Guide | How To [Tutorial: How to] Dual boot: Windows 8.x.x + Linux Ubuntu / Mint

[Deleted member 178]

Listen very carefully. What I'm going to do today is nothing short of awesome. I am going to show you how to install Ubuntu 14.04 alongside Windows 8.1 in a side-by-side setup, professionally known as dual boot. But that, on its own, is not that special.

What really matters is that I have the following setup. An Asus VivoBook, an Ultrabook, with Windows 8.X preinstalled, including the vendor's complex scheme of recovery and hidden partitions. The machine comes with a GPT partition table, UEFI and Secure Boot, so it's all one can possibly dread. And despite all that, we will install the two together. You won't find a better guide across the entire Internet. After me.

Source

exactly my case, my laptop, my systems ; so i am doing it right now (because i like challenge and new stuff )

The process is similar for Mint 17 (UEFI capable).

To make the installation on UEFI/GPT machines , do as follow (This my version of the procedure)

material needed:

download your Linux Distro
download Rufus to make a Linux Live USB : http://rufus.akeo.ie/

Preinstallation

1- update Windows to Win8.1.1 (updating Win8 to Win8.1.1 after Linux is installed will corrupt the Linux bootloader)

2- in Windows, shrink a partition, allow around 100gb of unallocated space.

3- set Rufus as shown below to create your Linux Live USB

point 1 must be set exactly like this , point 2 is where you select your Linux ISO downloaded earlier. Press Start , let the process finishes.

4- let your USB plugged-in, restart, go to the UEFI (by pressing F2) , disable Secureboot, set your USB as 1st boot device.

5- restart, the Linux boot loader should appears , select the option that allow to run your Linux Live normally (generally option 1)

6- once in Linux Live, open Gparted

7- check if your allowed space (the unallocated partition we made in Windows) is recognized.

8- select Install

Installation:[/COLOR]

1- during installation menu, select "something else"

2- from the unallocated space (the 100gb made in Windows earlier) , create 3 partitions as shown on the tutorial link (the space is up to you, but swap partition space must be equal to your RAM x2 minimum)
- 30gb as Primary, ext4 partition , labelled as /
- 4gb as as Primary, ext4 partition, labelled as Swap
- 66+gb as as Primary, ext4 partition, labelled as /home

3- let Linux Install itself ( you will mostly follow the steps as you used to do with a Windows installation)

Good luck

 

[KaptainBug]

Are you sure about installing Ubuntu ? Its a nightmare
I would say worst linux distro I ever tried.

 

[Deleted member 178]

still can replace it later by Mint

the point is that Unbuntu is renowned to be UEFI and secureboot capable. Mint 17 will be too and supposed to be released in few days.

let see , we must all start somewhere

 

[KaptainBug]

Easy way to partition hard disk without going through gparted screen is, before installing a linux distro, from windows open disk management and create an unallocated space. I shrank my D: drive and created an unallocated space of 100GB. Then try installing linux. No questions asked. It will get installed directly in the unallocated free space created. Enjoy less hassle..

 

[Deleted member 178]

Are you sure about installing Ubuntu ? Its a nightmare
I would say worst linux distro I ever tried.

lol you are right, the installation just failed

 

[Deleted member 178]

before installing a linux distro, from windows open disk management and create an unallocated space. I shrank my D: drive and created an unallocated space of 100GB.

did it, how you manage UEFI and secureboot?

 

[KaptainBug]

LOL
Fedora is very stable and bug free in my machine. Give it a try.
Also, I think its UEFI compatible. I cannot confirm this in my system, as my system does not support secure boot.
But as per howtogeek.com "Fedora will be paying $99 for Microsoft’s signing services, so Fedora will install on any Windows 8-certified PC with no additional configuration required." Source

 

[Deleted member 178]

yeah i read that fedora is signed and UEFI compatible , Mint too. anyway ASUS allows to disable Secureboot. so no worries.

you dual booted with Win7 or 8?

 

[KaptainBug]

yeah i read that fedora is signed and UEFI compatible , Mint too. anyway ASUS allows to disable Secureboot. so no worries.

you dual booted with Win7 or 8?

Windows 8.1. I don't have secure boot in my system.

 

[KaptainBug]

Good thing abt Fedora is, it runs on the latest linux kernel 3.14.4, unlike ubuntu/mint which are few versions behind. Yet I find Fedora very stable and bug free.

 

[Deleted member 178]

ok will give it a try

 

[Deleted member 178]

Windows 8.1. I don't have secure boot in my system.

do you still have Win8 blue boot loader?

 

[KaptainBug]

do you still have Win8 blue boot loader?

I get the grub screen from Fedora.

 

[Deleted member 178]

I get the grub screen from Fedora.

ok i see, KDE look nice

 

[KaptainBug]

I have Gnome and I like it better

 

[Deleted member 178]

downloading it now.

 

[KaptainBug]

downloading it now.

KDE installs a bunch of junk apps all made by KDE. Gnome is clean and does not install unwanted stuffs. Just standard and popular apps. But if u prefer KDE then go with it.

 

[Koroke San]

Didn't dual boot hits on performance of computer?

 

[Koroke San]

yeah i read that fedora is signed and UEFI compatible

what is UEFI?

 

[Jack]

what is UEFI?

What is UEFI?

UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) is a standard firmware interface for PCs, designed to replace BIOS (basic input/output system). This standard was created by over 140 technology companies as part of the UEFI consortium, including Microsoft. It's designed to improve software interoperability and address limitations of BIOS. Some advantages of UEFI firmware include:

• Better security by helping to protect the pre-startup—or pre-boot—process against bootkit attacks.
  
  
• Faster startup times and resuming from hibernation.
  
  
• Support for drives larger than 2.2 terabytes (TB).
  
  
• Support for modern, 64-bit firmware device drivers that the system can use to address more than 17.2 billion gigabytes (GB) of memory during startup.
  
  
• Capabililty to use BIOS with UEFI hardware.
  

Read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Extensible_Firmware_Interface