Step‑by‑Step Guide to Installing a Windows‑Linux Dual‑Boot System

Windows Linux Dual‑Boot Installation Journey

After a few hours of work and a minor obstacle, the process of installing a dual‑boot system on a laptop is straightforward.

Disk Partitioning

Use Windows Disk Management to shrink an existing partition and create an unallocated space for Linux.

The example shows a 98.55 GB partition with 50 GB free; after shrinking, about 20 GB becomes unallocated for Linux.

This 20 GB will be used as a new partition for Linux.

Download Linux Image

Download the Ubuntu ISO from an official source or a domestic mirror such as Tsinghua University Open Source Mirror. Choose the desired version (e.g., 18.04) from the "ubuntu‑releases" page.

Navigate to the mirror site and locate the required ISO.

USB Flash Drive Burning

UltraISO

Prepare an 8 GB (or larger) USB drive and use UltraISO to write the ISO. The author encountered the error "disk image size too small" and tried various fixes without success.

After many attempts, a cracked version of UltraISO finally succeeded.

Rufus (Recommended)

Rufus provides a simpler workflow and avoids the "disk image size too small" issue.

Select the USB drive.

Choose the Ubuntu ISO as the boot image.

Set the partition scheme and target system type (MBR+BIOS for older machines, GPT+UEFI for newer ones).

Boot Mode Selection

Determine whether the machine uses BIOS or UEFI by running msinfo32. Older laptops typically use BIOS/MBR, while newer ones use UEFI/GPT. Choose the appropriate scheme accordingly.

Installation Process

Insert the bootable USB, access the boot menu (Delete, F12, or Fn+F12), and select the USB device.

Choose "Try Ubuntu without installing" to preview, then click "Install Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS".

Select language (Simplified Chinese) and continue.

Choose "Normal installation" (minimal install is sufficient).

When prompted for disk layout, click the "+" button and create four partitions:

22 GB primary EXT4 mounted at "/".

2 GB swap logical partition.

200 MB logical EXT4 mounted at "/boot".

Remaining space as logical EXT4 mounted at "/home".

Proceed with the installation, set user name and password, and wait for the process to finish.

After completion, reboot, choose the Ubuntu entry from the boot menu, log in with the password, and enjoy the new system.