I’m considering switching to linux but I’m not a computer savvy person, so I wanted to have the option to switch back to windows if unforeseen complications (I only have 1 pc). Is it just a download on usb and install? And what ways can I get the product key or “cleaner” debloated versions.
If your PC already has Windows, you can create an installation USB key.
There’s no need for a Windows key because your system is already registered with Microsoft. It creates a unique ID from your computer’s peripherals.
So just pop in the USB key, boot from the usb key and follow the instructions. To boot from the USB key you might need to go configure the boot order in your BIOS.
This is the best answer I’ve seen in this whole thread. You’re right that the key is not needed. Microsoft identified your system components and did the original activation based on the hardware you’ve got on your computer. All you need to do to bring back a licensed copy of Windows is to reinstall it.
This seems like the right answer to me. Whether or not you decide to dual boot, make one of these USB keys so you can recover if something goes wrong.
You dont even install. You download, write to usb and try linux.
Give it a good hour or more, trying to do a couple basic things like browsing the web, using some apps.
If you find yourself liking the experience, hit install and go dual boot. You can then decide on every boot if you need windows or linux today.
In case you feel like getting rid of windows, you can just disable the item in the boot menu (tutorials online) i guess.
So as you see, there are many failsafes which you can use to not get stuck without a computer that you understand.
Have a good one.
I would agree way this, with one caveat: Does OP plan to game on Linux?
Gaming on Linux has come very far, but it’s not perfect and not something you can really get a feel for in a USB live environment. At that point rather to dual boot and try sticking with Linux for a while.
Uhm… you do realize that dual booting is step two in what I said right?
You’re right, my bad.
Hi!! 👋☺️
@[email protected] fyi, when you run Linux off of a USB drive (aka live USB), it’s likely going to run a lot slower than when installed on an SSD. Just take that into account when you’re testing it if you go that route. I wouldn’t want you to think Linux is slow as frozen molasses and forgo the full experience because of a misunderstanding.
To that point it’s probably going to be a lot slower than running it on an HDD too. That said, the USB performance is surprisingly good when you consider you’re literally running an OS over USB and the OS isn’t even in an optimized state.
Easy in terms of installing windows? No harder than a normal install in any situation. Easy in terms of usability? Can’t even imagine ever trying. Have a hard enough time using my windows cloud r at work.
Just because no one else is mentioning it, there’s a free tool in github to activate any copy of Windows, that could be on a new machine, a VM, Windows To Go, etc. You don’t need a product key.
The devs mention that as the recommended method on their GitHub (which I also recommend as it’s way easier)
Activating Windows is so easy nowadays
Iirc, Microsoft themselves were advocating the method I mentioned when users were having issues (I can’t recall where I read that though)
It’s worth noting that this is almost certainly illegal, for those who care. Windows is $5-$10 if you buy keys, which are 100% legal. Just throwing that out there.
Linux wins here with that price tag being *free.
Microsoft owns github, if they weren’t fine with it they would have taken the tool down
@JackGreenEarth @Lucidlethargy True but would it change anything ? The owner of the project would just open another or go to #gitlab (or a #selfhosted instance of #gitea / gitlab)
If you have a flash drive and an external disk you can boot into Rescuezilla (a disk cloning/backup/restore distribution) using the flash drive, save/backup your OS disk as an image in the external disk, and restore it as needed. After restoration, you will have your OS disk as it was at the time you saved it.
If you feel comfortable swapping out the drives on your computer that would be the easiest way. You can buy a cheap ssd to install linux on it. If you really hate it you can just switch back to the windows drive. This also helps you avoid dual booting.
And if you don’t, you could just boot a live USB of Linux and some installers are capable of repartitioning your drive for dual boot.
But there’s always a small amount of risk to this, but I’ve never had an issue in my 25 years of doing it.
There’s no turning back…
Yeah, let’s confuse people asking honest questions and make them think Linux is a destructive, one-way migration.
I love Linux, but the fans are insufferable sometimes.
Yeah, people who can’t a joke are so fucking insufferable.
Objection. I ran Ubuntu for 6 years but returned to Windows because too many things were just a little bit too odd, too off, too hands-on-config-files.
To be fair, the newer versions of Windows suck hard. 10 was really bad, 11 is horrific. I dream of going to Debian some day.
Ifnyou have the money and the mono slots, buy another hard drive and install Linux there. Then, boot that drive without touching anything from the other ones. You can even load them up and use those files no problem.
It’s blasphemy in some circles, but I never recommend Ubuntu. Mint seems much more straightforward and easier to make it feel like Windows for new users. There’s a Debian-based version if you prefer it.
I run Mint (Ubuntu version) on a couple of old laptops. But I use Debian on a Linode (Akamai) cloud server for a little hobby project. It’s a good distro.
Not just Debian but ditch Gnome too. KDE really pulled me in. So much about it just makes sense that I’m mad I didn’t take it seriously sooner.
WOAA-OH
MY PRESENCE FADES TO BLACK
Something I only saw mentioned in a somewhat snarky comment in this thread (apologies if I missed it elsewhere) is that Windows has the option to do a full system image backup.
If you have an external hdd or a nas, from the Windows Backup applet in control panel (not settings) you can create a system image that will contain a full backup of your C: drive and, optionally other drives in your system. You can then restore that backup from the recovery options in your windows install media.
For the windows install media, I’d recommend using the windows media creation tool to create a usb installer on a separate usb key from your Linux installer and then setting it aside just in case. Trying to create windows install media from within Linux is, while not impossible, difficult.
Obviously, you should do all of this before committing to installing Linux to disk. Most Linux install media also functions as a live Linux environment from which you can try things out and see if things will work for you.
It isn’t all that difficult to install a dual-boot setup, so you can choose at startup which OS to use.
Bingo. I haven’t had a windows install mess up my bootloader in a while, granted I haven’t booted my windows partition in a while either. As long as you create a separate partition for the bootloader, it’s stupid easy to fix with a liveusb.
I’d forgotten about the bootloader. I only dual booted with XP for a few months before wiping the drive and dedicating that machine to Mint.
You can keep windows and install Linux next to it.
The best way would be to add a new ssd or m.2 card to your pc and install Linux on that. Make that the main boot device and Linux normally will detect Windows and give you a boot menu where you can chose between Linux and Windows each time you boot.
Alternatively you can resize the windows partition and install Linux onto free space on your main drive. This is more fiddly and things can go wrong with this if you don’t know what you’re doing.
You can also boot Linux on an external USB drive but this will be slower and may guge you a false impression of Linux. You can also try Linux in a virtual machine like Virtualbox but again this will be slower and will give you a false impression of Linux as a daily driver OS.
I personally run a dual boot system - I have two m.2 nvme drives, one with windows and one with Linux. I barely use the windows partition now but I keep it around for rare work stuff or the rare occasion I have a game I can’t get to run in Linux. And I mean rare - booted Windows maybe 3 times in last 6 months.
You need to buy a separate $25 SSD for Windows. Do not attempt to have both Linux and Windows on same HDD/SSD, Windows will always kill Linux.
A safe method to go about a debloated and privacy friendly (yes it’s possible) Windows installation is using AME Project’s playbook with their Wizard tool, on top of a fresh ISO you get from Microsoft. For activation, use the tools from https://massgrave.dev website, HWID activation.
After installing Windows, consider using simplewall as your program firewall and to limit Microsoft telemetry heavily.
Avoid installing random crap, and use a solid antivirus like Kaspersky (ignore political nonsense, merit matters) if you pirate TV shows, movies and software.
I cannot tolerate Windows other than how AME Project does it. Their playbook is better than AtlasOS and other playbooks.
Do not use Kaspersky, Avast or whoever else. Stick with the built in defender as that is the safest.
Also I think they were asking how to wipe Linux completely.
Defender is dogshit. Never rely on a cloud based antivirus, and never rely on one that cannot protect against ransomware. Putting Kaspersky alongside Avast is beyond disingenuous.
They all have downsides but since you have defender anyway you might as well use it
By using Defender, you stay in the illusion that it can protect your system from 0days, ransomware and other malware, and that it can protect you in case the internet is not working on your system for some reason.
Kaspersky is number one at defense from 0days, ransomware, can rollback the damage done by malware, and even when most of its components may get disabled, or even without internet, it can give an unparalleled level of defense against malware and protect your system and files. Nothing else is even remotely as good.
Kaspersky is just of of the companies that exploits fear. Also it is somehow more shady than pretty much everything else.
That is some alternate dimension reality, not the one I am living in. You probably also think malware is imaginary, and Linux is immune to it and Windows is some magical malware magnet. I do not subscribe to such ideas that belong to an extremist section of FOSS community. I am hardcore in my considerations of products/tools based on merit and performance.
With a platform like Windows that is risky to use without a condom (antivirus or on demand scanner), I refuse to entertain the ideas of stuff like ClamAV that does not work or cloud based Defender that is not good enough, just because it may provide privacy, but at the end is unable to protect your data, your privacy and security anyway.
I will probably just share this from 4chan.
Your the one pushing Russian greyware. I never said Linux is magically secure. You just need to be aware of things that are a security or privacy panacea.
You got a lot of responses, here’s some good ones:
@[email protected] wrote a good post that explains how to make an install usb from your existing windows
@[email protected] made a post about the wipe and reinstall method using a third party source and activation method
If you choose either of those ways, make a backup using the windows backup wizard. No matter how you choose to reinstall windows, having that backup lets you save your files and settings. Always have a backup!
I’m not gonna link them, but you got a lot of posts about using a second drive to install windows so that its update process doesn’t remove your ability to boot into Linux. Many people do that and there’s nothing wrong with it.
I think it’s better to let windows update mess up your bootloader and learn how to fix it (it’s always incredibly easy but the process varies slightly depending on your distribution). There’s no guarantee that windows update won’t mess up bootloaders on drives it isn’t installed on.
If I were you, and I could look into the future of what’s gonna work, speaking from a couple decades of experience, I’d make a windows install media or two, make a backup or two and pick a distribution to try off a live usb first then if I liked it, I’d install it dual boot so I could switch back to windows just by picking it when the computer starts up.
Why you trying to detransition?
Don’t use “debloater” versions as that is a violation of the TOS and can create significant issues.
To install Windows just write it to a USB and then boot from the USB. Follow the on screen instructions from there
The easiest way to preserve an existing Windows installation is to take out the drive it’s on and put in a new drive for Linux. That way if you want to go back, you can just swap in the old drive again. Installing M.2 or SATA drives is very easy and 100% doable even if you’re not an expert.
this 👆 dual boot doesn’t always work because windows can be finicky with boot partitions as well as boot partition security issues. Save yourself a headache if you want to go back, just pop your current drive out, and put it in a external case so you can access the files. Hard drives are cheap.
