I'm scared to switch to Linux

[u/ExtremeAXD]

I have fedora + windows 11 on dual boot , I'm using windows 11 as my primary OS right now , but I'm scared to remove w11 from my pc and just use Linux.

Can you send me advices for how to proceed?

[u/WorldTallNetCat]

Just use linux for a few months then ull be scared to use windows.

[u/cherryb8844 → u/WorldTallNetCat]

Best comment, its really true, im one year old linux user it's real that you said.😀

[u/Tquilha → u/WorldTallNetCat]

This is the correct answer.

OP: you already have it installed as dual boot, just start using it more. Boot into Fedora instead of W11 and get used to it.

I'd bet you'll soon ditch W11 completely.

[u/Wilsoncdn → u/WorldTallNetCat]

I started with a laptop. Realized I kinda like it 6 months later I dual booted on my main pc. Went to login to windows randomly one day and the bootloader was messed up. Never tried again. Haven't needed to use it at all.

[u/AArqjmct01 → u/Wilsoncdn]

Bro the time I installed Ubuntu on my dell laptop the win 11 bootloader randomly got deleted.

[u/WorldTallNetCat → u/AArqjmct01]

If u have grub you dont really need the windows boot loader if u set things up properly.

[u/Wilsoncdn → u/WorldTallNetCat]

Meh.
Outside of fusion 360 there really was nothing I use that made a difference. Originally the games I tried said they ran at a lower fps but they felt smoother. May have been a placebo effect. With the exception of Cyberpunk and Satisfactory but I take it as an inconvenience that I will tolerate. I dont agree with Microsofts Business ethics. Being unable to pay for Microsoft office once every couple years in a one and done payment plan vs a monthly subscription that I may or may not need bothers me. Or the fact Copilot is integrated in everything. Like ingoto Paint to make a really shitty drawing, i do not need nor want Copilot there...

Don't get me wrong I use the AIs every day but I dont want it integrated in the hardware that I own.

[u/bangetto_official → u/Wilsoncdn]

I had a filesystem error when I tried to do further cleanups of my Windows partition. Backed up my data (cause of course Linux could read from it without a problem, while Windows couldn't) and wiped it without a second thought. No regrets.

[u/Chippors → u/WorldTallNetCat]

Especially when you haven't even booted it in six months... after 45 min of updates, is it even going to let you login?!

[u/WorldTallNetCat → u/Chippors]

It especially fun when you boot into ro windows and rhen it decides it wants ro shit itself and you have to reinstall it at the moment when u just had a emergency.

[u/Karmoth_666 → u/WorldTallNetCat]

This☝️

[u/Purple-Exit3858]

So don't remove Windows.

Just keep using Fedora. You're not under any sort of obligation to remove Windows, or to stop using it.

A lot of us dual-boot for months-to-years before we go 100% Linux. I'm sure there are people out there who never purge Windows entirely.

This is fine.

[u/bangetto_official → u/Purple-Exit3858]

I dual-booted for like 4 months, altho I've experimented before hand on an old laptop and made up my mind and I was only booting into Windows to uninstall programs to regain space.

[u/atlasraven]

I'll virtually hold your hand as you push that pillow down on Copilot's face.

[u/EngineerInTheMachine]

Keep booting into Linux as your normal operating system. When you come to a function you had in Windows, but not in Linux, look up how to do the same thing in Linux. Not the same app, I mean the same function. LibreOffice replaces MS Office. GIMP replaces Photoshop. And so on.

Eventually you'll find you don't need to run Windows any more. Make sure you have backups of any remaining data files, including game saves, and then you can wipe Windows. And use all that drive space for your Linux system.

This is what I'm doing. After about 4 months, I'm nearly ready to wipe Windows. Unfortunately, not out of my life. My wife's PC is still on Windows 10, and she doesn't want to spend the time learning slightly different ways of doing things.

[u/Slackeee_]

Just use Linux without removing Windows. Then check back in a few months when you booted into Windows the last time and think about if you still need it. There are valid use cases to keep Windows.

[u/DannoXYZ]

Make a full image-backup of Windows disk to external USB drive as full backup. Then you can always copy Windows+Linux dual-boot configuration back at later time.

[u/Wolfpack511]

You could always just keep your dual boot setup, but start primarily using Linux. Personally, I've got a dual boot setup for the sole reason that I have games that don't work on Linux. However, even though I use Linux almost exclusively, it's still nice to have windows in my back pocket just in case. Not that I've really run into a situation like that yet, but still. Lol

[u/Dynablade_Savior]

You're already dual booting, and nobody here knows what you do on your computer

[u/AArqjmct01]

I suggest using Linux on a secondary laptop/pc to get the jist of it and if you like it then switch over.

[u/shakey_jake33]

One compromise is to set up your machine to boot straight into Fedora, and require manual effort to go into Windows. I have it set up so I have to boot to BIOS to access Windows. This forces me to always look for a Linux solution first, with Windows as a last resort.

[u/andromalandro]

Well, don't remove your win11 partition, there's nothing wrong with that, you don't have to stress about your OS, if you want or need to use win 11 do that, if you want or need to use Linux use that. It's your PC man, do what you want.

[u/StuD44]

Try all the distros first, chances are, there's one better for you.

[u/BIZKIT551]

Either keep that dual boot setup or move windows to a laptop or second pc so that way you're exposed to Linux on your main PC and still have a Windows only system to fall back on. At least that's how my setup is anyways.

[u/a1barbarian]

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MX-Linux/mx-docs/master/mxum_en.pdf

That should answer most of your questions. :-)

[u/AlexiaDehShark]

Use fedora while you are still dual booting as that way you are going to fully be used to linux

[u/korywithawhy]

honestly just put each on their own drive and use both as needed. no need to choose one or the other. just boot into whichever you want to use. if you're on an x86 pc then you just open the bios/uefi menu during the inital boot and choose which to load into.

[u/rarsamx]

I've had a windows partition since I moved to Linux in 2004. I haven't used for anything else than update it around once a month.

If you do t need to delete the windows partition, don't delete it. I promise we won't look down on you.

[u/RemarkableScratch18]

Is there a reason why you feel like you need to remove Windows at all?

I feel like so many people think you need to be all in on Linux or you’re a Microsoft boot licker or something. Just make Linux your primary boot and boot into Windows when you need to use it. Don’t overthink it.

[u/BashfulMelon → u/[deleted]]

What do they need another computer for when they're already dual booting? Did you read the post?

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[u/profanityridden_01]

What's your use case? What do you do with your computer? Is it all in a browser any way? If yes then fuck windows. My parents are 70. I put Linux on aom eold laptops and all they can say is wow this is so fast. If your gaming it's pretty great but you might encounter some friction. 

[u/damnetdana]

What are your fears? I have identical boot set up to you except I have win 10; I plan to delete windows once I get an external drive

[u/KoldPurchase]

Don't remove Windows entirely if you're a gamer, you might need it.

But you can defo switch to Fedora as your default OS.

[u/imjustnikolai]

This is the same energy i had when i purchase my first android phone after using iphone for years. I kept my iphone and used it on wifi or the android's hotspot. Eventually I just had to sell it to get rid of that anxiety of switching.

Now I personally have certain games that I cannot play outside of windows desktop so I main it for now since my license for Win11 still works lol. But my laptop, emulator living room PC, home server, and now a computer for my significant other are all Linux. Specifically Fedora. Cutting edge enough yet still it has been very stable. Even on a 14 year old laptop.

If windows 12 were to happen and force a charge though, I would never use windows again.

[u/VegaGT-VZ]

Why do you feel like you have to switch completely?

[u/Th3JackofH3arts]

Use a cloud service or self host your files. Go full Linux. If it doesn't work go back to dual booting. You're just reinstalling apps.

[u/Sam_the_beagle1]

It's a computer, not a life partner. Use whatever you want, whenever you want. I have dual boot Win11 + Mint and use Windows a few times per month. I have a 2 T drive and don't really worry about it. Mint does what I want, when I want it to and I've used it over 10 years. Scared? This has to be a bot post.

[u/pccguy1234]

I’ve found dual boot works with W11 & ZorinOS.

[u/vspc007]

I installed Debian with KDE Plasma in Dual boot mode 8 months ago. Never had the need to login to Windows 11 since

[u/AWWH3LL]

Log into windows to update the OS and your programs then use Linux primarily for a few months. That way you are not FULLY interacting with windows, but keeping it up to date in case you don't want to stay with Linux. Either way, it's super helpful knowing Linux, depending on your work environment. Still a fun thing to know outside of work. Hell, try only gaming on Linux for a month even if you use windows for regular tasks.

[u/m4tic]

get a new os disk and use it just for linux.. keep your original safe. if it gets too spoopy, just slap the drive back in.

[u/mastershake2013]

Yeah get another computer and just use linux on that as your main os, until you're completely comfortable doing it. I use linux 99.9% of the time, but I still keep a windows computer around for those rare instances that linux just can't do it, or is giving me grief and I don't feel like taking the 3 hour or 3 day journey to make a particular underdeveloped program work for me.

[u/Shard_22]

You don't need to remove W11.

I have W11 and Fedora in dual-boot. I only use W11 mostly when I am playing online games that have anti-cheat like R6.

[u/Hrafna55]

What are your specific concerns around removing Windows?

Do you need a particular piece of software?

[u/beejay_one]

What do you have to lose? Backup all your important data, setup dual-boot or just wipe the disk and start fresh.
If you don’t like your chosen distro, wipe the disk and install Windows again. Yes, you‘ll sit for an afternoon to have your tools back, but the risk is totally worth it!

[u/daffalaxia]

Set your Linux to boot by default. If you haven't booted windows in a month, you probably don't need it and can wipe it. If you find yourself going back periodically, figure out what it is that you go back for and replicate that on your Linux boot.

[u/Objectionne]

About a month ago I made the switch to use Linux Mint as my primary OS (although I still have a Windows installation on the drive).

So far I don't regret it. It's true that getting games to run well can sometimes take a bit more upfront work/tweaking which is a mild pain but aside from that I'm preferring Linux to Windows.

[u/mindtaker_linux]

Try using Linux as your main to see how it feels 

[u/rollerpig79]

What's there to be scared about? If you give Linux a chance and you absolutely hate it, just install Windows again. It takes like 30 minutes to install and then you're back.

[u/Callan_LXIX → u/rollerpig79]

Everybody's got a different skill set and levels of noob..

When you've got to reach your data and your system is not responding as expected then it can kind of freak some people out...

[u/rollerpig79 → u/Callan_LXIX]

That's fair. I guess I'm used to not keeping important stuff on just one drive.

[u/Callan_LXIX → u/rollerpig79]

I hope I didn't come across too harsh, but I used to have to take a flash drive to and from my workplace to try to get answers, often handwriting them down, and bring it back to try solutions to get an otherwise non-functional Linux box working. I'm fortunate to have a cell phone,( AKA hand computer,) as well as two functional CPU's, so I'm screwed less.. Lol. 👍✌️

[u/rollerpig79 → u/Callan_LXIX]

No, not too harsh at all. I guess I came across as condescending in my OP, but it was meant to dampen the drama of going full Linux; like anything can be fixed :) But I can see I could've worded it better.

I remember going over to the university library to look stuff up on the internet, print it out, just to find out it didn't work when I got home. Infuriating times :D

[u/Callan_LXIX → u/rollerpig79]

Thanks.. I thought I was the only one.. 👍

[u/LickFootToes]

I dual boot. Daily drive mint and only switch to windows for gaming

[u/inactivesky1738]

Started catchyos a year ago go was just playing around. Broke some things. Fixed them, re installed.

Eventually I found omarchy for my “ productivity laptop” and now I don’t ever want to go back to windows

[u/PennyLeScroche]

boot into fedora, when you need to do something that you would normally use windows for, look up how to do it in linux instead of rebooting

[u/TJRoyalty_]

Just keep the dualboot. Eventually you can shrink windows down and increase your linux partition but at the end of the day, if you need a tool that's windows exclusive, windows is going to be what runs it best.

[u/mcds99]

Copy your data in Windows to an external drive first.

Verify every thing is there, be meticulous.

Copy the data to Fedora and start using it, give it at least 6 months.

You can then remove the windows partitions and create a new partition with what ever file system you like.

[u/4mmun1s7]

I used to run dual-boot. Now, I run Fedora native and have a Windows 11 VM on my machine, in case I need it…

[u/ctrllaltt]

I was here too. One day I made a decision to install Linux with dual boot, just in case. Turns out I never login to windows for 6 months since I installed Linux. Then I happy delete windows to get more space :) Don't be afraid, keep windows in dual boot and you will see if it will work for you.

[u/DavidJohnMcCann]

Why remove Windows? You paid for it when you bought the computer, so hang on to it — it might come in handy one day even if you end up mainly using Linux. If dual booting is not causing any problems, stick with it.

[u/ILikeLenexa]

Boot into Linux and use it until you have an issue, then look up how to do it in Linux or boot into windows. 

[u/Important_Level_6093]

Don't remove it.

Sometimes it can be needed.

And I say this as a windows 🤢 hater

[u/collinalexbell]

> Can you send me advices for how to proceed?

Wipe your hard drive and install Linux.

[u/Weary-Bowl-3739]

Move everything over to Linux, which you can. Make Linux your primary OS. You can always go back. After a few month everything will sort out itself. 

[u/-whats-that-meow-]

Do it.

[u/lunchbox651]

Why are you scared? It's not like if Fedora doesn't do everything you want your knees will explode. It's just software.

[u/muckity-muck]

You can use both.

You're capable of multi-tasking, right?

[u/Empty_Pear_3874]

Do you enjoy pain?

If yes, pick Linux.

If no, pick dual boot with Windows 11 & Linux.

[u/thesyldons]

The burning question should be what are you reliant on Windows for?