Install Ubuntu 1. Windows 8. 1 in 1. Everyday Linux User. Those instructions have helped people install Ubuntu since 1. Ubuntu 1. 4. 0. 4 and many Windows users upgrading to Windows 8.

For instance if you create a recovery image on an external hard drive and then copy it to another external hard drive or NAS drive there is no guarantee that Windows 8. I have used Macrium Reflect for creating system images and restoring them (even after moving images around) and it works. The software is free to use as well although there is a paid for version for extra options. Creating a UEFI bootable only Ubuntu USB drive ensures that Ubuntu is installed to a GPT partition. The Ubuntu installer therefore also recognises the existence of the Windows 8. This enables you to choose the default option for installing alongside Windows 8.

Using this method it appears that there is no longer a requirement to turn off secure boot. I still had to manually set the Windows bootloader using BCDEdit. Feel free to give the new guide a try or you can stick with the tried and trusted method below. Back up Windows. There are two steps to backing up Windows: Create a recovery drive for backing up Windows 8. Create a file history for backing up personal files. For the recovery drive you will need a USB flash drive with at least 1. Insert the USB drive into your computer.

Because Windows 7 hasn't had a Service Pack for several years, the number of hotfixes in Windows Update on a new install is reaching a staggering number. Here we show.

This document provides the steps to perform a Clean Install of the Microsoft® Windows® 7 operating system on applicable VAIO® computer models which originally. This is a 10 step guide which shows how to install Ubuntu 14.04 alongside Windows 8.1.

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You should make sure that you have no data that you need to keep on the drive as it will be wiped during this process. If you don't have a USB drive you can create recovery DVDs. If you don't have much then a USB drive will do. If you have nothing else to hand you can backup to DVDs. Click this option. You will be asked if you are happy to give permissions for this application to run. The answer is yes you do.

Label the bag or envelope and place it somewhere very safe. Click the option that says . Click on the . Find the drive that you want to back up to and click . If you don't then I would recommend copying any file that that isn't stored in these folders manually using Windows Explorer. Create a bootable Ubuntu USB drive.

If you choose to create your own bootable USB drive you will need another blank USB drive to continue. Click on the download link and wait for the program to download. Find the downloaded Ubuntu ISO. This makes it possible to install software when using the live Ubuntu version and it will still be available the next time you boot from the USB drive. Shrink your Windows partition. Windows takes up the whole of the drive when it is first installed. In order to install Ubuntu you will need to make space for it.

In the search box start typing . This will bring up the . You can of course choose to shrink the drive by less than offered but never go for any more than offered as you will break your Windows 8. This is where Ubuntu will be installed. Turn off fast boot.

To be able to boot to your Ubuntu USB drive you will need to turn off the fast boot option. Click on the . Turn off secure boot.

In theory you don't need to do this any more. In practise it is almost certain that you will. Keep the shift key held down until your computer reboots. You don't have to switch to legacy mode and you shouldn't switch to legacy mode as this will not help your cause. Save and exit the UEFI settings. Install Ubuntu. When you have turned off secure boot, save and reboot. You will probably end up back in Windows.

The only difference is that I have closed the window that shows all the keyboard shortcuts to make it easier to highlight the . I don't want the installer failing half way through because the connection dropped. I prefer to install the operating system and run updates as a separate task later on. If you have a good broadband connection you may wish to connect to it now so that you download updates as you go.

This will slow down the initial install but will save time later on as you won't have to install lots of updates. I chose not to connect to a network as this stage (hence the cross).

Click . If you haven't taken that Windows backup, quit the installation, reboot and follow step 1 of this tutorial again. Look at the image above. You will see a large portion of free space (7.

MB). This is where I put Ubuntu. The free space is going to be split into 3. The first partition is for Ubuntu and will be 5.

Gigabytes in size. The second partition is for your home partition and stores configuration files and your personal files such as music, pictures etc. The third partition is for swap space and is used for intensive operations and suspending the computer.

Some people say you don't need any at all, some go for 1. RAM and some say 2x. Unless disk space is at a premium I would just go for the 2x and have done with it. In theory if you are running lots of intensive processes such as video editing then the swap space is used to store memory that isn't currently being used (swapped) to disk. This is disk intensive and slows down your computer but it will help to prevent a crash. Swap space is also used for suspending your computer. This can be changed but unless you are using multiple disks you should leave this well alone.

Press . So at this point you can either take my word for it and stay in the live session or you can reboot and see if the installation has worked without any further steps required. Boot Repair. I am going to assume that you chose to restart now and your computer booted straight into Windows without giving the option for Ubuntu. Log into Windows and click the power icon next to your username in the top right corner. Hold down the shift key and select to restart your computer. Keep the shift key held down until your computer reboots. At the point of the UEFI settings appearing choose to boot from USB again. You will now be booted back into the live session of Ubuntu.

Click on the network icon in the top right corner and choose your network connection. You will probably need to enter the security key. This is just an informational message as far as I am concerned because it is perfectly fine to install Ubuntu with EFI turned on. After clicking . Press CTRL and C and then right click in the terminal window and select paste. Make sure all the commands have run correctly.

You may need to press return to get the last command to run. Now click on the . You may be asked to copy and paste more text.

Repeat the process of selecting all the text, press CTRL and C and then right click in the terminal window and select paste. Make sure the commands run. Keep following through on the process until the boot repair finishes.

If you are like me then at the very end of the process you will see a message stating that boot repair completed with errors. It is worth copying the link and posting to pastebin as suggested but I think you can just continue onto the next step. Fix the boot loader. Almost there now. Reboot your computer.

Unless you are lucky it will still boot straight into Windows and actually this is ok because we are going to use Windows to fix the boot loader. Log into Windows and make sure you are viewing the desktop and not the tiles screen. Hover the mouse in the bottom left corner and right click. You should see an option for the administrator's command prompt. Click on this option. Within the administrator's command prompt type the following command: bcdedit /set .

Reboot into Ubuntu. Reboot your computer. This time when the computer boots you should see 4 options. Digi Sport 1 Live Sopcast Download For Mac more. Ubuntu (advanced)3. Windows (might say something similar like Windows boot options).

Setup. Choose option 1. Ubuntu 1. 4. 0. 4 should now appear. Get yourself a beer, you have earned it. Reboot into Windows. Reboot your computer (click the symbol in the top right corner, click shutdown and restart). This time when the boot menu appears click on the Windows option.

Your computer should boot back into Windows 8.

Clean Install Windows 7 with Upgrade Media. Note: This article received significants updates on October 2. November 5, 2. 00. But now, thanks to numerous reader reports, my own hands- on experience, and a briefing with the team at Microsoft responsible for this technology, I think we have some answers. Sadly, Microsoft is still making it difficult to clean install Windows 7 with Upgrade media, as it did with Windows Vista.

But fear not, there is some good news. While you can't simply use Upgrade media to do a clean install of Windows 7 on a new or previously formatted PC, the workarounds this time are easier than ever. And that's what this article is all about: Revealing the secrets to clean- installing Windows 7 with Upgrade media. In older versions of Windows, Microsoft would actually prompt you to insert an install floppy or CD from a previous Windows version, to prove that you qualified for the upgrade version.

But beginning with Windows XP, PC makers were able to dramatically change the Windows install disc, so much so that, in some cases, those discs weren't even identifiable as valid install media to Windows Setup. Clearly a different system was required. For some people, it just works, and I'll provide information here so you can help ensure it just works for you, every time. For purposes of this discussion, a clean install- -or what Microsoft calls a custom install- -is when you boot your PC with Windows 7 Setup media (typically a Setup DVD, but with this version it could also be a specially created, bootable USB memory device containing the Setup bits) with the intention of installing just Windows 7 on the PC. There could be a previous version of Windows (XP or Vista) installed on the PC already. You will either install Windows 7 to a separate partition or will wipe out the previous Windows version during Setup. If it's the latter, please- -please- -be sure to backup all your data first.

Upgrade versions of Windows 7 are far more common than Full versions, both because they are less expensive and because Microsoft offered (and in some cases is still offering) exceptionally cheap pricing on Upgrade media. Note: One such special offer, the Windows 7 Family Pack, consists of 3. Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade media Setup discs and a single product key which can be used to activate three copies of the OS on three different PCs. The Family Pack costs $1. Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade.

It's kind of a no- brainer. But rememeber what you're getting there: The Family Pack comes with Upgrade, not Full, product keys. While anyone with a valid, licensed copy of Windows XP or Vista qualifies for any Upgrade version of Windows 7- -and by the way, that's pretty much every single PC user on earth- -only Vista users can do an in- place upgrade, which is the install type for which Upgrade media is optimized. If you're an XP user, there's no way to do an in- place upgrade. So you have to perform a migration, which consists of three steps: 1. Backup your crucial data and settings using Windows Easy Transfer (it's on the Windows 7 Setup DVD) and make note of the applications that are installed, because you'll have to manually reinstall them again after the fact.

Perform a clean install of Windows 7 using the Upgrade media. I describe this process in this article. Restore your crucial data and settings using Windows Easy Transfer (part of Windows 7) and then reinstall your applications. Many people have experienced issues with Windows 7 upgrades, especially those trying to do clean installs with Upgrade media, but if you follow the advice in this article, you will get up and running. You will get a legally activated, legitimate version of Windows 7 installed on your PC. I'm not sure yet, but I think so.

In any event, here's a checklist of things to try, in order from least painful to most painful. One of these methods will work for you.

Note: In all of these methods, you should observe one simple rule. Do not enter your product key during Setup.

Instead, you will attempt to activate Windows 7 manually after it is installed. So you can just enter your product key later. These tips and tricks represent the bulk of the information we didn't have before Microsoft shipped Windows 7 to millions of people in October 2. Each of these was confirmed by the team at Microsoft that created the Windows 7 Setup technology.

If you run Windows 7 Setup from your previous OS, Windows 7 will always activate. If the existing install of Windows is on some other partition, Windows 7 should still activate.

There are instances in which this won't work- -especially when people really muck around with directory structures and so on, but it should activate. If it was there, Windows 7 will still activate. While Windows 7 Setup will look for previous installations of Windows, it will not look for recovery partitions or use them for compliance checking. The call is free, and they will get you up and running (i. And you know what? It doesn't hurt to simply try this method, because if it doesn't work, you can then try methods 2 and then 3, in order, afterwards.

There is no downside to trying this. Insert the Windows 7 Upgrade DVD in your PC's optical disc, reboot the computer, boot off the DVD, and then follow the steps to install Windows 7. If you are installing onto a computer that already has another version of Windows, be sure to back everything up first. Then, type activate in Start Menu Search to bring up the Activate Windows utility.

Type in your product key and attempt to activate Windows. You're done. Congratulations. Here's what you do want to see. But don't worry, we can overcome this.

If you are nervous that performing this workaround will lead to later complications- -unlikely, but not impossible- -please use Method #3, below, instead. Method #3 is supported by Microsoft. Right- click this shortcut and choose . When Windows 7 reboots, run the Activate Windows utility, type in your product key and activate windows. You're done. Congratulations.

In my experience, some of these can cause this method to fail. Install them and reboot PC. Re- run the command line (with administrative privileges) noted above, reboot again, and re- attempt the activation. This workaround is fully supported by Microsoft. There's already a whole article dedicated to this topic, but here's the short version since you've already done the initial install: 1.

Insert the Windows 7 Setup DVD in the optical drive if it isn't already there and choose Run Setup from the auto- run dialog that appears. Or, if it is already inserted, navigate to the optical drive in Computer and double- click is icon to trigger Setup. At the appropriate stage of Setup, choose Upgrade (and not Custom). Windows 7 will install as before, though you might notice that it takes quite a bit longer this time. Because you're upgrading this time, you won't be prompted to enter your user name or most of the other information that you need to provide during a clean install. Using the user name (and password) you created during the first install, logon to Windows 7.

To activate Windows 7 immediately, type activate in Start Menu Search. This brings up the Activate Windows utility.

Type in your product key and attempt to activate Windows. However you do it, these tips, tricks, and workarounds should get you up and running in Windows 7 legally, safely, and easily. My only regret is that it took so long to get this information out to you. Hopefully, with the next Windows version, the Upgrade process will be more well known before the product launches.