How do I install Ubuntu 14.04 alongside my Windows 7-64 bit?

Thanks for A2A . I assume you have installed Windows 8 first. So here are the steps I follow to successfully dual boot both OS. Create Bootable Pen Drive with Ubuntu image using LinuxLiveUsb or Unetbootein Go to Disk manager in Windows and shrink your C drive so that you get around 25GB free space.(Bootloaders only work on first 50GB of hard drive space, so make sure its in that.) Reboot machine and boot from pendrive (the normal way you boot while installing windows) Select install now, When asked for Option Click Something else. Now create 2 partitions from the unallocated space you had . Format it and keep ext4 partition. Mount first partition as "/" and other partition as "/home" while formatting. At the bottom of the setup it will ask you for the location of the boot loader.  Keep it as SDX (the partition where you kept "/" root) Now click next next and install it. After reboot it will open Windows 8. Download a software in windows 8 called as EasyBCD. Add an entry of your Linux distro and its bootloader installed partition in easybcd. Thats it, Reboot now, it will ask which OS to boot from. Happy learning Linux.

You can use oracle virtual box and try it as virtual machine or you can dual boot windows.

Thanks for the A2A. As many others, especially have pointed out, this question has been answer an innumerable amount of times already. A Google search for "How to install Ubuntu on Windows" yields 1,27,00,000 results. As much as I'd like to write a huge tutorial on the same, many others have already done so in the past, and replicating their efforts would be a huge loss of time and energy. However, since you mention Windows 8, let me give you some advice that might be helpful. Did your computer come pre-installed with Windows 8? If the answer is Yes, there is a considerably high chance that your BIOS comes with UEFI. UEFI, or Universal Extensible Firmware Interface, is a new technology which on paper sounds brilliant, but has a botched up implementation thanks to Microsoft playing dirty market tricks with it. As a result, installing Ubuntu as dual-boot on a machine which already contains Windows 8 is not going to be very straight forward. You should search for "Install Ubuntu dual boot UEFI" for better results that pertain to your particular use case. All of the above was considering that you want to install Ubuntu along-side Windows and not on it. Ubuntu being an Operating System cannot be installed on Windows. The closest you can get is to install Ubuntu on a Virtual Machine running on Windows.

You said ON. I am assuming you meant *ON*. There is a very simple way of doing it. https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads Then, get the UBUNTU DVD iso. Then follow this guide: That should do fine. NOTE: Your Virtual Ubuntu would be faster than the real Windows. That is a bit of a shame.

First things first. Ubuntu is an OS, just like Windows. You don't install it on your Windows (unless you are running a Virtual Machine).. You install it on your PC/Mac/Mobile and what not. Instead of typing a huge wall of text as an answer to the question which has been asked a lot of times in the past, I'll leave you with Youtube Search results for "How to install Ubuntu with Windows 8" https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=How+to+install+Ubuntu+with+Windows+8 http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/newbie/ section of Linuxforums, and https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ for Ubuntu Hopefully you'll meet 382469782846 people there who have answered same question 9523879306772346 times.

I recently install Ubuntu14.04 to my win8.1 system with the following method.I have to admit that I find it by google.But it is a website in chinese so that I just do some translating and put it  here. http://here.http://os.51cto.com/art/201405/439158.htm(if you can understand Chinese,there is no need to move on.)     Here is for those who don't know chinese: Backup your Win8.1 there are two steps to backup your windows : create a recovery driver to backup your Win8.1 create a file history to backup your personal file To create a recovery: press the superkey(windows key) on your keyboard,and then click the magnifying-glass-shaped button on the top of right side.Then enter "recovery". And then an option "create a recovery drive",click and system will ask for your permission,just click agree.Click "Next" and continue. Then choose a USB driver which is  available and click"Next". At this time, a warning message will be shown on the screen: everything on the target driver will be deleted. If you are sure that you don't need any data on the recovery driver, just click "create".   It will take some time to create the recovery driver and the only thing you need to do is to wait patiently. Recovery driver is ready.   Now you need to insert the driver you've prepared for all of your personal data.Press the superkey(windows key) on the keyboard and click the searching image on the right. Enter "File History". Choose the option "save backup copies of your files with File History". Then click the button "Off", to turn it "On". Click "Select a different drive",and find the driver you want your backup data in. Click "back up now" Attention: the program assumes that all of your data is restored in Documents,Music,Pictures,Videos and Desktop folder. If your are not,I recommend you do it with windows explorer to copy any file manually that is not restored in those folders. 2. Create a booting Ubuntu USB driver Insert a USB driver on  the computer. Download Ubuntu 14.04 from the internet http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop To create a booting USB driver, I recommend a tool "Universal USB Installer" http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/ (It is really useful and very easy to use. I've almost tried every installing and booting method provided on the internet and only this one made it finally.) After download of the tool, execute the setup file. Click "Browse" and choose the iso file of the Ubuntu you download just now. Choose your USB driver and ensure that option " we will format" is selected. Click "create". Attention:all of your USB data will be irrecoverably deleted!Ensure that you have no important data on the USB driver. Click "yes". It will take some time doing this and you can have a rest. 3.shrink the windows partition After the first installation of windows, the hard drive is completely covered by windows. That is to say, you have to make space for Ubuntu. press the superkey(windows key) on the keyboard, and click the searching button on the right and enter "Partitions". Click the option "Create and format partitions" Right click the driver you want to shrink,choose "Shrink volume" Click "shrink" and continue. When you finish ,you will see a part of free space in which your ubuntu will be installed on. 4.Turn off the fast startup You have to turn off your fast startup if you want to boot with your Ubuntu USB driver. press the superkey(windows key) on the keyboard like before, and enter"Control Panel". When "Control Panel" appears,click the option"System and Security" Now click the "Power Options" and then click "Choose what the power button does". There will be a window named "Define power buttons and turn on password protection". Roll down the window until you see "Shutdown Settings". There will be an option named "Turn on fast startup(recommended)", and don't select it. Click "save changes". Up to now, you have turned off your fast startup. 5.Turn off the secure booting The way to turn off the secure booting depends on the type of your computer. Different computers have different ways. Concerning the type of your computer type --Acer(actually the same as mine), you have to reboot your computer.And you should press the "F2" or "F12"(if you have turn the F12 function on before) and hold on during the rebooting procedure. Remember:Do Not Release The Key. Now you will see an option, and you may have access to UEFI booting configuration. Find the option to turn off the secure booting.You have no need to change to "legacy mode" and you shouldn't do that which is no good for you. Just save and exit. Congratulations!!You have done all the preparations before installing the Ubuntu now!! 6.Install the Ubuntu When you have turned off the safe booting, you could have returned to windows system. So, you have to press and hold the "F2" or "F12" key while you reboot the computer in order to boot by Ubuntu in your USB driver. There will be an option helping you get into Ubuntu 14.04 Live version from the USB driver. When you get into Ubuntu 14.04 Live for the first time, if you want to install the Ubuntu,just double click the icon "Install Ubuntu 14.04 LTS" Choose the language you want to use and click "Next". Then you can choose what kind of network connection you want to use while installing Ubuntu.I choose no network because it will be terrible for you when the network you choose have a problem during the installation. But if you are confident about your network connection, just choose it. And you will download the latest version while installing. Click "Next" and you will see a checked list showing your preparing to install Ubuntu. As you can see, I have two options checked and I still don't want to connect to the internet(the last cross).Click "continue". Next screen can be a little complicated.But actually it shows your disc layout. Next a few steps are very important!!! As you can see, there is a part of free space(710155MB) and that's where I am gonna install Ubuntu. The free space should be divide into three parts: The first one is for Ubuntu.   The second one works as main partition to restore your configuration file and your personal file(picture,music,etc).   The third one works as swap area to deal with operations. Click the free space and click the "+". Enter 50000 for size. Choose "logical" as the type of the partition. Choose "Beginning of this space". Choose "Ext4" as file system. "/" for mount point which means the root. Do in the same way again and at this time you set the size what the left amount of your disc space subtract twice the size of your memory.For example, if you have a 8G memory, you should subtract 16G(which is saved for the swap area). "logical" for the type. "beginning of this space" for location. "/home" for the mount point. The same way to create the third part as swap area. Choose the left amount of disc for the size of swap area. "logical" for the type. "beginning of this space" for location. Use as "swap area". The last thing you should pay attention is where you install the bootloader programme. Mostly it assume that it is a "Installation Type"(/dev/sda).The place can be changed but I don't suggest you do that unless you are using more than one disc. Click "Install Now" and continue. The installation has now begun but while it is taking place you are asked a few configuration type questions. Press "continue". The next screen asks you to choose your keyboard layout. Simply choose the correct one for you and press "Continue". You will now be required to create a default user. Enter your name, a name to identify your computer, a username and a password. You can also choose whether to log in automatically or require a password each time. A progress bar will now show you how far through the installation you are. You can also view a selection of messages telling you all about Ubuntu. At this point you can take another comfort break and depending on your computer's speed you will either have time to boil an egg or wash your car. At the end of the process you will be asked whether you want to reboot to start using Ubuntu or to continue using the live version. When I rebooted it went straight back into Windows and I had to reboot back into the live session anyway. 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. 7.Boot repair I assume that you choose 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. (If not then when you have finished with this process consider checking your router settings because your internet connection is wide open).  Now open up a terminal by pressing the "super" key (Windows key) and typing "terminal".  Within the terminal window enter the following commands one by one. sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair sudo sh -c "sed -i 's/trusty/saucy/g' /etc/apt/sources.list.d/yannubuntu-boot-repair-trusty.list" sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install -y boot-repair && boot-repair (Actually I did three of them before I succeed but I don't know why.) Eventually the boot repair screen will appear. Click "Recommended repair". When I did this I received a message stating "EFI is detected". 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 "OK" to the EFI detected message the utility performed a few tasks and then asked me to select some text and run it in a terminal window. If you are asked to do this open a new terminal window (press the "super" key, enter "term" into the Dash and click on the icon that appears). Copy the text from the boot repair window by selecting it with the mouse. 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 "Forward" button within the boot repair application. 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. After doing this and then at the very end of the process you will see a message stating that boot repair completed with errors. (not good for you). It is worth copying the link and posting to pastebin as suggested but I think you can just continue onto the next step. 8.Repair bootloader Congratulations!!!You almost finish all the work. 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.(or you can press "windows + X + A")  Within the administrator's command prompt type the following command: bcdedit /set "{bootmgr}" path \EFI\ubuntu\grubx64.efi Exit the command prompt 9. Reboot into UbuntuReboot your computer  This time when the computer boots you should see 4 options.  1. Ubuntu  2. Ubuntu (advanced)  3. Windows (might say something similar like Windows boot options).  4. Setup Choose option 1. Ubuntu 14.04 should now appear.Have a rest. 10. 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. Now you have finished all the work and just enjoy your dual system!!! It is not so good to find that it is the same website as the first answer's.But I still finish it.After all, it takes me a very very long time to install my ubuntu and I want to help those who are at the same condition out.

Elementary uses the same installation as Ubuntu. So if you have installed Ubuntu before you can install Elementary the same way. I think to following will the steps Get the iso for Elementary OS, for Luna (based on Ubuntu 12.04, http://elementary.io/) and for Freya (which is still beta and is based on Ubuntu 14.04, http://beta.elementary.io/). I am using the Freya right now and is pretty stable. Though I will not recommend it for production systems. Now use a Live USB creator, I tried the one that comes in Ubuntu called Startup disk creator and that didn't work. The one that worked was Universal USB Installer. If you do not have it you can download it from here http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/.  Its a Windows program. After creating the live USB, boot from it. The steps here are same as Ubuntu. Just select something else and use the current Ubuntu partition to install Elementary. After installing elementary, you can use http://oduso.com. They have a great list of software and themes to install from. If you getting any problems with grub (like not showing Windows then update you Grub with sudo update-grub) Hope that helps :)

First of all, the concept of C: drive is limited to Windows. Only Windows refers to the drives using a letter. Drives on Ubuntu (and linux) are mounted in sub-folders under the root directory (/). Basically, you have the following options Install both on different physical drives Install both on same physical drive but on different partitions Install both on same partition using https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WubiGuideBut this works only with Windows 7 and older. But this would not be ideal. You might accidentally, delete windows files while booted into Ubuntu. So I advice you to install them either the first or the second option above. That way, you can keep your windows partition hidden when booted into Ubuntu and not mess things up. If you want files from the windows partition, you can mount it any time.

It was simple with Win7.  It's hard now.  Quora can't make it easy. I went through the same difficulty and used this web page as a guide: http://www.everydaylinuxuser.com/2014/05/install-ubuntu-1404-alongside-windows.html.  I now have Win8, Ubuntu, and Arch on my laptop.  If you cannot follow the steps, you have to find someone to help you who can I would issue one caution: use Windows to make a recovery image on a USB stick first.  When you mess up and hose Windows, you'll be very glad to have that stick.  Many unsuspecting users have tried to install Ubuntu alongside Win8 the same way they've done it in earlier years, only to find out that the old technique doesn't work and Windows has been obliterated.