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.
Why you trying to detransition?
Install: easy.
Seeing how much more annoying it is after using Linux: hard.
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”
Swear, although I’m more of a “mod+shift+q” kind of guy
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
Technically it’s easy. You just leave your Windows install where it is (assuming you have enough disk space) and it’ll be waiting there ready to embrace you again when you decide to give up on freedom and come crawling back. Psychologically it could be a challenge.
You can install Linux on a flash drive to test it out. Or spend $50 on a SSD and just have both
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.
Recent iterations of Windows have been easy to install, esp. when using an entire drive. I (almost) never had issues.
As long as you’ve got a Microsoft account
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.
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)
Link for those that want to check it out for research purposes.
Edit: It works with Office too
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)
Υou can download the Windows iso, burn it in a usb stick before you nuke it to install linux, and find free legal serial numbers online (there are various serials for all versions of win10/11, all legal – it’s considered semi-activated with these).
burn it in a usb stick before you nuke it to install linux
This is very very important unless you have another windows computer around. Took me a whole day to figure out how to properly burn a windows install USB from linux. It isn’t straightforward.
If the device ran Windows before the key is stored in hardware
You can just install Windows without a product key.
massgrave.dev
There’s a very good chance the key is stored in the EFI, making this the absolute easiest part. I’d just make sure to get the Windows installer on a USB stick before installing Linux, if there aren’t any other Windows machines around. And also make sure I have a wifi/ethernet driver available before reinstalling Windows, if it comes to that. It can be tricky to install Windows without network, these days, and even if you get past that (which I’d recommend, to bypass a Microsoft account), you still need it once you’re in the installed OS.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Use this tool to debloat your windows: https://github.com/builtbybel/privatezilla , also, I heard that setting your region as English (International) during installation comes with less bloat-ware installed?
Also, lookup tutorials on how to Dual Boot.
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.
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
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.
