How to Install Fedora 18 (Dual-boot Windows)

Fedora has been around since 2003 and has been a very popular Linux operating system. Fedora is owned and sponsored by Red Hat. The purpose of Fedora is to always have the latest and greatest technologies integrated into the operating system. Because of this Fedora is not well known for being the most stable operating system but none the less a great operating system. This guide will show you how to install Fedora 18 with the GNOME desktop environment as a dual-boot with Windows.

 

Before you begin make sure you have the following system requirements for this installation guide. This ensures a simple and easier installation.

 

RAM: 1 GB

CPU: 400MHz

HDD: 10 GB

The first step you need to do to complete the Fedora installation is to go to the Fedora website and download the installation DVD ISO image. The link to the download page can be found here: http://fedoraproject.org/en/get-fedora-options

Once you have downloaded the ISO image for the installation then you need to burn the ISO image to a blank DVD. If you do not know how to do this then do a Google search for “burning ISO image” using your operating system. I will be posting a guide soon on how to do this but for now there are many great tutorials out there.

Once you have burned the ISO image to a blank DVD then it is time to start the installation. Put the disk into the disk drive if it isn’t already and reboot your computer. When your computer reboots be sure to boot off of the Disk and not back into your current operating system. If your computer does not boot off of the disk then you may have to change your bios settings.

Once you boot off of the Fedora 18 disk then your screen should look like the image below.

 Fedora 18 installation - DVD boot menu

From the Fedora 18 installation DVD boot loader select “Install Fedora”. Once you select install Fedora you be taken to the language selection screen. From this screen you will choose your language and click continue.

 Fedora 18 installation - Language Selection

On the next screen you will be taken to the installation summary. From here you will visit each one of these selections to make sure your settings are correct.

 Fedora 18 installation - Summary

The first selection is the date and time settings. Choose this option and then select your time zone. Once you have completed this click done.

 Fedora18_Install026

Next you will choose the keyboard settings select your keyboard settings and then click done

 Fedora 18 installation - Keyboard Layout

Next you will choose the software selection settings. In the software selection options make sure that gnome desktop is selected and then click done.

 Fedora 18 installation - Software Selection

The next setting you will select is the installation destination. Once you have entered the installation destination settings you will select the hard drive you are installing to and then click continue.

 Fedora 18 installation - Installation Destination

You will then get a pop up box in which you will select standard partition as the partition type and check “I don’t need help, let me customize disk partitioning.” Click “reclaim space”.

 Fedora 18 installation - Installation Options

Once you are at the manual partitioning screen you will select the NTFS partition with Windows on it and then modify the desired capacity to the amount of space you want Windows to have. Click apply changes.

 Fedora 18 installation -  NTFS resize

You will then click the plus sign in the bottom left corner to add a partition. When the pop-up window comes up, set the mount point to “/boot” and the desired capacity to “100” as shown in the screenshot below.

 Fedora 18 installation - Add Boot Partition

Once you have completed this click “Add mount point” and then click the plus sign again to add a new partition. Enter “/” as the mount point and leave the desired capacity blank as shown below. Click “Add mount point”

 Fedora 18 installation - Add root partition

After completing the partitioning settings click “Finish Partitioning”

Fedora 18 installation - Finished Partitioning

Once you’re back to the installation summary screen click “Begin Installation”.

 Fedora 18 installation - Installation Summary

Fedora 18 will then begin to install to your computer as a dual-boot with Windows. On the screen you must also set your root password. In order to do this click on the “Root Password” box.

 Fedora 18 installation - Start Installation

Enter the password you want root to have and then confirm it. Click done when finished.

 Fedora 18 installation - Set Root Password

Now it is time to wait for the installation to complete. Be patient, this could take a while.

 Fedora 18 installation

Once the installation is complete, you will need to reboot your computer. Click reboot.

 Fedora 18 installation - Reboot

Upon rebooting choose “Fedora” at the grub boot loader to boot into Fedora 18.

 Fedora18_Install040

It is now time to set some basic user settings for your new Fedora installation. Click forward to continue.

 Fedora18_Install041

On the screen you will need to agree to the license agreement. Click forward to continue.

 Fedora 18 installation - Licence Agreement

Now you need to enter your name, username, and password. Also check that “Add to Administrators group” is checked. Click Forward.

 Fedora 18 installation - User Settings

It is now time to login to your Fedora 18 installation using the username and password you provided on the previous step. Click your name and enter your password to log in.

 Fedora 18 installation - Login Screen

Once you have logged in, you will come to the Fedora 18 desktop. Your screen should look like the one below.

 Fedora 18 installation - Desktop

Congratulations you have successfully installed Fedora 18 with the GNOME desktop onto your computer alongside Windows. If you like this guide, be sure to like and share on the toolbar to the left. Also be sure to leave a comment below and let me know if you have any questions. Enjoy.