Guide to Dual Booting

Satyajit Sahoo

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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 my laptop. 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 dual-boot, you can choose what operating system to 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 operating systems 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 favorite Windows software and vice-versa. Some cannot leave Windows due to the fact that his office website or banking websites require Internet Explorer. Some also do it just for fun. There are many reasons, different for different persons.

What are the differences from Virtual Machine?

Using a virtual machine can be helpful as you can install another operating system within your current operating system without changing your partition structure. But it limits the power of both the systems as the resources are divided. A dual-boot ensures that the operating system can get the most of your hardware.

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What are the disadvantages?

Particularly, I don't see any disadvantage of dual booting. One disadvantage may be that dual-booting takes more space on your hard drive. Also you are changing the bootloader configuration, so any errors might make the system unusable. But that's unlikely to happen as most systems handle the dual-boot efficiently and you don't have anything to do manually that would cause error.

What are the advantages?

Your operating system can use all your hardware unlike virtualization, so no performance loss. Even if one operating system fails, you have the other system for recovery purposes and data backup. You can enjoy the operating system you like without having to completely uninstall the system you need.

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Chapter 2: Installing Windows

So, we discussed some basic things about dual booting in the previous article. Here, we'll see the installation process of Windows. Windows doesn't detect any other operating systems such as Linux. So, to achieve a dual boot configuration, you should install Windows first, so that Linux can easily setup a dual boot environment when it detects previous Windows installation. If you already have Windows installed, you can skip it. But if you have Linux installed, fear not, you can proceed installing Windows as we would later describe the procedure to add Linux to Windows boot menu.

Prerequisites
To install windows, you need to check if your hardware meets the requirements of the version of Windows you are installing. You must have the installation disc or ISO file of Windows. We've shown how to install Windows 7 here. But the other versions should be similar.

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Installing Windows
Installing Windows is fairly easy. You first need to burn the Windows 7 ISO file to a DVD or create a bootable pendrive. Then insert the disc and restart to boot from it. you might need to change the boot order in the BIOS settings accordingly if you want to boot from CD/DVD or Pendrive. When you boot from the Windows 7 disc, you'll be prompted to select the language and the country. After choosing appropriate values, click "Next".

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Then click "Install Now".

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If the disc contains multiple versions of Windows 7, you'll be asked to choose a version. Generally 32-bit versions are referred as x86 and 64-bit versions as x64. So choose accordingly. If your RAM is not more than 3GB, there is no reason to choose 64-bit and it is always safer to go with 32-bit as most hardware and software are compatible with it.

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The next step would require you to select the Partition in which you want to install Windows. You can click "Drive Options (Advanced)" if you want to create, delete, extend and format partitions. Now choose the desired partition and click "Next". You should assign around 50 GB to that partition in my opinion. You can increase or decrease it according to your needs.

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After you click "Next", the installation will begin. It can take some time and the computer will restart many times. I recommend to remove the DVD when the first restart occurs.

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Then it will initialize services, configure drivers and so on.

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The next step is to ask for a Host name. It is not the same as username, so don't get confused.

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Now you have to choose the Windows update settings.

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When it asks for your time zone, select your appropriate time zone from the dropdown list.

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Now after some dialog boxes like asking for username, password etc, the installation will finish. You might be prompted to Activate Windows. You can skip the step if you don't have an internet connection or want to activate it later. If you don't activate, Windows will expire in 30 days.

Now after the installation finishes, you can start using Windows normally.

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Chapter 3: Installing Ubuntu

In the previous article, we saw how to install Windows. Now the next step is to install a Linux distro. Unless you are a advanced Linux user, I recommend you to choose Ubuntu. Even better if you choose Linux Mint. They are completely free and available for free download through various media on their websites. We'll see how to install Ubuntu. Installing Linux Mint is basically the same.

Installing Ubuntu
First, you have to download the Ubuntu ISO image from the its website. Then either burn it to a DVD or create a bootable pendrive using Unetbootin. Then boot from the disc or pendrive. Then you'll be given options to Try Ubuntu or Install Ubuntu. So lets choose "Install Ubuntu" and proceed.

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In the next step, you can check the boxes to automatically download and install updates and multimedia codecs during the installation process.

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The next screen will give you different partition schemes. They may vary according to your condition. For example we had only two options. Generally, the options are, 1. Install Ubuntu Alongside Windows 2. Replace Windows 7 with Ubuntu 3. Use Entire Hard Disk 4. Something Else To have more control over our partition scheme, we will choose "Something Else".

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The next screen will list all your partitions. You can create, edit, delete and format your partitions here. choose a partition to install Ubuntu. Ensure that the partition has no data on it as we are going to format it.

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Select your partition and click Change. In the "Use as" field, choose "Ext4 journaling file system". Check the box "Format the partition" and choose "Mount point" as "/". Now click "Ok". Then click "Install Now" to begin installation.

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The next screen prompts you to choose the time zone. You can conveniently click on the map to set your time zone.

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You'll be asked more information like keyboard layout and username, password etc while the installation continues in the background.

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After providing the required information, you'll be presented with a slideshow describing some best aspects of Ubuntu.

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After the installation completes, you'll see a "Installation Complete" dialog. Click "Restart Now" to restart your system.

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Now after restart, you'll be presented with the GRUB 2 bootmenu listing all your installed operating system. You'll find your previous Window installation at the bottom.

Congratulations, you have set your dual boot configuration successfully.

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Chapter 4: Last Bits

Now we will see those last bits you need to know when you dual boot.

Add Linux to Windows Bootloader

The Linux bootloaders e.g.- GRUB 2 offer much more features. But you might want to use Windows bootloader as default. Or if you installed/reinstalled Windows after installing Linux, the Windows bootloader overwrites GRUB. So you need to add Linux to the bootloader again. There is a nice software available called EasyBCD by Neosmart Technologies, which is perfect for the task. First, download and install EasyBCD. Run EasyBCD and go to the "Add New Entry" section. Here in the "Linux/BSD" tab, select the bootloader type ("GRUB 2" in case of latest versions of Ubuntu) and give it a name. Then click "Add Entry".

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Now, when you restart, you will have the boot entries displayed in Windows Bootloader. Remember that this will only work if your default bootloader is Windows bootloader.

Making Windows Bootloader Default

It is fairly easy. In EasyBCD, go to the "BCD Deployment" section. Here under the "MBR Configuration Options", select the type of Windows bootloader and click "Write MBR".

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Restoring GRUB 2 as Default

If you want to restore GRUB 2, first add GRUB 2 to Windows bootloader with EasyBCD following the procedure given above. Then after you login to Ubuntu, open terminal from "Applications > Accesories > Terminal". Then issue the following command to install GRUB 2 to MBR. sudo grub-install /dev/sda

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Updating GRUB
If your boot options are different than that displayed in GRUB, you might need to update the GRUB configuration. You can update GRUB simply by issuing the following command in Terminal, sudo update-grub

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Removing Windows
If you ever want to remove Windows completely from your system, you just need to format the Windows partition and then Update GRUB. Remember that you should have GRUB as default bootloader.

If you don't see the "Format" option, you need to install "Disk Utility". Simply give the command in Terminal, sudo apt-get install gnome-disk-utility

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Removing Linux
Removing Linux completely is also easy. First you have to make Windows bootloader default, if you don't, you won't be able to boot after deleting Linux. Then just delete the Linux partition. To delete the partition, go to "Control Panel > System and Security > Administrative Tools > Create and format hard disk partitions" in Windows,

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When the Disk Management window opens, look for the Linux partition and delete it.

Access Linux Partition in Windows

Windows, by default, uses NTFS file system, while Linux uses ext4 file system. Linux can successfully detect NTFS file systems. But Windows doesn't recognize ext4. You can use the ext2fsd driver for Windows to be able to access Linux partitions from within Windows.

Linux is Not Windows

Remember that Linux is not Windows. So don't expect it to be like Windows. There would be a lot of differences. And it will take you some time to learn. So don't quit. You'll be surprised when you know how much control Linux gives to you. So enjoy dual booting.

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