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This article mainly shows you "how to replace the Linux distribution under the dual-system guidance", the content is easy to understand, clear, hope to help you solve your doubts, the following let the editor lead you to study and learn "how to replace the Linux distribution under the dual-system guidance" this article.

Replace Linux distribution in dual system boot

I installed both Windows 10 and Linux Mint 19 using dual system boot, and then I replaced Linux Mint 19 with Elementary OS 5, while keeping my personal files (including music, pictures, videos, and files in the home directory) after the replacement.

You need to be prepared for the following:

Using Linux and Windows dual system Boot

The USB live version of the Linux distribution that needs to be installed

Back up important files in Windows and Linux on an external disk (not necessary, but recommended)

Remember to keep your home directory when replacing Linux distributions

If you want your personal files to be unaffected during the installation of a new Linux system, the original Linux system must have a separate root directory and a separate home directory. You may find that my dual system Boot tutorial does not select the "coexist with Windows" option during installation, but selects the "other" option, and then manually creates root and home partitions. Therefore, manually creating a separate home partition is also an operation that sharpens the knife without mistakenly chopping firewood. Because if you want to replace an existing Linux distribution with another without losing files, you need to store the home directory on a separate partition.

However, you must remember the user name and password of the existing Linux system to use the same home directory as the new system.

If you don't have a separate home partition, you can create it later. But this is not recommended, because the process can be complicated and may mess up your system.

Let's take a look at how to replace to another Linux distribution.

Step 1: create a USB live version for the new Linux distribution

Although it has been mentioned above, I will repeat it so as not to ignore it.

You can use the boot disk creator (such as Etcher) in Windows or Linux to create the USB live version, which is relatively simple and will not be described in detail here.

Step 2: start the USB live version and install Linux

You should have used dual-system boot, and you are no stranger to this process. Restart the system using the USB live version and press F10 or F12 repeatedly at startup to enter the BIOS setup. Choose to boot from USB, and you can see the option to enter the live environment or install it now.

During installation, when you enter the installation Type interface, select the other option.

Select the other option here

Step 3: prepare the partition operation

The following figure shows the partition interface. You will see that Linux is mounted using the Ext4 file system type.

Determine the installation location of Linux

In the figure above, the Ext4 partition labeled Linux Mint 19 is the root partition, and the second Ext4 partition with a size of 82691 MB is the home partition. I don't use swap space here.

If you have only one Ext4 partition, it means that your home directory is in the same partition as the root directory. In this case, you can't keep the files in the home directory. At this point, I recommend copying important files to an external disk, otherwise they will not be retained.

Then delete the root partition. Select the root partition and click the-sign, which frees up some disk space.

Delete root Partition

When the disk space is free, click the + sign.

Create a new root partition

A new partition has now been created in the available space. If you had only one root partition in your previous Linux system, you should create a root partition and a home partition here. If desired, you can also create a swap partition.

If you already have root and home partitions, you only need to create root partitions from the deleted root partitions.

Create root Partition

You may wonder why you should go through the "delete" and "add" processes instead of using the "change" option. This is because previously using the "change" option didn't seem to work, so I prefer to use-and +. Is this a superstition? Maybe it is.

Here is an important step to format the newly created root partition. The partition is not formatted by default without changing the partition size. If the partition is not formatted, a problem may occur later.

It is important to format root partitions

If you already have a separate home partition on your new Linux system, select it and click change.

Modify an existing home partition

Then specify that it should be mounted as a home partition.

Specify the mount point for the home partition

If you have a swap partition, you can repeat the same steps as the home partition, except that you specify the space to be used as the swap space.

The current state should be one root partition (which will be formatted) and one home partition (swap partition can also be used if necessary). Click install now to start the installation.

Check the zoning

The next few interfaces are familiar, focusing on the steps to create users and passwords. If you have a separate home partition and want to use the same home directory, you must use the same user name and password as before, and the device name can be specified at will.

To keep the home partition unchanged, use the previous username and password

Next, just wait for the installation to complete without doing anything.

Wait for the installation to complete

Restart the system after installation and you will be able to use the new Linux distribution.

The above is all the contents of the article "how to replace the Linux distribution under the guidance of dual systems". Thank you for reading! I believe we all have a certain understanding, hope to share the content to help you, if you want to learn more knowledge, welcome to follow the industry information channel!

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