This blog post is a continuation of:
Once we have an overall approach – experiment with dual-booting Windows and Fedora on a secondary machine – we need to prepare a few details before we can install Linux.
- We might need a Windows account with administrative rights, for example to install or run software for partitioning drives.
- We should know the shortcut keys to access the BIOS/UEFI (DEL, F2) and the boot menu (F12) at startup. This information may appear on the screen, or in the documentation for an individual machine, or can be determined through trial and error.
- We will need to enter a username for a Linux account and a strong password for that account.
- We will use Fedora Media Writer to image the USB drive used to install Fedora.
- We need a USB drive with at least 4GB.
- We may need to install a hard disk partitioning tool under Windows.
Disks, Partitions, Boot Partitions, and Boot Loaders
The operating system, whether Windows or Linux, provides an abstraction of devices, such as hard disks. Each hard disk can be subdivided into partitions, which are like logical hard disks in a parent physical disk. A partition that contains an operating system is a bootable partition.
Assuming that the machine already has Windows and that you want to keep it, you can install Linux to a separate partition on the same hard disk, or to a partition on another hard disk. For laptops, you typically install Windows and Linux to separate partitions on a single hard disk.
Windows typically uses the entire hard disk for one bootable partition to both install itself and store all programs and data. You can use the Defragment and Optimize Drives and Create and format hard disk partitions features of Windows to resize (shrink) this partition to free space for a new partition to hold Linux. If we just create a big unused partition, the Fedora installer should use it automatically. If repeated attempts using this technique do not free enough space, you can use third-party software to repartition.
When you power on your computer, the boot loader software in the BIOS/UEFI installed on the motherboard determines which partition to boot. Immediately after you start a machine, you can press a key such as F2 or DEL to access the BIOS and configure the boot partition order, such as to boot first from a USB drive, then from an optical drive, and finally from an SSD. The boot process will use the first partition from the list that is present when the machine starts.
In fact, each bootable partition can contain a boot loader, which determines or lets the user determine which operating system to boot. After you start a machine, you can press a key such as F12 to access the boot loader, which presents a menu of bootable partitions.
Existing Machine
I will add Fedora Linux to an existing laptop that already has Windows 10. The operating system boot loader will allow access to the existing Windows installation or the new Linux installation on this single machine, although not concurrently. It may be possible for the different operating system installations to share access to file systems.
Instead of Fedora, you may want to use a different Linux, especially if you are familiar with Ubuntu (common with WSL) or some other Linux. I have had some challenges with Ubuntu, specifically on laptops with external devices, and read that Fedora or other distributions could address some of my issues.
I started by cleaning up the Windows machine, moving data to other machine and removing unnecessary programs and files. Re-partitioning and other operations could cause something go wrong with the Windows installation, so either want back up the entire system or move all data to other systems.
There are at least two ways to install Windows and Linux on a single machine: install each on a different boot device and use the BIOS/UEFI to select which to boot, or install a boot loader to select between the two.
In either case, we need a new hard disk partition for Linux. To my knowledge, Windows does not provide a disk partitioning tool, or at least not one that is very usable. To make space available for a new partition, repeatedly use Defragment and Optimize Drives and Disk Management to shrink the existing Windows partition, and then create a new partition for Linux. You can assign a drive letter, but don’t format the drive.
Disk Partitioning Tools
If you can’t shrink the drive enough, you may need to purchase partitioning software. I don’t have any specific recommendations.
- https://jfearn.fedorapeople.org/fdocs/en-US/Fedora/20/html/Installation_Guide/s2-diskpartrecommend-x86.html
- https://www.technewstoday.com/how-to-partition-a-ssd/
- https://www.thepcinsider.com/best-free-partition-managers-windows/
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