Installing Win 11 as a dual boot option with Fedora

Hello beautiful people,

My goal is to be able to use both Fedora and Win11. Now as you can imagine I already have that beautiful OS called Fedora. Even do I don’t hold Win in any high regard, I need MS Word for work with all of it’s features (e.g. compare documents). What would you recommend in terms of approach when it comes to my situation, what would be the best approach:
a) Old Fedora user who has the OS already installed.
b) Needs Win11 for Work-mostly Word.
c) I do have Fedora 38 on a USB but I should update it to the newest version F41.
d) Everything needs to go smoothly so I can complete the task in the minimal amount of time so I can work without issues interrupting my workflow.

Unfortunately, many users have reported problems with dual-booting MS Windows and Fedora Linux due to:

a) MS Windows makes the ESP too small to accommodate other operating systems.

b) MS Windows demands drive encryption[1] and “secure boot” settings that prevent any boot loader from starting MS Windows. (It demands to be directly launched from the firmware/bios.[2])

Installing Fedora Linux on a secondary HD is a viable workaround for problem a. (A secondary drive can have a separate ESP. The Boot Loader Specification does not allow multiple ESPs on one drive.)

Running MS Windows in a Virtual Machine is a workaround for problem b, but creating a VM that properly supports the newest version of TPM can be quite tricky.

Currently, I run MS Windows 10 in a VM which does not require the TPM/secure-boot configuration. But I’m not sure how much longer that workaround will be viable.


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Thank you so much for the detailed approach to my question.
Actually, you where on point with points that worry me.
It seems a different PC would be the easiest option, honestly :rofl:

I am trying to think up the easiest solution to this problem.When I tried the WM approach and yes, the system I am running is capable. The error message I got was that my system wasn’t meeting the requirements.

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It is not hard. Virt manager allows tpm2 to be confugured for a new vm without drama. I am running win 11 under virt manager.

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Great I have Virt manager already installed. I just need instructions what needs to be done. If it works, I am in your debt.

During the configuration of the VM with the virt manager make certain you select the extra configs and select uefi and the tpm option there before beginning the actual windows installation. I have done this twice

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Great, will try it and if everything works I will mark it as the solution.

I don’t know if this video would help
How To PROPERLY Install Windows 11 on KVM (2024)

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Now I used the link but the boot fails.
This happens as well.

Make sure secure boot is enabled in the VM config.

How to do it?

This is a related issue to

Please do not open repeated threads for the same topic.

In response to your last post. It appears that you installed windows in the VM.
It is mandatory that windows 11 is installed with both secure boot and TPM enabled.
When installing windows 11 into the VM it must be configured with uefi and tpm2 as the bios setting during the initial installation.

How do I configure the VM to use UEFI with TPM2 and secure boot activated?

If you use vmm (virtual machine manager ) it is easy





This part is important to tick customize configuration before install


make sure that you select boot option for sata cdrom 1!

Begin installation make sure that you press space during countdown boot from cdrom…
And vola installation begins