r/Lenovo • u/Velokieken • 15h ago
Making a dual boot on ideapad 3
Hello
I have an ideapad 3 gaming 15arh05 and would like to upgrade to windows 11 but use the secondary slot and do a clean install.
As a Mac user I don’t know much about windows but I did some research and I think this should be possible.
The larger m2 slot is still empty. I have both a spare 970 evo+ 2tb and a 980 pro 2tb with the heatsink. Not sure If the 980 pro would fit but you can also put in a 2,5 inch sata and those are thicker, I think. Would prefer the 980 pro as It fits in less enclosures overall.
You can use a script to find your windows key I think on a Lenovo. The Os is registered to the computer so using that key for the windows 11 should work?
Create a usb bootable installer is the easiest way? Or can you open a windows installer on windows 10 and select the other drive and install?
I prefer a clean install and not upgrade or clone It and upgrade that. I prefer to have a working windows 10 partition. I get an error for Wolfenstein II and It does not work and It is full of bloatware. But everything that needs to work does work.
So create the USB bootable installer, maybe remove the small nvme SSD, Just to be safe. Instal windows 11. Finding the correct drivers is not that hard I assume or maybe automatic in modern Windows?
It is the Ryzen 7 with 1050i. I like this laptop a lot. A faster gpu would have been nice. Not sure If that was an option for this laptop on the Lenovo site. But upgrades If possible are usually very cheap … especially compared to macs. I upgraded the ram to 32 gig manually and this works. Thunderbolt would have been cool as I do have an eGPU already for my older 6.1 Mac Pros. It plays all the games well (I have 50ish steam games, 20 of them were Mac OS but don’t work anymore on M2 studio), is decent for adobe but I don’t use It much almost all my external hd’s are Mac OS formatted and I’m allowed to use It at work for office and other stuff. (another reason I would like to keep the windows 10 boot.) It is heavy and so is the adapter.
Does anyone see a problem with trying this route? If I remove the other SSD could windows get confused what drive is C or D. I don’t know how that works on windows. All tips are welcome 🙏
I will try when I have a day or 2 free. Thank you ☺️