Need help with dual boot Windows

[👽Ketragon👽]

Hey. So I wanted to dual boot Windows 10 and 11 (or 2x W11) on two separate disks. I have M2 SSD and SATA HDD.

I got Device Encryption on and what I wanted to do is this: when using SSD OS, other disk would be encrypted and when using HDD OS, SSD OS would stay encrypted. But both of this windowses share the same file system so when using one of them, another one is decrypted too. Is there any way to do it they way I want it to work?
Someone suggested me to just disable another disks in both OS-es so system can't see them but I'm not sure if it's what I'm looking for. This way they are not encrypted. Can let's say virus still infect disk turned off in device manager?
To clarify I wanted to make it work my way so I can run apps and files I'm not sure off, so in case if I would get any viruses from them, my data from main drive won't be compromised. I don't really care about destroying this data as I got back up. I don't want any info to be stolen. And no, VM does not do the job for me personally.

[_I_]

install only one disk on the system, install win 10 on that
install only the other disk in the system, install win 11 on that

plug both in, use bios to select which to boot from
set boot order for default, during boot, hit the drive select key to pick the other one

[👽Ketragon👽]

Oprindeligt skrevet af _I_:

install only one disk on the system, install win 10 on that
install only the other disk in the system, install win 11 on that

plug both in, use bios to select which to boot from
set boot order for default, during boot, hit the drive select key to pick the other one

But will the not used drive be encrypted then?

[_I_]

nope, the boot partition is not encrypted, the os encrypts everything else

each os drive will have several partitions that can be encryped

each os would not be able to read the other os encrypted drives, so sharing data would need to be done on non encrypted partitions or drive

[👽Ketragon👽]

Oprindeligt skrevet af _I_:

each os would not be able to read the other os encrypted drives, so sharing data would need to be done on non encrypted partitions or drive

I'm not sure if I understand correctly what You mean but it sounds like that's exactly what I want. I want them to not be able to read each other. And there wouldn't be any data sharing between drives. I want them to be completely separated from each other and decrypted only when specific OS drive would be in use.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Yes just boot into one WinOS and then go into Computer Management and remove drive letter for secondary drives you don't wish to be seen/viewed/accessed while in that OS. Then boot into the other OS and do the same for the other drives. It will remain this way until you change it.

[_I_]

each os will handle the drives is sees independently

if you hide drives in that os they are only hidden for that os and can remain connected to the system and enabled if you ever need them

[👽Ketragon👽]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Bad 💀 Motha:

Yes just boot into one WinOS and then go into Computer Management and remove drive letter for secondary drives you don't wish to be seen/viewed/accessed while in that OS. Then boot into the other OS and do the same for the other drives. It will remain this way until you change it.

I assume this would made the turned off disk not accessible for potential viruses?
If yes, then I might do it that way.

[👽Ketragon👽]

Oprindeligt skrevet af _I_:

install only one disk on the system, install win 10 on that
install only the other disk in the system, install win 11 on that

plug both in

And what if I already got win11 on one drive? Can I just disconnect it and to the rest like You said? Or do I have to reinstall system on this drive too?

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Yes if it was done without the drives seeing one another during OS install; you could simply disconnect before power-on. Not easy to do though if they are internal M2 SSDs. But definitely easy if SATA Drive.

This is why I always recommend anytime you install an OS, connect ONLY the drive you wish to install OS onto. This way each drive is never tied or linked to the OS drive, which can happen with WIn10/11. Then if ever need to disconnect a drive and run the OS drive by itself, it will never be an issue.

[_I_]

^ this

only having one drive in the system when installing ensures that all of the os partitions are one drive for that os, as they cannot be on another drive
and it will always be able to boot from that drive when other drives are removed

with some boards its hard to swap m.2 ssds if its under the gpu, but you can do the installs on 2nd lower slots first, then when done, move one to the slot under the gpu

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Also be mindful and watchful eye if your OS attempts to do a Feature Update; as this is an in-place OS upgrade. And before doing it, you want to first shutdown the PC and disconnect all secondary drives, then boot into that OS Drive and complete the update process.

[👽Ketragon👽]

Oprindeligt skrevet af _I_:

^ this

only having one drive in the system when installing ensures that all of the os partitions are one drive for that os, as they cannot be on another drive
and it will always be able to boot from that drive when other drives are removed

with some boards its hard to swap m.2 ssds if its under the gpu, but you can do the installs on 2nd lower slots first, then when done, move one to the slot under the gpu

That's good to know. I actually installed this OS while having both drives connected to PC. But do I have to reinstall it again if drive without OS was formatted and doesn't have any partition?

[Bad 💀 Motha]

You can re-check that secondary drive once inside your OS via Disk Management.

[👽Ketragon👽]

Oprindeligt skrevet af _I_:

^ this

only having one drive in the system when installing ensures that all of the os partitions are one drive for that os, as they cannot be on another drive
and it will always be able to boot from that drive when other drives are removed

with some boards its hard to swap m.2 ssds if its under the gpu, but you can do the installs on 2nd lower slots first, then when done, move one to the slot under the gpu

But if both drives were connected while OS installation and second drive was later formatted am I good to go and can I just install OS on another drive? Or there might be any connections between drives I don't see?

[👽Ketragon👽]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Bad 💀 Motha:

Also be mindful and watchful eye if your OS attempts to do a Feature Update; as this is an in-place OS upgrade. And before doing it, you want to first shutdown the PC and disconnect all secondary drives, then boot into that OS Drive and complete the update process.

Could you please tell me why is that? I tried to get some knowledge about it on my own but all I found on internet was that, if You update windows while dual booting windows and linux, it might break boot sequence. But is there reason to do that if I'm dual booting windows 10 and 11?