Windows sure has come a long way. From Ballmer being super vocal about DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS while simultaneously laughing opensource software out of the room to Microsoft doing a complete 180 degrees and being one of the biggest champions of open source software. Now you can even run Linux natively via WSL2. HI BALLMER!!

If you ever wanted to take a dive into Linux but didn't want to do so via a VM or via WSL2 (which is pretty excellent if you ask me) and wanted a very much hands on approach while at the same time having a contingency plan (namely: escape back to Windows) then you are in the right place.

We will be installing Ubuntu Linux alongside Windows and then we will "uninstall" it so that your system is back to normal.
Just in case it doesn't work out I recommend taking a whole system snapshot with the excellent Macrium Reflect software and also create the USB rescue media if you have an extra flashdrive handy.

Some assumptions:

  • You will be dualbooting on ONE drive. If you have a spare drive handy then you might have to tweak this tutorial a bit.
  • You already have a Ubuntu install ready flash drive. If not, grab Rufus, grab the Ubuntu iso and get to work.
  • You will backup your entire drive using Macrium Reflect before we start doing shenanigans.

Installing Ubuntu:

  1. Right click Windows logo and open Disk Management.
  2. Right click your Windows partition and click on shrink and shrink by howmuchever space you want to allocate to Linux.
  3. Now install Ubuntu onto that partition. During installation you will have the option to choose which partition you want to install it to.
    1. The cool thing is it will automatically update your EFI partition to insert an entry for booting into Ubuntu and/or Windows.
  4. You're set! Enjoy Linux!

Uninstalling Ubuntu:

  1. Boot into Windows
  2. Download EasyUEFI trial.
  3. Open EasyUEFI, load your partition (autodetects) and remove references with Ubuntu Linux on it.
  4. Now right click Windows logo and again pull up Disk Management.
  5. Remove the Linux partition.
  6. Extend the Windows partition to original size.
  7. Done! Back to normal.

IF the above didn't work, dont fret. Just fire up the PC using Macrium Rescue media and restore your disk back to normal. Obviously this will take a chunk of time more than the above which basically takes 5 mins (uninstalling part).

Hope that helped!