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HowTo:

InstallandDualBootintoMicrosoftWindows7andLinuxUbuntu

byRichieFou(TheMan!)

BackingUp

 Beforeyoudoanything,backuhttp://simms‐teach.com/resources.phppallyourfilesintoan

externalstoragedevice.IrecommendusinganUSBexternalHDD(HardDrive).Makesurenottobackup

anyofyourfiles

ontotheHDDsthatyouareusingforthisinstallationprocesssincethismaycauseyou

toloseyourdata.



InstallationPriority

 Whensettingupdualboot,youwanttomakesuretoinstallWindowsfirst.Thisisbecause

Windows'bootloadertendstobeparticularlypicky(overwritinganythingelse

ontheMasterBoot

Record).



Step1:InstallingWindows



UsingaSingleHDD

 BootfromtheWindowsInstallationDisk.GototheAdvancedmenuandselecttheHDD(Hard

DiskDrive)thatyouusing.Clickontheadvancedoptions andselectCreateNew(inordertocreatea

newpartition).

Windowswillthenprom ptyoutoselectaspecifiedamountofHDDspacetopartition*.

LeaveaportionoftheHDDnon‐partitioned,onwhichyouwilllaterinstallLinux.Continueonandfinish

theinstallationprocess.Youhavenowi nstalledWindows

 *Note:Whendecidinghowmuchspacetoleave

non‐partitioned,keepinmindthatthough

Windowscan’trecogniseLinuxfilesystems,LinuxdoesrecognizeWindowsfilesystems,soifyouwant

toaccessmusic,pictures,oranyotherfilesinLinuxyoucanaccessthosefilesonyourWindowspartition

throughLinux.Irecommendleavingabout25%ofthe

HDDfreeforLinux.

 IfyoualreadyhaveWindowsinstalledandyoudonotwishtogothroughtheinstallation

processyoucanusepartitioningsoftware(e.g.PartitionMagic,EASEUSPartitio nMasters,etc)to

repartitionaportionofyourHDDforLinux.



UsingMultipleHDD

 IfusingtwoormoreHDDtoinstallwindowsandLinuxyouwillnotneedtoleaveaportionof

yourfirstHDDunpartitioned.JusthavewindowspartitionthefirstHDDandleav ethesecondHDD

unpartitionedforLinux.



Step2)InstallingLinux

 Firstdownloadandburnacopyof

Ubuntu(viaadiscimage,betterknownasanISOfile)ontoa

DiskorFlashDrive.Youcandownloadthesoftwarefreefromhttp://www.ubuntu.com.Makesureto

downloadthe“LiveInstallation”versionofUbuntu,togiveyoutheopportunityoftryingouttheOS

priortoinstallinganything.Boot

fromtheinstallationdisk,andselect“TryUbuntu”.Onceyouhave

playedaround,doubleclickthe“InstallUbuntu”desktopicon,andproceedthroughtheprocesstothe

advancedmenuandselectyoursecondHDDtopartition.

 WhenpartitioningmakesuretoleavesmallportionofyourHDDnon‐partitionedfor

swap.I

recommendaboutleavingtwicetheamountofRAMyouhavenon‐partitioned,orasmuchas4GB.You

willthenselectafilesystemforyourLinuxpartition,eitherext3orext4(yourchoice,readaboutthe

trade‐offs).Next,simplyfollowtherestoftheinstallationprocess.You

havenowinstalledLinux.



Step3)DefaultBootSetting

 WithWindows7andUbuntuontoyourcomputer,thedualbootloaderisalreadysetup.When

bootingupyourPC,apromptwillpopupaskingyouwhetheryouwanttobootintoLinuxorWindows.

After30secondsor

so,thePCwillautomaticallybootintoLinux(orwhicheverissettobedefault).



Step4)ChangingBootDefaultSettings

 BootintoLinuxandyouhavetwooptions.Thereareinstructionsonhowtoeditthegrubmenu

manually,butwithmodernLinuxdistributionsyoucanmakeiteasier

onyourselfanddownloada

graphicalinterfacetothegrubstartup.Theseoftenpromisevariousconfigurationstothebootloader,

butthemostusefulisthesimplechangeofwhichoptionyouwouldliketohaveselectedasdefault.By

defaultit'ssettothelatestLinuxkernel,but

ifyou'dprefertobootintoWindowsautomaticallyyoucan

setgrubtodosousingsuchautility.

