How to Dual Boot Ubuntu & Windows 10?
Dual boot Ubuntu Windows 10- How to Dual boot Ubuntu and Windows 10 or some also searches for how to Dual Boot Ubuntu with Windows 10 is common and here you will get the full tutorial.
You can the same methods to dual boot other flavors of Ubuntu as Lubuntu, Kubuntu, and Xubuntu too. basically, all of the Linux distros have the same installation and booting system, only the setup of installation has little changes.
How to Dual Boot Ubuntu and Windows 10?
Here is the entire procedure to perform the installation.
Our Dual Boot settings
Before we being, you should know that we have dual-booted Windows and Ubuntu on our system with UEFI secure boot and hard disks as GPT partitions. Both of the qualities can be found in recent systems, if you have brought your system a while ago then you will need to check and change if needed.
Prerequisites before doing the Dual Boot
Like we mentioned before, you will need to check your system supports UEFI secure boot and your hard disk is GPT partitioned. Installed Windows 10 OS on your system should be the first step.
The next thing will be to disable BitLocker. If you have installed Windows 10 Pro, then there is a great possibility that you also have BitLocker. Make sure, you have the recovery keys and the application is disabled.
You will also need an Intel Core 2 Duo or better with 250+ GB of storage. For dual-booting, we would recommend you to have at least 500 GB of storage. There is a specific need for SDD or HHD hard drives, any of them would do the work. It is quite obvious to state, still using SDD will only improve the performance.
For RAM memory try to have 4-16 GB RAM. A USB drive with 8 GB of storage is also needed. This will be later used for the installation of Ubuntu.
Internet connection to download necessary drive and setup of Ubuntu is required. Having a bootable USB drive of Windows 10 or Windows recovery is also needed, in case something goes wrong.
Reminder: Please make sure, you have the backup of all of your data. as there is a slight chance of losing your data during the installation.
Download Ubuntu
Visit the official website of Ubuntu and download Ubuntu’s setup file. Once downloaded, you will also need to make it bootable on your USB drive using a third-party application as Rufus.
- Download Ubuntu
- Download Rufus and run it.
- First select the ISO file of Ubuntu.
- In the Partition Scheme, select it as GPT.
- For Target System, select UEFI (non CSM).
- Name your USB drive.
- File system should be FAT32(Default).
- Cluster size also should be as Default.
- In last click on START.
Now, Rufus will start creating a bootable USB of Ubuntu that can be later used for dual booting.
Related: Free Download Ubuntu Image
Disk partition of Dual Boot
Most of the users quickly get fed up with dual booting and changes to a single OS. deleting the Ubuntu-related file on such occasions is a real challenge. Even if you want to use the dual boot option for a long period of time then having a separate partition for the OS will only improve the performance and makes thing organized.
- Go to Start and type “Disk Partition” and you will find Create and format hard disk partitions on your screen. You can also get access to Disk Management tool by opening CMD and use “diskmgmt.msc” command.
- Once you are inside the Disk Management Tool, there you will need to create a disk for Ubuntu only.
- right click on your C drive and click on Shrink Volume. Even tough 20 GB for the Ubuntu is enough and 100 GB is a good size. However, soon you will experience disk space shortage. So, try to do the partition about 130 GB or more.
If you don’t have enough space, then try to delete other drives to make space for your Ubuntu drive.
Note: no matter what you do, don’t try to delete the C: drive as it possesses windows files and on deleting, many important files might be deleted too. this can cause a lot of trouble.
Boot Ubuntu
Plugin your USB drive and restart your system. While your system boots, press the F2/F10 key on your keyboard to boot the USB.
change advanced startup settings advanced startup-restart now
If you find that challenging, then you can insert your USB and type “UEFI” in Start and click on Change advanced startup options. You will find a Restart now button right below Advanced startup, click on it.
In Choose an option, click on Use a device then select your bootable USB of Ubuntu. Soon your system will power off and restart again. This time, your system will start the installation of Ubuntu.
Installation of Ubuntu
On installation, the first thing will be to select Language and Keyboard layout. Then you will be in Updates and other software windows, select Normal Installation. Select the other option of Download updates while installing Ubuntu in the section below and click on Continue.
Remember that we are not going to select options to download third-party applications as media codes. For now, let’s keep things simple, once the installation got completed, then you can use other features too.
Installation type
In Installation Type, don’t select Install Ubuntu alongside Windows Boot Manager; as it will do auto partition and you can use the dragger to do the partition. Another drawback will be the merging of root and home files, which will cause problems with uninstalling the Ubuntu or Windows 10.
Instead, select the Something else option and click on Continue.
You are here to create a partition. Select the drive that you have created for Ubuntu and use that. If you didn’t create a new disk, then you can use the free space and create a new disk. The only thing that you will need to keep in mind is:
- Size: 130+ GB storage
- Type of the new partition: Primary
- Location for new partition: Beginning of this space
- Use as: Ext4 journaling file system
- Mount Point: (select the location)
Click on OK.
Note: avoid trying to delete any disk, if you are not familiar with it. As it can be your C drive (contains windows files) or System Reserved drive. Don’t format or any file, until you are sure is totally useless.
Install Ubuntu on your system
Once you have completed this step then you can dual boot Ubuntu and Windows 10.
A step above will do the partition and create a root disk. When the root file is created, click on Install Now.
Popup about swap will appear, ignore it and click on Continue.
Select your Time zone and click on Continue.
Type the User name and Hostname (Sudo or computer name), enter your password, and click on Continue.
The installation will take place. This might take a while, so be patient. Once the installation got completed, two options will be provided:
- Continue Testing
- Restart Now.
Click on Restart Now, and unplug your USB drive.
Enjoy your Dual Boot Windows and Ubuntu on your system.
How to toggle between Ubuntu and Windows in Dual boot?
Want to change between Windows 10 and Ubuntu, then you can use this feature (which is mostly disabled on most systems). This feature enables you to show all the OS on your system and you can boot any of them.
Start your PC and click on This PC. On the left side, right-click on This PC.
Soon you will see the Properties option, click on it.
Go to Advanced system settings, then in the Advanced tab, you will find the Startup and Recovery section. Click on Settings and will be taken to System startup. Check the Time to display list of operating systems and also insert the duration by inserting numbers too.
Type the seconds and click on OK. Restart your system and you will have lists of OS on your system to boot. Dual boot ubuntu Windows 10
Related: Install Windows 10 on macOS Big Sur using Boot Camp
