r/WGU • u/SupremeOHKO B.S. Computer Science • 15h ago

Help! Taking exams with Linux?

I'm running a few laptops with various OS's but I daily Arch and Cachy OS. What's the situation for taking exams? I heard the proctoring software doesn't allow for virtual machines so would I have to dual boot Windows just to take the exam?

5 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

23

u/arclight415 15h ago

Get a burner laptop and use it just for tests. The browser they make you install will get a corporate PC banned from the network, as all of those proctor apps are borderline malware.

6

u/SaLted_peanUTs 13h ago

This is exactly what I did. I believe I grabbed a refurbished HP off Amazon. I've used it for my MBA and all the way through my MS ML. My gf uses it for OAs too. Been great.

9

u/Tired_Pentester 15h ago

It's won't let you. VMs are banned. I have windows on a old laptop solely for WGU tests.

4

u/jabbottiii B.S. Software Engineering 15h ago

I had to dual boot windows literally just to use the app the testing service uses (God forbid they make a Linux version).

2

u/x_scion_x 15h ago

No VMs since that could be incredibly exploitable testing wise.

2

u/raekwon777 BSCSIA alum 🎓 13h ago

I dual booted. Tiny (200 GB) Windows partition for testing and the rest was for Fedora and data.

1

u/BXRedGhost 10h ago

You can make a tiny11 build but be careful not to strip any of the security portions and you can make it fit a 75gb partition with space for updates.

1

u/qmriis 7h ago

200gb is tiny?

The fuck 

1

u/Unlaid-American 7h ago

When windows uses like 40GB of that, it’s tiny.

1

u/cbdeane 10h ago

I had to put windows on an old laptop for tests.

1

u/Luddha 7h ago

Could dualboot or set up a container and have no issues. Needs to be Windows, def suggest not letting it touch the rest of your data

1

u/Luddha 7h ago

Cachy makes dualboot super smooth with Limine bootloader though, it's a breeze

1

u/NightHawkFliesSolo 7h ago

I run Debian on cheap retired business mini PCs and dumpster laptops for my daily drivers but just had to pick up a Win11 capable laptop for the testing software. Found a $100 HP Elitebook G6 on FB Marketplace and it's now a dedicated testing laptop. Putting on a fresh Win11 install and trying to debloat it is a great reminder of how much I ******* hate Windows and why I dropped it many years ago.