How To Dual-Boot Your System

A lot of people are confused about how to switch from there current operating system to a different one. Few of them are confused due to enormous amount of information available and the others are worried about the risks that it might involve.

Let’s see how to properly dual boot your system without any risks and in simple steps but before we begin with that let me be very clear, This article is only for the beginners and this might not be the only way to do this and might not be the most efficient solution and exact explanation but this will surely be the easiest one and will give you enough information to get you going with what you wanted to do.

Remember for this example we will be considering that you are currently using windows OS and you want to dual boot Ubuntu ( Because that is the case with most of the first timers)

Prerequisites -:

Before we start with the process and steps there are few things you should be having with you ( Along with your system and internet connection… obviously :p )

A USB-Drive ( ≥ 8 GB )

An ISO image of Ubuntu ( Or whatever OS you want to boot )

A software called as Rufus.

Yeah…that’s it !!

Now let us start :)

Step-1 -:

First of all start your system and open the Rufus software in that click on the select button and browse your iso file and without changing any settings click on the start button. ( Rufus automatically selects your pen-drive)

Select the DD option in the the message that will pop and then continue.

Step-2 -:

Now, search “Disk-management” in windows and then create an un-allocated free volume ( ie. delete the memory ) of the size you want your OS to be ( a 100 GB should be enough in most cases ).

Step-3 -:

now shut down your system, plug your USB stick and turn it on again but this time keep pressing the “esc” button until you enter the boot menu.

Now when you are in boot menu go to a setting named “Boot settings”, Now this might be different system to system but you will surely find an option of “Secure Boot” there. Once you are able to locate that option turn it off.

Step-4 -:

Once all this is done, Simple select your USB-Drive from the options available under “Boot device options”

Step-5 -:

You will see that there are few options here. The first one simply says Ubuntu ( you can click on this to boot into Ubuntu and use it live without actually having it in your system but this will only work as long as the USB drive is connected and no data will be stored as there is no persistent storage available.) We will be selecting the option which says “Install Ubuntu” and once you click on this you will enter into a guided step by step process of installing Ubuntu which is pretty self explanatory. The only thing you have to take care about is that you should be installing it only into that disk partition which you made in step one ( you can see the size to verify that ) although Ubuntu selects that one automatically for you but still just make sure it is right.

Step-6 -:

All done !! Once that process is completed you can remove the USB stick and boot into your new Ubuntu OS !!

But there is one thing which is still to be done for some systems. You have to change “boot order” option from the boot menu and make Ubuntu your first preference ( If not automatically done ).

That’s it !!

You can now use both the OS as per your convenience…

This was just one simple process and does not cover every detail of it but I hope you will be able to do what you intended to do after following the steps mentioned above :)