Here Are 6 Ways To Dual-Booting With Windows 8 And Linux!

Here's how Windows users can try out the 'goodness' of Linux without having to give up on their OS.

You think Linux is not for you and only for the tech savvy and those who are trained? Well, think again! The way things stand right now, laptops and PCs are becoming passé and mobile operating systems are gaining popularity. Linux is being adopted like never before! When it comes to choosing your operating system, you must focus on what your usage is. However, if your using Windows, you can still try out the 'goodness' of Linux without having to give up on your first love!

 1. Install the Linux GRUB bootloader

-Install the Linux GRUB bootloader as the default boot object.

-The catch here is you need to have a UEFI-compatible Linux distribution (openSuSE, Fedora, Linux Mint and Ubuntu).

-When you install a UEFI-compatible Linux distribution and everything works well, you will get the GRUB boot menu after a reboot. You can then choose either Linux or Windows 8 to boot from it.

2. Use the BIOS Boot Select Key

-There's a possibility that doing everything of the above still gets you nowhere, and you're still getting Windows rather than Linux after reboot.

-In that case you can use the BIOS Boot Selection option (activated by pressing a special key that varies between systems during the power-on or reboot process.)

-Pressing the special key will interrupt the Windows boot process and you will get a list of available operating systems (Windows 8 and Linux).

3. Enable 'Legacy Boot'

-Some systems make it difficult to enable Legacy Boot. The option might be well hidden in the BIOS configuration, or require a BIOS password before they will let you change it.

-Legacy Boot allows you to install more or less any Linux distribution, without worrying about UEFI compatbility.

4. Try a workaround

-There is a "next boot" option available, which specifices a one time boot configuration.

-If it is set the system will try to boot that item first, and will also clear that setting so that on the next boot it goes back to using the default boot sequence list.

-The next boot configuration can be set from Linux using efibootmgr -n XXXX, where XXXX is the item number from the boot list.

-Add the efibootmgr command to the Linux startup scripts. Every time you boot Linux, it would reset the value so that it would boot Linux again the following time.

5. Trick the default boot process

-Put the Linux shim.efi (or grubx64.efi) image where the Windows Boot Manager is normally located. This is a cleaver trick to trick the default boot process.

6. Install a different Boot Manager

-rEFInd has the advantage of being able to boot almost anything - Windows, Linux, MacOS. It automatically finds whatever might be on the disk and then presents you with a boot selection list.

Author : Shivam Kotwalia, CodeKill

How To Dual-Boot Your Device With Both Android And Ubuntu Touch

Canonical has announced their dual-boot tool for Android devices but it is a developer preview version. 

You would have noticed that Android-based smartphones and tablets are almost at par with computers. So, just like computers, dual booting these devices is quite possible. In this article, we’ll explain how to dual-boot your device with Android and Ubuntu Touch operating systems. Canonical has announced a dual-boot tool for its OS recently, but being a developer preview, it is not yet completely bug-free. So, use it at your own risk.



The tool allows you to use both Android and Ubuntu Touch operating systems on your devices. It requires reflashing of the recovery partition of your device. The steps involved in the process are as follows.

But first, you need to meet the following requirements,

- You need an unlocked Android device.
- You need to backup the copy of your current operating system.

Let’s begin.

1. First, start your Ubuntu desktop, add the repository and update it.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:phablet-team/tools
sudo apt-get update

2. Next you need to install the Developer Preview Tools

sudo apt-get install phablet-tools android-tools-adb android-tools-fastboot

3. If your Android device isn’t unlocked already, then unlock it. This can be done by enabling USB debugging on your Android device and then connect it to Fastboot on your Ubuntu desktop.

sudo fastboot oem unlock

4. Now you need to download the installation script and make it executable.

chmod +x dualboot.sh

5. Now you will be installing the dual booth Ubuntu Installer. This will be done by running the command given below along with your Android device connected to the computer. Here, if you are using a stock ROM, then use the first command. If you’re using a non-stock OS then the second command will come in handy.

- ./dualboot.sh FULL
- ./dualboot.sh UPDATE

A stock ROM is one that has no modifications, like an added SuperUser app etc. A non-stock ROM is like a CyanogenMod edition or something like that.

6. After executing the script, your device may reboot several times. This is normal, so don’t worry about it. When the process is completed, the Ubuntu Installer will be added to the Apps section. In order to install Ubuntu onto it, use the command below,

adb shell “su sh rm -rf /cache/*”

7. Open the Ubuntu Installer and choose ‘Trusty’ channel. This will be followed by a number of on-screen instruction that you will need to follow. These will also cover how to provide SuperUser grants. Let the installation continue after this.

8. Once the installation is completed, you will find the ‘Reboot to Ubuntu’ option. Choose this to boot your device with Ubuntu Touch. 

Author : Shivam Kotwalia, CodeKill