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TIL learned Windows support symlinks for quite a time now and I do want to upgrade my Ubuntu...

I'm thinking of making a partition for stuff like downloads and documents that I could symlink to my "Downloads" and "Documents" folders on both OSs, and be able to refresh either OS on a whim without having to backup my stuff.

From what I understand, I should make the partition NTFS so Windows can use it. Aside from that, is it a good idea and what precautions should I have as to not get my data corrupted?

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  • Easier (much so) to make the lesser used machine a Virtual Machine and share files by normal file sharing. I do this for ease of use and it works exceptionally well.
    – John
    Sep 10, 2022 at 19:37
  • @John My main is Ubuntu, and I use Windows for stuff like Photoshop and similar that barely work there (I do photo editing sometimes as a hobby). So, not really an option...
    – Noriller
    Sep 10, 2022 at 20:07
  • Possibly try GIMP on Ubuntu to see if that can fill your photoshop needs and then just use one OS. Might work for you.
    – John
    Sep 10, 2022 at 21:07

1 Answer 1

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Windows and Linux are different enough so that sooner or later you will have some trouble.

But some hints if you wish to go this way:

  • Use a file-system type that's fully supported by both OS, for example FAT32
  • Disable Windows Fast Startup
  • On Linux the shared partition must be permanently mounted via fstab

As far as I know, Windows can do symlinks from NTFS to FAT32 (but not vice-versa), but I don't know about Linux.

Note that if Windows is your main OS, that it natively supports Linux distributions using WSL and without dual boot. Windows 11 natively supports Linux GUI programs. You may also use a Linux virtual machine for all Windows versions.

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  • My main OS is Ubuntu, I use windows mainly for photo editing, and that's not every day...
    – Noriller
    Sep 10, 2022 at 20:08
  • In this case, the virtual machine approach will use a Windows VM. If you opt for dual-boot, except for the last paragraph the rest of my answer is valid.
    – harrymc
    Sep 10, 2022 at 20:15

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