In this video, I'm going to show you how

to dual-boot between Windows and a Linux

Mint using a modern a laptop. So, in

this example, you can see I'm using

Windows,

but if I reboot the laptop, so restart

it,

what you'll notice is that it shows a

Linux boot menu. So, if I do nothing at

this point, it's going to boot into a

Linux Mint. And there you go, we've

booted into Linux Mint. So, I could

close this welcome screen. As you can

see here, I could open applications like

LibreOffice and write a document using

Linux. So, what I'll do here is simply

reboot the laptop again.

When the boot menu displays, I will boot

into Windows rather than into Linux.

And there you go, I've booted back into

Windows. So, in this video, I'm going to

show you all the steps on how to

dual-boot between Windows and Linux Mint

on a modern a laptop. You may encounter

issues like I did when I tried to

dual-boot using this modern laptop. As

an example, this laptop by default had

BitLocker enabled, so I had to disable

that to install a Linux and dual-boot

between Windows and a Linux. This laptop

also uses secure boot, which is

supported with Linux Mint. So, you don't

have to disable that, but you may have

to disable secure boot if you use other

operating systems. So, in other words,

other Linux distributions. So, I'm going

to show you all the steps. I'm going to

show you how to download Linux Mint.

I'll show you how to download Rufus,

which we're going to use to write the

ISO image to a USB thumb drive or USB

stick like this. I'll show you how to

set up partitions because we are going

to install Windows and Linux side by

side on the same hard drive or same SSD

in this laptop. Now, if you're using a

desktop, it's better, if at all

possible, to install a Linux on a

separate hard drive or separate SSD to

Windows because the boot loaders can

interfere with each other, but that's

not possible in this example because

I've got a laptop and I don't want to

open it up and change the SSD or insert

extra SSDs, etc. I want to simply dual

boot with the laptop that I currently

have between Windows and Linux. So,

we're going to install Linux and Windows

side by side. So, I'm going to be

showing you a whole bunch of steps in

this video. Use the timestamps below to

jump to the relevant parts of the video

that you're most interested in. Now, I'm

using a fantastic little device here.

It's called a Jet KVM that allows me to

remotely control the laptop and also

record the screen. So, as an example, I

am running a Mac here. I have connected

to the Jet KVM. I can set it to full

screen, etc., but I can also remotely

control the laptop and record the screen

when it's rebooting or when I'm doing

the installation. So, that's why I've

got the laptop here, but I'm looking at

my computer in front of me because I'm

simply remotely controlling the laptop

using the Jet KVM. So, as an example,

when it's booting up like this, I can

control the laptop using my local

computer through the Jet KVM and I get a

good screen recording

of the laptop as it's booting or when

I'm doing the installation. The

resolution isn't as high as the laptop,

but that doesn't matter. It allows me to

see things as I'm working with the

laptop. So, great little device, the Jet

KVM. I'm not sponsored to say that, by

the way. I purchased the Jet KVM myself.

Now, I will say this, G have given me

this laptop. So, I'm going to mark this

video as sponsored, but they're not

paying me to create this video and

they're not going to have any input in

the results or output of this video.

What I simply want to show you in this

video that using a modern laptop, so

thanks to G have come sending me this

laptop so that I can do this. So, I want

to show you using a very modern laptop

that it's possible to dual boot between

Windows and Linux even if Microsoft are

doing all kinds of things to make things

more difficult like using Bitdefender to

encrypt data files, etc. I'm going to

show you how to turn that off and how to

get things working even with a modern

laptop. But, that's enough talking. Let

me show you all the steps now. Now,

before you even get started with

installation, you need to make some

decisions. There are certain steps that

you need to take before you get started.

Number one, back up your data. Highly

recommend that you back up your data.

When you change partitions and you do

things which we going to do in this

video, it can affect your data.

Something could go wrong. So, number one

step is back up your data. Once you've

done that, the next thing we need to do

is disable Bitlocker. We are going to

have issues if we try and install Linux

alongside Windows on the same SSD or

hard drive on our computer. So, I'm

going to assume that you've backed up

your data. I'll show you how to disable

Bitlocker. So, the first thing I'm going

to do is search for Bitlocker. So,

manage Bitlocker. This is in control

panel. So, under control panel, system

and security, Bitlocker drive

encryption. You can back up your

recovery key. So, as an example, back it

up to your Microsoft account. I don't

have a Microsoft account, so I'm going

to simply save it to a removable drive.

So, I'll save it to this drive. Recovery

key has now been saved. So, I can remove

my drive. So, legit. That. So, I've now

saved the recovery key onto this drive.

I am going to insert a separate USB

drive or USB stick into my computer, so

a different one, which I'm going to use

for installing Linux. It's actually got

that software installed already, but

we'll wipe that and install a Linux on

that drive. But, again, you may want to

save your Bitlocker recovery key to your

Microsoft account. Be aware of the

privacy issues if you do that. Microsoft

has provided uh those keys to law

enforcement to allow them to decrypt

people's computers. So, you may want to

store that offline, or you may simply

want to print the recovery key. I'm

going to click finish there, and then

what I'm going to do is I'm going to

turn off BitLocker. So, I'm going to

turn it off. It may take a long time to

decrypt uh your data. So, be aware of

that. So, you can see BitLocker is

decrypting uh the drives. I can check my

drives by right-clicking on the Windows

icon going to Disk Management. And at

the moment, you can see that that drive

is BitLocker encrypted. So, it needs to

be decrypted. So, that could take a long

time depending on your drive. But be

aware if you don't do this, you're going

to have issues when you're trying to

install Linux Mint as I'm showing you

now on screen. I tried to do this

without BitLocker disabled, and I wasn't

able to install Linux on the computer.

We can actually see that on the Ubuntu

website. Mint is based on Ubuntu. As I

show you here, the Ubuntu installer

might inform you that you can't proceed

without first deactivating Windows

BitLocker. And as an example, they have

a section on BitLocker in Ubuntu

installation, and they say, "If you're

using BitLocker, the hard drive content

isn't accessible, and it appears as

random noise, the Ubuntu installer can't

correctly map data and cannot install

alongside Windows without data loss. And

additionally, some manufacturers ship

systems with BitLocker enabled, but the

hard drive content is not yet encrypted.

In this case, the Ubuntu installer also

can't correctly map the data. So, what

can you do? You can cancel your

installation and continue using Windows,

decide that the stored data on Windows

is not important and override it, or

Ubuntu can erase everything, or you can

decide to turn off BitLocker. And that's

what we've decided to do here." And then

they have a section where they show you

how to disable BitLocker. I've basically

shown you that here. This is why you

want to back up your data before you do

this kind of stuff. As we can see here

now, BitLocker is turned off. I didn't

have a lot of data on this computer, so

BitLocker is now turned off. So, what

I'll do is right-click on the Windows

icon and go to disk management again,

make that slightly bigger, and notice

BitLocker is not enabled on that

partition at all. Okay, so now that

we've backed up our data and we've

disabled BitLocker, we can install

Linux. So, let's get to the interesting

part, setting up the laptop to install

Linux. Okay, so the first thing I'll do

is insert the USB drive into the

computer so that we can get started, and

I am going to use a browser to download

the required software. I'm going to use

Brave here. You could use Edge if you

want to. Brave, however, is a browser

that I'd recommend that you use. So,

we're going to go to linuxmint.com

and we're going to click download. Now,

in this example, there are two versions

that you can download. I'm going to

download this first version, very

popular, and then scrolling down, you

need to choose a mirror to download the

software from. So, as an example, if

you're in the US, you could download the

software from somewhere, let's say a

Harvard as an example, and download it.

Okay, so the next piece of software that

you need is Rufus. So, you can download

that by going to rufus.ie. I'll put

links to the websites below to help you,

but all I'm going to do now is scroll

down, and I'm going to get the portable

version. You could get the standard

edition if you wanted to, but I'm going

to download the 64-bit version of

Windows because that's what I'm using

here. So, I'll go to my downloads

folder, and what you can see here is

Rufus has downloaded. I'm still waiting

for Mint to download, but I've

previously downloaded the software in

preparation for this video. But, what

I'll do is start the installation of

Rufus. Now, we asked, "Do you want to

allow Rufus to check for application

updates online?" If you're really

concerned about privacy, say no here.

But, in my example, I'm just going to

say yes so that I can get updated

versions of the software. And as you can

see, it's picked up that I have a USB

thumb drive inserted or USB stick

inserted. It's a 128 gig. You don't need

such a big USB drive. 16 gig, 32 gig is

fine. We then need to specify the ISO

that we're going to install. So, I'm

going to click select. And in my

example, I'm going to go to my Linux

ISOs. So, in other words, the ISOs that

I had previously downloaded. And as you

can see here, I've got Linux Mint

selected. So, I'm going to click open to

open that. And now you can see that the

format options are shown. So, I'm going

to click start to start writing the ISO

to the drive. Now, be careful. This is

going to be wiped. So, anything on that

drive is going to be destroyed. So, make

sure that you've backed up anything

important on that drive. In my example,

there isn't anything important on that

drive. So, I'm okay wiping it. So, I'm

going to click start to write the

software. Now, you've got two options

here. You can either use ISO image mode

or DD image mode. So, because that's a

recommended option, that's what I'm

going to use. And I'm going to click

okay to start the write. Now, in this

example, a download is required. The

image uses Grub 2.12, but the

application only includes the

installation files for Grub 2.14. A

different version of Grub may not be

compatible. So, select yes to connect to

the internet and attempt to download the

correct version. So, I'm going to say

yes to download the correct version. And

then we get another warning. Do we want

to download the software? Yes. And then

we get a warning that all data on the

drive will be destroyed. So, I'm going

to click okay because I'm happy to

delete everything on that drive and then

write the image to the USB flash drive.

So, as you can see there, it's

formatting the drive. It's now copying

the image. So, I'm going to speed up the

video at this point while uh the files

are copied. You simply need to wait for

the files to be copied across at this

point.

Okay, and there you go. It's now

written. So, I'm going to click close.

And now, I'll be able to boot off the

USB drive and install Linux. Now, before

we install Linux Mint, one of the things

I like to do is go to disk management

and resize the partitions at this point.

Now, you can resize partitions during

the installation process, but I prefer

doing it here in Windows. So, what I'm

going to do is right click on my NTFS

partition. You can see this is about 1.8

TB in size, and I'm going to shrink this

volume. So, basically, I'm going to make

some space available so that I can

install Linux Mint. And you can decide

how big you want this to be. I'm going

to just make it 500 gig, but you could

make it a terabyte as an example.

However big you want it to be for your

Linux installation. I'm going to shrink

that volume now, and there you go. You

can see we've got about 488 gig of free

space. Windows has about 1.3 TB of

space. So, I'll close that down, and

what I'm going to do now is press and

hold shift, and at the same time, I am

going to restart Windows because I want

it to boot off the USB. So, what I'm

going to do now is say use a device, and

I'm going to select my removable device.

Okay, so we have various options now. We

can start Linux Mint. We can use

compatibility mode. We can boot from

next volume, look at firmware settings,

etc. But, I'm simply going to boot Linux

Mint because that's what we want to do.

We're going to boot basically a live

image, which it then will allow us to

install Linux Mint.

Okay, so what I'm going to do now is

double click install Linux Mint. The

language that I'm using is English, so

I'm going to select that and click

continue. In my example, I'm going to

use a US English, so I'm going to use

that option and click continue. Now, you

probably want to connect to a Wi-Fi

network so that it can download

third-party software, download updates,

etc. So, I'm going to select my Wi-Fi

network and put in my password. So, put

in your password and click connect and

then I can click con- tinue. Okay, I'm

going to install multimedia codecs,

which allows me to play some video

formats. That means I need to use secure

boot, so I'm going to put in my

password. So, I'm going to specify a

password and click continue. Now, you

have a few options here. You can install

Linux Mint alongside the Windows boot

manager. So, that's typically the option

you want to use if you just want a easy

installation. But, I have had problems

at times, so you might want to use

something else. If you want to erase

Windows entirely, you can erase the disk

and install Linux Mint, but be careful,

that's going to delete everything. So,

I'll choose the first option and let's

make sure that it installs in the right

place. So, I'll click install now, and

what it's done is it says that it's

going to make changes on my NVMe drive,

which is correct. So, it's going to

create these partitions on my NVMe

drive. Now, if you want to specify it

yourself, you can choose something else,

click continue, and then you can have a

look at your various drives. So, I could

select my drive. This is my 2 TB drive,

and I could decide how to create

partitions on that drive. So, as an

example, configure partitions in that

free space. So, click plus and create a

partition. But, I'm going to do it the

easy way. I'm just going to get Linux

Mint to do all the work for me. So, I'm

going to say install Linux Mint

alongside the Windows boot manager,

click install Now, but please just make

sure that it's making the changes on the

right drive, so that it creates right

partitions on the drive. So, that's good

for me, so I'm going to click continue.

You can specify your time zone. I'll

just specify New York for the moment.

Click continue. I'll specify my name. I

could change my computer name if I

wanted to. I could specify a username

and password. I'm simply going to set a

very basic password and I'm going to

allow it to log in automatically. You

probably don't want to do that. You're

going to want to use strong passwords

and require that your password be used

when you log in. You could encrypt your

home folder if you wanted to. I'm not

going to do that here because I want to

be able to read the Linux files from

Windows and Windows files from Linux, so

I'm going to click continue and now it

starts copying the files for my

installation.

And there you go, the installation has

finished. We are told that we can

continue testing Linux Mint if we want

to or we can reboot the computer, so I'm

going to click Restart Now to reboot it.

We're now told that we need to remove

our USB drive or USB stick and then

press Enter to continue. And there you

go, the computer is now rebooting. Now,

I get a message saying perform MOK

management. I'm going to say continue

boot and let's see what it says. Notice

we have the option to boot into Linux

Mint or we can boot into Windows. So,

I'm going to boot into Linux Mint. Okay,

so a welcome screen shows saying welcome

to Linux Mint. There are some options

that you can have a look at here, like

first steps. You can change your desktop

colors. There's a bunch of options that

you can use, such as updating your

drivers, etc. I'm going to simply close

that and what I can do now is look at

different applications. What I will do

here is change the display so that it's

mirrored. So, I'll apply that. It will

drop the resolution a lot though, but

I'll keep the settings just so that I

have it over here as well as in front of

me so that I can remotely control this.

Now, Linux Mint like a lot of Linux

distributions comes with software that

you may find very useful. As an example,

if I go to office, LibreOffice is

available. Free software. You don't need

Microsoft Word. You can go on the

internet. So, as an example, I could

start Firefox and simply go to a website

such as davidbombal.com and there you

go, the website displays. Now again,

I've dropped the resolution a lot here

because I'm remotely controlling the

computer. I could go to google.com and

obviously go to whichever website I

wanted to. So, let's go to uh

chat.openai.com

as an example. So, there you go, I have

a web browser, I have software, I have

office software here. In this video, I'm

not going to go through all the software

that's available to you. As you can see,

I'm connected to Wi-Fi. I was able to go

on to the internet. I could update my

operating system and do this all through

a graphical user interface rather than

having to go through the CLI. There are

various Linux distributions that you can

use if you need to Linux. I personally

prefer Zorin OS for someone who's new,

but Linux Mint is another great option.

Again, just in case people are concerned

about the low display here, that's only

because I have mirrored the displays.

So, if I say reset to defaults, the

screen has a much higher resolution. I'm

simply controlling it remotely once

again through my JetKVM. That just

lowers the resolution. But, there you

go. I have got a Linux Mint installed on

this laptop. Now, before we end off, I'm

going to reboot the computer. So, I'm

going to say restart and hopefully what

it'll do now is reboot and give me the

option to boot into Windows. So, you can

see the laptop is booting up and I could

choose either Linux Mint or the Windows

Boot Manager. I'll choose Windows so

that I can boot into Windows. And there

you go, I've booted back into Windows.

And again, if I reboot this computer, so

something restart it, I should have the

boot menu that allows me to boot back

into Linux or back into Windows. And

there you go. So, let's choose Linux.

So, there you go. We've booted into

Linux Mint as an example. Once again, I

can have a look at various applications.

So, I could open up a web browser and go

to the internet. So, as an example, I

could go to my website and there you go

or go to google.com, etc. So, I have

internet connectivity. I can run

applications. Once again, I like like

LibreOffice and create a document here.

Okay, so I hope this video has helped

you. I hope that I've been able to show

you all the steps to dual boot between

Windows and Linux Mint. You don't have

to use Linux Mint. I'm just showing you

that as an option. You may prefer Zorin

OS or Ubuntu or another distribution.

Steps are very similar between these

distributions, but I'm hoping this has

helped you. Let me know in the comments

if there's anything else you want to

learn about, if there's anything that

I've missed. But hopefully this video

has helped you. I'm David Bombal and I

want to wish you all the very best.