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.

  • HarriPotero@lemmy.world
    1023·
    6 months ago

    It depends on how far down the rabbithole you go.

    I switched to Linux 27 years ago. My wife asks me to help her with her Windows computer every now and then, and I can’t really do it for more than a few minutes before my blood pressure is in the risk zone.

    • chraebsli@programming.dev
      13·
      6 months ago

      similar here. im still ‘new’ to linux but have to use windows for my apprentice. also my father uses windows. so often i have to click a button multiple times, ads, or window not responding, ads, sometimes its slow af. did I already mention ads?

      • TCB13@lemmy.worldEnglish
        319·
        6 months ago

        so often i have to click a button multiple times, ads, or window not responding

        Maybe you should use something faster than a potato as a computer. 😂

        did I already mention ads?

        If you’re capable of installing Linux and getting a productive desktop experience with it I’m sure as shit you are also capable of disabling a few toggles under Windows.

        • Jumuta@sh.itjust.works
          81·
          6 months ago

          Potatoes are free hardware though? You can grow them yourself, study the source code, make changes to it and release it for others to use. Pretty sure you can’t do that with most modern computers

        • chraebsli@programming.dev
          1·
          6 months ago

          my laptop is pretty good, its just windows using much resources. yeah i’d be able to but i only use it like 3h per week for one buggy app. its not worth it

          • TCB13@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            6 months ago

            I highly doubt it. Not saying that Windows is good, but my i7 8th gen with 16GB of RAM boots Windows 10 Enterprise (with the usual crap disabled) into the desktop faster than the time it takes to post. Info here and here. Frankly Debian with GNOME doesn’t boot much faster than Windows on that laptop.

            • chraebsli@programming.dev
              1·
              6 months ago

              my laptop probably has very similar specs to your laptop. also, windows just uses more computing resources than linux in general.

              i dont care about if its few seconds faster at booting or has few percents more resources availabe after hours of configuring.

              all i need for my apprenticeship is just a windows laptop to work with office365 and a few specific apps, which dont need full resources. but it has to be windows because of domain policy from ADDS.

              my apprentice will end in a few weeks and since i wont need these apps anymore tomorrow in a week, ill delete the windows partitions from my laptop.

              id appreciate you helping me and others with articles how to get a bit faster windows system, if id asked for it, but i didnt.

              • TCB13@lemmy.worldEnglish
                1·
                6 months ago

                Again, I’m not saying Windows is good.

                I’m saying your statement was an over exaggeration and yes Windows by default has too much crap but it can be disabled as documented.

                Simply that.

    • 30p87@feddit.de
      9·
      6 months ago

      I switched 4 years ago and I experience the same. But to be fair, I also use an atypical setup designed for efficiency, so basically the opposite of windows in every aspect.

    • Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works
      3·
      6 months ago

      This is not what they are asking. They just want to know if they can revert their setup if they end up not wanting to keep Linux.

  • AlexWIWA@lemmy.mlEnglish
    54·
    6 months ago

    You can install Linux on a flash drive to test it out. Or spend $50 on a SSD and just have both

    • henfredemars@infosec.pubEnglish
      41·
      6 months ago

      It’s not the fanciest solution, but if you’re really not sure what you’re doing, not wiping out your Windows in the first place could be the best option.

    • Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works
      1·
      6 months ago

      Yes! This is one of my favorite aspects of Linux. Most (all?) distros let you straight up use Linux and try it out before you even install it!

  • haui@lemmy.giftedmc.com
    35·
    6 months ago

    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.

    • BOMBS@lemmy.worldEnglish
      9·
      6 months ago

      @FemboyNB@lemmy.blahaj.zone 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.

      • uhN0id@programming.dev
        2·
        6 months ago

        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.

    • pizzaboi@lemm.eeEnglish
      51·
      6 months ago

      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.

  • ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org
    271·
    6 months ago

    Install Linux in a VirtualBox virtual machine to try it out. No change to your existing Windows system is needed.

    Better: install it in a virtual machine on a second hard drive: if you like it and you’re ready to switch, switch to booting the real Linux hard-drive and turn the Windows hard drive into the virtual machine, to use within Linux when you need it.

    If you switch to Linux, this will happen:

    • It’s gonna be tough: it’s a different system, you’re not used to it. Like everything else, it’s hard to change and get used to new things. So realistically expect some learning curve and some pain. It’s normal.

    • If you give it an honest shot but you decide Linux is not for you, you’ll switch back to Windows. You’ll be back to your old normal, but you’ll start to notice how infuriating and spirit-crushing it is a lot more, having been exposed to a non-insane, user-centric OS for a while. And then you’ll be that much sadder in Windows and you’ll wish you had the best of both OSes - which you can’t.

    Just be aware than exposure to a non-Windows OS will probably make you hate Windows more and make your life in Windows ever slightly more miserable, even if you don’t stick to the non-Windows OS.

    • lud@lemm.ee
      1·
      6 months ago

      If you have windows pro, education, or enterprise I recommend Hyper V instead. It’s much faster because it’s a type 1 hypervisor instead of a type 2 like virtual box

    • Kiloee@discuss.tchncs.de
      1·
      6 months ago

      I haven’t used Linux in a decade and half (I know myself and I wouldn’t reboot once done gaming and I have one game that is not just wine or whatever and done and it’s my main one) and I still miss things from it. The first few PCs I used were Linux. It just sticks with you.

  • Diplomjodler@lemmy.world
    25·
    6 months ago

    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.

    • catch22@programming.dev
      3·
      6 months ago

      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.

    • lseif@sopuli.xyz
      41·
      6 months ago

      ESPECIALLY if you have gotten used to a fancy window manager or custom hotkeys… the amount of times i go “mod+q … oh, right… alt+f4”

        • lseif@sopuli.xyz
          3·
          6 months ago

          i use a custom kill script with overrides such as dont kill firefox, and properly kill discord. then $mod+shift+q to use the standard kill as a fallback

  • kurodriel@lemmy.world
    171·
    6 months ago

    Since you’re not computer savvy, I really think you should watch some YouTube videos on how to dual boot linux with windows. That way you can keep windows without having to reinstall it if you ever wanna go back.

    • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
      5·
      6 months ago

      Yes, you should look for hand-holding tutorials. I don’t mean that to slight you. The first time I installed Linux was way before the internet was fast or full of easy to access info and way before most had access to a secondary device (like a phone) when hitting a roadblock.

      It booted to a text prompt. I had no idea how to login (probably root / root or root / password or root / [blank], but htf would I know that?) so I erased and reverted back.

      The point is, if you have very little experience, there’re tons of resources to help you out. Search them out. Lean on folks here for help when needed. You’ll be ok.

    • TCB13@lemmy.worldEnglish
      51·
      6 months ago

      Yeah but make sure you disconnect your Windows SSD before doing anything.

    • PlutoniumAcid@lemmy.world
      61·
      6 months ago

      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.

      • caseyweederman@lemmy.ca
        3·
        6 months ago

        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.

      • CaptObvious@literature.cafe
        3·
        6 months ago

        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.

      • Fushuan [he/him]@lemm.eeEnglish
        1·
        6 months ago

        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.

    • Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works
      1·
      6 months ago

      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.

  • linucs@lemmy.ml
    142·
    6 months ago

    I know it’s not what you’re asking but switching back is truly horrible, I have to use w11 at work and I hate every second of it. One drive shoven down your throat, Xbox stuff wants to install something everytime I update, installing stuff from random exes found on websites (I know the store exists but it sucks if your needs are not “I want to install candy crush”), changed something in your path variable? Reboot! Wtf? I really hope microsoft abandons windows in favour of its cloud apps for people who need it and lets Linux distros rule the desktop world

    • hactar42@lemmy.world
      4·
      6 months ago

      I’m only commenting this because you said you’re stuck on Win11 and not defending it, but…

      Using winget and Chocolately will make your app installation much better.

      Also, to reload your path variable in a PowerShell prompt you can run the following:

      $env:Path = [System.Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path","Machine") + ";" + [System.Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path","User")

      Again, your gripes are all legitimate, but these might help ease your pain.

    • steeznson@lemmy.world
      2·
      6 months ago

      I used scoop as my package manager on windows. It even lets you install gnu coreutils like ls, cat and find to run in powershell.

  • youmaynotknow@lemmy.ml
    131·
    6 months ago

    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.

  • Nibodhika@lemmy.world
    12·
    6 months ago

    Ok, so I’m assuming you have never installed Windows before. It’s not that complicated (especially nowadays that Windows finally learned how to automatically search for drivers, that used to be the most annoying part). First of all make a note of your current Windows CD Key, you will need it to reinstall and not every computer can retrieve it if you uninstall windows.

    After that, you need a windows USB drive, just like the Linux one you’ll use to install Linux. You can get it from Microsoft website, but again I advise you to get it while on Windows (Microsoft hides the way to download the iso on Linux).

    Finally I strongly recommend you DON’T uninstall windows, instead keep it and install Linus side by side. This is called dual booting, every time you turn on your computer it will ask you where to boot.

    • bobs_monkey@lemm.ee
      1·
      6 months ago

      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.

      • CaptObvious@literature.cafe
        1·
        6 months ago

        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.

  • BananaTrifleViolin@lemmy.worldEnglish
    11·
    6 months ago

    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.

  • JackGreenEarth@lemm.eeEnglish
    10·
    6 months ago

    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.