3StrandTech

Disclaimer: I accept and claim no responsibility for any unintended consequences that may happen to your devices or data as a result of following this tutorial. Perform these steps at your own risk. Always back up your data before conducting any changes to your device(s). Check out my full Terms of Service for more details.

So you’re ready to look for Windows replacement options but don’t want to completely jump ship . . . No problem! You can simply use dual boot! If you don’t know, dual booting an Operating System (OS) means that you can have two (or more) OS’s installed on one PC at the same time. For example, lets say you have Linux and Windows installed on your computer. When you turn your PC on, you’ll be asked if you want to start Linux or Windows. You select one OS and the computer “boots” it up. If you want to boot into the other OS, you restart your PC and boot into the other one instead! This is helpful if you’re trying to transition from one OS to the other, because there are lot of considerations to make before switching to a new OS full time, such as:

1. Data Migration

Are you going to move data that currently is on your hard drive or from the cloud (or both)?

Migrating data from your Windows install (and possibly the cloud) can take time due to many factors. Dual booting allows you time to get your data moved carefully and accurately while you learn the new OS.

2. Application Usage

What if you are using proprietary apps on Windows and need to find app with similar functionality on Linux? Dual boot allows you to investigate if your current apps are available on Linux and allows you to try potential replacement apps if need be.

3. Learning the Linux productivity flow vs. Windows

Even with a near Windows clone like Zorin OS, there are still going to be differences (some of them large, some of them small) in how to get things done with Linux. Dual boot makes the transition smoother because you can boot back into Windows to get urgent tasks done while you figure out how to get things done the Linux way.

There are other considerations too, such as Work From Home (WFH), gaming, peripheral compatibility, and more. In my Linux journey, I’ve used Zorin OS (an Ubuntu based Linux distribution) for a little while to revive an aging laptop and found that it worked quite well for me. You can check out my story for an example of the things that were important to me as I explored Linux.

If you decide that you don’t want to try Linux for now for one reason or another, let me know why in the comments below, I’d love to know your perspective on your decision. If you decide you do want to try Linux, read on as I show you step by step how to set up a dual boot environment on your computer.

Which Zorin OS Edition?

I’d recommend using the Core edition if you’re just starting out because its free and then you can upgrade to the Pro version later if you’d like (as of April 2026, the Pro version costs 47.99). I recommend allocating 30 GBs for Core if you can to give you more wiggle room as you try out the system.  You can check Zorin’s help docs here for more information.

If you’re not installing Zorin OS, no problem. I’d recommend checking the distribution vendor for your Linux flavor to discover their minimum hard drive space.  

Notice that in the example below, the amount that you have to enter is in MB. If you’re following my recommendation of 30 GB for Linux space, you’ll need to punch in 30000 MB in the space that says “Enter the amount of space to shrink in MB.” 

Disable Fast Startup

We will need to disable Fast Startup in order to successfully install Linux. Fast Startup is a Windows feature that helps your computer boot up faster. When you shut down your computer with Fast Startup enabled, Windows doesn’t actually shutdown, it actually does a partial shutdown and doesn’t fully “let go” of the disk. So in the case of dual boot, Linux would see that the disk is technically in use and not boot properly. To turn off fast startup:

1. Click on the search bar at the bottom of your screen and type in “Control Panel,” then click “Open.”

2. On the next page, click “Hardware and Sound,” then click “Choose what the power buttons do”

3. Click “Power Options”

4. Click “Choose what the power buttons do”

5. If needed, click “Change settings that are currently unavailable”

6. Make sure the “Turn on fast startup (recommended)” box is NOT checked

Perfect! Now, Windows will fully release control of the hard drive when it shuts down, allowing Linux to boot up! Next step, disable BitLocker!

Disable BitLocker

If you have Windows 11 Pro or higher, you’ll also need to make sure that BitLocker is turned off. It normally is off by default but I encourage you to follow these steps to be sure.

1. Search for BitLocker in the search bar at the bottom of your screen and then click Manage BitLocker as shown below:

2. If by chance BitLocker is on as shown below, click “Turn off BitLocker.”

At this point, your computer is dual boot ready! 🎉🎉🎉

Shrink the Disk Partition

Next, Linux needs its own hard drive space in order to operate. In this tutorial I’m assuming that you’ve only got one disk on your computer. If you have two disks then dual booting is much easier because all you have to do is install Linux on the non Windows hard drive. I’ll discuss both single and multi disk partition options. Lets do it!

1. Search for “Disk Management” in the Start Menu search bar

2. Right click on your Linux installation disk (If you’ve got two hard disks on your computer, use the non Windows disk)

3. Click “Shrink Volume”

4. Type in the amount of space that you’d like to allocate for your Linux install. I recommend using at least 80-100 GBs if you can, but if not, at least 50 GBs. This dialog box measures in MBs, so 100 GBs would be 100,000 MBs, 50 would be 50,000 MBs, etc. Click “Shrink” when you’ve typed in your chosen amount.

5. What you’re end up with is a new partition that says “unallocated.” Mine says “Healthy” because it currently has a Linux install on it, so yours will say “Healthy” once your install is done.

Review and Next Steps . . .

In this tutorial we discussed setting up Linux dual boot along with thoughtful Windows settings adjustments. We then walked through turning off fast start and BitLocker. Next, you’ll need to create a bootable USB with the Linux flavor of your choice. Lastly, we shrunk the Windows partition to make room for Linux. In the next article in this series, we get to actually set up real dual boot! If you have any questions, comments, concerns or anything else, do let me know in the comments and I or the community will do the best we can to assist! Have a GREAT day! 😊