💻Ubuntu Setup - Dual Booting (For Windows)

In this guide, we are going to dual boot Ubuntu 22.04 LTS alongside Windows 11.

Pre-requisites

• Windows 11 or Windows 10 running on your PC or Laptop

• 8GB or higher pen/thumb drive to create a bootable disk with Ubuntu Linux

• Reserve free space of at least 50GB on your drive.

Step 1: Download Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

Link to Download Page: https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop

Download Page (Ubuntu)

Step 2: Download Balena Etcher

This will be used to flash the iso image downloaded from Step 1 onto our USB drive.

Instead of Balena Etcher, you may use Rufus as an alternative. In this guide, we will use Balena Etcher.

Link to Download Page: https://etcher.balena.io/

Download Page (Balena Etcher) - Part 1

Download Page (Balena Etcher) - Part 2

Once successfully downloaded and installed, you should see this window after launching Balena Etcher.

Balena Etcher Interface

Step 3: Partition Disk Space for Ubuntu

Press the windows key and type in "disk management", select "open" for "Create and format hard disk partitions".

Search for Disk Management on Windows

In Disk Management, right click on the partition that you want to split. For me, I right click on C drive and select "Shrink Volume" to shrink a volume of 60GB.

How to Shrink Volume

After specifying to shrink 60GB worth of Volume, you should get a new unallocated partition that is of size 60GB. Now we can proceed to flash our Ubuntu ISO image onto our USB drive.

Final state after shrinking volume

Step 4: Flash Ubuntu ISO Image onto USB Drive

To flash the Ubuntu ISO Image onto our USB Drive, make sure that your USB Drive is connected to your USB Port.

On Balena Etcher, click "Flash from file"

Balena Etcher Interface

Select Ubuntu ISO Image File

Select ISO Image To Be Flashed

Click on "Select Target"

Balena Etcher Interface

Select our USB Drive

Select USB Drive

Lastly, click "Flash" to begin flash process

Balena Etcher Interface

You should see this after successfully flashing the ISO Image onto our USB Drive.

Completed Flash

Step 5: Restart and go into BIOS to Enable USB Boot

This step will differ from each computer, but the overall objective is the same which is to enable USB Boot.

Once we have flashed the Ubuntu ISO Image onto the USB Drive, we need to ensure that we have enabled USB Boot.

To do so, we restart our computer (while keeping the USB connected to your USB Port).

As the computer boots up, hold F10 to go into BIOS Setup.

Hold F10 to go into BIOS Setup

Once in BIOS Setup, navigate to System Configurations -> Boot Options

Navigate to Boot Options in BIOS Setup

After entering Boot Options, make sure the USB Boot is set to "Enabled".

Enable USB Boot

Now that we have enabled USB Boot, save changes and restart the computer. This time holding F9 upon startup to launch the Boot Menu.

Step 6: Launch Boot Manager and select USB drive to boot

To launch the Boot Manager, we hold F9 while our computer is starting up. Make sure that your USB Drive containing the Ubuntu ISO Image is connected.

Hold F9 to open Boot Menu

In Boot Manager, select our USB Drive.

Boot Manager

Now you should see the following interface, select "Try or Install Ubuntu".

Interface after booting from USB Drive

Now you are ready to proceed to the final step to set up your Ubuntu Dual Boot.

Step 7: Launch Ubuntu OS to install and setup

Congratulations, you are almost done with Ubuntu Dual Boot setup.

The final step is to install and complete the setup for Ubuntu.

1) Click on Install Ubuntu

2) Select Normal Installation and Install third-party software

3) For installation type, select Install Ubuntu alongside Windows Boot Manager

This step will also automatically allocate the previously created partition to your Ubuntu OS.

4) Complete Installation

5) Verify Setup Completion

After restarting, you should see the following interface, now you can select Ubuntu or Windows upon every startup.

Moreover, if you open up Disk Management in Windows, you should see that your 60GB partition is now allocated. This 60GB partition is allocated to your Ubuntu OS.

With that, you are now ready to use Ubuntu on your Windows computer!