VMs are a way, but Live USB sticks are better because you will see how it actually runs on your bare metal machine, and if there see any hardware quirks, without comitting to an install

You can install them like any other package from dnf/apt and then run them with startX (if its X11) or start them via their name if they are Wayland compositors (all this in the tty, the black screen with just letter outputs)

I find sometimes installing a bunch of different DEs can cause weird cross-issues, so I tend to just make VMs to try out new things. I have a bunch of them on an external drive like little specimen jars lol.

Also as a side note, I keep a VM that’s as close to my current setup as possible, so if I get the urge to try something weird I can do it there first and see if it breaks anything.

If the only thing you need to do is test out the different DEs, you should be able to just install each one and use something like lightdm to easily switch between them upon logging out.

Not sure how current it is, but LinuxBBQ has a live CD (Cream) with a bunch of WMs installed that you can easily switch between.

You could use https://netboot.xyz/ to boot a bunch of Live systems from various distros relatively quickly (depending on your download speed).

therr are utilities to install lots of isos ona live usb, flash distros that use the des that uou wanna try and you can hotswap them

NixOS or fedora ostree

You can use live isos. Some distros, such as Manjaro or Fedora spins, has several isos, one per DE.

Arco B was how I experimented with DEs and WMs. It’s got the widest support from the installer, but it’s mostly limited to having unified shortcuts.

I suggest using a VM or an install specifically for that purpose, just so you don’t have to clean everything up afterwards.

Usually when you have multiple DEs installed, the login manager would let you choose.

Just need to make sure the autologin don’t get in the way of your choice (e.g. select it thru autologin or disable it completely).

Gentoo used to have a live CD with almost every DE / WM in it. Not sure if it’s still around though.

Why not install a live disc type image to USB and try out different varieties? Linux Mint offers three live images with Cinnamon, MATE, and XFCE.

I quickly found this article on installing them to USB: https://itsfoss.com/linux-mint-live-usb/

Many popular distributions offer live images so you can try before installation.

Not sure about others but in PopOS (and I assume Ubuntu) it’s pretty simple. Probably easy with most distros.

apt install gnome-desktop
apt install kde-standard
apt install xubuntu-desktop
apt install cinnamon-desktop-environment
apt install xfce4 xfce4-goodies
etc.

Well, if you are new to Linux, it is better if you just install new distros to try them, I would go to Arch Linux as it’s the cleanest distro, I could install multiple DE without issues, but then it’s a bit mess of packages, also it’s harder to install, you need to type archinstall and understand their options. I have a desktop and laptop and I always use the laptop for testing, if you copy the ~/.config folder, you can restore all your applications settings (just copy the app settings you are using), ~/.mozilla to restore your browser as you had it before the wipe and some more settings are under ~/.local. I also copy my ~/.zshrc because I have a custom prompt, configs, add-ons, alias…