Hello, I have a Lenovo Ideapad 330S-15IKBR (15.6"HD, Intel® Core™ i7-8550U, 8 GB RAM, 1 TB HDD) with Windows 10 pre-installed. The thing is I wanted to use Debian too, so I thought about dual booting, using a live-usb or using it as a VM.

I will mainly use Debian for learning pentesting, so using VMs CTF and wargames. Also for general programming. Which option do you think would be the best?

I think dual booting would be nice, but I'm scared of damaging the hard drive or messing up with W10 (I've heard that W10 doesn't work very well when dual booting).

Live USB would be a safer option, I think. Anyways, I don't know how stable the OS is that way, and up to what point it is limited by the memory host I'm using.

About VM, It is obviously the safest option, but wouldn't it limit the things I can do? For example, if I download a VM for learning, what would I have to do? Turning on both machines, parallel inside W10, I'm guessing. Or would it be much more difficult?

How often do you use Debian? Every day? Once a week?

If it's every day, and you understand what you're doing, then why not a dual-boot system? I've done that before I ditched Windows altogether. But in the end it's up to you.

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i prefer dualboot systems over virtualized ones.

I prefer dual boot. My primary desktop (Ryzen 1700x w/ 960 GB SSD) is dual booted exactly as you want to do, Windows 10 Home & Debian 9.

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I would indeed prefer dualboot. But the thing is I'm scared of messing it up and screwing the hard drive or W10. People say that it is a kind of risky operation if you don't know what you are doing. Is it really difficult to make it right?

Does it work right? I've heard that sometimes the big Windows 10 updates mess up with the other systems. Have you experienced any problem?

Not particularly when I done it - which was a long time ago now. Have a look at this - Debian even has a guide for it.

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OP, do you have a disk for W10? If so, I would dual boot. If not, VM.

No, it wouldn't be much more difficult. But if you want it fullscreen, setting up guest additions is a bit fiddly. It'll be slower than having a bare metal install, but usable.

There is a fourth option, which is to just steamroll your W10 install altogether and write Debian over the entire drive.

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Haven't had a single issue THUS FAR on this desktop, and I even just got the 1809 update the other week on Windows side. My previous desktop did have Windows wreck the boot once, but luckily (to me) I was using UEFI so it was a simple issue to repair (I prefer UEFI to MBR, I just don't understand MBR).

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I don't :O. Is it a problem? I bought it from here. They never gave me an installation disk (also this laptop doesn't have an optical drive)
https://www.mediamarkt.es/es/product...d-1438250.html

I find that a bit surprising. Back when I had my first computer, a Dell Inspiron [a few years ago now], it had XP preinstalled but it also came with an XP OEM disc if you needed to reinstall the OS for any reason. Maybe they don't give users that option anymore.

Seeing as you don't have a disk I would not definitely not dual boot, because if you mess something up with your W10 install, you can't go back.

That leaves you with the options of either a VM or blitzing your W10 install entirely with Debian. You can run a Live USB, but everything would be deleted when you shut down - that's not the case with a VM.

If I were you, I would go with a VM for now, learn Debian a bit and if you like it enough, move over fully at some point.

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You could always snapshot the drive, and if anything goes wrong, you'll at least be able to restore Windows 10. Just make a system backup of Windows before you proceed.

Yes, maybe you are right. What about Live USB on an external hard drive?

You may be able to install it on your external HDD. I've never tried it myself, but from a scant Google search, it looks possible. If I were you, I would do some searches and see how this could work for you.

The benefit is that you won't mess up your W10 install at all, it'll be faster than a VM, data will get written to the drive, and by learning how to research and solve your own problems you will become a better Linux user and community member in the long run. Of course, you will get stuck at points and you will need assistance, but it's best to ask for such after you have tried something and failed. Then come back with what you wanted to do, what you tried and what went wrong.

Exemption clause: I don't know what your experience with Linux is, but I'm guessing it's not much. You should at least be aware that Debian is not a beginner's OS and is looked on more as an intermediate distribution. Nevertheless, I say go for it and good luck. Come back when you need assistance.

Yeah, sorry. I have some experience with Linux, but I've never installed an OS before (apart from a Raspberry one), so I was a little nervous about messing it up. I think I will try running it as a VM for now. Maybe in a couple of months I'll try it on an external hard drive.

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Did you see my post #11 ? Also, the link I gave you before does suggest you can install Debian on a separate drive - which I would recommend you do.

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