You want Linux and Windows on the same computer so you can choose either operating system at startup without erasing the existing Windows install. This applies to Windows 10 and Windows 11 PCs installing Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Fedora, or a similar Linux distribution.
Does This Affect You?
Dual booting means each operating system lives in its own partition and a boot menu lets you choose which one starts. Done carefully, the Linux installer can use space you free from Windows without overwriting your current setup. The important parts are backup, partitioning, and selecting the “alongside Windows” option.
Resizing partitions is normally safe, but a wrong click, power loss, or drive problem can cause data loss. Back up your important files before changing partitions. We provide no warranty; proceed at your own risk.
Set Up a Windows and Linux Dual Boot
The standard beginner path is to shrink Windows, boot a Linux USB, then install Linux into the unallocated space.
- Back up documents, photos, projects, and anything else you cannot afford to lose to cloud storage or an external drive.
- In Windows, right-click Start, open Disk Management, right-click the main Windows partition, usually C:, and choose Shrink Volume. Free at least about 60,000 MB for a practical Linux install.
- Download the Linux ISO from the official distribution website. Ubuntu, Linux Mint, and Fedora are common choices.
- Use Rufus, balenaEtcher, or the distribution recommended tool to write the ISO to an 8GB or larger USB drive.
- Check whether your chosen distribution supports Secure Boot on your hardware. If it does not boot, you may need to temporarily disable Secure Boot in BIOS/UEFI.
- Restart and use the one-time boot menu, often F12, F10, or Esc, to boot from the USB drive.
- In the Linux installer, choose Install alongside Windows if offered. This is the safer beginner option because the installer uses the unallocated space and creates Linux partitions for you.
- Finish the installer prompts, restart when asked, remove the USB drive, and use the GRUB boot menu to choose Linux or Windows.
If the computer skips the GRUB menu, check BIOS/UEFI boot order and disable Fast Boot if needed. Some systems boot straight to Windows because Windows Boot Manager is above the Linux boot entry.
Windows and Linux may handle the hardware clock differently, which can make the time appear wrong after switching systems. On many Linux distributions, running timedatectl set-local-rtc 1 aligns Linux with Windows local-time behavior.
To remove Linux later, boot into Windows, delete the Linux partitions in Disk Management, extend the Windows partition into the freed space, and repair the Windows boot loader with a Windows recovery USB if GRUB remains. If you only want to experiment, a live USB or virtual machine is lower risk because it does not repartition the drive.
Sources
- Ubuntu – Install Ubuntu desktop alongside Windows (2025)
- Microsoft Support – Create and format a hard disk partition (2025)
- Linux Mint – Dual booting with Windows (2024)