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I am currently using Windows 8.1. Now I want to use Ubuntu 14.04 as the 2nd operating system in my Laptop. I have searched many and watched many tutorials of dual booting. But in most tutorial Ubuntu was the parent OS. But I want to make Windows 8.1 as my parent OS.Can anyone please help me with a complete tutorial that how can I do that. I exactly want my PC ask me to choose an OS on start screen under windows 8.1

Md. Abdur Razzak
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  • Almost all instructions I have seen have Windows first and it is difficult to get Ubuntu as first boot option. With UEFI you can set Windows as default and use one time boot key to choose Ubuntu. Or set grub menu to default to Windows. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI AND: http://askubuntu.com/questions/221835/installing-ubuntu-on-a-pre-installed-uefi-supported-windows-8-system Be sure to fully backup Windows & efi partition before install. Check hardware user manual for one time boot key often f12 or f10 but varies by vendor. In UEFI keep Windows as default boot option. – oldfred May 01 '15 at 15:19

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(Disclaimer: I've only done this on Windows 7, however I understand it should work just as well on 8.1.)

Step 1

Install EasyBcd on Windows.

Step 2

Make sure you have a recovery or installation cd/usb for Windows 8. You'll need it. You can generate one from within Windows 8 itself if you don't have one. See http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/create-usb-recovery-drive for instructions. It might be a good idea to write down your Windows 8 key as well.

Step 3

Install Ubuntu. Follow whatever guide you find for that. Just make sure you don't erase the Windows partition. At this point, you should be able to boot into Ubuntu only using grub, not Windows. You may have an option for Windows in grub, but that isn't what you want.

Step 4

Boot into your recovery/installation cd/usb. Choose repair Windows and let it fix the startup problems. When this is done, you should be able to boot into Windows, but not anything else.

Step 5

Boot into Windows. Start EasyBcd. Add an booting option, choose "linux". Save. You should now have dual boot from the Windows bootloader.

ike
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  • If Windows 8 pre-installed then you have UEFI and should not need EasyBCD as UEFI is also a boot manager. UEFI is a lot different than BIOS or in UEFI called CSM - Compatibility Support Module to emulate BIOS. – oldfred May 01 '15 at 15:16
  • That's possible. They didn't specify that it was pre-installed. Would http://www.easyuefi.com/index-us.html work then? – ike May 01 '15 at 15:23
  • @oldfred EasyBcd does support EFI editing. https://neosmart.net/blog/2012/announcing-easybcd-2-2-windows-8-dual-booting-and-more/ How else would you add a linux booting option from within Windows? – ike May 01 '15 at 15:26
  • UEFI is a boot manager or menu. Grub is both a boot manager and boot loader for Linux. But with UEFI and its own one time reboot, from Windows BCD you can add a reboot option. Maybe not best if dual booting and rebooting a lot. But a few systems it is the only way to get dual booting working. bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path \EFI\ubuntu\grubx64.efi And then from Windows menu you force a reboot and UEFI has a one time UEFI boot entry. – oldfred May 01 '15 at 15:29