I want to try out Linux, but I don't want to lose all my data. If I partition my hard-drive, will I be able to install Linux on one partition and keep Windows 7 with all my data on the other? And if I can, will I be able to swap between the two of them when I want?
1) Download the ISO.
2) Burn to CD.
3) Boot from CD.
4) Try Linux with no damage to your system.
5) ????????
6) Profit.
Seriously though, it's really easy to make a LiveCD and try it out, if that's all you want. If you want to install it on a separate partition, that's pretty easy too. To switch between partitions, you need to restart, unless you have Ubuntu in a VM.
Download the ISO of your favourite distro, I recomment Ubuntu or Linux Mint if this is your first time. Partition your drive by going to Start>Right click on Computer>Manage. Once the window loads up, go to Disk Management, and right click on the drive you wish to partition (this will most likely be your C: drive). Next click Shrink Volume Next choose the amount you want to shrink from the drive, and remember, 1024MB is 1GB, 1000MB is not. Once you have shrunk your Windows partition and created your Linux partition, you can exit out of that, but make sure that the Linux partition is NOT formatted at all, and it is unallocated space, and not free space. Next you'll want to burn the ISO to disc, or put it on a USB flash drive, look for a tutorial if you want to do it with a flash drive, it's very easy. If you are burning to disc, I recommend you download PowerISO, but Windows has built in software which will also burn the ISO. Once it's burned, go into your BIOS and make sure that your optical drive is selected as the first boot device, then exit out. You will now be booting from the CD/DVD. Once the installer has loaded up, click next and all that crap. Now, when it asks what you want to do with partitions, you can do "use all free space", or something to that effect but I don't trust auto partitioners and I recommend you click "Specify partitions manually (advanced)". When in there, make one partition with the partition you created in Windows, and format it as a logical partition and make sure it is set as swap. Make this double the size of your memory, for example, if you have 4GB of RAM (4096MB), you would make the swap partition 8GB (8192MB). Once you have done that, format the remaining unallocated space as a primary partition, formatted as ext4 and the mount point is "/". Once you have done all this is done, set your username and password, location and all that crap (actually, that may have come first) then you should be ready to install. Leave it to install then when you next boot up the computer, make sure the disc is out of the tray and then you should get the GRUB bootloader, you can choose Windows or Linux from there, and that's it. You're done! I hope this guide has helped you and other people who see this.
You can install the Ubuntu on your system without losing data. First you have to boot the live CD of Linux. After you can create the partition separately.
2) Burn to CD.
3) Boot from CD.
4) Try Linux with no damage to your system.
5) ????????
6) Profit.
Seriously though, it's really easy to make a LiveCD and try it out, if that's all you want. If you want to install it on a separate partition, that's pretty easy too. To switch between partitions, you need to restart, unless you have Ubuntu in a VM.
#AntiSec
Download the ISO of your favourite distro, I recomment Ubuntu or Linux Mint if this is your first time. Partition your drive by going to Start>Right click on Computer>Manage. Once the window loads up, go to Disk Management, and right click on the drive you wish to partition (this will most likely be your C: drive). Next click Shrink Volume Next choose the amount you want to shrink from the drive, and remember, 1024MB is 1GB, 1000MB is not. Once you have shrunk your Windows partition and created your Linux partition, you can exit out of that, but make sure that the Linux partition is NOT formatted at all, and it is unallocated space, and not free space. Next you'll want to burn the ISO to disc, or put it on a USB flash drive, look for a tutorial if you want to do it with a flash drive, it's very easy. If you are burning to disc, I recommend you download PowerISO, but Windows has built in software which will also burn the ISO. Once it's burned, go into your BIOS and make sure that your optical drive is selected as the first boot device, then exit out. You will now be booting from the CD/DVD. Once the installer has loaded up, click next and all that crap. Now, when it asks what you want to do with partitions, you can do "use all free space", or something to that effect but I don't trust auto partitioners and I recommend you click "Specify partitions manually (advanced)". When in there, make one partition with the partition you created in Windows, and format it as a logical partition and make sure it is set as swap. Make this double the size of your memory, for example, if you have 4GB of RAM (4096MB), you would make the swap partition 8GB (8192MB). Once you have done that, format the remaining unallocated space as a primary partition, formatted as ext4 and the mount point is "/". Once you have done all this is done, set your username and password, location and all that crap (actually, that may have come first) then you should be ready to install. Leave it to install then when you next boot up the computer, make sure the disc is out of the tray and then you should get the GRUB bootloader, you can choose Windows or Linux from there, and that's it. You're done! I hope this guide has helped you and other people who see this.
DrG24