How to Setup Dual Booting Windows and Linux with BURGGuide on Dual Booting Windows and Linux on the same computer and have a cool looking boot menu to select which operating system to load.
GRUB is the default bootloader for many Linux distributions. While it can dual-boot multiple operating systems, it is a little bland. This guide looks at how to install BURG, the graphical bootloader from the people who brought us GRUB.
Why Dual Boot?
A dual-boot configuration is essential for PC gamers who want to run Linux since virtually no games are developed for Linux. While you can configure them to run under WinE, it's often much simpler and faster performance to reboot and play it in Windows.
You may also have software such as Adobe Creative Suite, which only runs on Windows. It is often a good idea to run these applications in Windows, so dual booting is another ideal solution.
What is a bootloader?
A bootloader is a tiny piece of software which lives in a special part of your hard drive or SSD. The bootloader's job is to tell the CPU what operating system (OS) to load and how to load it. Typically, it will load up the kernel, which is the core of the OS, and once loaded, it will take over and load the rest of the system, the drivers, libraries and so on.
Normally, a bootloader will only contain instructions to load one operating system; however, this is a bit restrictive for some people, especially if you want to dual boot Windows 10 and Ubuntu, for example. The bootloader would need to know how to load the Windows and Linux kernels.
This is where GRUB and BURG come in. GRUB is a Multiboot bootloader. It was derived from GRUB, the GRand Unified Bootloader, originally designed and implemented by Erich Stefan Boleyn.
While it does a good job of allowing multiple operating systems to be booted, it's not the best looking. Wouldn't it be nice to have a nice graphical menu? This is where BURG comes in.
What is BURG
BURG is a relatively new bootloader based on GRUB. It stands for Brand-new Universal loadeR from GRUB. It is also GRUB spelt backwards. BURG allows you to replace the boring text-based menu of GRUB with a nice graphical menu with logos and background images. BURG is also themeable; you can download BURG themes to customise its appearance.
How to dual boot Linux and Windows 10
Dual boot Linux and Windows 10 is easy as long as you follow these step-by-step instructions and remember the golden rule - always install Windows first. This is because Windows has no idea or concept of another operating system, and the Windows installer will overwrite any bootloaders Linux (or any other OS) will have installed. Conversely, Linux will happily detect Windows and automatically configure GRUB with the Windows boot option.
You will need a Windows installation CD/USB and the installation media for your chosen Linux distribution. You should also have backed up anything on the hard drive you wish to keep, as Windows will typically format the drive during installation. You can dual boot using multiple partitions on the same hard drive or dual boot using two separate hard drives.
The first step to dual boot Windows 10 and Ubuntu is to install Windows 10. I've linked in a separate guide if you're unfamiliar with the process. It is an easy process; follow the steps.
Next, we need to install Linux. Again, I've linked in a guide to installing Ubuntu. Select the option that installs the Linux system alongside Windows; the other option will format the drive again.
Once the Linux installation is complete, you should have a dual-booting system. When you turn your computer on, you should see the GRUB bootloader showing options for dual-booting Ubuntu and Windows.
How to Install BURG
The process for installing BURG is simple. These instructions are for Debian/Ubuntu/Mint, but a similar process should be followed for other distributions.
Boot into your Linux operating system and launch the terminal.
Add the BURG PPA to the repository.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:n-muench/burg
Then, download and install the loader, themes and emulator using the following command.
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install burg burg-themes
It should ask you to write the new bootloader to MBR during installation. If you skip that step, you can later use the following command to update the MBR of sda1.
sudo burg-install "(sda1)"
Running BURG
You can launch the BURG emulator using the command:
sudo burg-emu
This will show an emulator displaying the current theme and allowing you to select alternate themes. There are several which come preloaded with BURG, and you can also download BURG themes and install new styles for your boot menu.
Do not use Grub Customizer to configure BURG as it just corrupts burg.cfg file and renders the BURG system useless. If this happens, typically, you will have the BURG bootloader menu, but it will display a text-based menu similar to GRUB. You cannot change themes, nor can you configure it. You can only remove BURG and switch back to GRUB, then install BURG again, avoiding GRUB Customizer.
sudo apt-get remove --purge burg burg-common burg-emu burg-pc burg-themes burg-themes-common
How to Install BURG themes
BURG themes are archive files you must extract to /boot/grub/themes. Once extracted, run the BURG emulator and hit F2 to select a theme and F3 to change the resolution.
Removing BURG
If you wish to remove BURG and return to GRUB, run these commands in a shell prompt.
sudo apt-get remove --purge burg burg-themes sudo add repository -r ppm:n-muench/burg sudo update-grub
Dual Booting Problems
As with everything in life, there are a few issues with dual-booting two different operating systems. These are listed below, along with a few workarounds.
Access to files
Linux can read any of your files stored on the Windows partition without much trouble; however, Windows cannot and cannot read from the Linux partition. This is down to the filesystem type. While there are third-party drivers which allow Windows to read EXT3/4, they are buggy at best. The best solution is to use a separate partition or hard drive for data storage. This can be NTFS or exFAT, both of which can be read by Windows and Linux. Use this to store your files; you can access them from either system.
As a bonus tip, storing your data separately from the OS means you can format and reinstall the OS without having to back up and restore all your data each time. It's separate hard drive.
Adobe and FlexNet
Adobe products use anti-piracy management software called FlexNet. This software partially sits between the bootloader and the beginning of the first partition. This is also where GRUB is installed, so installing Adobe CS3 and above will overwrite GRUB. If you try and reinstall GRUB, you get a message such as:
Sector 48 is already used by FlexNet; avoiding it. This software may cause boot or other problems in future. Please ask its authors not to store data in the boot track.
If you are planning on using Adobe products in Windows, you should install them before Linux to prevent your system from becoming unbootable. You can also uninstall FlexNet, but this won't stop the bootloader from being overwritten. It may also affect your licencing.
If you have any tips for dual boot Ubuntu and Windows 10, please share them in the comments below!
