Dual boot is the reversible switch: Winux for daily life, Windows still one restart away. Here is the installation done carefully, in the right order.
✍️ Technical Anshu🐧 Winux / Linux⏱️ 9 minute read
🎥 Watch the full video - Winux Linux 2026 shown live, step by step
Installing a new system next to your existing Windows - a dual boot - is the way to switch without burning the bridge behind you. Windows stays one restart away while Winux becomes your daily system. This page is the careful version of the install: the backup, the Windows preparation most guides forget, and the checks that prove both systems survived.
Winux installer - the choices that matter
Install alongside WindowsKeeps both systems
Erase disk and install WinuxDeletes Windows
Something else (manual partitions)Experts only
Install updates while installingSaves time later
Choose the first option for a dual boot. The second is for a PC where Windows is already gone or fully backed up and finished with.
1
Before You Touch Anything - Backup
Copy your important files - documents, photos, downloads you care about - to an external drive or cloud storage. An install that goes perfectly still deserves this respect.
If your Windows drive is protected by BitLocker, find and save its recovery key (it lives in your Microsoft account or on a printout). Changing boot settings can trigger a BitLocker prompt, and the key is the only way past it.
Note your Windows version and keep a Windows installer USB or recovery option in mind. You will probably never need it - that is what makes it a good safety net.
2
Make the Bootable USB
Download the Winux ISO from the official site, winuxos.org - type the address yourself; do not take ISO files from random download portals.
Write it to a USB pen drive of 8 GB or more using Rufus. Rufus erases the pen drive completely, so move anything precious off it first.
Leave the finished pen drive plugged in - you will boot from it in step 4.
3
Prepare Windows for a Roommate
Two Windows settings decide whether a dual boot is smooth or miserable:
Turn off Fast Startup. In Windows, open Control Panel, Power Options, and disable fast startup. A fast-startup Windows leaves its disk half-asleep, and Linux cannot safely share the drive in that state - this one setting prevents most dual-boot horror stories.
Shrink the Windows partition from inside Windows. Open Disk Management, right-click the C: drive, and shrink it to free at least 50 GB. Leave the freed space unallocated - the Winux installer will claim it in the next step. Shrinking from Windows' own tool is the safest way to resize a Windows partition.
4
Boot the USB and Test in Live Mode
Restart the PC and open the one-time boot menu (commonly F12, F9 or Esc, depending on brand) and choose the USB drive - the UEFI entry if offered.
Choose Try Winux. The full desktop loads without installing anything.
Spend ten real minutes here: connect Wi-Fi, play a video for sound, check the screen resolution, type on your keyboard, and open one of your own documents in OnlyOffice. What works live will work installed.
5
Install Alongside Windows
Start the installer from the desktop icon and pick your language and keyboard layout.
At the installation-type screen choose Install Winux alongside Windows. The installer uses the unallocated space you freed - it does not touch the Windows partition.
Create your name, computer name and password. Write the password down somewhere safe; Linux asks for it for every system change.
Let the install finish, restart when asked, and remove the USB when the screen tells you to.
6
First Boot Checks - Prove Both Systems Live
A boot menu (GRUB) now appears at startup listing Winux and Windows. Boot Windows once, fully, to confirm it still starts exactly as before.
Then boot Winux, connect to Wi-Fi, and run the software updater - the first update brings your Ubuntu base fully current.
If Windows ever goes missing from the boot menu after an update, boot Winux and run sudo update-grub in a terminal; it rebuilds the menu.
You now own a two-system PC. Use Winux daily, keep Windows as the fallback, and let a few weeks of real life - not launch-day excitement - decide whether Windows eventually goes.
🎥 Watch the Complete Video for Full Knowledge and Installation
The complete Winux walkthrough - download, installation and the full first look - is shown live in the video.
No, not when it is done this way: you shrink the Windows partition using Windows' own Disk Management, leave the space unallocated, and choose the alongside option in the installer. Files are only deleted if you choose the erase-disk option - which this guide deliberately avoids.
How much space should I give Winux?
Winux itself needs about 25 GB. Give it 50 GB or more if you plan to live in it daily, so your documents, downloads and programs have room to grow.
Windows vanished from the boot menu after an update. What now?
Do not reinstall anything. Boot into Winux, open a terminal and run sudo update-grub. The menu is rebuilt and Windows almost always reappears. If the PC boots straight into Windows instead, check that the Winux entry is first in your BIOS boot order.
This guide is based on the Technical Anshu video WINUX Linux 2026 • Stuck on any step? Ask in the video comments - you will get an answer there 🙏