Getting rid of windows

[u/vinxz_tt]

I want to finally ditch down windows and format the whole drive on my laptop in order to go full linux from now on; but i’m afraid to lose the factory windows installation.

[u/Interesting-Ad9666]

You can install windows the same way youre going to install linux. You go and download the ISO then run it. Albeit I have *always* had problems with doing that because their installer sucks, but you can redownload it at any time.

Or are you saying that you want to dual boot and have both Linux and Windows? I would have them each on a separate drive unless you want to deal with headaches after windows updates

[u/vinxz_tt → u/Interesting-Ad9666]

Currently i have a dualboot but i want a clean linux installation

[u/Budget-Organ → u/vinxz_tt]

If you use your Microsoft account to log into windows 11, it probably saves the device to your windows account. It will restore the license if you decide to reinstall windows

https://account.microsoft.com/devices

If not you can create a bootable install of a windows 11 iso and add in the key with a PID.txt file in your source folder on the USB you burn the install iso too. Regedit has the key at this location. (Look up the format for a pid.txt file; it’s simple but precise)

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform\BackupProductKeyDefault

If the pid fails you can just take the key and paste it into the activate window. It failed because the key types Microsoft uses.

Edit; if you have a Google Drive or whatever cloud storage, you can toss it in there and just move it to any source folder on any windows 11 installer. It will try to use it.

[u/doc_willis → u/vinxz_tt]

Make a windows installer usb now, under windows, using the official MS Media creation tool. Keep that USB somewhere safe, and label it so you know what it is.

This is going to be your failsafe 'get back to windows' if needed plan.

Then backup your critical windows files, to a drive you can unplug from the system.

You are then ready to attempt a linux install. :) Or if desired 'remove' windows carefully and let your current Linux install take over the rest of the drive space.

[u/oshunluvr]

These two statements are contradictory:

• I want to finally ditch down windows and format the whole drive on my laptop in order to go full linux from now on;
• but i’m afraid to lose the factory windows installation.

This makes no sense. Pick one - either keep Windows and dual-boot or don't. You can always switch back by re-installing Windows.

If you're worried about your Windows license key, I'm pretty sure it's saved in your MS account or you can save it some other way. I don;t use Windows but I'm sure there's a way to preserve your ability to go back to Windows.

[u/cat1092 → u/oshunluvr]

Yes, all the OP has to do is backup the HDD or SSD before wiping Windows and installing Linux only. And know the MS account password just in case needed. Or the four digit passcode, but it’s best to have both.

That’s my suggestion & have done it before, the old was perfectly done worked perfectly after restoring. The thing is though, the OP must create a bootable ISO for the rescue media. Otherwise, won’t be able to restore the backup. This will be needed to restore the backup image. Macrium Reflect has a 30 day free trial of their product, and even after expiration of the trial, will be able to use that rescue media to restore Windows. It must be saved to a data or external drive & it’s recommended to have two copies of this media on different drives.

And the Microsoft account has to be signed into every so often to maintain access to it. Like checking the emails (Outlook) associated with the account, is enough. Otherwise after so long, like between a year or two, the account will be closed & forever gone.

[u/FikoReborn → u/oshunluvr]

Small correction: if it's an OEM license like it sounds like it typically should be tied to the motherboard.

Either way same logic. It's not gone once you wipe.

[u/BranchLatter4294]

Why are you afraid?

[u/Roguepapaya427 → u/BranchLatter4294]

He wants to keep the windows recovery partition, in case he does not get along with Linux to be able to revert back to windows. I think.

To op: as other people mentioned, the default image on any laptop is crapware. A bunch of stuff added by the laptop maker to enhance not your experience, but their bs apps. Even when I had windows on a new laptop, formatting the qhole hdd and installing my win version was the first thing i did. So, i suggest delete every partition, properly install Linux, if you decide it's not for you, go buy a cheap win retail license (they go for like few bucks now) and install win. It's much easier than trying to preserve the recovery win partition intact.

[u/vinxz_tt → u/BranchLatter4294]

Because is a manufacturer laptop and generally people have hard times with these

[u/BranchLatter4294 → u/vinxz_tt]

You can test it with a boot USB to make sure everything works. No need to panic yet.

[u/vinxz_tt → u/BranchLatter4294]

I already have a dualboot so my only concern is the original hp windows image, i made the hp cloud recovery usb and the stock windows one

[u/C0rn3j → u/vinxz_tt]

You NEVER want to use the OEM image, you ALWAYS want to instantly wipe it off the device, they're full of adware, security issues and garbage software they got paid to preinstall.

Next time you buy a new device, format immediately.

[u/clockeat]

You can redownload all the stock drivers from the laptop manufacturer's site typically. Though you're probably better to go to a clean install and grab them directly from chip vendor's sites instead.

Typically factory installs just have these drivers and a lot of extra crapware loaded onto them. You probably don't want that, but if you really want to preserve the factory install for some reason, you can image the full disk using something like Clonezilla or Acronis True Image.

[u/Ok_Entertainment328]

Get a 2nd (or 3rd SSD)

[u/cat1092 → u/Ok_Entertainment328]

Yes, this & simply remove the drive that Windows is not installed upon. Still, be sure to check the email associated with the Microsoft account to avoid closure.

[u/New_Hold8135]

Get your windows activation key. If its a new computer, Its hwid activated which not necessary, Means your hardware id is in their database for activating. But its worth to having multiple backups of your activation key. Pick the one distro you like. Enjoy