Apr 12, 2012 SabrinaSouza asked the Answer Line forum how to install Linux onto a PC without losing Windows. 5 Ways To Try Out and Install Ubuntu On Your Computer Boot From a Live USB Drive or CD. One of the easiest ways to get started with Ubuntu is by creating. Install Ubuntu On Windows With Wubi. Traditionally, installing Linux on a hard drive has been. Run Ubuntu In a Virtual Machine.
Linux is often best installed in a dual-boot system. This allows you to run Linux on your actual hardware, but you can always reboot into Windows if you need to run Windows software or play PC games.
Setting up a Linux dual-boot system is fairly simple, and the principles are the same for every Linux distribution. Dual-booting Linux on a Mac or a Chromebook is a different process.
The Basics
Here’s the basic process you’ll need to follow:
Although the broad outlines are simple, this can be complicated by a number of issues including UEFI Secure Boot requirements on Windows 8 PCs and disk encryption.
Install Windows First
Your PC probably already has Windows installed on it, and that’s fine. If you’re setting up a PC from scratch, be sure to select the “Custom install” option and tell Windows to use only part of the hard drive, leaving some unallocated space left over for Linux. This will save you the trouble of resizing the partition later.
Make Room For Linux
You’ll probably want to resize your Windows system partition to make room for Linux. If you already have some unallocated space or a separate hard drive for Linux, that’s perfect. Otherwise, it’s time to resize that existing Windows partition so you can make space for a new Linux partition.
You can do this in several ways. Most Linux installers allow you to resize Windows NTFS partitions, so you can do this during the installation process. However, you may just want to shrink your Windows system partition from within Windows itself to avoid any potential problems.
To do so, open the Disk Management utility — press Windows Key + R, type diskmgmt.msc into the Run dialog, and press Enter. Right-click the Windows system partition — that’s likely your C: drive — and select “Shrink Volume.” Shrink it to free up space for your new Linux system.
If you’re using BitLocker encryption on Windows, you won’t be abne to resize the partition. Instead, you’ll need to open the Control Panel, access the BitLOcker settings page, and click the “Suspend protection” link to the right of the encrypted partition you want to resize. You can then resize it normally, and BitLocker will be re-enabled on the partition after you reboot your computer.
Install Linux Second
RELATED:How to Boot and Install Linux on a UEFI PC With Secure Boot
Next, make installation media for your Linux system. You can download an ISO file and burn it to a disk or create a bootable USB drive. Reboot your computer and it should automatically boot from the Linux installation media you’ve inserted. If not, you’ll need to change its boot order or use the UEFI boot menu to boot from a device.
On some newer PCs, your PC may refuse to boot from the Linux installation media because Secure Boot is enabled. Many Linux distributions will now boot normally on Secure Boot systems, but not all of them. You may need to disable Secure Boot before installing Linux.
Go through the installer until you reach an option that asks where (or how) you want to install the Linux distribution. This will look different depending on your Linux distribution, but you want to choose the option that lets you install Linux alongside Windows, or choose a manual partitioning option and create your own partitions. Don’t tell the installer to take over an entire hard drive or replace Windows, as that’ll wipe away your existing Windows system.
Choosing an Operating System and Customize Grub2
RELATED:How to Configure the GRUB2 Boot Loader’s Settings
Once you’ve installed Linux, it will install the Grub2 boot loader to your system. Whenever you boot your computer, Grub2 will load first, allowing you to choose which operating system you want to boot — Windows or Linux.
You can customize Grub’s options, including which operating system is the default and how long Grub2 waits until it automatically boots that default operating system. Most Linux distributions don’t offer easy Grub2 configuration applications, so you may need to configure the Grub2 boot loader by editing its configuration files.
You can use this process to triple or quadruple-boot multiple versions of Linux along with Windows, multiple versions of Windows along with Linux, or multiple versions of each. Just install one after the other, ensuring there’s enough room for a separate partition for each operating system. Be sure to install Windows before you install Linux, too.
Image Credit: Paul Schultz on Flickr
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Active3 years, 3 months ago
I know that there is a way in which, one can install Linux or Ubuntu on Windows easily but, what about installing Windows on Linux or Ubuntu i.e If I have a machine with only Ubuntu, how can I install Windows on it without removing Ubuntu?
I don't want to do this in a Virtual Machine. I just want to have two OS in a single hard drive.
RolandiXor♦
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7 Answers
You can install Windows from inside Linux onto your physical hard drive, but you need separate partition as NTFS or FAT32. Below is a way to use a virtual machine to do the actual installation, but it's performed on your hard drive.
jackblackjackblack
You will need:
First use GParted to free some space to host Windows:
Install Windows as usual selecting the space you just created using GParted. This will 'activate' only Windows and Ubuntu will not be accessible at this point.To make Ubuntu accessible again, take the Ubuntu Live CD and follow this guide (or see this question or this or that help wiki page.).
Community♦
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This is hardly a complete answer, but it may help. I have a development machine here with Windows 7 and Kubuntu; I used a 128 GB SSD for Windows (the whole thing) and have Kubuntu dominant on my other three hard drives, with a limited partition made for media files in Windows. Any time I do have to reinstall Windows, I simply pull out the SATA cables from the back of my other hard drives first. After the install, I power down, plug them back in, power up, and set up Windows to use the proper directories (on the other hard drives) for user documents. I've done this more than once and it's yet to give me any trouble. GRUB even recognized it after a quick device scan.
I understand that you're trying to do this on a single hard drive, but everyone else has already highlighted the issues behind this (mostly with Windows being a complete #$%@&* about having to share). If you can get a cheap SSD or even HDD, and plug it in in parallel, then keep your more-responsible OSes on the major drives, it should make the process simple. You won't even have to worry about partitioning.
(I will also say that if you do do it this way, you'll save yourself a lot of trouble by keeping every drive either MBR or GPT; try not to mix and match. It makes booting more complicated than anyone wants to deal with.)
Best of luck!
Michael Eric OberlinMichael Eric Oberlin
Impossible As far as I know. First If you use Linux native partitioning, windows will not access it and hence NOT install anything. Also, even if it installs, there is issue of mbr, which will take you into complexities of overwriting each other. So it is practically bad decision and to my knowledge impossible!
What is so hard/wrong with putting them in separate partition?
Stefano MtangooStefano Mtangoo
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You cant install easy like wubi in windows. Yo have to create virtual machine of windows. If you have iso file for windows os, you follow the bellow,
Download VirtualBox, and you will get the deb file, use Ubuntu software center to install. After install it,
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The easiest way I found to install windows on a ubuntu or any linux only pc is as follows -
Now change (hd0,5) to the partition where you have extracted the ISO image.Reboot your computer and choose windows 10 from boot menu.
Windows is Like Blind about ext3 or ext4 partition so you don't have to worry about deleting it accidentally. Once you have installed Windows, you can always install grub to revive your lost ubuntu partition.
I have made a video to show How to install Windows 10 from ISO image in linux GRUB
Install Linux On Windows Computers
SumanSuman
I think know what your trying to say I think you mean install Windows over Ubuntu. Just put your windows Operating System Disk in you PC and just install it over Ubuntu. But I don't know if you have important files on your Ubuntu OS so save all your usb,sd, or a disk.
Seth♦
How To Install Linux Mint On Windows 10 ComputerHow To Install Linux On Windows
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DavidDavid
Install Linux On Windows Computer Windows 7Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged windowssystem-installation or ask your own question.Comments are closed.
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