Step One: Download Androidx86
To get started, head to the
Androidx86 project page. You’ll find the download here, but make sure you download the latest version: 4.0, better known as Ice Cream Sandwich.
There are a few different versions of 4.0 offered. Grab the version that best fits your netbook. Not sure what this is? Google your computer’s model along with “Androidx86″ and see what other people have had luck with. If you own an EEE PC like me, however, you’re in luck: everything works perfectly with the “eeepc” ISO.
Desktop users: it’s probably not worth trying.
Step Two: Copy To A Flash Drive
Now that you found the ISO file you need, it’s time to write it to a USB drive so you can boot from it. There are two main programs for doing this:
UNetBootIn, which is cross platform, and
Linux Live, which is only for Windows but very straightforward.
Use whichever you prefer; just copy the contents of the ISO to a flash drive. It doesn’t need to be huge: 1 GB should do it.
Step Three: Install
Now that you’ve got your USB drive, it’s time to boot from it. You’ll see this boot screen:
If you just want to try out Android, go ahead and select the LiveCD mode. You won’t be able to save any customizing you do, of course, but it’s a good way to see how well Android works on your system.
If you’d rather get straight to installing Android, go ahead and pick the “Install” option. There’s not a lot of options for dual-botting built into the installer, so be warned: getting that working might take some skills on your part.
See the Androidx86 installation instructions for more information. If you don’t care about losing your current OS, though, installation is straight-forward.
