How to Dual Boot MX Linux and Windows 10/11 #

Part 1: Download Required Files #

1. Open your web browser and search for “MX Linux”
2. Go to the official MX Linux website
3. Navigate to the Downloads section
4. Download the latest version of MX Linux ISO (default desktop environment is XFCE)
5. Open a new tab and search for “Rufus”
6. Download the latest version of Rufus
7. Close your web browser once both downloads are complete

Part 2: Create Bootable USB #

1. Insert a USB drive (minimum 4GB capacity)
2. Go to your Downloads directory
3. Open Rufus
4. Select the MX Linux ISO file you just downloaded
5. Set Partition Scheme to GPT
6. Click Start
7. Click OK to confirm
8. Wait for the process to complete
9. Close Rufus when finished

Part 3: Prepare Hard Drive Space #

1. Right-click on the Windows Start menu
2. Select Disk Management
3. Select your correct drive
4. Right-click on your largest disk partition
5. Select Shrink Volume
6. Allocate at least 40GB of space for MX Linux
7. Confirm the shrink operation

Part 4: Boot from USB #

1. Click Restart on your computer
2. While restarting, ensure Secure Boot is disabled in BIOS (if enabled)
3. Press Escape or F12 key to open the boot menu
4. Select the USB option from the boot menu
5. The system will boot into MX Linux ISO

Part 5: Installation Process #

1. MX Linux will display a welcome screen – you can ignore it
2. Click the Installer icon on the desktop
3. Press Escape to skip the installation media check
4. Select your keyboard layout and language (English/US recommended)

Part 6: Create Partitions #

1. Click the GParted icon to open the partition editor
2. Verify the correct drive is selected in GParted
3. Locate the unallocated space you created in Windows

Create EFI Partition: #

4. Right-click on the unallocated partition
5. Select New
6. Set size to 500MB
7. Set file system to FAT32
8. Click Add

Create Root Partition: #

9. Right-click on the remaining unallocated space
10. Select New
11. Use the remaining free space as-is
12. Set file system to ext4
13. Click Add

Apply Changes: #

14. Click the checkmark at the top to create the new partitions
15. Wait for the operation to complete
16. Close GParted

Part 7: Configure Installation #

1. The installer will refresh and show the new partitions
2. Select the 500MB FAT32 partition
3. Mount it as ESP
4. Select the ext4 partition
5. Mount it as / (forward slash – root partition)
6. Click Next to begin installation
7. Enter your user details and password when prompted
8. Wait for installation to complete
9. Click Finish when done

Part 8: First Boot #

1. The system will automatically reboot into MX Linux
2. (If it doesn’t boot into MX Linux automatically, enter BIOS and change the boot priority to put MX Linux at the top)

Part 9: Using the Dual Boot System #

To boot into MX Linux: #

• At the GRUB menu during startup, select the MX Linux option

To boot into Windows: #

• At the GRUB menu during startup, select Windows Boot Manager

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Installation Complete! You now have a working dual boot system with MX Linux and Windows 10/11.

Visual Video Guide of this document: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy76ERFjrQk