Installing a Linux operating system used to be tough when it was new, but now it is really easy. This was true until Windows brought in the UEFI and Secure boot. This has made booting most of the OS with Windows a headache. Thanks to Ubuntu for such an adaptive environment that its installation is smooth even today. The steps are really simple, but there are few catches here and there, that we need to look into. So let’s quickly and successfully install (dual boot) Ubuntu 14.04 or above with Windows 8 or above.
- Make sure your Partition type is Basic and not dynamic. Also, create a handsome space (50 GB) for the new OS, this partition must be primary. (Use Windows Disk Manager for this)
- Turn off Secure boot. (This procedure vary from brand to brand, so refer your instruction to get into it. Most of the time these settings are available in BIOS, which can be accessed by F2 or F12 while booting)
- Boot via your preferred media. (USB, Optical disk, I personally suggest optical disk for installation, as it is less of a problem. They also make a rescue disk in case of emergency)
- Follow the steps, these are simple but select something else in the menu shown below
- Select the partition you created in step 1, in this menu
- Creating a dedicated swap space is good practice, but I do not recommend it for Dual boot systems. So in the next step you will be asked about mount points and greeted with warning related to swap space and others, just accept those warnings. Select (ROOT) / as you mount point and EXT4 as your file system.
- You are all set, just complete the installation and you are all good to go. 🙂
This method has been tested on laptops from many different manufacturers like Sony, Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc. I have even tried this method for windows 8 and 8.1. This is supposed to work most of the times, but with OS installation, there are no guarantees. So I recommend you to keep a backup before proceeding forward. I hope this blog helps you, do give suggestions to improve the blog, comment for any help, and share your successful installation.