• Have you burned a CD before? This time you'll make a bootable "Live CD" from an ISO image downloaded from Linux website. Immediately click on the giant download button at that site. This will put a finger under 700 megabytes of ISO file onto your hard drive named "pclinuxos-200x.iso".

Memorize where you put it as well as agree to a couple of hours for it to appear. Saving to My Documents is a fine position. Don't delete it until after installing Linux - as insurance next to using too much hard drive space for Linux. in addition, you may possibly desire to burn more copies for your friends!

• Step 2

Linux is FREE!
You did back up irreplaceable data, right? A disk cleanup? And a scan-disk? If not, do so now also return.

Open My Documents, and double click on the ISO image of "pclinuxos-200x.iso", as well as "Open With" your CD burning program [Nero, or download "gratis-ware" named ImgBurn].

Execute the burning application steps to make your bootable CD. Mostly, insert a blank CD-R or CD-RW and click okay. Don't just make a data backup - burn the ISO image. ImgBurn helps you keep away from that misunderstanding.

• Step 3

Restart Windows with the compact disk in the drive. This will boot your computer from the compact disk openly into Linux. If the disc doesn't boot, power on again with push F12 or enter BIOS [F2, F8, ESC, varies] to edit your boot device order. You would like to change the boot device priority and select it as first and hard drive as second boot device.

If still not booting - ensure that you didn't do a data backup as a substitute of an ISO burn. If a data backup was finished, the compact disk will have only one file. If you burned it [ImgBurn is the most excellent tool for this], there will be loads of files as well as directories on your new compact disk.

• Step 4

The first time you make use of your fresh disc, arrow down to "MediaCheck" to be 100% sure it's good - "LiveCD" is default - and push Enter. The new CD will be anxiously checked for errors before arranged. This takes about 5 extra minutes and then startup will resume. Worth the effort so no errors happen later!

Allow all the default selection to questions asked during the Linux startup - 10 more Enter key pushes moreover the system is completely configured for Linux. The whole procedure takes less than 5 minutes. If troubles occur, you can understand the configuration questions also use noticeable options - but the defaults work most of the time.

• Step 5

Observe the symbol that says "Install PCLinuxOS" as well as double click it. And immediately click on the “Next" until you perceive the 4 choices for partitioning. And Click on the "Custom disk partitioning" radio button. You will resize your windows partition [using DiskDrake - see screenshot] to leave 7 GB obtainable for Linux, so click on the blue "hda1" as well as interpret the statistics. Note down your Windows partition size (18 GB) with percent used (49%). That will work, so click on "Resize".

Note down for advanced folks: if you have several partitions, you can resize any of them - or even delete them - or see as well as make out free space not even used yet. But this tool can zap everything, so continue with extreme caution!

• Step 6

Shift the slider on the "Choose the new size" bar to the left until it has lessen the size by about 7 GB. Example: if it started as 18000MB, go down until it says 11000MB plus click ok. The slider won't let you construct the Windows partition too small.

The partition will be resized with a fresh empty 7 GB partition will be produced - and then you must shut down your PC, restart Linux from the disc, and then execute steps 3 as well as 4 again. On step 5, pick the Radio Button that says "Use Available Space". Install to the space that you just produced. Now just let the installation complete by obliging defaults!

• Step 7

IMPORTANT: You will be asked for a root password, then for a usual user name with user password. Memorize your root with user answers. Don’t make use of understandable passwords, especially for root user`1. Linux is secure so you require those passwords. And when you use Linux from the hard drive - do so as the regular user – and not as root!

When installation completes, shut down, remove the CD - and start up again. That brand new PC startup menu you perceive will let you select Windows or else Linux. It will rapidly default to Linux - but that can be changed.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfrqlqEJqVc&feature=channel"]YouTube - Computer Software & Hardware Advice : How to Add Linux to Your Windows Computer[/ame]