Next, click Select drive to choose your flash drive, and click Flash! to start the process of turning a flash drive into an Ubuntu installer. Once you have downloaded and launched Etcher, click Select image, and point it to the Ubuntu ISO you downloaded in step 4. Etcher works on all three major operating systems (Linux, MacOS, and Windows) and is careful not to let you overwrite your current operating system partition. Etcher software (for making a bootable Ubuntu USB drive)įor creating bootable media for any Linux distribution, I recommend Etcher. Ubuntu installation mediaĭownload the Ubuntu ISO image. Once you launch the tool, it will walk you through the steps required to create the Windows media on a USB or DVD-R. Note: Even if you already have Windows 10 installed, it's a good idea to create bootable media anyway, just in case something goes wrong and you need to reinstall it. Windows 10 Media Creation Toolĭownload and launch the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool. If you bought the retail edition, you should have a product key, which you will need to enter during the installation process. If Windows 10 came with your PC, the license will be built into the computer, so you don't need to worry about entering it during installation. However, if your DVD-burning application has an option to burn from an ISO image, that's the option you need. Unfortunately, because no two computers seem to have the same DVD-burning software, I can't walk you through that process. If your machine doesn't support booting from USB, you can create DVD media instead. Therefore, make sure the flash drives are empty or contain data you don't care about losing. It probably goes without saying, but creating bootable media erases everything on the flash drive. I recommend installing Windows and Ubuntu via flash drives since they're faster than DVDs. To get started, you will need the following five items: 1.

In addition to backing up your files, consider taking an image backup of the disk as well, though that's not required and can be a more advanced process. So take the time to back up your important files in case chaos theory comes into play. Although the dual-boot setup process is not very involved, accidents can still happen. Thankfully, dual-booting Windows and Linux is very straightforward-and I'll show you how to set it up, with Windows 10 and Ubuntu, in this article.īefore you get started, make sure you've backed up your computer.

Linux is a great operating system with widespread hardware and software support, but the reality is that sometimes you have to use Windows, perhaps due to key apps that won't run on Linux.

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