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How to Run Windows and Linux on the Same Computer

Installing Ram, Partition, Puppy Linux

So, you’ve heard about this Linux “thing,” but you’re not sure that you really want to get rid of your years and years of Windows experience, so what is there to do? Thankfully, assuming you have the hard drive space and a little bit of time, there is an easy way to run both Windows AND Linux on the same computer.

Doing this is called dual booting, and is a fairly common practice among Linux enthusiasts, who have a tendency of flitting back and forth between different varieties of Linux, or even stable and experimental versions of the same variety.

What do you need to dual boot?

You’ll need a few things, all of which are fairly common and easy to download.

1. Windows – probably not a problem, since it’s likely already installed on your computer!
2. Partition editor- GParted is my partition editor of choice. It is similar to Partition Magic for Windows, which could also be used. GParted is a piece of software designed to help you divide your hard drive into partitions, which your computer sees (and treats) as separate hard drives.
3. Linux – Ubuntu is my favorite version of Linux, and can be easily downloaded at Ubuntu.com

Once you have the correct tools, you’ll want to make sure all your documents are backed up. It’s not incredibly common for things to go wrong, but take it from someone who lost access to an external hard drive for a few days: errors are a part of computing, and it’s better to be overly cautious than not.

After making sure you have safely copied all the documents you can’t afford to lose, you’ll want to start the computer up using your partition editor. Bootable disc images (which need to be burned to blank CD), can be downloaded very quickly (the GParted Magic image is less than 50 MB). Once you’ve burned the image, simply insert the disc into your main CD drive and restart the computer.

The computer will start up using the operating system on the CD, which will provide you with a very basic desktop, along with all the tools necessary to get your computer’s hard drive ready to run Windows and Linux. Once the computer has booted, start up the partition editor (I’ll assume you’re using GParted for the rest of this article, but if you’re using Partition Magic, the process is fairly similar).

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GParted will scan your hard drive, then give you a graphical representation of any partitions already on it. If your computer has ever only had Windows on it, there should be just one color in the image, representing a single partition. It is likely formatted as either FAT32 or NTFS.

What you’ll want to do first is shrink that partition, so that there’s room for another, which is where Linux will be installed. Simply right-click on the partition, and then from the list of options, choose to resize the partition. Since Windows is already at the start of the drive (its partition begins at the far left of the hard drive image), you’ll want to grab the slider at the far right and drag it to the left, which will create gray unused space.

NOTE: If you’ll want to share documents and other files between Windows and Linux, you have a couple options. Look in my account page for an article titled “How To Share A Hard Drive Between Windows and Linux” for instructions on how to accomplish this.

Next you’ll want to create two partitions for Linux. The first should take up the bulk of what is now unused space, and should be formatted as ext2, ext3 or reiserfs, which are all common in the Linux world. You’ll also need to leave a bit of room at the end, so be sure that this partition doesn’t take up all the unused space.

Linux needs both a partition for the operating system as well as a swap file, which is what Linux uses for memory when the installed RAM is not enough. You don’t need much of a swap file, half a Gigabyte is plenty. Once you have told GParted to resize the original partition, and have created the two new ones, click the Apply button, and be ready to wait. The resizing step can take quite a long time, depending on how large the hard drive is, so don’t be worried if more than a few minutes pass.

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Once those steps have completed, you’re ready to restart the computer, being sure to remove the GParted CD from the drive. If you do nothing else, Windows should start up just like normal. The only difference will be when you look to see how much hard drive space you have left, and you’ll notice that your hard drive appears to be quite a bit smaller than before. If you installed “Ext2 Installable File System for Windows” then you should be informed that Windows has recognized a new piece of hardware, which will be the Linux partition you just created. If not, Windows should boot up just like normal.

You’re now ready to install Linux. Again, Ubuntu is my favorite variety of Linux, and can be downloaded from the Ubuntu website. There are two types of installation discs you can download, one which will only install the operating system, and a second which lets you boot up the computer first into a desktop environment, and then install from there. If you’re thinking about Ubuntu, I would recommend the second option. First because it lets you see what Linux is all about, but second because you’ll see off the bat if there are any issues (such as with your monitor, sound card or other hardware). If you’re satisfied, simply click the Install icon located on the desktop.

Installing Ubuntu via the graphical installer is actually quite simple. You’ll be asked for your Language, your location, and other information. At the point where you’re asked how you want to partition the drive, choose to do it manually, and then when you again see the partitions on your hard drive, choose the ext2/ext3/reiserfs partition you previously created. You’ll need perform a couple changes, such as telling Ubuntu to use this partition as your root drive (represented by the “/” symbol), and if you want to, you can have Ubuntu mount the Windows partition as well. You’ll want to edit this partition, and have Ubuntu mount it as something like “/media/Windows” while making sure that you don’t format it, or else you’ll need to reinstall Windows!

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Once you’re done organizing the hard drive, click to continue. You’ll have to enter your name, username and password along the way, along with a few other options. NOTE: One of the options along the way is for Ubuntu to import your settings from Windows, which is a nice touch. These settings include your documents, pictures, videos (as long as they’re store in the My Documents, My Pictures, My Videos folders), along with your Internet Explorer and wallpaper settings. This is still a new feature for the Ubuntu installer, but in my testing it seemed to work fine. After all your decisions have been made, Ubuntu will install. This typically takes between 15-25 minutes or so. When the installation is done, you can continue using Ubuntu via the live CD, or else reboot.

When you reboot, you’ll see a new menu which will show both Ubuntu and Windows as options. Simply use the arrow keys to scroll between your options, and then hit “Enter” when you find the one you like! If you sit and do nothing, Ubuntu (which is the new default), will be booted in roughly 10 seconds or so.

And that’s it! You should now have a fully-functioning computer with both Linux and Windows on it.