Dual booting Linux and Windows 7

shinnen

shinnen

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Hi,
I would like to dual boot Linux along side of my Windows 7 installation (Acer laptop). My main reason for want to do this, is that I'm trying to jailbreak one of my phones, and Linux seems to be the default OS for this proceedure. I would like to install the most Windows-like disto that will do what I want.
Any help is appreciated.
.... john
 


Windows 7 was end of life in 2020. Before cell phones were popular on every platform.
If you want "Windows like", I would install Windows 10.
It has cell phone adb utilities. It's likely that laptop might be able to run windows 10 or 11
because of resource requirements ( RAM, CPU, disk space, etc.. )
 
CaffeineAddict said:
If you don't have drivers for win7 you'll most likely fail to run it, especially if laptop is recent
Click to expand...
Hi,
I assume you mean 'isn't' recent, which it is not.
You meant that you have to have drivers to install Linux along side of Windows 7?
..... john
 
shinnen said:
Hi,
I assume you mean 'isn't' recent, which it is not.
You meant that you have to have drivers to install Linux along side of Windows 7?
..... john
Click to expand...
You don't need drivers because of dual boot, Linux will run and dual boot will work that's not an issue, problem is that Windows 7 is out of date and no longer supported.

It would help if you please share exact make and model of your laptop then we can check if Acer website provides Windows 7 drivers for your laptop.
If it doesn't you'll have problems because win7 might not work well, or in worst case scenario you might not be able to install it at all.
Unless you have it installed already?
 
dos2unix said:
Windows 7 was end of life in 2020. Before cell phones were popular on every platform.
If you want "Windows like", I would install Windows 10.
It has cell phone adb utilities. It's likely that laptop might be able to run windows 10 or 11
because of resource requirements ( RAM, CPU, disk space, etc.. )
Click to expand...
Hi,
I dislike Windows 10. It's very user 'unfriendly', difficult to customize, and insists on reverting back to it's own settings. How about my desktop (Windows 7) should it be more amenable to Linux?
...... john
 
CaffeineAddict said:
You don't need drivers because of dual boot, Linux will run and dual boot will work that's not an issue, problem is that Windows 7 is out of date and no longer supported.

It would help if you please share exact make and model of your laptop then we can check if Acer website provides Windows 7 drivers for your laptop.
If it doesn't you'll have problems because win7 might not work well, or in worst case scenario you might not be able to install it at all.
Unless you have it installed already?
Click to expand...
Ah, OK. I misunderstood. I already have Windows 7 installed. The system came with it installed. Sorry about the confusion.
..... john
 
shinnen said:
Ah, OK. I misunderstood. I already have Windows 7 installed. The system came with it installed. Sorry about the confusion.
..... john
Click to expand...
Oh well in that case the only problem that you might have is lack of disk space to install Linux side by side with Windows 7.

If your laptop has only 1 HDD\SDD then that means there must be enough disk space for Linux which you need to reserve in Windows 7 upfront.
You'll need to shrink existing partition that is at the end of partition table, you might need to use defragmenter as first step.

Do you have 2 disks?
 
The drive is over 400 gigs, HDD, of which about 60 is used with the Windows installation.
I would probably assign at least 100 to it and ??? for Linux. I have Easeus installed and I believe it will do the partitioning. Windows 7 will defrag it.
"2 disks"? .... hard drives .... installed? I'm not sure if it will take two hard drives, but the would be good. It's an Aspire 5734Z.
..... john
 
@shinnen
Sorry I told you something which isn't true, it's not needed to shrink partition that is at the end of partition table, you can shrink any partition if you have multiple.
Shrinking however is done from the end of partition toward beginning of same partition.

The free space that is created doesn't need to be partitioned, Linux installer will use it and partition itself.

shinnen said:
The drive is over 400 gigs, HDD, of which about 60 is used with the Windows installation.
I would probably assign at least 100 to it and ??? for Linux.
Click to expand...
Linux itself doesn't require much, 20GB is enough, but if you plan to have a lot of stuff in Linux then make it larger.

shinnen said:
I have Easeus installed and I believe it will do the partitioning.
Click to expand...

Sorry I'm not fan of software that does things which I can do myself.
But if you're not familiar with DISKPART and diskmgmt.msc then that's fine.
Again you don't need to partition newly created free space! just run diskmgmt.msc as Administrator and shrink existing partition there, you might want to share screenshot of diskmgmt.msc here first for hints.

No need for Easeus, but first run defragmenter, it's also built-in to windows. I think it's called defrag.exe

shinnen said:
"2 disks"? .... hard drives .... installed? I'm not sure if it will take two hard drives, but the would be good. It's an Aspire 5734Z.
Click to expand...
I meant if it has 2 hard drives then one could be used by Linux but with 340GB free space there is no need.
 
@shinnen
Btw. you also need to be aware of common dual boot problems.

1. If for some reason Linux installation fails you might loose boot access to windows 7, in which case you'll need windows 10 installer on USB to and then use SHIFT + F10 to manually edit boot loader which isn't straightforward and I'm not sure how exactly it's done.
It's also possible GRUB might need to be edited.

2. If Windows decides to overwrite boot loader at some point after you install Linux you'll likewise loose boot access to Linux and then again you'll either have to reinstall GRUB or reinstall Linux.

These are the possible risks you need to accept.
 
WELCOME

provided you have at least 25 gb of free space on your Windows machine and 4gb ram then you have plenty to install any Linux alongside, DO NOT be put off by those telling you ,you have to re-partition the disc manually, as most popular distributions will do this themselves whilst installing.
Windows 7 did not have secure boot or quick start for you to bother with,
read my how do I install guide [link below]
 
CaffeineAddict said:
@shinnen
Sorry I told you something which isn't true, it's not needed to shrink partition that is at the end of partition table, you can shrink any partition if you have multiple.
Shrinking however is done from the end of partition toward beginning of same partition.

The free space that is created doesn't need to be partitioned, Linux installer will use it and partition itself.


Linux itself doesn't require much, 20GB is enough, but if you plan to have a lot of stuff in Linux then make it larger.



Sorry I'm not fan of software that does things which I can do myself.
But if you're not familiar with DISKPART and diskmgmt.msc then that's fine.
Again you don't need to partition newly created free space! just run diskmgmt.msc as Administrator and shrink existing partition there, you might want to share screenshot of diskmgmt.msc here first for hints.

No need for Easeus, but first run defragmenter, it's also built-in to windows. I think it's called defrag.exe


I meant if it has 2 hard drives then one could be used by Linux but with 340GB free space there is no need.
Click to expand...
Hi,
I can use diskmgmt; but you raise an interesting point regarding drives. I could take out the current Widows drive and install another HDD; that would simplify everthing, since I rarely use the Windows 7 laptop, but mostly my laptop. Yes, that's a good idea. What do you think?
..... john
P.S. I like the Raven. I live near a Road called Ravenshoe.
 
shinnen said:
I can use diskmgmt;
Click to expand...
Brickwizard is correct, you don't need to do anything in fact in Windows, I forgot about that...
Just make sure you don't overwrite windows.

Brickwizard said:
DO NOT be put off by those telling you ,you have to re-partition the disc manually, as most popular distributions will do this themselves whilst installing.
Click to expand...

shinnen said:
but you raise an interesting point regarding drives. I could take out the current Widows drive and install another HDD; that would simplify everthing, since I rarely use the Windows 7 laptop, but mostly my laptop. Yes, that's a good idea. What do you think?
Click to expand...
That's is an excelent idea because this way you'll be 100% sure nothing bad happens to your Windows 7 boot loader.
If you ever screw something in LInux you just insert win7 HDD and problem solved. no risk of messing up windows from linux.
 
CaffeineAddict said:
Brickwizard is correct, you don't need to do anything in fact in Windows, I forgot about that...
Just make sure you don't overwrite windows.




That's is an excelent idea because this way you'll be 100% sure nothing bad happens to your Windows 7 boot loader.
If you ever screw something in LInux you just insert win7 HDD and problem solved. no risk of messing up windows from linux.
Click to expand...
Good, glad you agree.
So, the burning question is .... what Linux distro will be easiest to operate for a Windows user?
... john
 
shinnen said:
what Linux distro will be easiest to operate for a Windows user?
Click to expand...
Different people will give you different opinions but it depends on what do you want or expect from Linux and what will you do on it?

When I switched to Linux I first started with Backtrack (now Kali-Linux) but later decided to use Debian and I'm still using it.
Those 2 are btw. very unpopular distros for somebody who never used Linux, but I decided for these because I like challenge and learning system administration.

Otherwise for casual user I think people will suggest you Linux Mint because it's user friendly.

Probably more important question is what desktop environment will you use, because that's what defines your user experience.
I personally use KDE because of "familiar" UI that is is similar to Windows UI.

Which ever distro you choose pay attention to which desktop environment it comes with, see some screenshots on google about various desktop environments and decide that first.
 
Whichever distribution you choose, if you don't like the DE it comes with , then you can change it,
as we do not know the spec of your laptop, I will assume its something around 2012 vintage with a dual-core intel CPU, it may only have 2 gb ram [which will restrict your choices]
this is not a recommendation but a suggestion.....something that will run on 2gb and be moderately easy to use is MINT LMDE [ I use this on my old laptop] https://www.linuxmint.com/download_lmde.php
 
CaffeineAddict said:
Different people will give you different opinions but it depends on what do you want or expect from Linux and what will you do on it?

When I switched to Linux I first started with Backtrack (now Kali-Linux) but later decided to use Debian and I'm still using it.
Those 2 are btw. very unpopular distros for somebody who never used Linux, but I decided for these because I like challenge and learning system administration.

Otherwise for casual user I think people will suggest you Linux Mint because it's user friendly.

Probably more important question is what desktop environment will you use, because that's what defines your user experience.
I personally use KDE because of "familiar" UI that is is similar to Windows UI.

Which ever distro you choose pay attention to which desktop environment it comes with, see some screenshots on google about various desktop environments and decide that first.
Click to expand...
OK. Then it sound like Mint/KDE is as good as anything. Do I get the option of choosing the desktop environment during the installation of Mint?
.... john
 
shinnen said:
Do I get the option of choosing the desktop environment during the installation of Mint?
Click to expand...
Mint normally installs with cinnamon DE, once installed it is easy to install any other DE you fancy from the software manager, [but I think you will like Cinamon]
 
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