With the Microsoft updating its Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) tool to introduce a few uncomfortable niggles for users of pirated versions of Windows, popularity of Linux is getting higher. Everyone is afraid of getting his/her computer screen blackened by Microsoft. A lot of people are seeking to install Linux on their system but lack proper guidance. So I thought of posting the instruction guide on installing Ubuntu.

Here are the steps for installing Ubuntu along with your Windows.

1. Empty a drive by backing up a copy of all its contents to another drive.
2. Open ‘Disk Management Console’ by typing ‘diskmgmt.msc’ in Run dialog. (View this page for details http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309000)
3. Locate the drive you just emptied. Right click on it and select ‘Delete Logical Drive…’ Select ‘Yes’ when asked for confirmation.
4. Now right-click free space on an extended partition, and then click ‘New Logical Drive’.
5. Specify the size of the partition such that it is 5GB less than the size of the drive you emptied.
6. After this you’ll have an un-partitioned space of 5GB and an empty drive. Copy your data to the drive.
7. Insert the ‘Ubuntu’ disk. Right click on the disk and click on autoplay.
8. Select ‘Demo and Full Installation’. Click on Finish to reboot your machine.
9. Enable boot from CD from your bios.
10. Boot your machine from CD. The first thing you’d see is a language selection screen. Select the language you’d like your system to run.
11. Now select ‘Try Ubuntu without any change to your computer’.
12. After a certain time, you’d see a desktop just like Windows. You can continue using Ubuntu. When you feel like installing it on your machine, open the ‘Install’ program which is located on the desktop.
13. Now an installer wizard would open guiding you through the installation of Ubuntu.
14. You are once again asked to choose your language. Just click ‘Forward’.
15. Select your location in the map provided.
16. Choose your keyboard layout. Most of us use ‘US English’. So the default would be perfect.
17. A window would appear telling ‘Starting up the partiotioner’. After it starts, select ‘Manual’ and click ‘Forward’.
18. Select the free space and click on ‘New Partition’. Create a partition of size 4000MB. In ‘Use as’ select ‘Ext3 journaling file system’ and in ‘Mount Point’ select ‘/’. Then click on OK.
19. Again in the free space, create another partition as Swap.
20. Click ‘Forward’. The partitioner would take some time to create the partitions.
21. In next page, create a username with password.
22. You would be asked to import documents and settings from your windows. Select the entries as per your requirement.
23. A ‘Ready to Install’ page would appear describing the details of the Ubuntu installation. If you want to make any changes, you can go back and make the change. Otherwise, continue with the installation by clicking on ‘Install’
24. The installation would start and finally you would be asked to restart your machine.
25. After restart, a menu would appear where you can select your operating system.

The installation of Ubuntu is finished.
Enjoy using Linux. Have FUN!!

For detailed information about installing Ubuntu have a look at the following websites.
http://users.bigpond.net.au/hermanzone/
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Installing-Ubuntu-8-04-LTS-84314.shtml

If you have any trouble installing or using ubuntu contact me at sujinjoshi@gmail.com