Dual-boot Linux with Vista
From STNY LUG Wiki
... following a recent article in Linux User & Developer
Contents |
Resize the default Vista partitions of your hard disk
- Start / Control panel / System and maintenance - Scroll to the bottom to find Administrative Tools
- Create and Format Hard Disk Partitions
- Ignore (Continue through the User permission message
- Right-click on the C-Drive (or whatever your main drive is) to select Shrink volume
(screen shot)
- click Shrink to confirm default selections for available shrink space
- Wait a few moments
Adjust your BIOS settings
At boot time your computer is set up to start the booting process from either a CD, or a Hard disk ( and sometime other options ... remember booting from a floppy disk drive?). The BIOS setup is what you'll see (often a blue screen with white text) when you hold down a special key at startup. Using Tab, Enter, Escape and Function keys (following guides you'll see at the bottom of the screen) you should set Boot options so that a CD can be used as the Primary boot drive. Your Hard disk will become a Secondary drive. Save your settings. You are now prepared to Restart your machine.
Three Finger Salute
- Ctrl-Alt-Delete to Restart your machine or you can start your machine in Windows and shut down from the Vista shutdown menu. If you choose to shutdown the power be sure to place the CD/DVD into an appropriate drive/tray before the machine is off.
Restart
- Power up your computer while a bootable Linux CD/DVD is in the drive. This gives control of your machine to the CD (without necessarily writing changes to your hard drive)
Install Linux
- Follow the instructions of the Linux installer
- If you do decide to Install Linux on your hard drive be sure to select the Free space as the place to create a linux partition
More to follow
