External SSD as alternative to dual booting from the same internal SSD?

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Hi,

I need Windows 10 on my laptop for work purposes (as well as for gaming), but I’d also like to start using Qubes. From what I’ve been reading, dual booting both Windows 10 and Qubes from the same internal SSD (or even from different internal drives) has the potential to compromise the security of the Qubes installation, so that’s not an option, and buying a second laptop isn’t an option for me either. What I’m wondering is whether installing Qubes on an external SSD (making sure it’s never connected when Windows is running) would bypass this problem? And if not, what other solutions would people propose?

Many thanks!

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2

Hi, welcome to the Qubes community!

Indeed, multibooting is a security risk, because the other operating system could compromise the whole Qubes installation. One possible mitigation is Anti-Evil-Maid. Also, there was recently a discussion about other possibilities of verified boot on Qubes.

By the way, Windows can work in a Qubes VM, although gaming can only work with GPU passthrough.

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