Introduction

In this article, we are going to explain how to Dual Boot Windows 8 and Linux Mint on the same PC. In Windows 8, if we might want to test out both Windows 8 and Linux Mint then there is a couple of things that are needed.

How to Dual Boot Windows 8 and Linux Mint on the PC?

Step 1
In Windows 8 Desktop, first, we press Win + R key. The Run window opens. Then type "diskmgmt.msc" into the Run box and click "OK".
run-window-in-windows8.png
Step 2
The Disk Management window opens. Right-click on our drive containing Windows 8 and select Shrink Volume from the context menu.
shrink-volume-in-windows8.png
Step 3
Now enter the size of the hard disk in megabytes to shrink the partition. We recommend a minimum of 10GB.
disk-management-in-windows8.png
Step 4
Inset our Mint DVD and boot our PC from the DVD drive, press the F11 or F12 key.
boot-menu-in-windows8.png
Step 5
The DVD should automatically boot into its Live mode, however, if you bump a key and are prompted simply choose to start it.
click-linux-mint-start.png
Step 6
Once booted, we can start the installation by double-clicking on the Install Linux Mint shortcut on the Desktop.
click-continue-in-windows8.png
Step 7
Click the "Continue" tab and get to the installation type section.
installation-type-window-in-windows8.png
Step 8
We now need to select where to install Mint. Scroll down until we see a partition called "free space".
install-now-in-windows8.png
Step 9
Double-click on it to bring up the Format menu, here accept all the defaults except for the mount point, where we should enter a single forward slash, then click "Ok".
create-partition-in-windows8.png
Step 10
Now we can click on the "Install Now" button.
click-install-now.png
Step 11
It then asks for a few configuration settings while the OS is busy installing.
keyboard-window-in-windows8.png
Step 12
We will need to reboot our PC when the installation is finished, as we can see now how easy it is to choose our OS at start-up.
windows-recovery-environment-in-windows8.png
Our default OS will now be Linux Mint, but we always have the choice of switching back to Windows 8 from the Grub boot menu at any time.

Summary

In this article, we learned about Windows 8 Dual Boot and Linux Mint on the Same PC.