A year ago I switched to Linux from Windows and I have completely erased my hard drive and SSD and perform a fresh installation of Ubuntu. I have installed ubuntu in my SSD. Now I want to install Win 10 again as a dual boot in addition to Ubuntu and I want to install windows in my hard drive not affecting the installed ubuntu. I have come across many clear step by step instructions on dual-booting Linux on a Windows system but I couldn’t find any such clear instructions for the other way around. Please point me towards how can I do this without having any adverse effect on my Ubuntu installation.
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Could you please elaborate on the parts you have trouble with? To my knowledge, plenty of instructions have enough detailed information on achieving your goal.
If I were you …
- I wouldn’t do it. For what purpose would I need Windows?
or
- If I really, really needed a Windows system, say, to do professional video editing with Adobe Premiere, I’d go and buy a dedicated desktop computer.
or
- If I just wanted to run occasionally that odd program for which there is really no alternative on Linux, I would install Windows in a virtual machine
or
- If my computer didn’t have enough resources for 3., I’d copy my data on an external disk, install Windows and then install Linux in parallel. You can find plenty of manuals about how to do it.
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@Mohan_Govindasamy would be better off to save his Ubuntu files and reinstall Windows and leave
enough unallocated SSD space to reinstall Ubuntu. The next best thing is to run Linux and Windows
on separate drives, using the Linux drive as the boot drive and use Grub to boot Windows.
Welcome to “It’s Foss” @Mohan_Govindasamy. I like the suggestion of @4dandl4, so that would be my vote. My only other input would be, if you did not want to re-install Ubuntu, you could clone it over. Cloning can be done with Conezilla. And of course, the partition you restore it to has to be equal to or larger then the one you copied it from. If cloning did not work, you always have the option to re-install. BE sure to have at least two copies of any info (data) you want to restore to the new disk layout.
I dual booted for years and I’m just now completely coming over to the dark side. Just started getting sick of boot repair, GRUB issues, etc, etc that one has to deal with on a dual booted system. It seemed as if after every other windows 10 update I’d be making boot repairs. Windows 10 is now gone from this computer! 
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@Jamesread…That is why you run Linux and Windows on separate drives, when
it is possible. I for one will never dual boot Linux and Windows on the same drive.
If I need Linux when running Windows on a single drive, I will use a VM.
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OK Linux can be installed on virtually anything. I would personally put Linux on an external hard drive, USB 3 with preferably 1TB of space on. A majority of USB 3 external drives are backwards compatible with USB 2 anyway. 1TB seems like a lot for Linux, but trust me if you partition it properly it’ll last. I used to carry Linux Mint Maya around on a USB 2 drive 640GB to my local Library’s Internet Cafe.
Use G-Parted you can install it via Synaptic, or the easiest way via Terminal
sudo apt install gparted
Insert your USB 2 or 3 drive and open up gparted.
Here is a video tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZL-qJXztVgA
@Jamesread…What is the issue? Run Windows on the SSD save your HDD files, shrink the HDD
and leave the unallocated space and run Linux on the HDD. Install Grub to the HDD and set the
HDD for the first boot disk in the bios, and run Windows from the grub menu.
You have way more PC than I do, and I have no problem running W10 and LInux.
IMO dual boot is Great! For a little over 2 years, I ran Linux & Win 10 dual boot from 3 PC’s. 2 desktop and a laptop. I can only remember one time when Win 10 mess up the boot partition. No problem. When I backup Win 10 or Linux I always include the boot partition in the backup. I did a quick restore and I’m on my way.
I too am getting away from Windows. Today only one desktop is dual boot. The other desktop and the laptop are Linux only.
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@easyt50…I have a laptop I could probably run Linux only on, but my desktop pc will never run Linux
only. To many games that I play that Linux cannot run, I know, I am to old to be playing games. Merry
Christmas to you and all @ Foss.
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Yes. a Merry Christmas to you and all. Best Wishes for a healthy and Happy New Year!
Games? I like games. 
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