I have successfully upgraded an old machine from Leap 42.2 to Leap 15.1 and am now attempting to install 15.1 on a brand new machine and retain the ability there to run Windows 10. I don’t want to destroy the MS environment because of some software that I need there. The disk partitioning step is where I am unsure how to proceed. The SSD disk is 512 Gb.
The Suggested Partitioning that comes up has
Delete partition /dev/nvme0n1p4 (980.00 MiB)
Delete partition /dev/nvme0n1p3 (456.35 GiB)
Shrink ntfs on /dev/nvme0n1p5 from 19.15 GiB to 16.76 GiB
Create partition /dev/nvme0n1p3 (457.31 GiB) for / with brtfs
Mount partition /dev/nvme0n1p1 (360.00 MiB) at /boot/efi
Create partition /dev/nvme0n1p4 (2.00 GiB) for swap
10 subvolume actions (see details)
This seems to be completely replacing the MS operating system area and data with the OpenSuse one. If this is correct, then I need to use Expert Partitioner to shrink the MS partition to preserve its contents and add new partitions for / and for swap.
Expert Partitioner does not come with much advice on how to proceed. I can start it with the Current Proposal or with Existing Partitions.
Starting with Current Proposal does not seem to have any option to not delete a partition. It takes this as a given requirement.
Starting with Existing Partitions lists the devices:
/dev/nvme0n1 476.94 GiB pci 0x144d Samsung Electronics Co... NVMe SSD Controller SM981/PM981
/dev/nvme0n1p1 360.00 MiB EFI System FAT SYSTEM
/dev/nvme0n1p2 128.00 MiB Microsoft Reserved
/dev/nvme0n1p3 456.35 GiB Windows Data
/dev/nvme0n1p4 0.96 GiB Diagnostics NTFS Windows RE tools
/dev/nvme0n1p5 1915 GiB Windows Data NTFS Recovery Image
If I select in System View the nvme0n1p3, I am able to resize it. However, it is not obvious how I can add a new one. The only options are Edit…, Move…, Resize…, or Delete.
IOW, disable Windows 10 Fast Boot. While you are at it, disable Windows swap and hibernation, to facilitate maximum available size for openSUSE partitions. Then use Windows 10 own partition resizer. Windows knows NTFS best.
I always use Gparted from a live distro to manage partitions First
Managing partitions first is excellent advice, regardless of what tool you’re comfortable with. I always have my partitioning done before beginning any installation, Windows, DOS, OS/2, Linux, even Mac.
You just need to shrink p3 to provide a /home and /
and optionally, swap.
Once in the Leap installer use the expert partitioner using the exisiting partitions to set the mount points Including the efi partition
Existing EFI (ESP) partition that is. Proposed schemes have been known to create an additional one, which is rarely a good idea.
360MN is a nice choice I can’t recall seeing mentioned for any OEM installation before. Who did that Windows installation?
Thank-you so much for that advice. It has enabled me to get the machine up and running in OpenSuse.
I did not use Gparted to shrink the MS main partition but rather the facilities in Windows itself. I hit a minor snag in that Windows refused to reduce disk usage below 50% of its initial size, so as well as disabling Windows fast boot, swap and hibernation, I had to “Disable system protection” in the “System Properties” → “System Protection” → “Configure…”. I was able to create two new partitions (one for swap and the other for /) for the OpenSuse installation.
Keep in mind for the future someday you may want to do a clean/fresh installation of a future openSUSE version. By not having created a separate /home partition now, that new installation will wipe out all your personal data. You will have to count on good backups to restore personal data from at that time, unless you redo your current installation to include a separate /home partition, which can be preserved intact when a new installation is performed.
Keep in mind for the future someday you may want to do a clean/fresh installation of a future openSUSE version. By not having created a separate /home partition now, that new installation will wipe out all your personal data. You will have to count on good backups to restore personal data from at that time, unless you redo your current installation to include a separate /home partition, which can be preserved intact when a new installation is performed.
I have always used a separate /home partition, but my new machine is the first to have an SSD drive and I was concerned at how long it will last. I deliberately omitted the separate partition for /home to try to spread the files more and even out the wear. I don’t know if this is wise or not. I also bought extra RAM to reduce the demand for swapping.
I am about the do the same dual boot. In the past I let Opensuse do the disk partitioning. It never touched the windows partitions.
In my case, I am going to use ghost for linux and put in a larger SSD. (When you buy business versions of Dell or Lenovo, just get them stock and put in larger drives and memory.) The stock SSD is 128GBytes. I will ghost that to the new SSD. (Takes forever)
After reading this thread, my plan is to use the win 10 OS to shrink the windows OS, then install Opensuse. Again I will do the partitioning from the installer unless someone makes a good case not to.
Here is my question. Should I once again abandon btrfs and xfs? I had trouble with snapper locking up. I don’t remember my problem with xfs, but I used ext4. That said, I’m open to anything if they are now bug free.
The tldr is you don’t want to put /opt and /usr/local on the same partition as the main OS since they will be snapshotted and nothing is likely in those partitions to need a snapshot. This looks like a chore. I assume you need to link (soft? hard) these partitions from the main OS.
I’m wondering if again I should just say no to btrfs?
You need first to resize Windows main partition with let say 350GB. The rest will be used for SUSE. This new partition to be recognized by the Opensuse installer must be unallocated.
Mini tool partition Wizrard is the best tool to resize the NTSF main partition (must restart). The rest can be made during installation when the unallocted partition is detected. Just select the first option <<Guided Setup>> to reach the selection of a separate home partition and/or to enlarge Swap to RAM size.
-Propose Separate Home Partition
-Propose Separate Swap Partition: Enlarge
Previously, Root is already detected and there is nothing to change there.
To proceed with a new installation in UEFI mode, delete Grub and Opensuse that way:
1- In Mini tool Partition Wizard, Delete opensuse partitions, apply changes. Don’t restart yet!
2- Delete Grub in command prompt with admin privileges:
mountvol U: /s
del /f /s /q U:\*.*
bcdboot C:\Windows
Restart
Work with the remaining unallocated partition and repeat the above procedure. Tested in UEFI mode with secure boot enabled 100’s of times (BTRF).
These three sentences collectively, without appropriate contextual setup, are absolutely wrong:
It is highly
desirable to resize Windows first, using its own built in resizer. It is usually not necessary to first resize Windows’ main partition, unless partitioning preparation for openSUSE installation, and proceding with openSUSE installation, is to be done exclusively using the openSUSE installer.
Partition resizing in advance, as ambiguously described by the first two quoted sentences, will almost certainly only create freespace, not a new partition.
Sentence three is based on the previous proposition, which will not happen, if preparation to install outside the openSUSE installer has been performed. There won’t be any new partition(s) to recognize until the openSUSE installer creates one/them. As likely as not it will be more than one that it does create.
What is necessary to do first, assuming it is desired to continue to have maximum access to Windows after installation of openSUSE, is to disable Windows fast boot.
As one who has been installing openSUSE repeatedly for well over a decade and a half to many multiboot PCs, and as one who always does all partitioning in advance of installing any OS, using only one (non-FOSS) partitioning tool during that whole period and prior, I can assure you that the openSUSE installer is among, if not the, most competent and flexible of Linux distro installers that exists. It can do the entire job for you automatically, it can take over where you have left off having done some preparation, and it can simply accept partitions you have created, and even formatted in advance, or any mix thereof, and install a complete and well working operating system with your choice of DE and applications.
It’s up to you to decide how much control you want to exert over the structure, process, and end result of an openSUSE installation on your PC, tablet or laptop. This decision, which IMO should include which filesystem(s) to use, is what really should come first.
