Arch Linux

Ascupart

Member

Registered: 2023-09-06

Posts: 2

Confused about amd-ucode - do I need it if I dual-boot with Windows?

I'm working towards my first Arch install on my AMD system - dual booting with Windows 10.  I don't really understand if I need amd-ucode if my Windows 10 is kept up-to-date?

I built my PC about 2 years ago and haven't done any BIOS upgrades (Gigabyte mobo) - looking on the AMD website none of the upgrades seem necessary for me.

Thanks

ua4000

Member

Registered: 2015-10-14

Posts: 492

Re: Confused about amd-ucode - do I need it if I dual-boot with Windows?

yes, it's recommended to use them:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Microcode
"These updates provide bug fixes that can be critical to the stability of your system. Without them, you may experience spurious crashes or unexpected system halts that can be difficult to track down."

Soultrigger

Member

From: Brazil

Registered: 2021-11-04

Posts: 107

Re: Confused about amd-ucode - do I need it if I dual-boot with Windows?

The microcode amd-ucode or intel-ucode are processor fixes. The processor have exploitable security holes (main reason) and some other bugs that these microcodes are meant to fix/prevent. (now even hardware has bugs and patchs to fix them haha)

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 12,323

Re: Confused about amd-ucode - do I need it if I dual-boot with Windows?

dual booting has nothing to do with it, the microcode is loaded at boot.

The AMD microcode only covers datacenter processors, AFAIK, so it's useless for most of us anyway.

Ascupart

Member

Registered: 2023-09-06

Posts: 2

Re: Confused about amd-ucode - do I need it if I dual-boot with Windows?

dual booting has nothing to do with it, the microcode is loaded at boot..

Ok - so if I understand correctly - if the Windows updates are updating the microcode

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/ … -p/1000845

are you saying that those changes would not be reflected when I boot into Arch and I would still need to update the microcode on the Linux side?

Thanks

loqs

Member

Registered: 2014-03-06

Posts: 18,227

Re: Confused about amd-ucode - do I need it if I dual-boot with Windows?

are you saying that those changes would not be reflected when I boot into Arch and I would still need to update the microcode on the Linux side?

Yes as microcode updates are not persistent and need to be applied every boot.  If the update is applied by the mainboard firmware (which may be the only way to obtain AMD microcode updates for none data center processors) then it does not have to be done by the OS.

RaZorr

Member

Registered: 2021-12-02

Posts: 42

Re: Confused about amd-ucode - do I need it if I dual-boot with Windows?

The AMD microcode only covers datacenter processors, AFAIK, so it's useless for most of us anyway.

This point is important for desktop or almost all users.

More details here:

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=264913

Here's a post on reddit which goes through details on manually updating the microcode. I suggest to read and proceed with caution in case following that thread:

https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments … _in_linux/

Soultrigger

Member

From: Brazil

Registered: 2021-11-04

Posts: 107

Re: Confused about amd-ucode - do I need it if I dual-boot with Windows?

Thanks all for the replies, such cool stuff to research.

WinFan3672

Member

Registered: 2023-01-31

Posts: 5

Re: Confused about amd-ucode - do I need it if I dual-boot with Windows?

Dual-booting Windows isn't a great idea, as Windows likes to override the bootloader after updates, meaning you will need to reinstall it quite often, which is always a joyless experience. Tread carefully.

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 20,324

Re: Confused about amd-ucode - do I need it if I dual-boot with Windows?

Dual-booting Windows isn't a great idea, as Windows likes to override the bootloader after updates, meaning you will need to reinstall it quite often, which is always a joyless experience. Tread carefully.

That has never been my experience.   On the other hand, I boot using efistub on the Linux side and the Windows boot loader on the other side.  I pick what I want in the EFI pre-boot environment.

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