UBUNTU INSTALLATION GUIDE 

September 4, 2018 

What is ubuntu? 
Ubuntu is a free and open-source operating system and Linux distribution based on Debian. Ubuntu is 
offered in three official editions: Ubuntu Desktop for personal computers, Ubuntu Server for servers 
and the cloud, and Ubuntu Core for the Internet of things devices. 

AUTHOR: PARTH PATIL 

Email:- [email protected] 

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DISCLAIMER!!!!!!!
This guide intends to help you to install ubuntu alongside windows. I will try my
best to keep it as simple as possible and readable by everyone. But I AM NOT
RESPONSIBLE for any broken laptops or lost data. Make BACKUPS before you
start.

Below is a step by step process to install ubuntu. This is the most common
method used to install ubuntu, which involves manually creating a partition.
But there is one more easy but uncommon method to install. Both methods
are reliable, it is up to you whether you want to have granular control over
the partition sizes, if not feel free to try method II.

Step 1: Preparing for installation 

● Downloads:- 
○ Download Ubuntu 16.04 ISO Image as per your system 
architecture using the following link: 
Ubuntu 16.04 64-bit Desktop 

Download page 

○ Power ISO 

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● Creating a partition (skip if using method 2): 

○ The first thing you need to take care of is to create free space on the 
computer hard disk in case the system is installed on a single 
partition. 
 
Log in to your Windows machine with an administrative account 
and right-click on the Start Menu -> Command Prompt (Admin) in 
order to enter Windows Command-Line. 
 

 
Preparing Windows for Dual-Boot with Ubuntu 16.04 

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○ Once in CLI, type diskmgmt.msc on prompt and the Disk 
Management utility should open. From here, right-click on C: 
partition and select Shrink Volume in order to resize the partition. 
 
 
C:\Windows\system32\>diskmgmt.msc 

  

Shrink Volume to Resize Partition 

 
 

○ On Shrink C: enter a value on space to shrink in MB (use at least 

30000 MB depending on the C: partition size)(60000 MB 
recommended) and hit Shrink to start partition resize as illustrated 
below (the value of space shrink from below image is lower and 
only used for demonstration purposes). 
 

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Once space has been resized you will see a new unallocated space 
on the hard drive. Leave it as default and reboot the computer in 
order to proceed with Ubuntu 16.04 installation. 

 
 

Create Windows Partition for Ubuntu 16.04 Installation 

 

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Windows Partition for Dual Boot Ubuntu 16.04 

● Making a bootable drive:- 

a. Install the PowerISO in windows and open it. 
b. Insert the USB drive you intend to boot from. 
c. Choose the menu "Tools > Create Bootable USB Drive". The "​Create 
Bootable USB Drive​" dialog will popup. If you are using Windows 
Vista or above operating system, you need to confirm the UAC 
dialog to continue.

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d. In "Create Bootable USB Drive" dialog, click "..." button to open the 
iso file of Windows operating system. 
e. Select the correct USB drive from the "Destination USB Drive" list if 
multiple USB drives are connected to the computer. 
f. Choose the proper writing method. "USB-HDD" is recommended. 

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g. Click "Start" button to start ​creating a bootable USB drive​.

 
h. PowerISO will alert you that all data on the USB drive will be 
destroyed. Click "OK" to continue.

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The program will start writing the USB drive, and showing the 
progress information. You should get the message "Writing USB 
drive completed successfully." after the operation completes. 

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● MAKE A BACKUP:- 
a. This is just to emphasize that you can lose your data if 
something went wrong, so it is better to make a backup of 
some really important files now. 
● INSTALLING UBUNTU:- 
a. Place the USB stick or DVD in the appropriate drive, reboot the 
machine and instruct the ​BIOS/UEFI​ to boot-up from the DVD/USB 
by pressing a special function key (usually ​F12​, F
​ 10​ or ​F2​ depending 
on the vendor specifications). 
b. Once the media boot-up a new grub screen should appear on your 
monitor. From the menu select ​Install Ubuntu​ and hit ​Enter​ to 
continue.

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c. After the boot media finishes loading into RAM you will end 
up with a completely functional Ubuntu system running in 
live mode. 
d. On the Launcher hit on the second icon from top, ​Install 
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS​, and the installer utility will start(this 
may also start automatically). Choose the language you 
wish to perform the installation and click on the ​Continue 
button to proceed further.

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e. Now select the second option if you wish to have the third 
party softwares or multimedia drivers preinstalled.

 
f. Now it’s time to select an Installation, check the 
Something else​ option and hit on ​Continue​ button to 
proceed further. 

The option ​Erase disk​ and install Ubuntu should be 

avoided on dual-boot because is potentially dangerous and 
will wipe out your disk. 

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g. On this step, we’ll create our custom partition layout for 

Ubuntu 16.04​. On this guide will recommend that you 
create two partitions, one for root and the other for the 
swap. To create the first partition, the root partition, select 
the free space (the shrink space from Windows created 
earlier) and hit on the + icon below. On partition settings 
use the following configurations and hit ​OK​ to apply 
changes: 
■ Size = at least ​30000​ MB (this would be whatever 
space you have shrunk minus 10000MB) 
■ Type for the new partition = ​Primary 
■ Location for the new partition = ​Beginning 
■ Use as = ​EXT4​ journaling file system 
■ Mount point = ​/ 

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Then click on the 10000MB free space again and hit 

the plus button this time select 

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■ Use as = ​SWAP Area 

And hit OK. 

h. When finished, hit the ​Install Now​ button in order to apply 

changes to disk and start the installation process. 

A pop-up window should appear to inform you about ​swap 

space. Ignore the alert by pressing on the ​Continue​ button. 

Next, a new pop-up window will ask you if you agree with 
committing changes to disk. Hit ​Continue​ to write changes 
to disk and the installation process will now start. 

i. On the next screen adjust your machine physical location 

by selecting a city nearby from the map. When done hit 
Continue​ to move ahead. 
j. Next, select your ​keyboard​ layout and click on the 
Continue​ button. 
k. Pick up a username and password for your administrative 
sudo​ account, enter a descriptive name for your computer 
and hit ​Continue​ to finalize the installation. 

These are all the settings required for customizing ​Ubuntu 

16.04​ installation. From here on the installation process 

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will run automatically until it reaches the end.

l. After the installation process reaches its end hit on ​Restart 

Now​ button in order to complete the installation. 
m.The machine will reboot into the ​Grub​ menu, where for ten 
seconds, you will be presented to choose what OS you wish 
to use further: ​Ubuntu 16.04​ or ​Microsoft Windows​. 

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METHOD 2 
Method 2 is more or less the same thing. Only you don’t have to follow anything 
in green. 

You can entirely skip the part of making partitions 

Then in step g) of installation instead of selecting “something else” you can 

select “install ubuntu alongside with windows” i.e. the first option. Next you 
should be able to see this on the next window. 

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Select the appropriate drive and how much space you want to allot to Ubuntu 
(recommended 60GB). Then click “Continue”, and follow the above guide from 
step h). 

NOTE:- Please be careful, don’t do anything if you are not sure about what you 
are doing.  

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