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You have a computer running Windows. You’ve always wanted to try out another operating system (another version of Windows, Linux or something else) on your computer, but were afraid you will mess up your installation of Windows. You’ve also heard that it is difficult to remove the second operating system completely when you want to.

These steps will help you install a second operating system, let you choose which operating system you wish to use each time you start up, and let you remove the second operating system completely if you finally decide not to keep it.

During installation, most Linux distributions overwrite your MBR with a piece of their boot loader (GRUB, LILO etc.). In most cases this works perfect, but sometimes this can break your multi-boot configuration or your previous OS. The simple solution is to install the entire boot loader on the partition where you install Linux (your boot partition). Note that this method works only when you are installing Linux on a primary partition.  You will also have to make your boot partition active or use another boot loader to boot into Linux

Installing the boot loader on your boot partition is quite simple in most Linux distributions. Here are the steps to do this in Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala).