Which version of Ubuntu is the most stable in a dual boot with Windows 8?

Question

I am running a laptop with Windows 8 and Ubuntu. I had been running with the dual boot with Ubuntu 12.04, but had a disc failure (unreleated to linux) and have had to start over. I had some problems with a shared NTFS data drive, wherein files I wrote to the drive in Ubuntu would not appear in Windows 8. I was wondering what is currently viewed as the best version of Ubuntu to run alongside Windows 8.

Thanks.

Solution

I was wondering what is currently viewed as the best version of Ubuntu to run alongside Windows 8.

There is no relation between "best version of Ubuntu" and "Windows 8" to run alongside eachother. The 2 are separate entities and GRUB is the software that deals with booting any 2nd or more operating systems present on your system.

Regarding Ubuntu to use...

• The latest long term support for Ubuntu is 12.04
• The latest normal release is 13.04.

Either works and both are stable. So does and is any other official derivative and so does and is any older still supported release.

I do not see any problems with any of the releases for Ubuntu to cause trouble with a dual boot setup. The only issues you will face are related to UEFI and Windows. Ubuntu is not an OS that restricts you using the operating system :)

Comments

[ROMANIA_engineer]

I don't recommend the latest Ubuntu versions (16.4, 16.10). It had a lot of problems: shutdown didn't work by default, the WiFi was often interrupting, the microphone didn't work, it completely crashed after some software installation, etc. Some of them can be fixed, but they are time consuming. My experience with it was much worse than it was with Ubuntu 9.10.