Windows and Linux are the two main platforms that you can choose when we want to install several operating systems on the same personal computer, e.g very interesting setup for multiple launches to get the best of both worlds. We left out macOS because Apple doesn’t license the system to third-party providers and — except for special installations using Hackingtosh — forces you to buy a Mac if you want to use it.

It must be said that most consumers use only one operating system on their computer. And certainly Windows, because Microsoft has complete dominance of the OEM channel and the vast majority of new computers come with Windows pre-installed.

Users who want to try other things beyond Windows or those who already use Linux but need Windows to run some applications or games (or just for fun) have several options, from the always interesting virtual machines to using “Live” formats. capable of booting operating systems from optical media or a USB flash drive.

Both methods are easy to implement and use, but have their drawbacks, especially when it comes to performance. Those looking for the best experience should bet on multiple devices which we will talk about today and which have compelling benefits: you get the maximum performance from your hardware, different systems occupy their own space without interfering with the rest, and the boot menu allows you to launch and switch between them in seconds in a convenient and easy way.

Windows and Linux on the same PC, from the start

In recent years, we have offered you tutorials on how to do several of these configurations, for example Windows 11 and Ubuntu 21 or Windows 10 and Windows 11. But its possibilities go much further, because practically all you have to do is to have enough storage space internally and carry out the process in a certain order install whatever you want. You can choose other versions of Windows, combine them with Linux, and even install macOS under a hackintosh in the same process, although the latter is much more complicated.

On this occasion and as an example, we will use the latest versions of Windows 10 and Linux Mint 21 with installations from scratch (clean). If your computer already has Windows and you want to keep it, we’ll also cover how to install Linux. Of course, you can use other versions of Windows or any other GNU/Linux distributionbecause the process to be done is the same.

necessary hardware

Until Windows 10, the hardware requirements for installing Windows and Linux together on the same computer were virtually identical, and according to Microsoft officials summarized in:

• 1 GHz or faster processor or system on a chip (SoC)
• RAM: 1 GB for 32-bit version or 2 GB for 64-bit version
• Hard disk space: 16 GB for 32-bit OS or 32 GB for 64-bit OS
• Graphics: DirectX 9 or later with WDDM 1.0 driver (Windows)

Please be clear that these requirements are the bare minimum that will get you an installation and nothing else. You’ll need a better processor, more RAM, storage, and more advanced graphics if you want to get a good experience with both Windows and Linux. If you decide to install Windows 11, you already know that the minimum requirements have changed and you will need to add a DirectX 12 compatible graphics chip; UEFI firmware that supports the “Secure Boot” function and the Trusted Platform Module TPM version 2.0.

To illustrate, we used a 2022 ASUS TUF Dash laptop with an 11th Gen Intel processor, an RTX 3060 GPU, 16GB of RAM, and one 500GB PCIe SSD. You don’t have to use current equipment. You can use computers with older hardware than listed, and as we said above, use other versions of both Windows and Linux.

Installing Windows 10

If you follow us regularly, you will know the memory process. We’ll start from scratch, with a completely empty laptop SSD, to do a clean install. In these types of configurations You must always install Windows first and then Linux, so it is the bootloader of this (GRUB) that is used to boot one or the other. We’ll walk you through the process step by step:

ISO image for download

• Go to the official Windows 10 portal and click on “Download Tool Now”.
• Run the downloaded file that will correspond to the latest stable version: “MediaCreationTool22H2.exe”.
• Accept the license terms and choose to create installation media.

• Select your language, Windows edition, and architecture.
• You will be taken to a screen where you can choose between “USB flash drive” where the same tool will create the installation media at this time, or “ISO file” to create it later using your favorite application. We will select the second option to download the “Windows.iso” image.

Creating installation media

• Download Rufus or another application of your choice to “burn” the image downloaded in the previous point.
• Preferably use an empty USB flash drive with a capacity of at least 8 GB. (You can also do this on DVD)
• To install Windows 10 on a modern computer, set up the software as shown and create a bootable USB drive. (If your computer is older, you can change the partition scheme to MBR and the target system to BIOS).

Device

Installation is very simple. You must be careful when creating partitions, leaving free space for the subsequent installation of a Linux distribution. Thus:

• Insert the created media into the USB port and enter the UEFI-BIOS and select it as the first boot device. (If you don’t remember your UEFI passkey, you can check this handy where you have all laptop brands)
• Start the installation by selecting the language and version of Windows for which we have a license.
• You can complete the license part in this step or skip it and do it later.
• Select custom installation and you will be taken to the partitioning process. (You’ll see a blank disk because we set it up to do everything from scratch.)

• Create a partition the size you need for Windows 11, leaving some unallocated space for installing Linux Mint later, like the 86GB sample image.
• From there, install Windows 10 as usual.

Install Linux Mint

The installation of the GNU/Linux distribution is today a process as simple as installing Windows and no user with minimal knowledge should be afraid of a free system. The installation is automated as we will see below and takes a few minutes on a PC with an SSD.

ISO image for download

Downloading the image is simple and without the cumbersome process that Microsoft imposes on Windows 10.

• Simply go to the Linux Mint web portal and click the Download button.
• You will see three editions to choose from: Cinnamon (the most popular and modern); MATE (traditional on GNOME 2) and Xfce (the simplest and lightest).
• We choose Cinnamon Edition with the option of downloading via Torrent or choosing one of the servers available for direct download.
• In any case, we get the latest stable version: “linuxmint-21.1-cinnamon-64bit.iso”

Creating installation media

• Preferably use a USB flash drive. (Alternatively, you can also use a DVD.)
• If we used Rufus to create Windows media, here we will use the application recommended by the manufacturer Balena Etcher.
• We downloaded the app from its website and installed it. (It also has a portable option that doesn’t require installation).
• Just load the downloaded ISO image and flash. (Linux Mint 21 works fine in the EFI modes used by Windows)

Device

Linux installation has progressed remarkably in an almost automated and very fast process. It takes just over 5 minutes from a flash drive connected to a USB 3.2 port to install on an SSD on this computer.

• Insert the created media into the USB port on the machine and make sure that the flash drive is placed as the first bootable media in BIOS/UEFI as we saw in the Windows installation.
• You will enter the intuitive graphical installation mode. Click install and select your language, keyboard layout, and installation type. Leave downloading the latest updates for later.
• You get to the important part that shows how easy it is to install Linux. As you will see in the image below, the installer will recognize the installed Windows system and allow you to install Mint alongside it without touching the existing partitions at all and create your own in the empty space.

• Click on “Install Ubuntu with Windows Boot Manager”. The rest of the screens are trivial and the installation will exit without further ado. On a computer like the test one with an NVMe SSD and a fast flash drive, it only takes 5 minutes.

Once the Ubuntu installation is complete, a GRUB bootloader will be available on every reboot to allow you to run Windows 10 or Linux Mint easily and quickly. You can also select the system to boot in UEFI-BIOS, but it’s harder to access each time.

If you select Linux as the first boot partition in the firmware, you will have access to its bootloader and can boot any system. If, on the other hand, you just want Windows daily and eventually Linux, you can put the Windows Boot Manager first and the system will boot directly into Windows 10 without going through GRUB.

Windows and Linux on the same computer with Windows already installed

If you were to buy a new laptop, it would certainly come with Windows pre-installed, which you can install takes up the entire storage unit. In this case, it is also possible to install Linux and get a dual boot setup. If, as in our case, we already have Windows 10 installed, the first step is done and we would only need to create space to install Linux Mint. If you need help, you can read the disk partition special we updated this week.

We will review the process preparation of the partition:

• Right-click the Start button to open Disk Management.
• You will see several partitions, recovery or otherwise. We are interested in working on the main partition, in the example C: named SYSTEM, which is completely occupied by Windows.

• Right-click the root partition and select shrink volume.

• In the dialog box that appears, select the size of the space you want to shrink, which will be the partition size for Linux Mint. For the example, we chose 86 GB.

• Here, each user will have to choose the space they want to reduce depending on their availability and focus of use. Or use a second storage drive if you have one on your computer.

You don’t need to do anything else about partitions in addition to leaving a blank space as we have seen. Install Linux as we saw in the previous step in the empty space we created. The installer takes care of the rest, formatting the free partition, installing Linux alongside Windows, and creating a bootable system.

Insisting that this type of multiboot installation on the same computer is ideal for taking advantage of both operating systems. They offer higher performance than the “live” format or virtual machinesthey don’t interfere with each other and the bootloader allows access to each in seconds with the click of a button.

The guide we offered you is a case of use with two specific operating systems, but with techniques you can connect more of them, use other versions of Windows, different GNU/Linux distributions and even macOS. hackintosh, although this process is much more complicated than the one described. Do not worry. Using this method, it is possible to enjoy Windows and Linux on the same computer with the maximum performance level that your hardware allows.