Nowadays Laptops come preloaded with Windows OS.It’s a challenging task to dual boot Windows 8.1 with Ubuntu .Generally all 64-bit versions of PCs running Windows will use UEFI instead of BIOS.
UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) is a standard firmware interface for PCs, designed to replace the traditional BIOS .
Some advantages of UEFI firmware include:
· Better security by helping to protect the pre-boot process against boot kit attacks.
· Faster startup times and resuming from hibernation. Support for drives larger than 2.2 terabytes (TB).
Interestingly for a dual boot with Ubuntu we’ve to disable this Secure boot & faster startup.
Following are the steps for a dual boot process.
STEP 1 : Back up your Windows 8.1
It’s a always safe to back up your Windows before starting the dual boot process.On Windows Metro Screen (Tiles Screen) just start typing “recovery “.The Search side bar will open automatically.Select “Create a Recovery drive” and plug in a 8 GB pen drive to create a recovery media.
STEP 2 : Create a live UBUNTU DVD .
Download the latest UBUNTU 13.10 ,64 bit version which supports UEFI (all versions after 12.04 support UEFI) from :
http://ubuntu.excellmedia.net/releases//saucy/ubuntu-13.10-desktop-amd64.iso
Create a live DVD from the iso file downloaded.See this link if you need guidance to create it.
STEP 3: Create a partition of around 25GB from within Windows on a drive other than C: to host Ubuntu.
To host UBUNTU we need to allot some reasonable space (around 25GB). On tiles screen type in “disk” & select “Create & format hard disk partitions”.
The following Disk Management window opens showing the allotted partitions of your harddisk.
We shall create a 25GB space on drive F: . It’s safe to select a drive other than C:
Right click volume F: & select SHRINK.
On the next window feed in 25000 (=25GB) inside the box which says “Enter the amount of space to shrink in MB”.
Click on Shrink.
Now you can see an Unallocated space of approx 25GB created next to volume F:
Close the Management window.
STEP 4 : Disable Fast Boot power option.
Fast Start Up is a new feature in Windows 8.1 to help your PC start up faster after shutting down.It’s a Hibernate file which helps fast reboot.As this causes trouble in dual booting , we’ve to disable this feature.
Type in “power option” on the Tiles screen & select the “Power Options”.
On the new window left pane select the option “Choose what the Power button does “
On the next screen click on “ Change settings that are currently unavailable “
& scroll down to bottom of screen.
At the bottom of screen Un tick the option “Turn On fast startup”.
STEP 5 : Disable Secure Boot by booting to UEFI setup.
We’re not switching off UEFI,going to disable only the Secure Boot which disallows Ubuntu to dual boot.
Secure boot can make Windows 8 very resistant to low-level malware such as rootkits.But this option makes it impossible to dual boot Ubuntu.
To Disable Secure boot you’ve to first boot through UEFI settings.
Move the cursor to right bottom corner to open Charms bar.Click on the Settings icon to see the Power button icon.
Now keeping SHIFT key pressed click on Restart.
A new option window opens.Click on Troubleshoot.
On the next screen click on “Advanced Options “
On Advanced Options screen click on UEFI FIRMWARE SETTINGS
On the next screen click on Restart button to enter UEFI SETTINGS.
Now the Windows reboots to show up the UEFI settings.
Here you can notice that Secure boot is ON.
Scroll down to select “Enter Setup “.
Select the Secure boot listing to get a small pop up window.
Here you select Disabled.
After selecting Disabled move to top menu EXIT tab & select “Exit Saving Changes”.
Now the system is ready to accept a dual boot.The process is explained in part 2.
WWW.ALSELECTRO.COM
alselectro 