How do I dual boot windows and linux?

[Jaok]

What's the safest way to dual boot windows and linux because I heard that doing that wrong can corrupt data.

[Electronics Wizardy]

You should always have backups, so you won't lose your data.

 

Then install windows, shrink partition, install linux.

[NinJake]

Partition your drive or have separate drives for each OS. Install your linux Distro of choice on one, and then install windows on the other. Whenever you power on your pc, you should have some sort of boot manager which allows you to select the OS you want to boot.

[TheGlenlivet]

1 minute ago, Jaok said:

What's the safest way to dual boot windows and linux because I heard that doing that wrong can corrupt data.

The safest way is to have 2 drives. One with each install and use GRUB, which you get with most linux distros, to switch between them at boot.  

[Guest]

I'd personally recommend a virtual machine if you're just experimenting w/ what distro you want to use.

(I'm assuming this from your post asking which distro to use)

[Jaok]

12 minutes ago, NinJake said:

Partition your drive or have separate drives for each OS. Install your linux Distro of choice on one, and then install windows on the other. Whenever you power on your pc, you should have some sort of boot manager which allows you to select the OS you want to boot.

My friend created anither partition for linux but after installing linux his pc didn't boot up. After that he reinstalled windows  and saved linux on the same partition as windows. He had no problems with booting up his pc, so I'm not really sure if I should create another partitiom for it

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, Jaok said:

My friend created anither partition for linux but after installing linux his pc didn't boot up. After that he reinstalled windows  and saved linux on the same partition as windows. He had no problems with booting up his pc, so I'm not really sure if I should create another partitiom for it

you need a second partition for linux.

 

Did he installer the bootloader right?

 

Why not use a vm?

[NinJake]

1 minute ago, Jaok said:

My friend created anither partition for linux but after installing linux his pc didn't boot up. After that he reinstalled windows  and saved linux on the same partition as windows. He had no problems with booting up his pc, so I'm not really sure if I should create another partitiom for it

As I wasn't there to see how it was set up, I can't give much more insight but I always install Linux first and then Windows. That's just my preference and I've never had any issues. As @Densetsu stated, you might just want to install linux on a thumb drive and boot from that whenever you want to experiment. (Or a VM)

[maleko48]

Depends if your drive is MBR or GPT as to the specifics, but I triple boot Win7/Win10/Ubuntu no problem from a single SSD. I would recommend creating a second EFI partition (assuming you're booting UEFI) for your Linux install to prevent it screwing up Windows EFI. 

[NumLock21]

1. Backup all data just in case

2. Repartition your HDD into 2 partitions

3. Install Windows first on one partition

4. Next install Linux on the 2nd one

Linux will automatically create the dual boot menu for you. The problem with this is your Windows boot in now controlled by Linux. To have it independent from one another, use 2 HDDs. One for Windows and the other for Linux. Install them one at a time, with the other HDD physically disconnected. When both are installed, just hit your boot up list key and select the HDD with the OS you want to run.

 

[BloodKnight7]

If you are not that tech savy and even if you are...I would reccomend using EasyBCD Utility freeware, it will make your partitioning tasks easier to do and understand...