Linux

Yep, run Linux in a virtual machine first, or create a bootable USB drive and run it from there. You should be able to get a good feel for how things work that way.

If you do decide to dual-boot, you'll need that bootable USB drive because you can't resize a mounted partition. You'll need to be careful because you can bork your Windows install if you're not, but I've found most instructions are straightforward and easy to follow.

Also, depending on which version of Windows you have, you might have to disable the TPM which means authenticating your Bitlocker key once you're done and you re-enable it.

But hey, the fun of Linux is figuring these kinds of things out. Good luck and have fun!

Most distros, at least mainstream ones, will happily install right alongside Windows and give you the option to boot from either Linux or Windows when you start your PC.

Basically, there is a "boot loader" that the motherboard finds on the hard drive when the PC starts up and tells it to load the OS. The bootloader handles getting the OS kernel out of the hard drive and into memory with the correct drivers so the kernel can take over. Windows has its own bootloader that can only boot Windows. Linux also has a boot loader called "GRUB" that can boot multiple operating systems located in different partitions on your hard drive as long as it knows where they are.

You'll have to first shrink your Windows partition using the Disk Management tool from inside windows so that there is "unused" space on your hard drive not occupied by the Windows file system. Then run your Linux bootable USB and it will take up that space to install Linux. Any normal distro like Ubuntu/Debian/Mint et al. will set up GRUB automatically to recognize both Linus and Windows, and you'll be off to the races.

However, if you just want to play with Linux before you commit to faffing about in your partition tables, most distros can also run in a "live USB" state where it loads the basics of the OS directly from a USB stick into memory, no installation required. I highly recommend doing this first!

Others have commented on the process. It's easier than you think.

One thing that might confuse you at first (after successful install) is that when you change between operating systems, the system clock gets thrown off. That's because Linux and Windows interpret the system time differently (local time vs UTC).

To match Windows behaviour in Linux run: sudo timedatectl set-local-rtc 1 --adjust-system-clock

To match Linux behaviour in Windows you will need to edit the registry, I'll leave that up to you to search.

Install Windows first, then when you install Linux have it create its own boot partition, don't use the windows one. Many distros (like OpenSUSE) probe for foreign OS and will add a chainloader entry into the Linux Grub menu. Set computer to boot to Grub. Windows will mever know about the handoff and it will leave your linux boot/efi alone. With a certain package installed you can also read write to NTFS so you can have a shared partition to pass files across during reboots to the other OS. i have run Linux like this for 7 years with no MS nonsense

Depending on which Linux you go with, some Linuxes (Ubuntu, Mint, Debian, or Fedora) are able to utilize Secure Boot, which is a godsend if you're dual booting with Windows 11. Before everyone in the linux community runs you over with "But Arch!", I would suggest getting a USB Stick and making a Mint install stick first by downloading the preferred version of Mint Linux (I prefer XFCE because it's super light and super fast, all the better for a laptop), download rufus (rufus.ie), make yourself a boot stick that is gpt/efi, booting on that, and from there, you can install Mint Alongside Windows (it has an option to do it automatically, or you can use the progran GParted, which should be on the "Live" desktop when you Try it) to resize Windows partition. Word of advice: Restart Windows, do not Shutdown, when you are going to boot on the stick, or it will not be able to do the resizing, and make sure to leave at least 20GB free with Windows if you manually resize, or you run the risk of breaking something by making the resized partition too small. Other than that, go full ham.

P.S. If there is a problem with Secure Boot after installing Mint, disable Secure Boot in your bios (uefi), and run the Updater in Mint. There was a bug in one of the versions where Secure Boot fails.

P.P.S. A lot of linux users are really salty and don't like anything Microsoft and swear Secure Boot is pointless and a waste. Don't listen to that, every Linux should support Secure Boot by now.

The easiest way to start playing around with Linux is probably VirtualBox. You can create virtual machines to run whatever Linux distribution you want, save snapshots so you can go back if you mess them up, and delete any that you don't like. All without having to mess with dual booting, which can be quite a bit more complicated, depending on your hardware, and I would consider to be a greater commitment (and without a doubt a greater risk).

https://www.virtualbox.org/

Use a virtual machine to run oses first. If you like the version of linux in the vm then try dual booting.

It seems that people have explained pretty much everything there is to explain. I'll just like to add my 2 cents. For the install process you will need a USB with your distro of choice. You might see some people recommend Rufus. I'd recommend using Balena Etcher instead because it's just so much easier.