Steps to dual-boot Linux on Windows Vista

1. Grab the ISO from the Ubuntu homepage listed below and download it. It will ask you which version to download, and whether to download 32- or 64-bit. Make sure you pick 8.04 or above, as this article doesn’t guarantee the success of anything prior to that. If you’re unsure about which amount of bits fits your computer, chances are good you will only need the 32-bit.

2. Burn the ISO onto a DVD when it finishes downloading. If you’re not sure how to complete this step, the Ubuntu homepage has easy instructions on how to do it. A link is provided for you once you download the file from the site.

3. Now that the ISO is burned, we can move onto the more technical steps. Start by opening your Start Menu, and right-click ‘My Computer.’ Select ‘Manage’ and a window titled ‘Computer Management’ should come up. Open ‘Disk Management’ and near the middle of the bottom of the window should list your C drive.

4. Now that the ISO has been burned, the more technical steps can be completed. Open the start menu and right-click ‘My Computer.’ Select ‘Manage’ and a window should come up when you do. Open ‘Disk Management’ from the left hand sidebar, and near the bottom of the middle section, it should list your C drive. This is most likely the drive that holds your operating system on it–right click, and select Shrink Volume.

5. When the dialog box comes up asking you how much to shrink the volume by, you will want to input a number that is at least ten gigabytes to ensure the operating system fits and runs smoothly. This number will vary from user to user, depending on how much they plan to save media/documents when they use Ubuntu. To give yourself an average amount of space, a good number to put in would be 30GB, but notice the box asks you to choose the number as megabytes–there are 1024MB in a gigabyte. When you have a number typed in, hit Shrink and wait for it to complete.

6. Now it’s time for the actual installation; put in the Ubuntu CD and reboot. When the screen comes up, select install Ubuntu and follow the on-screen steps; they’re quite simple to follow, asking for your language, to choose your keyboard settings, user name and password. When it asks which partition to put in, choose ‘Use largest continuous free space,’ and it will install Ubuntu onto the partition you shrank earlier.

7. After a few moments of installation, your computer will reboot, and you will now be given all opportunities to enjoy Ubuntu for everything it offers.