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I've been reading through the questions about installing Ubuntu alongside Windows 10, but none seem to address this question. If I have a computer with a Windows 10 installation but no backup media, and I want to install Ubuntu alongside my original Windows 10 installation, how do I go about this? I do not want to brick my Windows 10 installation.

I have Windows 10 installed already but I observe that when I shutdown Windows 10 I have to be careful to actually shut it down - otherwise it will do a hibernate/sleep which has an associated hiberfile. This makes it impossible to mount the drive from an Ubuntu live disc.

Also, I have noticed that Windows 7 is finicky and will complain if I edit the disk using gparted to create additional partitions. (complain = unrecoverable boot error) I have to make partition changes in Windows itself.

What are the specific actions I should take in order to be able to have a functioning Ubuntu 16.04 installation and the original Windows 10 installation on the same computer? If I don't get answers to this question, my plan is to forge ahead with trying to do this and write up my path to success as an answer. It would be great if this has already been done and there is a writeup somewhere.

dingo_kinznerhook
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    Installing an operating system is risky. So if you have no backup media, I suggest that you wait until you can get backup media, and backup your current Windows system. After that you can start installing Ubuntu alongside Windows. Otherwise you can install a virtual system, for example VirtualBox, and install Ubuntu in a VirtualBox virtual machine. It will be slower, but it will not be risky like installing alongside Windows. – sudodus Aug 25 '17 at 19:38
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    The only tricky part is resizing your Windows partition if needed (if there is no free space for Ubuntu). You may want to do this from Windows just to make sure it's still functional before the Ubuntu installation. The installation program then speaks for itself with a "install Ubuntu alongside Windows" options. Just follow the guide... – Biggybi Aug 25 '17 at 20:05

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Please see my answer here for a similar example.

Let me preface this by saying always backup your system, especially before undergoing hard drive changes.

The general process of what you are looking to do is to first partition your current hard drive which you can do in your already install Windows 10 system, and then install Ubuntu to the new partition.

However, if you have no way to backup your system, I would highly recommend virtualizing Ubuntu within your Windows 10 install so that you can play around with it safely without fear of breaking anything. Again, see my above linked answer for more information and feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Nathan Smith
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