graphics.
i had this issue when i first started using Qubes and Win 10 dual boot. The only differences are that i only have one NVME drive, not 2, I have PS2 ports.
This is what fixed it:
MS does not like you dual booting, so it sometimes erases/corrupts EFI partitions it does not recognize
Make sure secure boot is disabled in UEFI
install Windows (if not installed already)
Install rEFInd tool - a boot management utility
change boot order in UEFI settings to allow rEFInd as top priority
You will notice rEFInd shows on boot rather than a normal boot process
Install Qubes OS
Now rEFInd will let you decide which to boot. Windows or Qubes.
I have run this setup for a couple years now and have encountered no issues. I use my nvidia GPU for gaming on Windows regularly without any issues. I maintain Nvidia drivers like any normal Windows user would. Nothing special.
Proceed with caution, I am not liable to any damage otherwise.
This sound reasonable. But before I’d go for a dual boot system I’d rather install Qubes first and deal with all issues like problems with NVIDIA GPU.
@CPOMorty : don’t you have a spare disk on which you can try everything regarding install until everything works? And then do the install on the designated “production” disk?
nvidia are know to have a lot of issue in linux yet so in Qubes… i can’t even imagine
Off-topic but i wouldn’t use a nvidia graphic card specially on Qubes. When i was using windows my Nvidia graphic card died after a update with geforce i never used a nvidia again since that day
I hid the RTX card from the installation in the GRUB configuration and 4.3.0 seems to have installed and is running correctly to the best of my judgement so far. I have a bit of a learning curve now, but I got updates installed and created VM’s for Debian and Fedora.
This time Windows 10 is running dual booted and I can swap to it with a reboot, however GRUB does not see it which means I have to pop into the UEFI and select to start Windows. I am OK with that. It is not something I plan to do multiple times a day.
I don’t have PS2 ports so I had to bypass the USB qube to do the install and will have to set that up soon.
One thing really baffling to me is that I did not move any of my monitors to the onboard graphics but they all worked right through the installation, even though I hid the card with GRUB.
All in all I will work on a Windows VM, probably on the weekend, and I will update this once I have it all working.
I suspect that the reason GRUB cannot see my Windows installation (on my second NVMe drive) is that I use an application that is no longer available called Raxco Instant Recovery. I have a lifetime license for my copy and it boots before Windows, which allows me to have multiple installations of windows and switch between them with a simple reboot. Great application but probably not visible to GRUB and Raxco went out of business a couple of years back
I don’t understand it either. My monitor has two inputs:
DisplayPort → connected to NVIDIA GPU (which is hidden like yours)
HDMI → connected to mainboard / Intel on board graphics for Qubes OS.
So how do you have a valid video signal to your monitor when you have not connected the monitor to the onboard graphics AND did hide the NVIDIA GPU with GRUB options?