Alright, so I wanted to set up a dual boot system on my computer, with both Windows 11 and Ubuntu. I’ve heard a lot about how cool it is to have both operating systems, so I decided to give it a shot. Here’s how I did it, step by step.
Backup and Preparation
First things first, I backed up all my important files. You never know what might go wrong, so it’s better to be safe than sorry. I copied everything to an external hard drive – photos, documents, the whole shebang.
Then, I needed to make some space for Ubuntu on my hard drive. I already had Windows 11 installed, so I went into Disk Management to shrink my main partition. Right-click the Start button, select “Disk Management,” and there you go. I right-clicked on my C: drive, chose “Shrink Volume,” and decided how much space I wanted to free up. I went with around 100GB, just to give Ubuntu enough room to breathe.
Creating a Bootable USB
Next, I needed a bootable USB drive with Ubuntu on it. I downloaded the latest Ubuntu ISO file from their official website. Then, I used a tool called Rufus to create the bootable USB. It’s pretty straightforward – you just select the ISO file, choose the USB drive, and hit “Start.” Rufus does the rest.
Entering BIOS and Booting from USB
With the bootable USB ready, I restarted my computer and entered the BIOS settings. Usually, you press F2, F12, or Del during startup to get into BIOS. Once I was in, I changed the boot order to prioritize my USB drive. Saved the changes and exited.
My computer then booted from the USB drive, and I was greeted with the Ubuntu installer. I chose the option to “Install Ubuntu” and followed the on-screen instructions.
Installing Ubuntu
During the installation, I picked the “Something else” option for partitioning. This allowed me to manually create partitions for Ubuntu. I created a root partition (/), a home partition (/home), and a swap partition. It’s a bit technical, but there are plenty of guides online that explain it better than I can.
Root partition: This is where the operating system files go. I gave it around 30GB.
Home partition: This is for user files. I allocated most of the remaining space to this one.
Swap partition: Used as virtual memory. I made it around 8GB, which is probably more than enough, but that’s what most guides recommend for system with my RAM
After setting up the partitions, I continued with the installation. I chose my time zone, keyboard layout, and created a user account. Then, I just let the installer do its thing. It took a while, but eventually, it finished.
Rebooting and Choosing the OS
Once the installation was complete, I removed the USB drive and restarted my computer. This time, I saw a menu called GRUB, which let me choose between Ubuntu and Windows 11. It was pretty awesome to see both options there!
Final Touches
I booted into Ubuntu first, just to make sure everything worked. It did! I updated the system, installed some essential software, and customized the desktop to my liking.
Then, I rebooted and chose Windows 11. Everything was still there, just as I left it. I made sure both operating systems could access my files, and that was pretty much it.
Now I have a fully functional dual boot system. It’s great because I can use Windows 11 for my usual stuff and Ubuntu for other things. It’s like having the best of both worlds!
If you are thinking about doing a dual boot setup, my advice is just go for it. It might seem a bit daunting at first, but it’s totally worth it in the end. Just follow the steps, and you’ll be fine. Good luck!
