Step‑by‑Step Guide to Install a Windows‑Linux Dual‑Boot on an Old Laptop

Hardware and Preparation

The author uses a 12‑year‑old Lenovo notebook with Windows 7 (i3 CPU) and a 32 GB USB 3.0 stick, plus a newer Windows 10 laptop for downloading the ISO.

Disk Partitioning

Open Computer Management → Disk Management , right‑click the target partition (e.g., E: with 98.55 GB) and choose Shrink Volume . Allocate about 20 GB of free space, which will appear as an unallocated partition for Linux.

Downloading the Ubuntu ISO

Download an Ubuntu ISO (e.g., 18.04 LTS) from a mirror such as Tsinghua University Open Source Mirror. Navigate to the ubuntu‑releases directory to find older versions if needed.

Creating a Bootable USB with Rufus

Use an 8 GB (or larger) USB stick and the Rufus utility:

Select the USB device.

Choose the downloaded Ubuntu ISO as the boot image.

Set the partition scheme and target system type (MBR for BIOS‑based machines, GPT for UEFI).

Boot Menu Selection

Insert the USB stick into the target laptop, power on, and press Delete or F12 (varies by manufacturer) to open the boot menu. Choose the entry labeled EFI USB Device (or USB HDD on newer machines) to boot the Ubuntu installer.

Ubuntu Installation Steps

Choose “Try Ubuntu without installing” to preview or click “Install Ubuntu” directly.

Select language (Chinese Simplified) and continue.

Skip network connection.

Choose “Minimal installation”.

When the partition screen appears, click the “+” button to create four partitions in the previously freed space:

Proceed with the installation, set timezone, create a user name and password.

After installation finishes, click “Restart now”.

On reboot, select Ubuntu from the boot menu to log in.

Final Remarks

Following these steps results in a functional Windows‑Linux dual‑boot system, allowing the user to choose either OS at startup.