Windows Vista + Ubuntu 7.04
What you will need:

• Windows Vista Boot Disk
• Ubuntu 7.04 Boot Disk

Make sure your computer is set to boot from a CD.

To check this go into your BIOS. From there go to “Boot” and go to “Boot Priorities”. Make sure CD-ROM is set to boot first and you’re all set.

Installing Windows Vista
Now I am going go over how to install Windows Vista step-by-step.

1. Make sure your Vista boot up disk is in the CD-ROM and start your PC.

2. When it begins to boot you should see a black screen with a loading bar. This may take a few minutes so just let it load everything.

3. Next select your language, time/currency format, and keyboard method. Then press Next.

4. Now just click Install to continue.

5. Now type in your activation key and check Automatically activate Windows when I’m online if you would like. Then click Next.

6. From here choose the version of Vista you purchased and then check the box I have selected the edition of Windows that I purchased. Click Next.

7. Time to read (though no one does) and agree to the license agreement. Check the box that you do and click s.

8. The following screen will now ask you how you want to install. As you booted from the disk the top option is likely shaded out. So just click on Custom (advanced) to continue.

9. Now we get to the good stuff! It is time to partition your drive. You should see your hard drive in the box. Click on Drive options (advance) so we can edit.

10. You should now see four different options (Delete, Extend, Format, and New). Click on New and then choose how much space you want to give the new partition. Click Apply to create the new partition. When you are satisfied click Next to finish up.

Note –

• Windows Vista recommends at least 15 GB of hard drive space.
• 1000 megabytes (MB)= 1 gigabyte (GB).

11. Now Windows Vista will install itself onto your hard drive. After it is finished Windows will restart your computer and it will be time for you to edit your personal options.

Finished! After you complete all the personal information you are ready to install Ubuntu and create your dual-boot.

Installing Ubuntu 7.04 + Dual-Boot
Again make sure your computer is set to boot from CD-ROM.

1. Insert the Ubuntu 7.04 boot disk and start up your computer. The boot screen will come up next. Highlight the Start or install Ubuntu choice and press Enter. Be patient while the loader goes back and forth. This may take a few minutes.

2. After that Ubuntu will load up and you will be presented with a very bare screen. Double click on the Install icon to begin setting up Ubuntu.

3. After you double-click on the install icon it will first ask you to pick your preferred language. Choose one and click Forward.

4. The next screen will ask you to pick a location near you for time purposes.

5. Now to choose your keyboard layout. Most commonly it is U.S English.

6. Once again it is time to partition your hard drive. From this screen make sure that Manual is checked and click Forward.

Now you should see a screen entitled Prepare partitions. We are now going to create the partition in which Ubuntu will run on plus a file called “SWAP” to act as virtual memory.

7. First let’s create the SWAP file. Click on New partition. The SWAP file won’t need a whole lot of space to run, so just give it 512 megabytes which will be more then enough for it to run. Now just change the Use as: option to SWAP while keeping the type of partition as Primary and the location as Beginning. Click OK to add it.

8. Now make sure free space is highlighted and click New partition again. This time we will add the hard drive space for Ubuntu to use. Give it what ever amount of space you would like depending on your hard drive space. Just remember to give it at least 2 GB though I recommend you give it much more. Now change the Use as: to ext3 and keep the rest of the settings the same. Click OK to add.

9. Next right-click on the partition ext3 and click edit. From here change the mount point to a forward slash / and click OK.

10. You should see a screen similar to this one, but with the partition NTFS on it. Last thing to do before proceeding is check the box next to ext3 to format and then click Forward.

11. The next screen is going to ask you if you want to import any accounts you may have on Windows Vista. If you want to do it, if not just proceed.

12. Time to enter your personal information. Just as a note: your login has to be all lowercase letters.

13. Now just confirm all the information and click Install to start enjoying the beauty of Linux!

End Notes
Congrats on setting up both Windows Vista and Ubuntu 7.04 as dual-boot! I hope this guide will be a helpful resource for anyone attempting dual-booting. Thanks for reading.