Dual boot means installing more than one operating system, such as Windows and Linux, on the same computer, each in its own partition, with a boot menu to pick one at startup.
Why it matters
It gives full hardware performance to each system, unlike a virtual machine, which shares resources. People use it to run Linux for development and Windows for specific apps or games. The cost is that you must reboot to switch, and installing carelessly can overwrite the other system's bootloader.
Shared drives need a file system both systems can use.
Example
Disk: [EFI][Windows C: NTFS 200 GB][Linux / ext4 80 GB][swap]
Boot menu: 1) Ubuntu 2) Windows Boot ManagerThe bootloader lists both systems at startup.
Common mistakes
- Skipping a full backup before resizing partitions.
- Installing Windows after Linux, which often replaces the bootloader; install Windows first.
- Leaving Windows Fast Startup on, which can lock the NTFS drive for Linux.
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