Dual Boot Windows XP/Vista and Linux

Have you ever wanted to run Windows and Linux on the same machine? This tutorial will show you some general do's and dont's to installing Windows and Linux on the same machine.

Note: This tutorial assumes you are starting a fresh install. This means that you will be installing both operating systems for the first time or you are willing to backup your data and erase your hard drive.

Why Dual Boot?

People typically dual boot for a few reasons:

• Certain applications are only available on one operating system (ex. computer games on Windows but not on Linux)
• Developers that program on both Windows and Linux
• Trying out different Linux distributions

Needed Materials

Since this tutorial is about installing Windows and Linux on the same machine, you will need a CD/DVD copy of Windows XP/Vista as well as a CD/DVD of a Linux distribution; Preferably Ubuntu or Fedora. Once you have satified these requirements, you may proceed.

Installing Windows

First we will be installing Windows XP or Vista. You will need to make sure your BIOS settings allow you to boot from a CD drive. If you are not sure on how to do this, you can check out Part 3: Setting The BIOS in our Build A Linux Computer guide.

Insert the Windows XP/Vista disk and proceed through the prompts. Once you get to the partitioning section, you want to delete all the partitions on the drive.

Note: This will destroy ALL data on this drive. If you need to make backups of your data, you will need to reboot the machine, remove the CD and load the current operating system. Backup all needed files to another hard drive, CD/DVD or USB drive then reboot and insert the Windows CD again.

Once you have all the partitions deleted, you will need to set up a partition for Windows. At a bare minimum Windows XP requires 1.5GB's of space. Vista has slightly higher requirements. Whichever operating system you will be working in the most should get the most space. Another option is to create a second partition (preferably VFAT but NTFS will work too) so you can share data easily between your Windows and Linux system.

A basic partition breakdown with a 100GB hard drive where Windows is the primary working operating system:

• Partition 1: 60GB (61,440MB) for Windows XP/Vista
• Partition 2: 10GB (10,240MB) for shared partition (VFAT or NTFS)
• 30GB (30,720MB) unformatted space

Once you have created your Windows partition, you will want to leave the rest of the space as 'unformatted space'. Then move through the prompts and finish installing Windows.

Once you have completed the install, reboot the system and remove the CD. Make sure that Windows boots correctly and without error.

Installing Linux

Once you have Windows set up properly it is time to install Linux. Now depending on which distribution you choose, the install process may differ slightly from this tutorial.

Insert the Linux CD and proceed to boot the system. Once you have the startup or welcome screen, select 'install'. Move through menus until you get to the partitioning section.

You want to choose an option that uses the 'unformatted' space. Ubuntu provides two methods; guided and manual. You will need to select 'manual'. The next window will have the total 'free space' available. You will need to create at a minimum two partitions; swap and the root partition (/).

As a general rule of thumb, your swap partition should be twice your memory (RAM). So if you have 512MB of memory, you should have 1024MB (1GB) of swap space. All extra space can go to the root partition (/)

For a detailed tutorial for Fedora check out Step by Step: Installing Fedora 10 Linux

Once this is done, you can now install Linux.

Note: Most popular Linux distributions can detect if you have Windows installed and can add the proper boot instructions to the boot loader (the program that allows you to select which OS you want to run at startup).

Once the installation completes, reboot the system and remove the CD. When the system reboots you should be graced with a menu asking which operating system you would like to start. Depending on the distribution, the boot loader may default to booting Linux without giving you an option. Most of the time a simple keystroke when the system is booting will give you the menu. Common keys are: F10, F12 and Escape.