Hey guys,
I use my laptop with a Windows 11 / Linux Mint dual-boot system.
Since I actually use Linux Mint 98% of the time, I wanted to ask if it is still necessary to do the system and security updates for Windows 11 as long as Windows is not needed?
If you are asking if not updating Windows will make your Mint system insecure, the answer is no. At least to me an exploit leveraging an unmounted Windows partition is unheard of. It will of course make your Windows system less secure for the 2% of the time you do use it. Another side effect of updating it is that it may break your dual booting.
Thanks for the answer. I was unsure whether it could be dangerous to the PC itself if you ignore the updates for both operating systems.
Yes, I’ve also read about problems with dual-boot systems after Windows updates, which is why I’ve refused to use Windows too often to make the updates worthwhile.
Sometimes Windows just overwrites GRUB (or whatever you use on your system) bootloader. But it’s relatively easy to fix using your distro’s installation media. Just in case this happens you need to refer to your distro’s documentation or community forums to fix it.
I do recommend however in the future to not put Windows and Linux on the same disk, but have 2, each for respective OS. That way, there’s no way Windows will ever touch your Linux bootloader, and you can still allow GRUB (or other bootloader) to chain-load Windows boot manager from the other disk.
I’m not sure if I had two separate boot partitions (on separate drives), but I know for certain that windows will try to fuck with bootloaders on other drives during install and certain updates. Has happened to me enough times over the decades to realize the only safe way to keep windows away is an air-gap
The PC itself as in hardware? Hardly… Your data is at risk. So ignoring updates for both Mint and Windows will put you at a more vulnerable position from a security standpoint.