This tutorial will guide you through the steps required to dual boot your Asus Eee PC with Windows XP and Ubuntu Linux.
Please note: This guide was published back in 2008 and is now considered out of date, kind of. The version of Ubuntu used is very old – 8.04 (Hardy Heron) – but the whole process hasn’t changed that much. You should actually be able to follow along using a newer version of Ubuntu – just keep in mind that the exact steps and screens have changed.
Note: This tutorial is specific to the Asus Eee PC 900 with the 16GB flash SSD hard drive. The other versions with different hard drive configurations are not covered by this tutorial.
- The easiest way to dual-boot your Eee PC is to install Windows XP first. If yours came w/ XP installed by default, great. If not, this guide has you covered (it’s pretty straight forward).
- With Windows installed, follow the instructions outlined in this tutorial, up to step #5. When you hit step #5, return to this tutorial.
- At this point you will have started the Ubuntu install, and have just set your keyboard layout. On the Prepare disk space screen, make sure that Guided is selected. In the New partition size area, you should see two distinct partitions. One for Windows, and one for Ubuntu. Click the small space between the two, hold down the mouse button, and drag to the right. This will resize the two partitions.
- When you’ve decided how much space you want to allocate to each Operating System, click Forward. The screen shot below illustrates a 50/50 split between Windows and Ubuntu.
- Review the partition resize window and click Continue.
- Go grab yourself a cup of coffee.
- When the partitioning has completed, you’ll be presented with the “rest” of the Ubuntu installation wizard. Enter the required info in the spaces provided, and click Forward.
- If you’d like, you can import your Windows account(s). If you’d rather not, just leave the box(es) unchecked and click Forward.
- Finally, click Install.
- Now would be a good time to refill that cup of coffee. Once the installation has completed, you’ll be prompted to reboot your Eee PC.
- When your Eee PC starts this time, you’ll be prompted to select which Operating System you want to use – Ubuntu or Windows.
Just wanted to thank you for this rather simple, straightforward guide. Good Job!
Thank you for the how-to. Most sites don’t explain how to make it dual boot.