I would advise #linux over anything proprietary to begin with.
If you want to really go the w11 way it is not as restrictive as they make it sound, in fact in 90% of the cases it says it can't it can.
8GB of ram and GPT partitioning!
Many w10 were upgraded from w7-8-9 and retained the DOS/mbr and w10 would work with either part.table. Win-setup says it can't auto-upgrade but it can install if you delete the partitions and start with clean disk.
@yianiris@ajayiyer@nixCraft@linux@windowscentralbot most of windows users don't even know what is a partition... talking about GPT, you can be sure they'll interpret this as something related to ChatGPT... :ablobcatknitsweats:
also on my side, I have a w10 running in VM, with MBR.
cloned the VM and upgraded it to w11 took me time and I had to do a lot of tech stuff for the GPT
not hard, but technical; too technical for most of Windows users probably..
Some people have spare time to learn a thing or two, some people have spare cash to buy new hw when MS tells them to.
We are not all equal :)
We have a government that enforces and maintains inequality, otherwise equalization would come natural, and with some social organization.
I was reading what it would take to run a legal copy of w10/11 in a vm since the vm doesn't provide the chip to embed the license (post 5th gen intel and similar amd) and I almost threw up with MS disgusting policies of trying to sell more and more for every use.
If your mb gets fried you have to call up and authorize the transfer of license ...
You can't buy a $50 refurbished with sticker and get a free license for w11 :)
What I use is a digital license: it seems the digital license is not stored in the hardware
I suppose when it's activated, windows send information to a MS Server
They store the information the digital license is used by this user/hardware
If you try to reuse the digital license key, you'll be rejected during activation because it's already flagged as used on MS side
If it was done online alone 1st it would have been cracked globally, then the machine/hw needs to be identified uniquely. How can this be done if you change disk and reinstall?
The way they do this is a chip intel/amd_x86-64 boards provide called MSDM and a unique key is embeded to it.
You plug a new disk, install, reboot is is already activated.
if you change hardware and want to reuse the same digital key, as the key has already been used, activation on MS side will just be rejected: you have to buy a new digital key
digital keys don't work the same way than product keys (that are stored on hardware)
A thing I wish more Linux enthusiasts were more up front about: And prepare for PAPER CUTS! Because they’re there. Most Linux folks ^1 probably do 5-6 things a day that new folks would find confusing or infuriating, just because they Get Used To It.
A perfect example: My Linux desktop is a System76 Thelio-r2 running Manjaro KDE latest, which I LOVE. Every time I boot it up, if I want to use my BT speakers or headphones ^2 I have to go into the BT settings panel, wonder why it says “Bluetooth Disabled - Enable Bluetooth”, click the button, and move on with my day.
Turns out this is because of a kernel bug in the latest kernel versions with Intel bluetooth hardware. The driver times out at system boot, and thus the system is disabled by default. By the time you’re fully booted, that time out never happens so if you just click Enable, you’re good to go.
And these things are additive. They pile up and increase frustration for end users who aren’t savvy enough to know which forums to search on or what search terms to pump into their search engines.
This does not mean you shouldn’t try Linux. Please do! It can be a life changer and a serious power up! But be aware that the path will have many small roadblocks that need to be traversed, so just set your expectations accordingly, explore and have fun!
^1: I use Windows, Linux and Mac as need dictates. Let “tool to task” be the whole of the law :)
^2: Perfect example: Many Linux users wouldn’t use Bluetooth speakers! They’d get wired ones or one of those RF thingies that has long time Linux driver support. But if you’re new, you don’t know that!
I gave Manjaro a shot recently and Bluetooth was 90% unusable for anything but my mouse. Keyboard? Nope. Headset? Nope. Other headset? Nope. Bluetooth speaker? Nope. Unfortunately, it is a brand new Intel motherboard, so I can’t even get WiFi as athk12 or whatever isn’t really done. I was shocked I could get bluetooth to work at all. Sound wasn’t that great through a USB headset either, but then I could at least hear people. For me, I can really only use trackballs now and the USB port on the mouse is for charging only. Bluetooth compatibility is very very important to me and it still being shitty on any system in 2024 blows my damn mind.
Only other potential issue would be something with how Proxmox is doing passthrough, but I had just as much trouble pairing with Debian underneath through the terminal as I did with the Manjaro VM. On another note, the GPU passthrough is amazing and I had a good time playing games for the first time on Linux. This machine was never intended for gaming, but I thought it would be fun to take a server to a LAN party. Sliger case for the win! Just a 3U.
Yeah, “brand new” hardware is rough in the Linux-verse :) I think Linux advocates need to be more up front with that as well. Quite a number of them are rocking 15 year old Thinkpads because that’s what they read will maximize compatibility.
I’ve seen non-tech users in Linux many times. It doesn’t take them 2 months to acclimatise, at most 2 weeks but typically just 2 days. If there’s a blocker, there’s a blocker (like “my shitty bank requires some shitty software installed and they don’t support Linux”) but if there are no blockers it’s really quick. 95% of normal users just need a browser. The next 4% need LibreOffice. It’s only the last 1% that have some need that doesn’t sit in an office package or the browser.
We, the gamers, the geeks, the golems, WE have needs that may not be satisfied with Linux. But we are not normal users. So about 3% of us can be bothered to try and accept the missing software (and learn to love the new - God there are some apps I miss when in Windows), the remaining 97% either try and can’t accept the new habits required or don’t try.
But normal users?! Stick them in Mint Linux and show them where the browser is and they’ll be fine.
Why is Libre Office always the goto? I’ve been trying every MS Office alternative and Libre is way down on this list. It doesn’t compare. In my searching, I even found video of the creators seeming more keen to (rightly) blame MS for compatibility issues. Meanwhile alternatives just work with the reality and reduce differences in exchanging files from the world’s most common option. Plus, and this is more personal, Libre Office is dog doo ugly. Ditto for Gimp.
As someone newer to Linux, people really don’t emphasize enough the need to find alternative software that fits into one’s life. It’s all fine to say it’s all just new setups and once you learn them your good, but most world interactions with tech that isn’t your own will be Windows. Why fight the stream when you Don’t have to? There are lot of alternate Office programs is what I am saying and some are almost as good as massively funded MS Office.
Sorry I vented on you lol. WPS Office is one I liked a lot but I learned they are following local laws and so have had instances of invading privacy when using any cloud connecting aspect. It made me not trust them even outside of cloud use. It’s very very well out together though. I wish it weren’t something I felt insecure using because it is really nice.
I consider Only Office to be my goto at the moment. I still have more to try though, more obscure ones. It has only bugged on me once when I resized the window a lot, greeting me with an all white window with no UI.
Libre I tried a lot to make me love it. It just feels designed by someone who wants to make a point against MS. I did also try a complete overhaul to adjust the UI a lot but even the functionality of it just doesn’t seem to do as well when working closely with MS Office users.
Last I checked windows 11 can be installed without TPM support. I think rufus even has a simple checkbox for it and Chris Titus’s winutil can modify an ISO to do the sams
I’m a certified Microsoft hater, but man, 90 weeks? I get it, we want Gnu-Linux to be more streamlined, but his is certainly not the way. This is tech fearmongering.
I’m not an astronomer so I might be wrong, but wouldn’t the gravitational influence of stars from Andromeda in the Milky Way still be negligible, again because of much empty space there is?
Gravity is not just attraction to the closest thing but also the heaviest thing.
As the galaxies “pass” each other, all stars will be attracted to the dense cores of each galaxy. That is going to change the trajectory of individual stars and, as an aggravate effect, the overall shape and distribution. Unless the galaxies are aligned on the same angle, this is going to drag stars off the primary plane.
As the galaxies approach, the arms will stretch out to each other. As they pass through each other, the planes will tug on each other, and after they “exit”, the arms will reach back.
All this new motion will disrupt the natural shape and trajectory of the galaxy as a whole. Depending on the momentum, it could get pulled back and the whole process could happen again ( and again ) with greater disorder each time.
I understand you want people to switch to Linux but
90 weeks is far away. It drops in October 2025
You’ll still get security updates for a few years
After that there will be paid support which people will get around and find ways to install
Windows 10 LTSC (best version of Windows IMO) still exists. The Enterprise LTSC version will have support till 2027 and the IoT version will have support till 2032. You can get them if you know how to look around
All the more time for Valve to expand on Proton and push Linux compatibility, and for EA and the rest to get their thumbs out of their collective asses and support it at all
I’ve been wanting to ditch Windows for a while now. I’ve tried dual booting so that I only boot to Windows if I need to play some game that only works on it.
But usually the thing I do the most on my PC is: play videogames. And majority of the games I enjoy are using 3rd party anti-cheats such as EAC and so on. And to my understanding, there are no really a good ways to get those games work on linux at this moment.
Sure, if I played mostly Linux supported games or single player games (I guess big chunk of those work thanks to Steam and Proton) there would be no such a big issue but I am not willing to quit some of these games just so I can make the switch to Linux.
But what I have decided on is that W10 will be my last Windows on my home PC.
I am curious, if anyone has been in similar situation and have come up with a good solution? Maybe two PCs + KVM switch?
Surely if I search the internet I can find many solutions but I am interested to see what this community has to say about this.
I have an old potato laptop with two SSDs, i dual boot between Win10 and OpenSuse.
I have tried using Linux only but it's not ideal for games, there is notable difference in FPS drop with directx games running on Linux (especially on old PCs like mine).
So I use win10 for gaming and Linux for everything else (surfing web, movies, manage documents, small rpi projects).
It's a good compromise for me.
I’d say gaming on Linux can be great but it heavily depends on your hardware and what you play (also it’s getting better over time so with all that we’re on a constant «your mileage may vary» situation) .
On old/potato machines though, yeah it has more chances to be less ideal than windows in most situations. (I am only talking from experiences with various computers, to be clear. I am sure it can be less or more optimistic for others.)
I have used Linux as my main for 20 years, but I have a dedicated windows computer for games (hooked to my TV in the living room). A lot of my steam games work in Linux nowadays, but the windows computer just works without fuss. I use it ONLY for games and turn it off when I’m not playing anything.
Ironically some older games (older win95/98/XP era games) work better in Linux under wine or emulation…
I have also used a windows vm with gpu pass-through to play games on my Linux machine, though I’m sure a lot of your anti cheat would probably not allow that. I don’t bother with that anymore since so many games work in Linux with proton.
For non-gaming use I feel that 99% of dual boot scenarios should probably just be virtual machines instead. I have a windows VM I fire up for proprietary software or work related stuff when necessary.
I switched to Linux three years ago. I was dual booting until I realised I was barely launching windows anymore. So I just removed it. But just to be sure it wouldn’t be an issue if I ever needed windows again, I installed it on an external ssd with rufus, and it’s actually more handy than your usual dual booting. I had the same issue with some games not yet properly working on Linux (like Vermintide) but in the end it was solved and I ended up never using windows for anything…the last two times I’ve had to use it was to unlock the Iphone of a friend and to make a pesky printer work…and it was half a year ago.
I actually used to run a Linux laptop + Win laptop setup with a kvm switch a couple years back. It worked just fine, but I found myself barely even using my Windows machine for anything but gaming. Eventually I found out my games ran perfectly on Linux, and ended up switching to linux on the second laptop as well, as navigating the windows desktop had become painfully clunky, lol
tl;dr: a kvm setup is great but be careful what you wish for. Once you start running Linux there is no going back…
I was trying to make a Windows XP compatible app last month and my god is it ever difficult. Nothing works on XP anymore, so it’s insanely hard to test/develop software. All the legacy download links are dead too, so you can’t go install older versions of things either.
ReactOS is a cool project but ultimately pointless compared to the other free alternatives we have, with libre ecosystems.
ROS is built to be a drop in replacement for the Windows operating system, while retaining all other components of the system (like proprietary drivers, programs, etc).
I expect a jump in Linux users, which is of course great news. Albeit in time I expect even more Tech companies to get into the space too, which is not optimal. As I expect them to corrupt a lot of open source projects.
I don’t get why people are removing support for Windows 10. Nobody likes Windows 11 and Windows 10 is the most popular operating system with no change of that in sight.
Currently running a desktop on W11 on “unsupported hardware”. Even managed to get it onto a 15 year old machine running a first gen i7 920 and not even a hint of a TPM module as an experiment and it worked perfectly fine.
I know people like to hate on windows here but come on: 90 weeks is another ~18 months. It’s near the end of 2025.
While absolutely true, what you’re saying, saying 90 weeks instead of any alternative (630 days!) Is just trying to make it sounds worse than it is to push an agenda.
You’re leaving out the context that the time limit should be way longer given how long previous versions of Windows have been supported. Ending Windows 10 support when they are is a deliberate effort to force adoption of Windows 11 and avoid the embarrassment of Windows 8’s failure. They learned it’s better to scare users into compliance than to actually attract them with well developed, feature rich software. The hardware requirements just make it more egregious.
Stop giving Microsoft the benefit of the doubt, they have demonstrated more than enough times they don’t deserve it. This is them strong arming users into doing something they don’t want to do, and it should be rightfully called out for what it is: shitty.
the time limit should be way longer given how long previous versions of Windows have been supported.
The lifecycle of Win10 is actually pretty similar to that of the previous versions, which is about ~10 years. The only difference with Win10 is that it went without a successor for so long, that they’ve basically skipped one major release, leading to this relatively small timeframe between a new Windows and the EOL of the previous version.
I agree though. Given the circumstances they should’ve made an an exception and increased the lifespan for at least one or two years.
I’m sorry, what?..Oh, all I heard was that my linux home server is going to be running on new hardware in about a year and a half when all these used computers go on sale. 😁
While Microsoft Vice President for Operating Systems Terry Myerson didn’t exactly say that when he kicked off the Jan. 21 presentation of the company’s plans for Windows 10, that message was still clear.
Extrapolation by the writer in order to generate clicks by having a catchy headline? Impossible!
Microsoft just mentioned that the update procedure would make it so users running out of date and unsafe machines on the internet would not be an issue anymore, not that they would support W10 forever.
Jerry Nixon definitely said Windows 10 would be the last big release of windows, and for years, sourced reporting parroted that there will be no Windows 11.
“Right now we’re releasing Windows 10, and because Windows 10 is the last version of Windows, we’re all still working on Windows 10,” said Jerry Nixon, Microsoft’s developer evangelist, at the Ignite tech conference.
There’s no shortage of the claim being made by MS staff during keynote speeches, and those same people being quoted saying as much in reporting by TechRadar, The Verge, PC Mag, Ars Technica, CNET, for example.
And then hardly anything will work, so whats the point ?
If your system doesn’t have a TPM chip, you can still emulate it in softtware, but then everything will run like molasses, so again basically poitnless.
I missed the “90 weeks” bit - you made it sound like it was coming soon, you cheeky scamp.
Windows 10 will reach end of support on October 14, 2025. The current version, 22H2, will be the final version of Windows 10, and all editions will remain in support with monthly security update releases through that date.
@ajayiyer@nixCraft@linux@windowscentralbot
I'd actually recommend https://wubuntu.org/ instead, because
1 — the interface is, of course, tailored for Windows users
2 — the distro is made in such a way that you can install like you would on windows (double-clicking an EXE installs it through compatibility layers)
This looks to good to be true and after some searching it seems they’re rebranded from linuxfx to windowsfx to wubuntu to hide previous security issues and shady stuff?
it’s gonna be “funny”: I won’t create a personal account to login to crap 11 (because why should I, if you can’t login to a desktop OS without a 3rd party account, that’s not an OS, but a gatekeeper shit), which is mandatory. So, my work machine will become unusable, therefore in fact Microsoft put my work therefore my livelihood in danger… [edit: typos]
Just this week I installed W11 on a laptop (temporarily, I just wanted to see how it ran on this hardware), and despite being connected to the it asked me, by default, for a username for the local account. I don’t know why, but it didn’t ask for a MS account first.
Was this a recent windows 11 version, from Microsoft directly? And what version of 11 (Home, Pro, etc) And what region?
The OOBE changes based on a lot of factors, but generally speaking, most users will encounter the forced account creation screen.
You can get around it by typing in “no@thanks.com” or some other bullshit. Or use the “Domain join instead” option, and then just…don’t join it to a domain.
Just an update because I just figured what happened: I booted the iso through Ventoy, and just saw today that by default Ventoy injects register entries to bypass the online account requirement (as well as the hardware checks). Good to know.
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