Guide To Dual Booting

Guide to Dual Booting

Satyajit Sahoo

funsurf-blog.blogspot.com

Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Basics ........................................................................................... 2 How it works? .............................................................................................. 2 What is the need?.................................................................................... 2 What are the differences from Virtual Machine? ............................ 3 What are the disadvantages?............................................................. 3 What are the advantages? .................................................................. 3 Which distro to choose? ........................................................................ 3 Chapter 2:Installing Windows .................................................................... 5 Prerequisites ............................................................................................... 5 Installing Windows .................................................................................... 6 Chapter 3: Installing Ubuntu.....................................................................16 Installing Ubuntu ..................................................................................... 16 Chapter 4: Installing Fedora..................................................................... 28 Installing Fedora ..................................................................................... 28 User Setup................................................................................................ 39 Chapter 5: Last Bits ..................................................................................... 43 Add Linux to Windows Bootloader ................................................... 43 Making Windows Bootloader Default ............................................... 44 Restoring GRUB as Default.................................................................. 46 Restoring GRUB in an Unbootable Condition .............................. 47 Updating GRUB 2 .................................................................................. 48 Removing Windows................................................................................. 49 Removing Linux ........................................................................................ 50 AccessLinux Partition in Windows ..................................................... 51 Linux is Not Windows ............................................................................. 52

1

funsurf-blog.blogspot.com

Chapter 1: Basics
I often come across people who don't know anything about dual booting. Of course, I didn't know it at first. But now I'm often having more than one OS in mylaptop. So here is an effort to describe it, and how it is done.

What is Dual Booting?
Dual-booting means having two operating systems on a computer at the same time. You can call it multi-booting if you have more than two operating systems. For example, I've Windows 7, Kubuntu and Fedora installed in 3 different partitions in my laptop. When you dualboot, you can choose what operating systemto choose when you start your computer.

How it works?
Dual booting requires a program called bootloader. Most operating systems include a bootloader. Windows uses its “Windows Bootloader” while many Linux distros use “GRUB” and “GRUB 2”. There exist many other bootloaders such as Lilo etc. When you start your PC, bootloader is the first program that runs. It then displays the list of operatingsystems installed to choose from. Some bootloaders also have advanced features like terminal access and recovery tools.

What is the need?
Well, it depends upon your needs. Some like to use Linux, but there might not be a Linux alternative of their favourite Windows software and vice-versa. Some cannot leave Windows due to the fact that his office website or banking websites require Internet...