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A few months ago I bought a new HP laptop with pre-installed Windows 10. Due to Windows' malfunction I had to uninstall and reinstall. I didn't want to purchase a new version of Windows 10, but to install Linux instead. Before that, a friend suggested I install a cracked version of Windows 10 in my pc, to see if and how they will run, before we uninstall it completely and that we did.

A few days ago and after 5 months running Windows 10 Enterprise, every time I turn on my PC a message pops up ("Your Windows license will expire soon") asking me to to provide them a Product Key. I enter the Product Key, but Microsoft does not accept it... Anyway!

With that said, I decided that now is the right time to install Ubuntu, but first I would like to make you a few questions and, if possible, to receive some clarifying answers from you. I would, really, appreciated it!

So, please, can you tell me how can I install Ubuntu and uninstall Windows 10 completely, but keeping all my data safe?

My System:

Processor --> 1.50 GHz
RAM --> 4 GB (3.46 GB usable)
System type --> 64-bit

The Hard disc is 1TB and my friend had partitioned it like this:

C (Windows)--> 123 GB (100 GB free. So, Windows takes 23GB space.)
D (Programs) --> 269 GB
F (My personal data, i.e music, photos, data for my work, etc.) --> 269 GB
G (Other files) --> 269 GB (For now, here I have 269 GB free space) 

Now,my questions:

  1. Can I install Ubuntu in "G" and if yes, will I have any problem in case I want to uninstall Windows from "C"?
  2. If I would like to install Ubuntu in "C" (along with Windows, but in different "file"), do I need to make partition in "C". If yes, can you tell me how to do it, please?
  3. Which one of the above is the safest (and easiest) way to install Ubuntu, without losing my data (i.e. Programs and personal data. Well, I suppose I won't lose them because they are in different places in the disc, but I would like to know for sure)
  4. Do I need to format my PC in any step of the whole procedure?
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    Why don't you back your data up onto a USB or another drive, and wipe the disk and install? Resizing and moving partitions blindly has a large potential to lose data.
    – negusp
    Dec 5, 2016 at 13:21
  • Thanks a lot for your reply,Patrick Negus. Actually,I was wondering if I could install Ubuntu in "C" or "G" and also keep my pc partitioned in this way,in order to avoid partitioning the hard disc once again. I thought that if I could install it there where Windows are at the moment (i.e. "C"),I won't lose any of my other data in case I mess up with the whole procedure. :(
    – Neo
    Dec 6, 2016 at 1:04
  • You do know that your Windows product key is imbedded in the UEFI, but only for UEFI boot. If you install in BIOS boot mode you must purchase new key. answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/…
    – oldfred
    Dec 8, 2016 at 19:41

1 Answer 1

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No matter what you are going to do, you should back-up your data before you do it!

  1. Yes you can. Its called dual boot and shouldn't be a problem (it is problematic if you install Windows after Ubuntu, but not the other way around)

  2. I dont know for sure, but i think this would only work if you'd make another partition in C: (but you can do that with onboard tools or e.g. Gparted)

  3. The safest and easiest approach of these imho is the first one. But the safest and easiest way in general is to back up your data and nuke your harddrive, install Ubuntu and afterwards restore your data from the backup.

  4. I guess your partitions are formated in ntfs, then yes, you need to format at least one partition as swap space and one in e.g. ext4 so that Ubuntu can run on it.

That being said i would suggest you just run the ubuntu installer and follow these instructions until 3. step, where you choose "something else".

Until you hit the install button no changes are made to the filesystem, so its fairly safe.

Then you have to figure out what corresponds to F: and nuke everything else (or whatever you dont need) to make room.

There are extensive internetguides on how to properly format a disk to put linux on it. And you should read them before trying to do this (and have a smartphone or another computer at hand to reference them while partitioning).

here is an example link where you could start your research

But the easiest solution by far is to just back the files up, let ubuntu do the partitioning for you and put them back onto your computer later.

If you want to keep Windows for dualboot, Ubuntu should recognize that there is already a system installed and install itself alongside it.

TL;DR make a backup!

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