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Dual booting Linux and Windows is a great way to try using Linux. Dual booting is having both Linux and Windows operating systems on your one computer at once. This works by creating multiple partitions and having each operating system go on different partitions etc. but what the heck does that actually mean?

To make it simple, you have both operating systems on one computer and when you turn your computer on, you just pick which operating system you want to use, and that one will boot up. The convenience of having a dual boot system is if you are not sure you want to make the switch to Linux from windows you can try out Linux on your computer without loosing your windows install.

In the past creating a dual boot system wasn't exactly easy. Who wants to do hours of research to figure out how to partition a hard drive? And even if you research all that you may partition it and still make a small mistake and you could risk loosing everything on your computer! So how can one easily dual boot Linux and Windows without risking destroying their whole system? Well the answer is wubi.

Wubi stands for Windows Ubuntu installer, and does exactly that. It is a small download for a windows users to install Ubuntu Linux, with the option of dual booting. To get Wubi go to: wubi-installer.org

Once on the Wubi website download the installer as you would any program on windows. Once its downloaded double click the download file and run the installer. The Wubi installer will then open and all you have to do is pick some quick options then click install.

The first option in the Wubi installer is installation drive. In this drop down select which drive you want to install Ubuntu Linux on. For most users you will probably select the C drive.

The next option below installation drive is, installation size. In this option you will pick how many gigabytes you will allow for your Linux install to use. This is pretty much partitioning your system for you without you doing any work, other then picking the size. Say you have an 80 gigabyte hard drive if you pick 20 gigabytes for the install size, when using Linux you will have about 20 gigabytes to work with. Then when you use windows you will have 60 gigabytes to work with, because you are partitioning the hard drive between the two operating systems.

The next option down you have to choose from is Desktop Environment. If your not sure which one to pick for this I would Google all your options and see which one is right for you. For most people I would recommend Ubuntu or Kubuntu, those will be the easiest for people making the switch from windows and they both are not lacking. After selecting your Desktop Environment, make a language selection, for which you want your install to be. Lastly you will pick a user name and password, don't forget these! You will use these to log into your Linux install.

Once your done click install and Wubi will then proceed to download and install your computer. This could take some time so be patient. During installation you should have to reboot twice. Every time you reboot make sure you book back into windows until the install is finished. Once finished you can boot into Ubuntu and try out Linux! When your done using Linux or want to go back to using windows, reboot and choose Windows, its that simple! And look at that, you didn't even need to burn a cd to try out linux!

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