Linux is a great operating system with widespread hardware plus software support, but the reality is that sometimes you have to use Windows, perhaps due to key apps that won’t run on Linux. Thankfully, dual-booting Windows plus Linux is very straightforward—and I’ll show you how to set it up, with Windows 10 plus Ubuntu, in this article.

Before you get started, make sure you’ve backed up your computer. Although the dual-boot setup process is not very involved, accidents can still happen. So take the time to back up your important files in case chaos theory comes into play. In addition to backing up your files, consider taking an image backup of the disk as well, though that’s not required plus can be a more advanced process.

Prerequisites
To get started, you will need the following five items:

  1. Two USB flash drives (or DVD-Rs)
    I recommend installing Windows plus Ubuntu via flash drives since they’re faster than DVDs. It probably goes without saying, but creating bootable sarana erases everything on the flash drive. Therefore, make sure the flash drives are empty or contain knowledge you don’t care about losing.

If your machine doesn’t support booting from USB, you can create DVD sarana instead. Unfortunately, because no two computers seem to have the same DVD-burning software, I can’t walk you through that process. However, if your DVD-burning application has an option to burn from an ISO image, that’s the option you need.

  1. A Windows 10 license
    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. If you bought the retail edition, you should have a product key, which you will need to enter during the installation process.
  2. Windows 10 Media Creation Tool
    Download plus launch the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool. Once you launch the tool, it will walk you through the steps required to create the Windows sarana on a USB or DVD-R. Note: Even if you already have Windows 10 installed, it’s a good idea to create bootable sarana anyway, just in case something goes wrong plus you need to reinstall it.
  3. Ubuntu installation media
    Download the Ubuntu ISO image.
  4. Etcher software (for making a bootable Ubuntu USB drive)
    For creating bootable sarana for any Linux distribution, I recommend Etcher. Etcher works on all three major operating systems (Linux, MacOS, plus Windows) plus is careful not to let you overwrite your current operating system partition.