This is a very simple tutorial for installing Linux on a hard drive that already has Windows OS on it.
- Do this at your own risk.
- We assume you have only ONE hard drive installed in this tutorial.
 
1. You will need partition software. (it makes it 1000% easier).
 a. I recommend Paragon
 b. Partition Magic will work as well.

2. You are going to chop your hard drive into pieces.
 a. One piece will be Windows (i.e. XP, Vista)
 b. The other Linux.

Windows is a hog when it comes to space so it is recommended to keep most of your space for Windows and the rest for Linux. A good rule of thumb is 20GB for Linux and the rest for Windows.

3. Partitioning your drive
 a. BACK UP any data you want to keep
 b. Your WHOLE hard drive will probably be WINDOWS.
 c. Using your software reduce the size of your Windows partition by 20½ GIGs (20,992MB).

4. Linux requires TWO partitions
 a. Linux Swap File
 b. Linux EXT2 or EXT3

5. You should have 20992MB FREE or UNALLOCATED
 a. Partition the rest 512MB as Linux Swap or Swap (the SWAP file should NOT be any larger than 512MB)
 b. Partition 20480MB (20GB)  either EXT2 or EXT 3 (it does not matter much)

6. Boot your computer from your LINUX CD
 a. Assign Swap to the small (512MB) partition
 b. Assign Linux to the large (20GB) partition

7. Install BOOT-LOADER
 a. GRUB is used widely today and the one most people prefer
 b. LILO (Last In Last Out) is also used
 
Good luck and have fun with Linux!

If you find this useful, bookmark the page and email it to others.  Thanks to Zelo for assistance with this tutorial.

[SIZE="1"]Tags: dualboot, dual-boot, dual boot, grub, lilo, bootloader, how to, how-to[/SIZE]